CSM : IT SEEMS IT WAS A TACTICAL MOVE ON YOUR PART CONSIDERING HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH SARKODIE . BLJ : Indeed it was , it was to create the atmosphere of him betraying Sarkodie but it was up to me to grant interviews and clarify the whole situation . I made it clear on Twitter that he wasn ’ t there when I was recording the song but he didn ’ t make it clear . He made it look like I stole the beat . How can I still a beat when you were the one who did the intro for me ? CSM : THE INTRO ’ S WAS FORTUNE ’ S VOICE , RIGHT ? BLJ : Yes , that was him . But he didn ’ t know I was going to talk to his ‘ master ’. I know he was going to feel bad but I think he was being fake when he tried to support Sarkodie because he ’ s successful . I think he should have left the clarity to me . CSM : WHAT ’ S YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM NOW ? BLJ : Well , you should conclude . I ’ m matured . I don ’ t really call Fortune . He only comes to me perhaps annually to bring me beats to listen to and vibe in the studio . It was only last year I asked him for beat . The last conversation I had with him was about all that had happened . I mean it ’ s not like he has mad love for Sarkodie . He did it because of Sarkodie ’ s status in the industry . CSM : ARE YOU SAYING THAT BEHIND THE SCENES … BLJ : Yeah , I keep saying that if I were Kanye I doubt Fortune would have made that move . CSM : HAVE YOU WORKED WITH SARKODIE BEFORE ? BLM : Many occasions especially during his early days . I have also mixed some songs produced by other producers for him . We have the producer-artiste relationship . CSM : YOU WOULDN ’ T CALL HIM A FRIEND ? BLM : Musically , we ’ re friends . CSM : EXPLAIN THIS LINE “ I ’ M BALLIN ’ BABY , DEM NO GO BARB SEF ” BLM : Hahaha … it ’ s basically simple . I ’ m playing football and he can ’ t catch the ball . CSM : YOU SAID YOU ’ RE COMING UP AS A RAPPER ? BLJ : Yeah , my management is putting things together to put my career out there . I have been rapping for years ; I ’ m just reviving that part of me . CSM : WHAT ’ S YOUR TAKE ON AZONTO BEING REVIVED ? BLJ : I was one of the biggest Azonto producers back in the days but these artistes killed it . We don ’ t seem to uphold our heritage . I don ’ t know about reviving it , what I do know is it is dead . We had the chance to make it bigger . We were doing Azonto when we suddenly switched to Trap which is cool but we shouldn ’ t forget what we started . We could probably
have had Azonto as a category on Ghana Music Awards or something but no , we threw it all away . CSM : YOUR TOP 5 RAPPERS IN GHANA . BLJ : I ’ m second to none but I will say Sarkodie , Medikal , Kwesi Arthur , D-Black and Strongman . CSM : DID YOU FOLLOW STRONGMAN ’ S ‘ BEEF ’ WITH MEDIKAL ? BLJ : No , but it got to my desk . CSM : WHAT HAPPENED TO SKILLIONS ? BLJ : We ’ re in our 30s now . We didn ’ t split ; we just spread out our wings . It wasn ’ t because we had issues . We just went out there to spread the Hip Hop message . CSM : WILL THERE BE A SKILLION REUNION ? BLJ : Yeah , there will . We have already started putting things together to make that happen . CSM : IT ’ S BEEN GREAT TALKING TO YOU . BLJ : Yeah , same here . Thanks for having me here .
32 | Colossium . July 2020