Worlasi
To make money, one must serve, Worlasi has asserted.
The rapper, singer-songwriter and film composer said he learned this from American executive producer and record producer Frederick Jay Rubin, alias Rick Rubin.
"I've been following Rick Rubin for a long time, and he says things that make me understand how these things work.
"To be a businessman - because I was [just] entering into the business aspect [of the creative arts] - I understood that you have to serve people to make money. You have to be able to serve people. One I understood that, I was creating from a perspective of [service]."
According to Worlasi, he saw how true this was when he released his last but one tape, the.Rap.Y.
Mainly, he noted, the seven-track EP was to help people battling mental health problems, and creatives grappling with creatives block, but simulteneously, the project brought in much funds, against all odds.
The.Rap.Y was created "because everywhere I went, everybody was talking about mental health. Europe, and everywhere I went. Grown men, women, kids, young people, suicides, all these things.
"And I was like: 'Oh, this is a problem, let me touch on it'.
"There was a time in my life also where I was also down, a lot, like very, very down and I was like: 'I'm tired, I'm done, I can't be doing this anymore, going up and down, I'm tired'."
"And for like a week," he revealed, he decided "to break this thing down" to "find out why I'm going through this, how I always get out of it, because it happens most often, you manage to walk out of that darkness by yourself".
The Mawena hitmaker said while the creation of the project was certainly therapeutic, "honestly, we did not believe in this project" and its commerical viability "because I [was] rapping too much" as against singing.
The consolation, he stressed, was "using these songs to tell people how I come out of my creative blockages, so that it can also help other people".
Unexpectedly, but very much welcome, Worlasi Langani said: "All of a sudden, we started getting calls from left, right, [centre]".
He said it was surreal to see that the idea of "serving people actually helped".
The experience, he added, also "reminded" him to "create what I want because it helps me and helps others".
Worlasi was speaking with Amelley Djosu when she visited his home for Accra-based Joy Prime's Celeb Biz programme.
While the.Rap.Y was released in April 2023, the latest offering from Worlasi was released in November 2023, a six-track EP titled Angry African, on which the artiste protests against crooks in politics and governance.
On Saturday, December 23, he teams up with his current favourite collaborators, the band Senku Live, in another epic performance for fans at the Alliance Francaise amphitheatre in Airport City, Accra.