May 30, 2025 • 77 mins
What happens when talent meets hardship? Dance God's journey from rejection to global recognition reveals the transformative power of perseverance.
From the moment DanceGod sits down with Derrick Abaitey on Konnected Minds Podcast, raw emotion permeates his storytelling. He describes the isolation he felt after leaving his former dance crew—facing public ridicule, depression, and questioning his path forward. Yet this darkness preceded his brightest moments. When an unexpected call from Dubai led to choreographing for the UAE government during his lowest point, it confirmed what he had always believed: his gift was meant for something greater.
Dance God doesn't shy away from discussing exploitation in the creative industry. "I've done a lot of dance challenges that were viral for years, and I made no money," he shares, explaining how artists benefited from his creativity while he struggled financially. This honesty unveils the business education many talented performers learn too late. His 2023 decision to demand proper compensation marks a turning point not just for himself, but potentially for dancers across Africa.
The founding of Dance Grow Live Academy represents more than just a new beginning—it's Dance God's vision for legacy. With nearly 30 talented performers under his guidance, he's building something designed to outlast his own career. "I want to see them take care of their families through dance. I want to see them inspire their communities," he explains, revealing that true success lies not just in personal achievement but in creating pathways for others.
With over 5 million followers across social platforms and collaborations with global icons like Beyoncé, Dance God's story demonstrates what's possible when talent meets opportunity. Yet his most powerful message transcends dance itself: "Start now. Nothing is too late." Whether you're building a career in arts, business, or any creative pursuit, this conversation will inspire you to recognize your worth and pursue your passions without compromise.
Watch the video episode of this on YouTube - https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've done a lot of dance challenges that were viral
for years and I made no money.
I was disturbed, I wasdepressed, I was thinking
differently.
I felt like I lost myself.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
What was that moment that made you think, wow.
Looking back and where I am now.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I've made it.
I remember I got a call fromworking with artists.
They always wanted to ask me to, and it's crazy and I keep
questioning myself like why?
What lessons did you learn?
They also taught me a lesson, abig lesson, when the artists
are.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
If somebody is starting out, especially the
young people in your group, howcan they put themselves together
so that they get what theydeserve?
Hello and welcome to ConnectedMinds Podcast, and I'm your host
, derek Abaite, and today wehave an electrifying story that
(01:10):
I think would leave you inspired.
Imagine going from a low pointand being featured in a video
with Beyonce.
So today I'm going to bespeaking with Dance God, and
this, our guest, has gone frombeing laughter to becoming
Ganesh Musot.
After dancer, he co-founded adance academy that is changing
(01:33):
the lives of millions of people.
He's also set himself on a pathof starting his own dance
academy.
Look, this episode is packedwith lessons of perseverance,
how you can turn your passioninto profit and staying true to
your vision.
So, whether you are commutingin the busy traffic times of
(01:54):
Accra or you are jogging inNairobi, stay tuned, because
today's conversation is going toshift your mindset about
chasing your dreams.
You're welcome to this podcast.
Thank you, my brother.
How are you doing?
Thank you, I'm doing very fine.
So today I just want to go rightin, straight in, okay, and my
first question is what was thatmoment that made you think, wow,
(02:16):
looking back and where I am now, I've made it.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Wow, that's a good question.
I've never been asked thatquestion.
It's always like what's yourbreakthrough?
But I remember I got a callfrom someone in Nigeria and the
person wanted me to be a part ofan art in Dubai.
(02:43):
So the people recommended mefrom Ghana.
I was the only artist fromGhana called for that.
We were there for like a weekand when I got to my hotel room
I actually teared up.
It's like wow, from AssignmentAll the way to dubai, uae, and
(03:06):
I'm going to be an in an adthat's going to project dubai.
That's crazy, that's madness.
That's when I I was like nah,god is taking me on on a
different path and it's not just, it's just to inspire other
people the young ones.
Because it's just to inspireother people the young ones,
because at that moment I hadnobody in my life, it was just
(03:28):
me.
I didn't even know where to go,who to talk to, I was just
praying and then I got thatmessage, so like it made me feel
some type of way about life,you know, and being consistent,
because I was just hopeful atthat point.
I didn't have anybody, I didn'thave nobody to talk to, I was
(03:50):
just dancing and hopeful.
And then I got the chance to befeatured.
I was with one lady called KopiAziat from Nairobi, kenya, um
aziat from niger, um nairobi,kenya, and um nadia kai from
south africa.
(04:11):
These are the three people thatwere in the ad and, bro, it's
amazing like how that changed mylife and my perception about
life.
I feel like I never.
Let me put it this way.
I want to be very particularwith my words.
(04:32):
I just knew I could dance.
I knew I could move to therhythm of any song, but I didn't
know it was beyond dance.
I just thought I'll just dance,be in music videos, dance
behind artists because that waslike my mindset when I wanted to
(04:54):
dance, because that was theonly thing that I could do.
But fast forward me being achoreographer for an art shot in
Middle East.
That's crazy, that's different,that's mind blowing.
That's me moving to the nextlevel.
You get my point.
(05:15):
Like me shaking grounds, mechanging the whole dance, the
whole culture, the dance culture.
Now I got messages from Nigeria,south of like.
(05:36):
I got messages from almosteveryone that looked up to me
and used to text me.
Bro, we thought that was yourend, you know, and you doing
this.
That means that we shouldn'tgive up, we shouldn't look down
on ourselves, we shouldn'tbelittle the little talent that
(05:57):
god has given us.
Bro, and he paid.
Well, I'm not even going to lielike I mean that money's gonna.
It's still there, you know,like I still have some money in
my account from that project.
So that means that, likewhenever I'm talking about this
(06:17):
stuff, it makes me emotional.
Yeah, because I remember thatvery day when I had a call and I
remember the situation I was in.
What was that situation?
I had left a team.
There were news circulatingabout me being selfish, blah,
(06:38):
blah, blah.
No one wanted to look at me, noone wanted to have a
conversation with me, and thefact that I was not talking and
I was dancing.
I had not done any job in likeAbout A year.
In nine months Getting to ayear, I had not done any proper
job, something that's going tobring me a lot of money.
(07:03):
Then, boom, I get a call.
It's not like I've donesomething that's whole year that
I like is gonna, like you know,make me feel like, oh, at least
people are watching me becauseI've gone like low key.
So me getting that call, theguy was like I saw your video on
youtube and I think you're theright person for this job.
(07:26):
I googled your name.
I said I don't know anythingabout dance, I just googled your
name and then I actually wentthrough your social media and
like you fit in.
Wow, yes, I thought it was justthose people you know.
Sometimes you get calls frompeople and it ends there.
He called again the next weekand he was like bro, I'm going
(07:50):
to be in a Zoom meeting with you, with the people from the
government, the Dubai government, and you have to be ready.
You have to say somethingthat's going to make them want
to choose you Already.
An agency recommended me there,but the government wants to
(08:10):
know who this guy is and why Ibe choosing him.
I didn't even say anything.
I didn't say anything when wego on the call.
I just smiled and I was like myname is Downsville, I
introduced myself and that's it.
They were going to question me,ask me have I been to Dubai?
Do I think about what?
Do I think about Dubai?
(08:31):
They never asked me a question,they just asked me to introduce
myself and the next week I wasin Dubai.
Everything just moved fast, fast, yeah, fast.
I only believed, and I thinkbefore that I had done the dance
challenge for Kim PromiseTerminator and it was just
(08:53):
picking up.
So I didn't connect Terminatorto the fact that these people
are trying to reach out to me,you know.
So I questioned myself way toomany times and then I I was like
you know what is god's doing?
That's right, it is god, it canonly be god.
(09:13):
Because I had a lot of peoplethe media I had never I.
I had a lot of people trying toreach out to me for music
videos, interviews.
I didn't accept any of this.
I didn't grant any interview, Ididn't do any job.
I was trying to find myself.
Then, boom, this, wow wow.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So if somebody had told you 15 years ago that you
were going to be who you aretoday and you were going to be
in a music video with Beyonce,how would you have felt?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
at the time.
So I quite remember when I wasin high school I went to Persec
Ligon.
A senior walked up to me andwas like you're special.
