Fear of turning 40, losing $80k got me depressed – Okyeame Kwame

Ghanaian music sensation, Kwame Nsiah-Apau, known professionally as Okyeame Kwame has not too long ago opened up about a challenging period in his life, revealing how the fear of turning 40 in 2016 led him into a state of depression.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with media personality Bola Ray on Starr FM’s Starr Chat the ‘Small Small’ rapper asserted that he feared his ideas would be old and his relevance in the music industry would be no more.

In the words of the crooner; ”I was 39 and turning 40 years. I had written an article on my fear of the big four zero and almost everything that I feared…that I will lose my audience share, and then I’m going to be old, my ideas will be old, what are young people listening to, and observing that the average age of the Ghanaian is between 21 to 27 years. I’m thinking I’m going to lose it. I remember that when I was much younger I used to ask my Mom how old are you and she’ll say 40 years and I will respond you’re too old,”

Okyeame continued by saying; ”It is not just the fear of approaching 40, but the manifestation of what I was afraid of. Going to organize an event, but people are not coming. At that time, you know that the work we are doing is based on a social validation system, how many Instagram likes you get, how many people shared, and business investors are interested in those figures and saying that your worth is based on that external validation. Stupid as I was, I made it get it to me.”

The multiple award-winning singer and songwriter went on to reveal that losing an amount of $80,000 which he invested in his music business also contributed to his depression. He added that it took him a whole year to recover.

”I had invested a lot of money in my career that didn’t work. I put up billboards, I did rebranding and it didn’t work. I lost about $80,000. So that one, plus the shows not coming, plus my fear of the 40 years…the cock came home to roost. All the little things…so I felt inadequate, I am nothing, I am a nobody,” he emphasizied.