There is an ongoing debate of who the top 20 or 50 best rappers are, veteran music producer, Hammer, says rapper Sarkodie should be made a course to study in schools.
Speaking in an interview, the producer explained that Sarkodie has achieved something many Ghanaian musicians have not.
“He’s been number one consistently from day one up till now,” he said.
Hammer added that “He’s never compromised on his brand, never followed the hype, never did what was in the books and still survived. Basically, he has disrupted the industry and has become a special case.”
However, entertainment critic, Ola Michael says the educational curriculum cannot have Sarkodie as a course but some aspects of his life can be picked and targeted as a case study for some courses.
According to Ola, there are parts of Sarkodie’s career that can be studied in areas like Literature and Musicology.
He further stated that because of rap’s “violent” history, many educationists have been hesitant adding lyrics or pieces from rap songs.
What many of them forget, according to him, is that rap has rhythm and deeper meanings behind the words that can also be studied like other literary works.
“If you take the beats out of Sarkodie or M.anifest’s rap songs and write the lyrics down, you are reading poetry. That can be taken into the literature curriculum and have Sarkodie’s songs studied as literary pieces,” he explained.
Ola Michael added that people who are studying brand and brand sustenance can also choose Sarkodie’s style and how his brand has evolved, as a case study.
“But we cannot have Sarkodie as we know as an educational curriculum. Also, he cannot be in the curriculum for every stage,” he added.
Sarkodie often raps in his native language Twi and is considered a “multifaceted rapper” due to the various musical styles he possesses.
He was ranked 8th on Forbes and Channel O’s 2013 and 2015 list of the Top 10 Richest/Bankable African artistes.
