Ugandan dancehall artiste A Pass believes he is the greatest artiste Uganda has ever seen. If you think this is the most ridiculous thing you have read in your lifetime, you are not alone. Early this week, the Twitter streets were awash with angry people bashing the singer for calling himself, “the greatest artiste in Uganda”. Obviously there were also a few who thought the cyber attack on the artiste was unfair and A Pass was simply preaching “self-belief”. This is laughable though. But which self belief is this honestly? Believing in yourself and your craft is good. It is good for confidence. Believing that you are the best at it while throwing your perceived greatness into people’s faces is another story. It is arrogance. It is even worse when the artiste belittles the fans who do not see it the way he does. A Pass believes he is the ‘greatest artiste ever’ and whoever does not see it this way is a hater. The nerve on this boy!
I know many successful people who have so much self confidence but do not go around rubbing their success in everyone’s face. Even Cristiano Ronaldo, the Real Madrid superstar who has always been accused of arrogance has never come out to proclaim that he is the greatest footballer ever yet he has a strong claim. Dude has broken all sorts of records but is still quiet and working hard as ever.
It is worrying for a young artiste to have an inflated ego. This music industry is no joke. It has swallowed some of the most talented guys and you can be sure that an arrogant artiste would not survive for long. Humility is everything in this business. These Ugandans do not have time. One day they are jamming to your music and before you know it, they have moved on. It does not matter if you have the hottest music; these guys will ignore you like you never existed. Some of you artistes should respect your craft enough to guard it well and your fans too. One, two hits do not make you a legend.
Maddoxx Ssematimba has made some of the greatest songs you will ever hear by a Ugandan musician in the recent past but is still grounded. Now where does that leave this A Pass boy?
Anyway, these upcoming artistes who land a few hits and go around with airs need to leave us in peace. Maybe it is our mistake that we give them too much attention. People, let’s stop feeding these artistes’ egos by playing along to their whims. They thrive on it. Right now I even feel like the biggest idiot for even penning this. Such people should be ignored. If you are out there and you start to feel like your success is getting to your head, please ignore those thoughts.
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