In an interview with Joy Prime, an Accra-based publication, Okyeame Kwame stated that the reason most creatives turn to drugs is that they don’t want to confront their issues head-on.
Okyeame Kwame claims that many artists block out these kinds of thoughts with drugs, alcohol, and sexual relations.
Okyeame Kwame reveals why some Ghanaian artistes resort to drugs and sex addiction
“All of your troubles will instantly enter your head if you close your eyes and sit still for ten seconds. due to the fact that your brain is constantly trying to find a solution to your issue. Thus, as soon as you remain silent, all of your issues surface.
“That is why people are always trying to watch a movie, always trying to read a book, trying to talk to somebody, trying to have sex, trying to drink alcohol, and trying to smoke something to divert their brains from dealing with their problems.
“And that is the time when artistes are not willing to sit down quietly for their thoughts to punish them. But immediately they feel the problems come up, they take it, and then all the problems will go away because they have numbed their pain receptors…” he said.
Okyeame Kwame described his own struggle with depression and how he spent a year in meditation as a way to cope.
Okyeame Kwame claims that doing so gave him the opportunity to consider his ideas and ultimately produced his popular “Made in Ghana” album.
“Somebody else could have resorted to becoming a sex addict to fulfill the emptiness or becoming a drug addict to fulfill the emptiness. But I let it beat me up. I sat down quietly for one year. I didn’t make any music, I didn’t go anywhere, I didn’t pick up my phone calls. I took my phone away for one year.
“I stopped everything and I sat down quietly, and went into meditation. So it was immediately after that [period] that I made the ‘Made in Ghana’ album,” he said.
Okyeame Kwame counseled other artists to welcome the solutions that arise from such ideas rather than dismissing them.