Artistes need other jobs to survive, push their careers – Ko-Jo Cue

Rapper Ko-Jo Cue says many artistes in Ghana cannot survive without what he calls a “side hustle.”

According to him, an artiste’s biggest challenge is the lack of systems and the lack of investors hence the money made from music is pumped back into the artiste’s career.

Speaking on Behind the Fame on Drive Time he said getting investors to believe in an artiste’s vision enough to put in some money for many years before the proceeds come is next to impossible.

“That’s why you need the extra job. Because if you do hand-to-mouth, your progress would be super slow. If you are not ready to invest in your music, then you can’t worry someone else to do it for you,” he added.

The artiste, born Linford Kennedy Amankwaa, said that the plus side to being an artiste is that they get extra time for other pursuits.

According to the ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ rapper, he has an animal farm and has invested in many other things, he’d rather keep out of the media.

“You’re basically working with whatever you have, hopefully, it works out well or it doubles. You get some extra (money) to take it a notch further until you get to a point where you’re auto-piloted,” Ko-Jo Cue added.

The rapper is not the only artiste to have invested in a business. Trigmatic, Okyeame Kwame, EL, Mzbel and many other artistes have admitted in interviews they have side hustles aside from their music. Rapper Sarkodie, in 2013 also started a “Sark” clothing line.

Ko-Jo Cue stated that although music pays, at some point it does not give artistes constant income like people who work in offices.

“Somebody at the bank may make between GH¢2,000 to ¢5,000 a month, the average is between GH¢3,000 to GH¢3,500. The difference between myself and the person is that I am not getting GH¢3,000 or GH¢4,000 constantly every month.”

“I could go for three months and not make ¢3,000 but at the end of the third month do maybe two shows and get like ¢20,000. I don’t make as much money as Shatta Wale or other established acts but it’s good,” he told Lexis Bill on Monday.

Ko-Jo Cue is currently promoting his new album ‘For My Brothers”.

The 15-track album, he revealed, details the struggle of the youth in their pursuit of success.

“For My Brothers” is out on all streaming platforms including Deezer, Spotify and Apple Music.