Dee’A calls fro change from event organisers and for his fellow artists to put their foot down and stop accepting anything.
Gospel artist Dee’A recently took to his social media to share his grievances with how artists of his genre are treated as opposed to secular artists in the same space. The singer who is also part of duo Franklin and Dee’A made reference to an incident that he recently experienced where he says because of his genre, he was discriminated against as if they ( gospel artists) do not go through the same expenses as secular artists. According to the singer, he was asked to perform at a certain institution to for free and eventually get paid the at the next performance. The institution, however, did not keep their word and instead told him that there was no payment for him as the budget does not allow.
“Where we went wrong is that we haven’t put a difference between familiarity and professionalism. How? “Because I know Dee’A, I can talk him into not charging, “we will pay him with popularity and God bless you”, from the artist side I will say yes because if I insist to get paid I’ll be seen as too prideful,” he expressed.
Dee’A further said that organisers need to understand that times have changed and that gospel music is not as it was in the past.
“Gospel is not a genre, it can be preached through Kwaito, rap/Hip hop, reggae, RnB or Afropop it’s a lifestyle it’s who we are, not what we do. The same way you weigh the price of Tate Buti it’s the same way you should with Maranatha or Franklin and Dee’A, because the same studio Tate Buti recorded is the same studio Franklin and Dee’A are coming from and they both paid the same fee,” he said.
As much as event organisers need to get with the program, the singer also urged his fellow genre musicians to be truthful and stop playing nice.
” On top of that gospel artists must stop playing hypocritical, we tell the people that it’s okay I will minister for free, but behind doors we are complaining that I wasn’t paid, I don’t have food at home and so on, and backstage I’m zularing taxi money from Dee’A, when the people who called you were supposed to cater for that. We are putting in work and quality stuff now, we are not playing games, gospel music is not just hymns now, it has evolved, but the message of Jesus Christ and The Cross remains the same.”
