237showbiz hooked up with US based rapper and producer  Gaëlo and he had some interesting things to say about the  Camer music industry. Enjoy the interview below.

 

237 Sowbiz: Tell us, who is Gaëlo?

Gaëllo: Gaëlo, otherwise known as Buea City’s Finest is a Cameroonian artist and record producer with multiple projects in the Kamer music market. Was born in Buea and did most of my schooling there. I currently reside in the USA but man na still Buea boy 100% regardless of where I’m at. I’m very passionate about music and it’s something I do every single day- can’t do without it.

237 Showbiz: People do music for the Passion, Money or Fame. Where do you fall?

Gaëllo: I do music for the passion of it. I’ve been making music for over 7 years now and I only started making money from it 2 years ago, which shows that music is something I will do even if I never made any money from it. I’m just so passionate about it.

237 Showbiz: What is like for you to be based in the diaspora and making music with your fellow country men? I’ll assume Cameroon is your sole audience for now.

Gaello: Cameroon is my primary audience because first of all I am 100% Cameroonian- also I decided to make it that way because those are the people who relate most to my stories, my lingo and my accent.

Working with home based artists is an exciting experience and when the song comes out, it doesn’t even look like we’re in different localities, it just sounds like it’s a group of dope Kamer artists delivering great content.

237 Showbiz: Let’s talk about your EP, ”This Is Gaëllo EP” It is available for free, still you had featurings from TILLA and Skidi Booy and Al-K did they charge you for verses?

Yes, my This is Gaëlo EP is available for free on Bandcamp.com. I had very dope features on it. For some of the featured artists, I spent money, and some where free. I don’t mind spending the money as long as I get an excellent performance from the featured act which I was blessed to have on all the features on my EP. To be specific, on the features where I spent money, they technically didn’t charge me for verses, I just paid for their studio sessions.

237 Showbiz: I had to listen to your EP again before the interview, not a single sentence in French. Don’t you think you’re heading to doom since French seems to be the key nowadays?

Gaello: Hahahahha! “heading to doom ma @**” … there’s that debate now going on in the industry of whether it’s good for English artists to use French before they can succeed; to me that’s nonsensical. How does Flavor, who sings in Igbo, come to Cameroon and thousands of people pay to come see him, same as Wizkid, Yemi Alade, Davido etc etc?… If Drake comes to Yaoundé, he will fill up Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium and more than 85% of the audience will be French speaking Cameroonians. We all know Drake sings exclusively in English! That clearly shows that I DON’T have to sing in French to be successful, and mind u, I do speak French fluently as I lived in Yaoundé for 4 years before travelling abroad. This thing is an inferiority complex issue, saying that since the French speaking zone is the larger audience, then you must sing in French to succeed. Do you know that Stanley Enow sings more than 75% in English and/pidgin and he’s a big name in Camer? Do you know that Psy’s “Gangam style” which was a world class hit song was sang in a language that more than 75% of people who love it don’t even understand what he saying? So, the main thing here is delivering a great product in whatever language you chose to deliver it in, and it will be loved and accepted.  I can go on and on regarding this topic, but I want to avoid saying something controversial….

See ehh, you know what? Lemme just say it… Salatiel and Alpha Beta records is the biggest person/group I hold responsible for making English speaking artists feel the need to sing in French meanwhile they don’t have to. Over there, it looks like he, their boss, strictly insists that his artists MUST sing in French. See Blaise B who rarely used French, now na e that don di pack am inside e songs. Same tin with the female rapper. Even Daphne too, e be di sing in complete English till she started working with the boss Salatiel then she converted to using majority French. Granted, they produce GREAT music and they are successful at what they do, but this success doesn’t only come because they use French- it comes because they’ve got connections and a team that heavily pushes their music to give it such success. There are countless English songs that will have the same success if they had that same support system behind the song… see ehh, make I stop for here, I di over tok.

237showbiz: What’s your charge per beats as a music producer?

Gaello: Artistes who are under The Gaëlo Outcome aren’t charged for beats because those are my artistes and I’m investing in them because their success is equally my success. I will charge others for beats as most producers do of course, but really, I don’t want to say the amount because it isn’t fixed. It depends on who it is. Like, for a bigger artist, I could charge more, for a smaller artist, less.

237 Showbiz: Who is your Kamer celebrity crush?

Kamer celebrity crush: Mani Bella.

237 Showbiz: ASKIA vs TILLA shoot one!

Gaello: Askia VS Tilla: Hahahaha… di man, you asking tricky questions ehh… Tilla is my favorite Kamer female MC right now, so Askia has to go.

237 Showbiz: Which Kamer artistes would you like to work with and why?

Gaello: I generally will like to work with any Kamer artist who I think does a good job, and most importantly, they can fit perfectly with the concept I have for a song. You know, an artist might be good by himself, but he won’t be good for the type of song I might want to make. So yea, I will work with those who fit a particular concept at the particular time when I want to make a song. Implies that there are many names, I don’t want to name the obvious names that everyone always says when asked this same question.