You don't dance normal, like Iwatch people dance, but when you
dance I feel different.
I feel like you're going to dosomething great with dance.
(10:17):
You're going to be dancing withtop top icons.
I didn't really pay attentionto that.
I was like, okay, thank you.
And then I moved on.
But when I started using socialmedia, I realized everything
everybody was just were justgravitating to me.
(10:41):
People top top artists werefollowing me from nowhere and I
didn't even know what I wasdoing, you know.
So when I did the challenge forBeyonce, I just did it for
(11:02):
doing sick.
Yeah, because everyone wasexpecting dance Girl to jump on
the dance challenge.
So when I did it, I was like Iwas actually sick, right, I was
like let me just do it.
Something was telling me no,there's a reason why I'm feeling
sick on this day that I want todo the dance.
Let me just do it, whateverhappens.
I did it because I was feverish.
I did it in about 20, feverish.
(11:24):
I did it In about 20 minutesafter I had posted the views.
That was my highest views in avery long time.
At that moment, people were justtexting me, bro.
I had a lot of people messagingme, like people that I used to
look up to telling me why do Ihave a feeling you are going to
(11:48):
be in this music video?
Yeah, people say things.
We'll do a video tag ChrisBrown.
I'm like, oh yeah, I wish ChrisBrown would see this.
But about that particular songand that moment, I just felt
different.
So I did a video and I said ifBeyonce put me in this music
(12:11):
video, I'm going to walk acertain way.
I think I posted it on myInstagram and everyone was like
yeah, yeah, people were justmanifesting saying things on
Twitter, instagram, theirstories.
Then, boom, beyonce posted meand she made a collection and
then she put all of us in astory.
(12:32):
Wow, I'm like is this thingmanifesting?
Like, am I actually going to bein the music video?
So then I didn't say anything,not knowing her choreographer
the lead choreographer wasfollowing me and I didn't even
know.
So he sent me a message Quickly.
(12:55):
I followed him and I messagedhim back and he was like we are
going to try our very best toget you in the music video.
Within a week or two, I gotanother message from an amazing
videographer from.
He's a Ghanaian, but he livesin New York.
He messaged me like I'm comingto Ghana and I want to talk to
(13:17):
you about being in a music videofor being a Zipro, like that's
when everything started makingsense.
To me it's like that that youngguy from with big dreams wanted
to do something with dance,something change the perception
(13:38):
about dance in africa has beencalled out of the many dances in
Ghana to be in the music videofor Beyonce.
Nah, this is a calling.
Yeah, this is a calling.
This is a prophecy, becausewhen I was young, people used to
(14:01):
tell me like I like the way youdance.
They would call me to actuallycome and dance in their house,
their homes.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
But the interesting thing is that, even though you
love to dance, you're alsotrying to be a footballer.
Yeah, that's crazy, but thenyou see a lot of footballers
around this world who dance aswell.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Asamoah Jan is a good example of that.
So when I was very young Iexplored my world.
I used to play football, I usedto act and I used to do a
little bit of rap.
You know all those things withgroups who make a little circle
and one after the other, we rap.
(14:41):
Yeah, I used to play football,I used to dance, but for fun.
It was not my thing thing, itwas soccer that I wanted to do,
because obviously I've seen alot of people from my
neighborhood make it withfootball.
So I wanted to follow that path.
But god is different.
God is.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
God is the greatest now I just want to take you back
to the times where you wantedto be a dancer.
How did your family think aboutthat?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
My mom was cool because when I was young I did
something, I performed somewhere, and then they brought a lot of
money home.
Yeah, I got sprayed on withmoney.
So, yeah, and for like I thinkthree times they used that money
to pay my school fees.
It rang a bell in their head.
(15:32):
So this guy can do it.
Yeah, I believe him.
But my dad, it was verydifferent for him he wanted me
to go to one of the best schools.
You know I went to Persec.
He wanted schools.
You know I went to persegue.
He wanted me to take school.
Serious.
That's what a typical Ghanaianfather would do, you know, to
protect me.
So, yeah, he did not like theidea.
(15:54):
My mom, at a point she was okay,but I got to a point I was
moving very weird at home, soshe did not really support it
like that.
But she's a mother.
Yeah, I think I actually toldher.
Sat them down.
It takes a lot of courage toactually sit your parents down
and tell them about dance.
(16:15):
They'll be like, ah, so youactually made us sit here, took
out one hour to talk about dance, you know.
So I told them I want to dance,I will change.
I remember my words.
I was like whatever you putyour mind to, you can make it
(16:39):
happen.
Whatever you put your mind to,you can make it happen.
If it is whatever painting,whatever me, I believe that I
can do something with dance andI'm gonna make money out of it,
did you?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
did you not feel like you were disappointing them by
not following what they?
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I just had to gather courage.
I just had to be very hopeful.
I was like I was extremelypositive, extremely.
How do they feel about it now?
Now, like you said, we arestill in the process.
We are still living life.
I know a lot of people are onstandby to see how I'm going to
(17:22):
be like in the near future, butyou're not God.
God is in charge of everythingand me.
I believe that this thing I'mdoing is I'm not just doing it
for me, I'm doing it for a wholegeneration.
So I have to be very, verymindful of my movements and
everything I feel like.
Now.
They're super happy yeah, youare praying for me and they are
(17:47):
hoping that I do somethingbetter with the dance and the
opportunity and the grace that Ihave right now.
You know they are happy.
They are happy but they arestill scared.
You know, happy but scared.
Right, right, right.
You know of the outcome.
Yes, because the more I grow,the more I meet challenges as a
human being, as a talent, as abrand.
(18:10):
You know I'm going to getmarried.
I'm going to have kids.
You know, to get to that point,I won't be dancing anymore.
So all those things they adviseme about it.
We are more like buddies now.
We just talk about things to do.
Are more like buddies now.
We just talk about things to do, what not to do.
But in the beginning theydidn't really talk about
(18:31):
anything.
They didn't really care likethat.
Okay, maybe they cared, butthey didn't show signs.
You know how parents are.
Yeah, they didn't really showsigns.
But now they call me, theyadvise me on certain things
sometimes you know.
When they hear things about methat's like bad, they want to
know why and all those things.
(18:53):
Yeah, I'm super happy thatthrough dance I'm able to like
connect with them on a differentlevel, because me I didn't even
know I could have a longerconversation with my dad.
The longest conversation I hadwith my dad was when I was
telling him I wanted to dance.
We never had any, we never evencrossed paths Because he didn't
(19:15):
like the idea.
He didn't like the idea until Iwanted to like, until I think I
did.
I did a video with my mom andit went viral and I was like I
don't know, I'm personal likewhy don't?
you want to dance with me, right?
Why is it always my mom?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
so I introduced him and then I think, yeah, we came
close after that do you blameyour parents for taking the
stance that they did to makesure that you take the path that
they know has led tosustainable success for many
people?
Speaker 1 (19:57):
sometimes you have to be stubborn, sometimes go for
what your heart is telling you,but it has to be positive.
You know, had I not taken thisbold step, I wouldn't know that
I can actually ignore my parentsand do certain things.
Okay, you know, I feel like metrying to prove them wrong
(20:24):
brought me this far, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
So I just want to tell you something.
You are sitting in a space ofpassion, yeah, and I'm sitting
in a space of profession, yeah,in the sense that my father
wanted me to become a pharmacist, a doctor or a dentist.
Okay, I mean, you recall thatwe've had some dealings in the
(20:48):
past where I was trying to chasemy passion in music and it
didn't work out.
It didn't work out because itwasn't paying before, yeah, so
you know there was no supportcoming through, yeah, but a path
that was recommended for me bymy parents worked out massively.
(21:09):
So I'm just saying that it'sbeautiful to follow your passion
, especially, you know, you area good example of someone that's
followed their passion.
There are plenty people, butwhat are the chances of somebody
succeeding in the field of apassion?
What are the chances?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
I feel like I don't know.
I don't really know, but I gavemyself five years.
Even after five years, I don'tdo anything proper with dance.
I just quit and go and findsomething better to do.
You know, but I had had in me.
I realized that dance, dancewas the only thing that made me
(21:50):
feel free.
