You can check the original post with pictures here: http://poshkidcharming.com/open-letter-advice-to-the-upcoming-artiste/

These days when I meet someone for the first time or I get introduced to someone and I ask them what they do, the reply I get most times is “I am an upcoming artiste.” That word has been so overused these days that I do not know who is upcoming again, who is already there and who is going to be there.

With the usual habit of we Nigerians, we have overpopulated the music industry and this is due to two simple reasons; everybody wants to be famous and everybody want to be rich. With the likes of Wizkid, Omawumi, Olamide, Waje, 2 Face, Tiwa Savage, D Banj, and some others having had major success in music, it is no surprise that many Nigerian youths feel they need to venture into music to be just as successful. It saddens me when I see people with so much potential in other endeavours of life wasting their time and energy struggling to be a musician. Don’t people just get it that music is not meant for everyone, even people with a croaky frog voice like myself will be deluding themselves that they got what it takes to be good musicians, well with the wonders of auto tune these days, I guess they got hope. Below I have listed some reasons why you may never achieve that dream of becoming successful as a musician.

So you can sing and you have got a great voice? Hurray, congratulations to you (eyes rolling), but so can a million other Nigerians so what make your voice so special that you think just because you can sing that is enough reason for you to go into music? Having a good voice only isn’t going to make you ‘blow’ and suddenly become a household name; yes you may even win some music contest with your fabulous voice but believe me that isn’t going to get you far if you don’t have other ingredients in you. Take the example of certain past reality show winners that we haven’t heard of ever since they won. The likes of Chidinma (Miss Kedike), Iyanya, Omawunmi, Timi Dakolo may have used music contest platforms to push themselves but ask them if that’s all it takes to become successful. Some voices were meant to be for the benefit of just your friends and family, don’t serenade us with bad music just because you got a voice!

Get a job because being an upcoming musician does not cut it for me. You need money to push your music if you are ever to be successful as a musician. You sit your butt down at home and tell people you are an artiste yet you have an empty bank account. How you going to shoot a music video if your song becomes a commercial success? How you going to pay the bloggers, radio stations, television stations and other media channels, PR persons and even the management that are supposed to be in charge of you? These people got bills to pay too and you don’t expect free services from them; till you ‘blow’ you need to get your shit together and get to work. They complain about how hard it is for them to get their songs onto top websites or get hyping from bloggers with good followership on their blogs and I ask, do these people use stone to pay their own bills? Does the radio and television station run for free, or do those that work there operate as robots?

Which brings me to the next issue, many of these people don’t even have a management and they call themselves artistes. You are not willing to pay for a proper manager or management yet you complain about the stress involved in pushing your music. Nothing good comes easy and a tree doesn’t make a forest. Even if you aren’t going to be paying them in six figures, appreciating their efforts isn’t going to do you harm. Do you think Wizkid just came out on his own and started shouting ‘Holla at Your Boy’ at us? Or Davido just decided one morning that Nigerians had to listen to ‘Dami Duro’ that brought him into limelight? There were people behind their success stories and they may have talent oozing out of their core but if they didn’t have the right support behind them then believe me they will be obscure names and figures trying to promote their music. Many people have complained of how Davido supposedly used his father’s wealth to push his music, well it’s about time you used something else to sell your own music too if you ever want to be taken seriously?

Furthermore, I cringe inside when I see an upcoming act not even able to string together a single correct sentence of English and yet they want to become celebrities. Get the money first before you throw your grammatical blunders at us so that when fans correct you, only then can you say that ‘broke people think they have an opinion’ (lol just kidding). Whatever the case may be and whatever genre of music you may be into, be it rapping, RnB, pop, hip hop, soul, jazz or even Fuji, please, please and please do try to get a good education. You can see some of the shameful errors of some so called celebs that have had fans attacking them mercilessly.

Last advice to you before I stop typing and poking my nose into your business which I know do not concern me anyway, be humble to your fans. You won’t get very far if as an upcoming act you put on unnecessary airs, the fans are what makes you and it only takes enough hatred from them to start tearing down your career. They made you who you are and you should never lose focus of that. Everybody loves 2 Face and keeps marveling at his humility despite being one of the top notch musicians in Africa. Till you win a Grammy, be yourself and remain humble so that the Grammy you end up winning does not end up being the one that will be given to you by your granny.
Signed
Poshkid Mr. Gidigenius