237 Showbiz: The Kamer industry keeps moving forward, then takes two steps backward every time. In your opinion, what’s the cause of this setbacks?

Gaello: I think the Kamer music industry is making progress. At least it’s better than what it was 2 years ago. We just need to have better organization, infrastructure and better business. We more importantly need more support from the fans and media personalities, both online media and traditional media.

237 Showbiz: Your TOP 5  rappers from Camer?

Gaello: Top 5: I could name my top 5 of all time which will be: Krotal, Jovi, Valsero, Sir Nostra and Killamel.

But talking about the new generation: Tenor, Maxtor, Skidi Boy, Tilla, and Gaëlo.

237 Showbiz: You recently produced Kossa by Ale Myz, where did the inspiration come from?

Gaello: The inspiration came from old school Cameroon Makossa. It was during a period when Ale Myz and I were listening to a lot of old school Makossa and really enjoying it and feeling bad that we no longer have much of that type of music coming out of Camer in recent times. Because we were so much into the old school makossa that time, it inspired us to come up with Ale Myz’s “KOSSA”, Kossa which really just means, a song that reminds us of ‘Makossa.’

237 Showbiz: More details about ”The Gaëllo Outcome” (TheGO) is it a label or a household name?

Gaello: The Gaëlo Outcome is currently a music production house which will grow into a complete record label with time. We currently have 2 artists already on the Kamer music scene, and some others who are not developed enough to come out yet. Over 30 songs have already been released by The Gaëlo Outcome in a span of only 2 years and about 5 more songs are dropping this month! That shows you that we work very hard here and we do music A LOT, so we’ve got so much content.

237 Showbiz: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Gaello: I see myself in a way better place 5 years from now. I personally, and the whole team will be a household name in the industry by then.

237 Showbiz: Are Kamer music artistes/producers creative or copycats?

Gaello: Unfortunately, so many Kamer artists and producers are copycats. They copy trends forgetting to realize that trends do fade away, so when the current trend fades out, they will disappear with it! Secondly, someone who copies trends will never be remembered after they’re gone, only people who created something different are remembered. Won’t you get bored of listening to a playlist of 100 songs that all sound the same? So yea, we need diversity, so artists and producers need to believe in themselves and create standout material which will catch our interest from the mere fact that it doesn’t sound like anything else.

237 Showbiz: Buying views and Likes has become the order of the day, is this some kind of a strategy? Would you buy views if yes or no, why?

Buying likes and views is a laughable practice that is getting popular in the Kamer music scene recently. Even some of our major artists are buying views- it’s sad. I usually say this; you can buy all the likes and views you want in the world, the REAL JUDGMENT day is when you organize a show and charge CFA2,000 for entry and let’s see how many people show up…. Na for dey weh u go gree match… u go confem say all those bots that like your posts online or give u fake views, they can’t buy tickets. It was in the past that they used to use views and likes to judge an artist- these days, it’s judged based on the number of people who come to see you, and who are willing to pay for your craft. My artist Ale Myz doesn’t have the largest views on YouTube, but I don’t want to tell u how much money she makes offline, from selling CDs, to performances and farotage.. then some pipo go come online dey brag about their fake views meanwhile they got empty pockets. Anyha, that one na their business.

237 Showbiz: Your (Kamer Producer) role model?

Gaello: Kamer producer role models: Dj Kriss and Jovi

237 Showbiz: Consistency seems to be a problem for some music artistes, especially when they hit the jackpot with the first shot, what can you say about this?

Gaello: It’s unfortunate that certain Kamer artists don’t know how to profit from a buzz. I seen multiple who had a buzz from their single, then it took them more than a year to release a follow up song which was even mediocre quality and they unfortunately had lost their buzz. Artists should realize that when u have a buzz is instead the time when u have the most work to do, cuz you should be creating a follow up to drop within like 1 or 2 months after the previous one cuz a buzz needs something to keep it alive. If you don’t drop exciting content as u did before, the buzz fades away and might go to a different artist. It will be EXTREMELY hard for you to just get it back like that.

237 Showbiz: Would you stop music if that was a rhetorical question from your wife to be when you’ve proposed to her?

Gaello: I go tell am say “madame, now I see that you are not the one for me, bye! I’m not stopping music for no body b!***”

237 Showbiz: One word for upcoming artistes who feel neglected.

Gaello: Even if you feel neglected, just keep working and doing the best you can do. Remember to focus more on your fans and less on critics or detractors cuz it is the fans who will buy your music, not critics. Even if you’ve got just 10 fans, make such great content that those 10 will be proud of you and that’s how they will introduce you to more people and na so you go di increase fan base small small, small small.

237 Showbiz: Thanks for accepting our invitation hope to have you again in the future.

Gaello: You’re welcome- thanks for having me. I’m already excited for the next interview. 237ShowBiz.com is currently to me the best blog for Kamer music so I’m always excited to talk to you guys.

Interviewed by:

Victor Kange

(#NaTengiYesu)

 

 

Enjoy his latest Project  This is Gaëlo