So I had to, I had to find ways, creative ways, ways that can
help me make money from dancingwithout any artists, any support
from any artists.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
It was challenging wow, if I take you back to the
entire process up until now,what do you think has been your
most darkest moment that madeyou feel like giving up?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
when I started getting backlashes from people
on the internet, backlashes frompeople on the internet about me
leaving my ex-dance crew.
They didn't know the story, soI don't know why everyone felt
like it was the truth, you know.
(22:41):
So I was disturbed, I wasdepressed, I was thinking
differently, I felt like I lostmyself.
You know my name the fame,because I was thinking about
fame at that moment.
I was thinking about so I'mgonna go like nobody's going to
see me again, you know.
(23:03):
But that actually helped me.
How did you bounce?
back from that.
It was my darkest moments, butmy blessing in disguise.
Like I started getting voicenotes from people I didn't even
know were looking out for me.
These were like like top people.
(23:25):
These were like top peoplesending me voice notes.
Some were calling Don't give up.
I've seen this before.
Some people leave teams andthat's the end.
Others also leave and theybecome different.
(23:46):
They become greater.
I remember my dad called me inthe middle of the night, like
midnight.
My dad does not call me at thattime.
He will not even call.
If I want to talk to my dad, Ihave to go through my mum, but
he called me.
If I want to talk to my dad, Ihave to go through my mom, but
(24:08):
he called me.
It's like all these thingshappen to the greatest.
Wow, that's been my motive.
Like it made me, like Iconnected a lot of dots.
Like anytime something happenedin my life, my dad would call
(24:28):
me.
I don't know how he finds out,maybe I'm in some, so he knows
me better.
Was like tough things.
Uh, there's a, there's a,there's a saying something I
forgot, but he said somethinglike that I.
It was like all these thingshappen to the greatest.
So just keep your head up, andit made me child.
(24:51):
I was like this in the beginning.
After that call, I was like I'mready for the world, let's go.
I started traveling after thattime, I started moving from one
place to the other.
I started doing crazy things.
I did a lot of like it's 2023,2024.
That's when I did like all mydance challenges went viral.
(25:13):
It was like I just needed torefresh my mind.
I was invited to a lot of homes.
People don't know about this,but people were inviting me to
their homes to talk to me.
They were worried To me.
I had nobody watching.
(25:34):
I felt like I left.
Everyone left me.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
But in 2023, 2024, I had everybody calling you felt a
sense of loneliness, I feltlike yes, for a very long time
it's like no, this is not me.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Imagine you have about 30 people you see every
day, you feel like they'refamily, and all of a sudden, all
those 30 people are against youor they are normal.
You don't see them.
Sometimes you see them, youcan't even get close because you
(26:12):
don't even know what's going on.
I had to put myself together.
I had to actually talk tomyself every day when I wake up.
Talk to myself, I pray, Get onthe road.
See, I steady the game,Self-actualization.
(26:34):
That's when I didn't even knowthat I could do so many things.
I didn't know.
I just thought, bro, I'm justdancing and you know if you like
it, fine.
If you don't like it, I'm'tknow.
I just thought, bro, I'm justdancing and you know if you like
it, fine, If you don't like it,I'm doing me.
I didn't know I can actuallyhave new people under my arms.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
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But if you haven't become partof the family, connect with us.
Hit the subscribe button Now.
Let's carry on the conversation.
(27:19):
You know when in QI, I think,there's a proverb that simply
translates to the person that isconstructing the road doesn't
know how bent or crooked it isbehind them.
You know, when you're under theleadership of someone and you
(27:46):
are a good observer, you're ableto see the mistakes of that
leader.
And some people what they tryto do is that they try to sit
with the leader to put forththose, will I say, complaints or
changes or whatever it is thatthey feel inside.
But some people do take a boldstep to say that, no, every
(28:10):
mistake that I'm seeing when Ibreak out, I'm going to make
mine better.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's absolutely nothingwrong with that.
As a matter of fact, the worldthrives on that.
People must think different anddo things differently.
That is the beauty of thisworld.
(28:30):
The different shapes, colorsforms.
What I really want to delveinto is the lessons you learned
from your previous group thatallowed you to start yours.
What lessons did you learn?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
My ex-dance group taught me a lot Discipline,
number one.
Two, love, unity.
Three, endurance.
That's the last one becausewhen I started my new team,
(29:14):
dance grow and live academy, Ijust knew there were a lot of
talents around the world inGhana, africa but I didn't know.
I didn't know, I didn't knowthat it's not just about talent.
I just thought it was talent,talent, talent.
I didn't know about it when Iwas in my previous.
(29:36):
I was just like I get a talent,we work.
Talent is talent.
You like talent, but you can bevery talented and still be
wherever you are.
You never move.
You need discipline, you needto be together, you need to love
each other, you need to be, youneed to have that zeal, that
(30:00):
anger in you, that fire.
That's how someone is gonnalike get attracted to you,
because they see the passion inyour eyes, even through, like
your movements, even when youlook at them.
In these days they call it aura.
I didn't know about all thesethings when I was in the past.
(30:24):
I just thought we were justdancing and having fun, people
were just loving us.
But when I, when I came out ofit it took me a while step by
step, started with 5 people.
Then I had 40 people.
(30:44):
Then it came down to 10.
That's suck.
A lot of people, okay, becausethey wanted the affiliation.
You didn't care about it.
That's how I'm a dance goodLord.
I'm okay doing all sorts ofweird stuff around.
So to dissolve everybody and Icalled 10.
(31:07):
The first five people I wasworking with those were my
people.
Then I added 10 more and itbecame 20.
Now we are almost 30.
And I feel like we are ready.
For the past two years we'vebeen moving step by step.
We are growing.
We are ready.
For the past two years we'vebeen moving step by step.
We're growing, we are fittingin, people are loving us, and
(31:32):
it's just two years.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Now, what I really want to understand is in the
previous interview where youspoke about you being a
co-founder in the previous group.
Now, how did you guys in thebeginning decide who the leader
was going to be?
Speaker 1 (31:49):
decide who the leader is going to be.
Yeah, we did not decide, we dideverything.
We, we gave each other a role.
Huh, what was your?
My role was to fish the talents.
Okay, and because I'm like morelike you know, have too much
(32:11):
energy, I did extra.
Okay, like we go on stage andI'm like you know, I I used to
like motivate them a lot,because sometimes someone will
come to dance class and he orshe is not in a good mood
because maybe his dad or her dadsaid something, went and found
(32:33):
a job to do.
Why are you always dancing?
So I have to always motivatethem, psych them up.
So I was more like that, but Idon't think you chose a leader.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Were you happy with the leadership?
Speaker 1 (32:47):
there were a lot of things that we could work on,
but you know, working in a groupis it's like sometimes you have
to be a fool that was good.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
do you feel like there was more you could have
done in that group that you didnot do?
Yeah.
Okay.
Is that a reason why youstarted yours?
No, why did?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
you start your group.
I started my own group becauseI realized there are a lot of
talents.
There are a lot of talents andeven I cry.
And these people keep coming tome.
You know, they keep saying Iwant to train under you, I want
(33:33):
to be under you, I want you tofocus on me, I want to make you
proud.
But when we are there and theycome, it's not like that,
because I have a lot of thingsthat are only me, the things
that I think about, about myself.
I have a lot the things that Iused to think about some of the
(33:54):
people in the team that'salready.
There were a lot.
So how am I going to have timefor you, the newbie?
I'm not going to have time, I'mnot going to pay attention.
So I realised and there were alot of things that were
happening that I was like youknow what?
I'm not too happy about it andI don't want to go back and
(34:18):
forth with anybody.
I just want to be me.
I just want to be me, I justwant to have fun, I just want to
enjoy my, my journey, you know.
So I believe that the newpeople that I'm working with are
people that are willing to pushdance to a different level.
(34:39):
They are willing to see andthey love my vision.
You know like I want them to doextraordinary stuff with dance
in Ghana and I like howpassionate they are about the
dance, like I see it in theireyes.
Did you feel?
Speaker 2 (34:59):
appreciated in the previous group.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Sometimes yeah, Sometimes no, it was on and off,
you know.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
There was an internal battle you were having with
yourself.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
I don't know.
