I don’t have a problem with Kuami Eugene’s ‘Highlife King’ accolade – Kwabena Kwabena

Highlife musician Kwabena Kwabena has stated he is not worried about the ‘highlife king’ status that was conferred on Kuami Eugene during the 2019 Ghana Music Awards.

Asked if his decision not to be involved with the award scheme stems from the Kuami Eugene crowing moment, he answered in the negative.

Kwabena Kwabena who has resolved not to take part in the TGMA again said in an interview with DJ Slim

“As a matter of fact, I didn’t have any issue with what the legend Amakye Dede did and with time he has come to speak to what actually transpired and everything that happened around the whole ceremony.

And for me, I am an artiste, I enjoy music. I don’t care about who is king or who is queen or who is a linguist. I only care about the art and its beauty. Kwame Eugene is a fine artiste and he has done some really great pieces out there. He is exciting and all of that. I can’t have a problems with the fact that Nana Amakye decided to crown him. I don’t have a problem with that,” he said.

In 2023, highlife legend Amakye Dede said in an interview on Asaase Radio that he was forced to confer the said title on Kuami Eugene during the 2019 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards after the latter had won the Highlife Artiste of the Year award.

“Although I did that [crowned him], it was not my will to do that but they forced me to crown the boy. That’s the reason I did that,” he said.

“Even the crown they gave to me to put on his head, I gave it to someone to place it somewhere. But later, they gave it back to me to adorn him with it,” Amakye Dede further stated in the interview.

This is the first time Amakye Dede has passed a comment on this matter even though his manager Kwasi Aboagye of Peace FM gave the same explanation when the incident happened in 2019.

In one of Kwasi’s reports, he intimated that Kiki Banson, a member of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards Board and a coordinator of the event at the time, was the one that asked Amakye Dede to carry out the exercise on Kuami Eugene.For a lot of people, Kuami Eugene, although a hardworking and promising highlife artiste, was not ripe for the crown. They considered the act as premature and injurious to the future of the burgeoning highlife musician.

Speaking to JoyNews, Kuami Eugene refuted the rumours that the act was planned, adding that, it rather served as a blessing to him.