Ghanaian singer and songwriter, Akwaboah, has revealed that it was financial desperation, not ambition, that first led him to discover his gift for songwriting.
In a recent interview with MX24 TV, Akwaboah shared how being broke forced him to consider selling one of his songs just to make ends meet. “I didn’t even know that I could write songs until I was broke,” he said. “So, I actually wanted to sell one of my songs.”
At the time, he approached Kiki Banson, then-manager of songstress Becca, hoping for a quick transaction. But what Akwaboah expected to be a simple deal took a surprising turn. “I spoke to Kiki… Kiki was like, ‘Do you know the song you have written?’ And I said, ‘I have done my song and just want to sell it.’ Kiki said he was not buying the song. He told me he needs to promote me and promote the song so that people would know that you know how to write songs and then they can come and that would be another way of making money,” Akwaboah recalled.
Rather than purchase the song outright, Banson offered his support. He gave Akwaboah some money to keep him afloat and arranged for the track to be professionally produced.
That song became ‘Daa Ke Da’, performed by Becca, and it turned out to be a breakthrough moment. “We went to the studio, Kwame Yeboah produced the song, Becca sang, it became a hit and then anywhere Becca goes she started talking about it from interview to interview. That’s where the industry started seeing Akwaboah behind the scenes but by then I didn’t even have a song out. So, I actually won an award without having a song out,” he said.
The early success opened doors for Akwaboah, but it also gave him insight into a long-standing issue within the music industry: the erasure of songwriters. Despite their central role in crafting hits, many remain uncredited and uncelebrated.
“I went for an interview and they asked why I had stopped writing for people; I’ve not stopped writing but now it feels like even if you do it, there’s no credit,” he lamented. “They would mention a name, they would go for the award, they would say I thank God, I thank my team and then that’s it, they don’t give credit to the songwriter,” the ‘Mesan Agye Wo’ composer added.
Watch his remarks below.
“I realized I could write music when I became broke.” – @AkwaboahMusic
— MX24 TV (@mx24gh) July 8, 2025
He spoke to @miriamumensah on #TheAmClub #mx24gh #funfearlessfactual pic.twitter.com/I7Qu54NbJX