At that point me, I didn't knowwhat was going on in my life.
Like I said, I didn't reallypay attention to anything.
All I knew was we loved eachother and we were dancing.
You know, no one actuallylectured me on so many things.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
So now you break off.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
And you get the idea.
I want to start my own group.
That comes at some point andagain, look, kudos to you.
You've done a fantastic jobwith that group.
But you know what's the plan,the future plan for that group,
dgl.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Dance, grow live.
Wow.
The future plan is to see thelegacy live forever.
The future plan is to createsuccess for everyone in the team
(36:17):
.
I'm not going to dance for mywhole life.
I want to be at home and I seeDance, Go, Live Academy, the
future around things in Ghana,in Africa, in the world.
I want to see them take care oftheir families through dance.
(36:38):
I want to see them inspiretheir communities.
I want to see a lot of greattalents coming out of Africa
because of Dance, Grow and Live.
I want to see someone say I amwho I am because I used to look
up to Dance, Grow and Live.
I used to look up to dance,grow and live.
(37:00):
I used to look up to thesepeople in this team.
So it's not even about myself,it's not even about those in the
team.
It's about these three thingsDance, grow and live, do you
think, dance?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
as you have seen, it is enough to take care of you up
until pension time yeah, I'vesaved a lot.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I've saved a lot of money and I have a very
beautiful team around me who arealways planning ahead, who are
always putting me on my toes,who are advising me on what to
invest my money in, who to workwith, how to spend my money,
(37:50):
like basically managing myfinances for me.
So I I believe, obviously, asan entrepreneur, I would love to
do other things in my life.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
What are some other things that you think you can
invest your money in to expandyour portfolio?
Speaker 1 (38:09):
A lot of things as time goes on we'll find.
You never know.
Sometimes I can just tell youwhat I want to do with my money,
but I might go home and it willbe a different, a different new
idea will come, you know.
So gradually it's going to pickup.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Because the reason I say that is because recently I
saw that you bought a beautifulcar.
Yeah, and I love it yeah.
It's one of my dream cars.
Right, it's a beautiful car.
The question that was runningthrough my mind is, as a young
person, when you make money andthe car is the first I've seen
(38:50):
from you, but the biggestquestion is how about
accommodation?
That was what was runningthrough my head, so I thought
you know what, let me not justthink about it.
When you come out, I'll ask youhow about accommodation?
That was what was runningthrough my head, so I thought
you know what, let me not justthink about it.
When you come, I'll ask you.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
How about accommodation?
Yes, okay, when it comes, I'llcome here.
I'll come back here to talkabout my accommodation, okay.
However, I want to live my lifedepends on me.
Actually, I'm not living thislife to impress anybody.
Like I said, I want to inspirethe next generation.
(39:24):
If I have a car and you'rethinking about why didn't I buy
a house first and I bought a car, that's up to you, that's in
your head.
That's how you feel I live thislife with no regrets.
If I've bought a car, and youfeel I live this life with no
regrets if I've.
If I've bought a car and youthink I should buy a house,
that's fine.
When the time comes for me tobuy a house, I'll buy the house
(39:50):
and that's fine with me, becauseI'm not.
I'm not trying to live my lifelike everybody.
I try to be very different.
I feel like as an individual oras a young talent like me.
People try to put theirpressure on you.
(40:12):
People try to um, I don't knowhow to put it.
People want you to do what theythink is best for you.
Right, you know, but where werethey when you were struggling?
Where were they when you hadnobody to talk to?
And you're talking to yourselfand you're praying to God for
(40:33):
opportunities.
Why didn't they call me?
So?
Why are they trying to adviseme?
Because I saw a lot of comments.
I think you should buy a normalcar and you have to go and buy
a house a lot of things.
Can you just saycongratulations and move?
on you know, if that time comes,that I don't have any money
(40:55):
again, you still come and talk,so I feel like everyone has
their own opinion about thingsthat we do as a celebrity?
Speaker 2 (41:08):
I don't know, especially if your.
Your.
Everything is online, right?
Yeah, you know I was not.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I was not even going to post about this thing.
I mean, everyone has his ownopinion about things and yeah me
, I come from a very humble home, so obviously I'll be thinking
about house, what's on my headand everything, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
It's in stages, yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
I come from a humble home, so I don't think I need to
answer everybody about what I'mtrying to do in my life.
No, that's not a thing for me.
I like to be low key If I havea house, you see Now that I have
a car.
You've seen it, Don't questionwhy?
Oh, Ghana.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
My motherland.
All right, ghana, my motherlandalright.
As a dancer, you know.
I can only imagine how you'vehad to struggle to get through.
You know your money,conversations with artists who
tell you to do, do a dance forthem, do a challenge, and what
not.
How have you been able tonavigate that?
Speaker 1 (42:20):
it's difficult, it's the most difficult thing working
with artists, do a dance forthem, do a challenge and whatnot
.
How have you been able tonavigate that?
It's difficult, it's the mostdifficult thing Working with
artists, brands, working withmanagement.
You always want to outsmart youAlways.
There's no time that I'll belike, ah, you're worth this, let
me give you this.
Always want to ask months.
(42:42):
And it's crazy.
And I keep questioning myself.
I keep questioning myself likewhy Don't you think I want to
make money for myself?
Of course you do so.
Why do you want to make moneyfor your artists but you don't
want to make money?
You don't want to help me makemoney.
You need my service.
My service is going to helpyour artists grow one way or the
(43:03):
other.
Why don't you want to at leastcompensate your family?
Why do you want to do familywith me?
And then I see your artists ina big car looking all flashy and
I'll be walking.
No, it does not make sense.
So I've questioned all my like.
(43:24):
That's the reason why people seedancers, content creators,
whatever, as nobody, because wewant to like oh artists, oh
artists, everything artists.
I don't hate any artists.
I really love people that domusic.
I feel like they are different.
(43:44):
Right, Like to say somethingwith your mouth and everybody
say the same thing.
That's, you're a genius.
But can we also talk about thefact that you have people who
are supporting their music?
You have people who are makingtheir music come true, their
(44:07):
words, whatever they envision.
We, the content creators, makethat come true, so they should
really pay attention to us.
The chicken change is not goingto help, because we also want
to change our lives too.
That's right.
You know, we want to move to.
We want to move from A to Z.
So if you're moving from A to Z, at least take us to C.
(44:32):
But you want us to be at A?
No, that's fine, that's notfine.
Most of the time.
They don't want to pay?
No, most's fine, that's notfine.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Most of the time they don't want to pay.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
No, most of the time they were not paying.
They were not paying in thebeginning and I really got sad.
I got super sad.
That's why I started doing myown thing.
Got to a point I was doingmusic just to help my career.
(44:59):
I didn't do it because I feltlike I was better than any
artist, because I felt like Iwas not making money from
anybody.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
If somebody is starting out, especially the
young people in your group, whatare you going to tell them?
How can they put themselvestogether so that they get what
they deserve?
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Just know that people are going to exploit you, me.
I was exploited way too manytimes, but it also taught me a
lesson, a big lesson when theartists, or when the people come
to you, they're going to comelike my brother you're my
(45:41):
brother do this for me.
It's just a one minute thing.
If you get carried away, thefact that you're working with
this artist and that artist,this artist is big, that's when
you're going to lose it.
So if I say I lost myself,these are the things I'm talking
about.
I got carried away with the factthat I was working with top,
top artists in Ghana.
(46:01):
I was not making any bread Realtalk Facts.
I was not making.
I'd done a lot of dancechallenges for two Dance
challenges that were viral foryears, and I made no money by
the time I realized, bro, timewas fast spent and those artists
(46:25):
were.
They skyrocketed and I wasfound just wanting, you know.
So I had to change my how.
I thought I was just helpingand I was making a name for
myself, but I realized, bro,there was nothing coming into my
pocket.
And this is where we're gettinglike amazing streams, you know,
(46:46):
getting shows everywhere, andnobody cared about me.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
channel and we appreciate youfor being here, but if you
haven't become part of thefamily, connect with us, hit the
subscribe button and let'scarry on the conversation.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
You know how I'm going to make money.
