Ghanaian's, African's and the world as a whole have once enjoyed the rhythms of talented musician's especially by some musical groups. We're going to read about some of Africa's best entertainment group's which broke up over the years and can no longer be found anywhere in the world of entertainment and the reasons behind their breaking up. Without much ado, let's check them out below.
i. Akyeame
Akyeame was made up of Okyeame Kwame (Kwame Nsiah Appau) and Okyeame Quophi (Daniel Quophi Amoteng). Okyeame Quophi also known as “the Track Quilla” was born in Kumasi and is married to television star, Stacy Amoteng (of Music Music fame) and is blessed with two children. He is also the CEO of EMKLAN Entertainment.
While in senior high school at the Methodist Secondary School in Kumasi, he met Kwame Nsiah Appau (Okyeame Kwame) while studying after-hours at the Kumasi Polytechnic. They both began their music careers by contesting in rap battles and both were glorious on the microphone.
They joined together and named themselves “Akyeame” by taking something from the palace. In Akan, Akyeame means “linguists” and they became the linguists of rap.
They met music producer, Andrew Opoku Amankwah, who was an executive record producer in London. In 1997, he helped them in releasing their song “Brebre Obaahema” which became a hit and pushed them to the limelight. Akyeame released a album in 1999 titled “Nkonsonkonson” which had another hit track titled “Mesan” and featured Yoggi Doggi and Nana Quame.
They had two albums, “Nyansapo” and “Apam Fofro” before splitting up in 2004. During their team-up, Okyeame Quophi was a radio host for Luv FM in Kumasi but later moved to the United States where he studied sound engineering and videography. Okyeame Kwame was once asked the reasons behind their break-up and he said Okyeame Quophi sees things differently from him and his plan was for them to have solo albums and still remain a group.
He further revealed that Okyeame Quophi does not have the passion for hip life anymore and since they both have different interests, they had to break up. Okyeame Kwame is currently making waves and is one of the most sought after musicians in Ghana and beyond.
ii. Praye
In Akan language, ‘Praye' means ‘broom’ and broom in the the African society, represents unity but the unity of one of Ghanaian's best music group couldn't stand even though they had the themed themselves “Praye”. Praye came into the music limelight around the 90's and 2000's and they thrilled Ghanaians with their back to back hit songs.
They were a trio namely ‘Praye Tsintsin’, ‘Praye Tseatsea’ and ‘Praye Honeho’. Together, they won the Nescafe Africa Revolution, Ghana Edition in 2004. The trio had hit songs like “Angelina” and “Fakye Me” but started having a fallout after Praye Tsintsin left the group. Years later, Praye Tseatsea got married to actress, Beverly Afaglo and the group broke up completely.
In 2017, two of the groups members, Praye Tsintsin and Praye Honeho decided to regroup but Praye Tseatsea refused and in one of his interviews, Praye Tsintsin revealed it was due to his wife's influence that Praye Honeho had refused to rejoin the group. The members of Praye are currently solo acts now and are still doing music even though they are not as consistent as at first.
iii. Antwi Ne Antwi
Antwi Ne Antwi was made up of two brothers, David and Micheal Kofi Antwi and they thrilled music lovers with some hit songs like ‘Sekina’, ‘Uncle Ebo’ and ‘Congo Soldier’. The duo had five album's and they included “Dwene Wo Ho” (2000), “Sekina” (2002) and “Uncle Ebo” (2003) but fell out in 2006 after David, who is now an Evangelist was called into the ministry of God.
It began when David fell seriously sick and a man of God prophesied that it was not just sickness but the call of the Almighty for him to detest from his old life. He gave his life to Christ and started working as an Evangelist, leaving behind his earthly lifestyles.
Even as an Evangelist, Antwi Ne Antwi tried to release songs but failed despite their efforts. David saw that as a warning and completely left the music industry. He has been preaching ever since and is now the Minister at the Jesus Generation Ministry in Accra, Ghana. David recently revealed that he would be releasing a Gospel album very soon and will precede it with a motivational song to inspire Ghanaians.
He has also set his sight on bring his brother, Micheal into the Kingdom of God as well. David is not the only circular musician to follow the higher calling of God as others like Lord Kenya and Ofori Amponsah have also declared their lives to Christ.
iv. 4x4
The next on our list is 4x4 which consisted of Captain Planet (Sylvanus Dodji Jeoffrey), Coded (Raphael Edem Avornyo), and Fresh Prince (Prince Tamakloe). They immerged in the 2000's and had a hit song “Busy Body”. There was no news of their break-up even though they did not release a song together for years.
In 2024, the trio bounced back with “Dance” and featured Nigerian superstar, Davido after which they went mute again after Captain Planet got married that same year. They have been releasing songs individually and Captain Planet has been staying consistent in the limelight. Coded and Fresh Prince meanwhile, are still struggling to get their songs heard.
Even though the group has debunked rumours that they are no more, they is nothing which shows they are still a group and many has attributed it to Captain Planet's marriage. Captain Planet disclosed that as a man, you should heed to your wife's advice and this has proved that it's because of his marriage life that's why the group broke up.
v. Akatakyie
Akatakyie is made up of two brothers, Prince Kwabena Badu Asumaning (Kobby Culture) and Ebenezer Okyere Asumaning (King Pharaoh). During their prime, they had hit songs like “Odo Esisi Me”, “Agoo” and “Siesie Obaa No”. They won the Best Hip Life song of the year in the maiden edition of the Ghana Music Awards in 2000.
The cause of this musical duo was due to financial setbacks as they didn't have the resources to record more songs after their record label, Sole Records collapsed. One may think that with all their hit songs, Akatakyie could have kept aside something for rainy days but the duo revealed in one of their interviews that they were not making as much money during their era and even though their management team had great ideas for it's signees, they did not have the right people to control things.
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