I didn't care, you know, so Ihad to revisit that.
You started charging them.
If it can't pay, that's fine.
Move to the next person,whoever is, whoever thinks I'm
worth it, you know, and itactually made me different.
I feel like it has made me feeldifferent.
(47:36):
I feel like now my dance isappreciated.
So if I do a dance for you andit goes viral, I know I charged
you for it, I know I wascompensated.
You know it has, I mean, god,god's blessing is involved, but
it shows that I put in work andI was paid for it sometimes.
But sometimes I saw a lot ofmessages.
(47:58):
I saw a lot of statements madethat the song is good, my song
is good, that's why it's doingwell.
And it broke my heart.
Imagine you don't sleep, stayall up.
You stay up all night trying tocreate a dance challenge just
(48:20):
to fit the lyrics and a song.
You share it online and it goesviral.
Everyone does it on socialmedia and now the artist goes on
an interview and says my songis actually a great song.
So, yeah, no credit at least.
(48:41):
I got super pained and mypeople were telling me bro, you
see, we keep telling you and yousay my bro, my sister, my
friend, my family.
So what's your strategy now?
The strategy is to get paid.
I do the job, we move on.
(49:02):
If you want to keep me as yourfriend, that's fine.
If you don't want to keep me asyour friend, that's fine too.
If you pay me my worth, becauseobviously I'm going to grow and
I'm not going to dance like Iused to.
I've been very excuse me to sayvery ignorant about stupid.
(49:27):
That's the main way?
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Yeah, you know, as a dancer, I can't really think of
the ways that you monetize yourcraft.
Yeah, what are some of the waysthat people can monetize?
Speaker 1 (49:40):
yeah, so I work with brands, okay.
I do performances, okay.
I post on my YouTube.
Youtube gives me money.
There are lots of things that Ido.
I don't really remember themright now, but, yeah, because I
(50:06):
have an academy.
People pay to come to the class.
I do dance classes around theworld.
I do festivals as well, yeah,and I host Shows.
I'm going to host a show InZambia, you know, yeah.
(50:31):
What else, yeah, I think I'vedone.
I've done so we are stillbuilding Absolutely.
We are still buildingAbsolutely.
We are still building because,as time goes on, you're going to
find new things, you're goingto think about new things.
That's incredible, yeah, but inthe beginning.
I was just dancing by an artistin music videos.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
So if I was to ask you and I'm not sure what your
answer would be, because Ireally want people to understand
that being a dancer, as amatter of fact, being a talented
and hardworking dancer, pays,yeah.
So what's the biggest gigyou've got so far?
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Biggest biggest, biggest, biggest, biggest,
biggest.
I'm sure you're going to sayyou're going to think it's
working with Beyonce.
No, I think going to Dubai towork with the UAE government.
(51:33):
It brought me a lot of money,yeah, changed my whole account.
Seen Big S, yeah, yeah, so Ithink that's yeah, so what's and
what's the least?
You've been paid to do a job atleast 50 series.
You're joking.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
I'll give you this compensation right no, but I
think you're done fantastic,yeah, but then you know, after
working out your money issues,you know, making sure that
you're now taking what youdeserve, isn't that bringing a
lot of pressure from family,friends, people that you had in
your circle that are no more?
They now see that you have abeautiful car, you're living a
(52:15):
good life.
Speaker 1 (52:16):
This car has brought me a lot of like burden.
It's brought burden on my head.
I've got people from back inthe day calling me, telling me
about their family issues, youknow, telling me to stop saying
things for them.
Family, obviously, family'sfamily.
(52:38):
I love my family, so so, yeah,I'll support them regardless.
But ah, it's been crazy eversince I got this guy.
Like everything is justdifferent for me.
Right now I hardly even pickcalls.
Well, yeah, even before I gohere, I had numerous calls.
(52:59):
You know, it's okay, I mean, Ican handle it, I've always
handled it, but it's just toomuch.
If it was like 1%, that's like10, you know, and I have to have
to take.
If I can afford, fine.
If I can't afford, I'll let youknow, because there's nothing
to hide.
Speaker 2 (53:21):
What's your biggest?
Speaker 1 (53:22):
regret.
There are no regrets in lifefor me.
I feel like every situationshould teach you one thing.
Teach you a thing one way orthe other.
Ever since I left my ex-group,I still face situations, but I'm
able to tackle it because Ilearned some things from the
(53:43):
past as time goes on.
I just know that I'll be facingchallenges.
When it happened, when I leftthe team, it was crazy.
But now, when someone leaves myteam or when I'm about to do
any move and it does not succeed, I will know how to treat it.
(54:07):
I will know how to maneuver myway, because this one was huge.
Yeah, it was huge.
It was different.
Like it hit me when I let, whenI least expected.
That's when it hit me, likefrom people your favorite people
(54:29):
not minding you and me.
I didn't know how to move, howto even react, how to even
behave.
But now, if someone says I'mgoing, I don't want to work with
you again, I'm like, okay, fine, that's the only thing I can
say now.
But and they'll be like why areyou leaving?
Speaker 2 (54:46):
you think you've built that mental toughness?
Speaker 1 (54:48):
yeah, I feel like as a human being or as a creative,
you need to be very tough.
Yeah, there's no, even in andeven in your heart, you don't?
I used to be very emotionalabout everything, like If I tell
someone to come and record me avideo and a person has no show,
I'll be very emotional about it.
But now, if I tell you to come,I already have backup.
(55:09):
So if you don't show, anotherperson is coming, that's right.
Or you might as well just comeand meet Another person.
So you have to prove it.
I feel like it made me realizehow life should, should be lived
, and when I started traveling,I realized it's different out
there, it's very different outthere, and I was out there alone
(55:34):
, right, for about five months,six months.
It's crazy.
No one cared about you.
Do your own thing and let itwork.
If it doesn't work, you try.
So actually, that moment, Ifeel like those moments were
very precious, like they arevery like Special moments.
(55:54):
I don't think I'm going to bein that situation again.
I don't think I'm going to eversee that Again.
Going to be in that situationagain.
I don't think I'm going to eversee that again.
You know, I I still havepictures, videos from that
moment where, like, I'll just bein my hotel room and I'm like
how do I do this?
Who do I?
Even at least I?
I had a manager when I was inthe x group.
(56:14):
This is what I was alone.
Speaker 2 (56:19):
You know, do you think you are heavily
misunderstood?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (56:24):
Because I'm changing a new face, I'm bringing a new
thing.
No one has seen that before.
So they'll question every timeand they'll try to fight it.
Speaker 2 (56:36):
If you were to tell that young man or young woman
who's doubting themselves towalk the path that they truly
desire, what would you tell them?
Speaker 1 (56:47):
Believe in God.
Number one Two follow yourheart.
Follow your heart.
Three Dare to be different.
Believe in God.
Number one Two follow yourheart and dare to be different.
(57:12):
Never give up.
That's the last one.
Speaker 2 (57:16):
Today there's a young man that's got a talent.
He's a great dancer, greatmusician.
Whatever it is that they'redoing with their talent In 2025,
If you would advise them to doanything, where would they start
from?
Where should they start fromright now?
Speaker 1 (57:33):
Start now.
Nothing is too late.
How.
Start now.
Social media is the biggesttool that can save you.
Start now.
If it is not your talent, don'tdo it, but hard work can also
(57:54):
make you better.
So start now.
Put in work.
Never look back forward andfocus on the focus, because it's
tough out here.
You don't want to know it'stough, it's crazy and it gets
(58:20):
lonely at the top.
Though.
But if you stay kind, you'reopen-minded, you're humble,
you're gonna have peoplesupporting you to grow the your
dream or your career, build yourcareer.
Yeah, that's how my life hasbeen this whole year, about 17
(58:48):
years of my career.
Speaker 2 (58:50):
I think you've probably answered this question,
but I would ask you anywaywhat's the one thing that you
learned too late, that you wishyou knew earlier?
Speaker 1 (58:59):
money, know how to use your money, know how to use
your money and Know how to useyour money.
And there's nothing like familyin business.
Family is when you're on thenormal grounds, but when it
comes to business, talk yourtalk.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
I actually like this version of you.
No, no, no I.
I like it because I say thatwhen talent meets business,
that's when money making becomeexponential.
Yeah, you may be so talented,so hard working, but if you
don't turn that, switch on you,you took me years, bro, so I've
(59:45):
let money go.
Speaker 1 (59:47):
I've let money go.
I wish that's the downfall of aman, I wish.
Speaker 2 (59:56):
But you see, the issue is you needed to do the
free work.
Yeah, I did it for a long timeTo get attraction, for a very
long time?
Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
How many years?
Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
did you do the free work for Bro?
Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Free work ended in 2023.
Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
That's just a couple of years ago.
It's been a couple of years forme, so you could have started
charging.
Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
Like in 2019.
Yeah, I could have startedcharging like crazily and I knew
people were ready to pay, butthey use.
Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
You see, this is it.
There's two sides to the coin.
Sometimes, don't you think it'stheir courage to ask for your
worth?
That's what stops a lot ofpeople from making money with
their talent People are using mefor their own benefits.
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Did you have the courage to even ask I'll even
meet you in the first place whyI am not the one meeting you?
There's a manager, there's arepresentative.
I see, do you get the point Iget.
So whatever business they havewith you, whatever negotiation
(01:01:07):
they have with you, it's fortheir own benefits.
Maybe they want you to dosomething for them.
Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
And then you just do the dance Me.
Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
I don't know, I don't know about it.
So they come and tell mesomething else and you know, I
only know that it's a job it has.
Come, do it and go.
Whatever they pay, you is yeah,you are talented, you have been
helped.
Can you talk?
You can talk.
But now that I know that thisway I don't have any
(01:01:36):
relationship, I'm not doing any.
I don't need any favour fromthis person.
You come, you get your workdone.
That's it.
Take my money service done.
You're happy, both parties arehappy.
We move on in life.
Sometimes I do something.
In the past I used to dosomething and I'll see an artist
and the person will frown and Idon't know what I've done to
(01:01:57):
the person.
But the person has frowned.
The person doesn't even want totalk to me again and I question
, like not knowing something hashappened in the past.
Something has happened throughmanagement.
Yes, that you were not aware.
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Yes, so this thing happened.
It ended a lady in courtbecause of management, the way
management dealt with the case.
Yeah, she was unaware.
Yeah, the case ended up incourt.
And I would like to pause youguys here for a second.
On the 29th of August, my teamare putting together an event,
our first Connected Minds liveevent.
It's going to be happening atthe British Council, so I'm
(01:02:37):
going to leave all the detailsbelow register and then be a
part of it.
It's going to be an awesome day, complete mindset shift.
So if you've been watching,listening to this program,
following my teachings, youshould be there.
It's only going to be formaximum 200 people and every
other detail is going to be onmy Instagram, and that is
(01:02:58):
Derekabaiti on Instagram.
My question to you is is thereanything I could have asked you
that I didn't that we can stilltalk about in the past?
no, anything that I could haveasked you in this conversation
that you still think we need totalk about I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
Maybe, if I've eaten, that's a good break.
Have you eaten?
Yes, yes, I have.
Thank you, oh, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
I usually don't do breakfast.
You're not a hungry person.
I do one meal a day, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
I don't really be eating well, so my team is
really taking care of that forme.
That's good and I'm grateful.
Yeah, yeah, bro, you that forme.
And I'm grateful.
Yeah, yeah, bro.
Yeah, boy, jamal, like we'vereally worked hard.
Like no, you have no time tosleep.
I go here with red eyes.
Yeah, yeah, like sleeplessnights, because it's like I feel
like when I started this newteam with rush, with a certain
(01:04:02):
force, you know, and so in thebeginning I didn't want to do
this.
I just want to concentrate onmyself, because imagine all this
energy, if I invested back intomyself, I could be somewhere
else.
But I realized, no, to have thelegacy continue, I need to
build new like 10, 10, 20, 50million of my type.
(01:04:30):
But then again, I have to bevery careful of who I'm
investing my energy into.
And now it's more like businessfor me, because me, when I was
working in the other team, no,like because me when I was
working in the other team, itfelt like I was being a
philanthropist, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
The people you have under you In the beginning, like
Right in your current, myquestion, in your current team,
yeah, do you have contracts withthem?
Not yet, okay, not yet.
Is that something you'rethinking about?
Yeah, okay, and are you goingto pay them what they are due?
Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Of course, if you're coming to a team, if you're
going to look for a job, I feellike some people send their CV.
Whatever these people, we lookfor them, okay, you know.
So if I look for you on thestreet, obviously I have to
change your life.
You know, it's not even aboutme paying you, but I have to
(01:05:28):
make sure.
Yes, so the payback is youfinding yourself becoming a
brand and now you can take careof yourself.
That's what I do for them.
Okay, you know, but I'm a humanbeing.
I'm human until they get there.
I need to be compensating them.
You know a little bit.
I don't say I don't call thatpayment, because if I'm paying
you, I need to pay your worth,and all of them are worth
millions like of dollars, it'snot even cities because I see
(01:05:52):
what the work they put in and Ilike their energy, I like how
forceful they are when they'reon stage and even off stage.
You know, I've seen like adrastic change in them and I see
it made me feel proud of howfar we've come in these two
years.
Because, like, like I, like Isaid, like we started with like
(01:06:16):
an energy and not everyone canmatch that energy.
But trust me, these kids, I seethe fire in their eyes, you
know, and I wish it was likethat when I started.
You know, like I see it, like Idon't know if it is for fame, I
(01:06:36):
don't know how it's going to belike, but what I see is
different.
Like they want it all forthemselves.
They want, they want to be onstage, they want to be on stage,
they want to be seen, they wantto dance, they want to share
their crafts.
I feel like that name the dance, grow and live shows when
(01:07:01):
you're on stage.
You know, there were times thatthey were laughed at.
I was laughed at what are thesepeople doing?
And now these people are thebest in ghana now.
So I feel like it's a gradualthing.
We are fitting in, we aretaking over.
Like you said, taking over isallowed, it's allowed everywhere
, even on a single carriage.
Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
Yes, yeah, somebody can take over quickly, quick,
yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's.
I say this you know, we've seenNokia, we've seen Blackberry.
Look at Apple now, look atSamsung.
Now, samsung's stuck with thegame.
They are competing with Apple.
Yeah, where's Nokia andBlackberry?
The rest?
So you know, today, you, youcould be leading the game.
Speaker 1 (01:07:43):
You have to be very strategic, be strategic Every
time Like I don't let.
There's not any time that I belike, ah, I let go.
I've been doing this thingalmost 20 years.
There's never a day that theonly time that I've realized I
messed up.
That's when my blessing came,mm, mm, mm, that's when my
(01:08:07):
blessing came.
That's when my blessing came.
So, like I say hard work, butbelieve in God.
If God is not done, done withyou like nobody can say we are
done with you, like God is notdone with you.
You know me, I didn't want todance again.
I'm telling you, in 2022, Ididn't want to dance again.
Yes, I felt like, oh yeah, Ididn't want to dance again.
(01:08:28):
I'm telling you, in 2022, Ididn't want to dance again.
Yes, I felt like, oh yeah, I'vedone it.
I was calculating my business.
All these people are famous,their household names because of
Dance.
God, god, do too much.
This is just the beginning.
There are new faces, new peoplecoming.
You have not seen them yet.
(01:08:50):
Just wait, my son.
These are the new faces.
I have Lali, I have Danny, Ihave Sugar, I have Olali.
They are amazing Latifa Top topdancers right now, who have
been loved from nowhere.
(01:09:11):
If I tell you their background,some coming from the Voltaritan
, some coming from Kumasa.
But you know the beautifulthing.
Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
No, you created this.
You did From the Genesis, yeah,yeah.
So anytime you look back youdid from the genesis.
Yeah, yeah, so anytime you lookback, you're like the inception
of this.
I took a bold decision yeah towake myself back up, yeah, and
give other people hope.
Speaker 1 (01:09:37):
It was never for me yeah, it was never about me.
It will never be about me.
It will never be about me.
That it will never be about me.
That's what people don't know.
These people used to watch mefrom their homes, their villages
, their towns.
They wanted to get close to me.
I left this team.
Now they got close.
(01:09:59):
Now they are doing amazing.
Do you know who is watchingthem and wants to join?
So it's like a train keepsgoing, doing amazing.
Do you know who's watching themand wants to join?
So it's like a train keepsgoing, and that's why we have a
lot of dancers in Ghana rightnow.
I was in Nigeria and then onelady walked out to me and she
was like this feels like a dreamcome true.
(01:10:22):
I used to watch you when I wasin GHS.
I used to watch you when I wasin JHS.
I used to watch you constantlyon the phone.
Now you are in my country andyou have called me to come see
you.
I didn't know this day wouldcome.
Look at me.
I was just thinking, oh, I knowthis girl.
She's really good on socialmedia.
(01:10:43):
She never said anything to meand now she comes to me.
I invite, invite her.
She comes to me and she tellsme all these things.
Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
That means I'm doing a great job, yeah but in all of
this, if you put god as thefoundation, what I've learned
from this is the power of socialmedia.
Yeah, it's really pushed you.
Speaker 1 (01:11:06):
Yeah social media changed my life, especially
Instagram.
I suppose on Facebook back in aday, but Instagram, I was not
getting paid from Instagram, butI had all my breakthrough where
.
From Instagram that moment, andI've got something crazy.
(01:11:26):
Come and post the online.
Away from Instagram, thatmoment, and I've done something
crazy.
Come and post it online.
Everybody, yay, get new peoplegravitating to me from all walks
of life.
That's when I realized no, Ihave to take social media
serious, even TikTok.
Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
What's your total audience size on social media?
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
That's crazy.
Don't remember.
Let me see Where's my phone.
Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
Instagram.
Instagram, I think you havelike.
Speaker 1 (01:12:01):
The last time I checked my phone.
Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
And I'm doing this because I want people to
understand that- Okay, instagramis 2.3.
Million.
Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
Million.
Let me check my 3.4 on TikTok3.4 million.
Let me check my Facebook.
That's crazy.
Hey, where's my Facebook?
Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
I just want people to understand the power of social
media.
You know, 1.9 on Facebook, yeah, so we are well over 5 million,
well over.
And Twitter is like 100k, yeah,and I think your, my YouTube is
like 300,000.
Speaker 3 (01:12:45):
That's, and then, of course, you've 100k, yeah, and I
think you're um.
My youtube is like 300, 300 000yeah 300 000.
Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
That's amazing.
I think you've done fantastic.
Um, you've done a great.
It's not my phone.
I think you've done fantastic.
I was gonna ask you my famousquestion motivation or
discipline, but I think Ialready know the answer
discipline, that's right.
I already know the answer.
Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
Someone can motivate you.
But discipline, hey, hardestthing to ever do.
Yeah, if you have discipline,you have, you have everything.
I feel like you never go down.
You might as well you, you justleave the scene a little bit,
but if you have discipline, ifyou always, you have to be
disciplined.
(01:13:27):
I used to stay with this ladycalled Jessica and anytime I
wake up, she's like have youlaid your bed?
I didn't understand.
I was like I want to go to town, I want to go and do something,
but it started from my bedroom,the discipline that she wanted.
Yeah, now I wake up andsubconsciously I want to lay in
(01:13:51):
my bed.
And that's how it has been forthe past four years.
I had to leave my house to goand live somewhere To learn how
to be disciplined.
I felt so comfortable,comfortability, I thought I had
(01:14:11):
worked Me, waking up, laying inmy bed.
Sometimes I will not even eatthe whole day.
I thought I was being a hardguy.
No, I was killing myself,shooting myself in the foot.
I'll leave my face unkept, myhair unkept.
Yeah, that was the beginning offalling off.
(01:14:36):
Go to the barber shop, giveyourself a treat.
That's it.
Wear brand.
Yes, I didn't care at thatpoint.
So laying my bed on all thosethings helped me.
Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
What's the best advice you've ever received?
Speaker 1 (01:15:01):
Best advice, best advice.
Best advice and this questionusually takes time.
(01:15:23):
Don't tell people what you'reabout to do.
Don't share too much.
Don't share too much Until it'sdone.
Don't share too much.
(01:15:44):
I kept hearing it, but one timesomeone said it to me and hit
me Don't share too much.
Don't share too much.
Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
Oh, I get it.
I get it.
Speaker 1 (01:16:00):
Don't share too much.
Someone gets close to you.
You want to share because youthink that person loves you they
use it against you yes, theyare all for what is yours.
They are in for it.
They might come like God, theydon't care about you, like that.
You become who.
(01:16:24):
Actually two, three advicesthat I've heard and, yeah, you
become who you hang with that'sgood.
Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
I've enjoyed this conversation.
I've never seen you speak fromthe core of your daily the way
you have today.
It's been a while it's it'sit's it's been a conversation
that you've spoken a lot.
I spoke only about five percentand that's why it's connected
minds.
I usually like people to justtalk and then share, and I think
(01:16:59):
you've done fantastic.
I am.
I'm happy where I saw you andwhere you are.
Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
Yeah blessings, I think the first time I saw you
was 2013 or 2014.
Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
Yeah, and you've done fantastic.
I remember that day likeyesterday.
Yeah, you've done fantastic andthank you so much for coming.
Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
God bless, God bless.
Speaker 2 (01:17:21):
You're going to make this program go to the next
level again.
And.
I really appreciate it and tomy people, if you made it all
the way to the end, I would loveto know in the comments and if
this is your first time everwatching Connected Minds podcast
.
Hit that subscribe button andthen turn on the notification.
I appreciate you and stayconnected.
(01:17:42):
My name is Derek Abayde.
I'm out.
I've done a lot of dance challenges that were viral
for years and I made no money.
I was disturbed, I wasdepressed, I was thinking
differently.
I felt like I lost myself.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
What was that moment that made you think, wow.
Looking back and where I am now.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I've made it.
I remember I got a call fromworking with artists.
They always wanted to ask me to, and it's crazy and I keep
questioning myself like why?
What lessons did you learn?
They also taught me a lesson, abig lesson, when the artists
are.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
If somebody is starting out, especially the
young people in your group, howcan they put themselves together
so that they get what theydeserve?
Hello and welcome to ConnectedMinds Podcast, and I'm your host
, derek Abaite, and today wehave an electrifying story that
(01:10):
I think would leave you inspired.
Imagine going from a low pointand being featured in a video
with Beyonce.
So today I'm going to bespeaking with Dance God, and
this, our guest, has gone frombeing laughter to becoming
Ganesh Musot.
After dancer, he co-founded adance academy that is changing
(01:33):
the lives of millions of people.
He's also set himself on a pathof starting his own dance
academy.
Look, this episode is packedwith lessons of perseverance,
how you can turn your passioninto profit and staying true to
your vision.
So, whether you are commutingin the busy traffic times of
(01:54):
Accra or you are jogging inNairobi, stay tuned, because
today's conversation is going toshift your mindset about
chasing your dreams.
You're welcome to this podcast.
Thank you, my brother.
How are you doing?
Thank you, I'm doing very fine.
So today I just want to go rightin, straight in, okay, and my
first question is what was thatmoment that made you think, wow,
(02:16):
looking back and where I am now, I've made it.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Wow, that's a good question.
I've never been asked thatquestion.
It's always like what's yourbreakthrough?
But I remember I got a callfrom someone in Nigeria and the
person wanted me to be a part ofan art in Dubai.
(02:43):
So the people recommended mefrom Ghana.
I was the only artist fromGhana called for that.
We were there for like a weekand when I got to my hotel room
I actually teared up.
It's like wow, from AssignmentAll the way to dubai, uae, and
(03:06):
I'm going to be an in an adthat's going to project dubai.
That's crazy, that's madness.
That's when I I was like nah,god is taking me on on a
different path and it's not just, it's just to inspire other
people the young ones.
Because it's just to inspireother people the young ones,
because at that moment I hadnobody in my life, it was just
(03:28):
me.
I didn't even know where to go,who to talk to, I was just
praying and then I got thatmessage, so like it made me feel
some type of way about life,you know, and being consistent,
because I was just hopeful atthat point.
I didn't have anybody, I didn'thave nobody to talk to, I was
(03:50):
just dancing and hopeful.
And then I got the chance to befeatured.
I was with one lady called KopiAziat from Nairobi, kenya, um
aziat from niger, um nairobi,kenya, and um nadia kai from
south africa.
(04:11):
These are the three people thatwere in the ad and, bro, it's
amazing like how that changed mylife and my perception about
life.
I feel like I never.
Let me put it this way.
I want to be very particularwith my words.
(04:32):
I just knew I could dance.
I knew I could move to therhythm of any song, but I didn't
know it was beyond dance.
I just thought I'll just dance,be in music videos, dance
behind artists because that waslike my mindset when I wanted to
(04:54):
dance, because that was theonly thing that I could do.
But fast forward me being achoreographer for an art shot in
Middle East.
That's crazy, that's different,that's mind blowing.
That's me moving to the nextlevel.
You get my point.
(05:15):
Like me shaking grounds, mechanging the whole dance, the
whole culture, the dance culture.
Now I got messages from Nigeria,south of like.
(05:36):
I got messages from almosteveryone that looked up to me
and used to text me.
Bro, we thought that was yourend, you know, and you doing
this.
That means that we shouldn'tgive up, we shouldn't look down
on ourselves, we shouldn'tbelittle the little talent that
(05:57):
god has given us.
Bro, and he paid.
Well, I'm not even going to lielike I mean that money's gonna.
It's still there, you know,like I still have some money in
my account from that project.
So that means that, likewhenever I'm talking about this
(06:17):
stuff, it makes me emotional.
Yeah, because I remember thatvery day when I had a call and I
remember the situation I was in.
What was that situation?
I had left a team.
There were news circulatingabout me being selfish, blah,
(06:38):
blah, blah.
No one wanted to look at me, noone wanted to have a
conversation with me, and thefact that I was not talking and
I was dancing.
I had not done any job in likeAbout A year.
In nine months Getting to ayear, I had not done any proper
job, something that's going tobring me a lot of money.
(07:03):
Then, boom, I get a call.
It's not like I've donesomething that's whole year that
I like is gonna, like you know,make me feel like, oh, at least
people are watching me becauseI've gone like low key.
So me getting that call, theguy was like I saw your video on
youtube and I think you're theright person for this job.
(07:26):
I googled your name.
I said I don't know anythingabout dance, I just googled your
name and then I actually wentthrough your social media and
like you fit in.
Wow, yes, I thought it was justthose people you know.
Sometimes you get calls frompeople and it ends there.
He called again the next weekand he was like bro, I'm going
(07:50):
to be in a Zoom meeting with you, with the people from the
government, the Dubai government, and you have to be ready.
You have to say somethingthat's going to make them want
to choose you Already.
An agency recommended me there,but the government wants to
(08:10):
know who this guy is and why Ibe choosing him.
I didn't even say anything.
I didn't say anything when wego on the call.
I just smiled and I was like myname is Downsville, I
introduced myself and that's it.
They were going to question me,ask me have I been to Dubai?
Do I think about what?
Do I think about Dubai?
(08:31):
They never asked me a question,they just asked me to introduce
myself and the next week I wasin Dubai.
Everything just moved fast, fast, yeah, fast.
I only believed, and I thinkbefore that I had done the dance
challenge for Kim PromiseTerminator and it was just
(08:53):
picking up.
So I didn't connect Terminatorto the fact that these people
are trying to reach out to me,you know.
So I questioned myself way toomany times and then I I was like
you know what is god's doing?
That's right, it is god, it canonly be god.
(09:13):
Because I had a lot of peoplethe media I had never I.
I had a lot of people trying toreach out to me for music
videos, interviews.
I didn't accept any of this.
I didn't grant any interview, Ididn't do any job.
I was trying to find myself.
Then, boom, this, wow wow.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So if somebody had told you 15 years ago that you
were going to be who you aretoday and you were going to be
in a music video with Beyonce,how would you have felt?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
at the time.
So I quite remember when I wasin high school I went to Persec
Ligon.
A senior walked up to me andwas like you're special.
You don't dance normal, like Iwatch people dance, but when you
dance I feel different.
I feel like you're going to dosomething great with dance.
(10:17):
You're going to be dancing withtop top icons.
I didn't really pay attentionto that.
I was like, okay, thank you.
And then I moved on.
But when I started using socialmedia, I realized everything
everybody was just were justgravitating to me.
(10:41):
People top top artists werefollowing me from nowhere and I
didn't even know what I wasdoing, you know.
So when I did the challenge forBeyonce, I just did it for
(11:02):
doing sick.
Yeah, because everyone wasexpecting dance Girl to jump on
the dance challenge.
So when I did it, I was like Iwas actually sick, right, I was
like let me just do it.
Something was telling me no,there's a reason why I'm feeling
sick on this day that I want todo the dance.
Let me just do it, whateverhappens.
I did it because I was feverish.
I did it in about 20, feverish.
(11:24):
I did it In about 20 minutesafter I had posted the views.
That was my highest views in avery long time.
At that moment, people were justtexting me, bro.
I had a lot of people messagingme, like people that I used to
look up to telling me why do Ihave a feeling you are going to
(11:48):
be in this music video?
Yeah, people say things.
We'll do a video tag ChrisBrown.
I'm like, oh yeah, I wish ChrisBrown would see this.
But about that particular songand that moment, I just felt
different.
So I did a video and I said ifBeyonce put me in this music
(12:11):
video, I'm going to walk acertain way.
I think I posted it on myInstagram and everyone was like
yeah, yeah, people were justmanifesting saying things on
Twitter, instagram, theirstories.
Then, boom, beyonce posted meand she made a collection and
then she put all of us in astory.
(12:32):
Wow, I'm like is this thingmanifesting?
Like, am I actually going to bein the music video?
So then I didn't say anything,not knowing her choreographer
the lead choreographer wasfollowing me and I didn't even
know.
So he sent me a message Quickly.
(12:55):
I followed him and I messagedhim back and he was like we are
going to try our very best toget you in the music video.
Within a week or two, I gotanother message from an amazing
videographer from.
He's a Ghanaian, but he livesin New York.
He messaged me like I'm comingto Ghana and I want to talk to
(13:17):
you about being in a music videofor being a Zipro, like that's
when everything started makingsense.
To me it's like that that youngguy from with big dreams wanted
to do something with dance,something change the perception
(13:38):
about dance in africa has beencalled out of the many dances in
Ghana to be in the music videofor Beyonce.
Nah, this is a calling.
Yeah, this is a calling.
This is a prophecy, becausewhen I was young, people used to
(14:01):
tell me like I like the way youdance.
They would call me to actuallycome and dance in their house,
their homes.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
But the interesting thing is that, even though you
love to dance, you're alsotrying to be a footballer.
Yeah, that's crazy, but thenyou see a lot of footballers
around this world who dance aswell.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Asamoah Jan is a good example of that.
So when I was very young Iexplored my world.
I used to play football, I usedto act and I used to do a
little bit of rap.
You know all those things withgroups who make a little circle
and one after the other, we rap.
(14:41):
Yeah, I used to play football,I used to dance, but for fun.
It was not my thing thing, itwas soccer that I wanted to do,
because obviously I've seen alot of people from my
neighborhood make it withfootball.
So I wanted to follow that path.
But god is different.
God is.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
God is the greatest now I just want to take you back
to the times where you wantedto be a dancer.
How did your family think aboutthat?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
My mom was cool because when I was young I did
something, I performed somewhere, and then they brought a lot of
money home.
Yeah, I got sprayed on withmoney.
So, yeah, and for like I thinkthree times they used that money
to pay my school fees.
It rang a bell in their head.
(15:32):
So this guy can do it.
Yeah, I believe him.
But my dad, it was verydifferent for him he wanted me
to go to one of the best schools.
You know I went to Persec.
He wanted schools.
You know I went to persegue.
He wanted me to take school.
Serious.
That's what a typical Ghanaianfather would do, you know, to
protect me.
So, yeah, he did not like theidea.
(15:54):
My mom, at a point she was okay,but I got to a point I was
moving very weird at home, soshe did not really support it
like that.
But she's a mother.
Yeah, I think I actually toldher.
Sat them down.
It takes a lot of courage toactually sit your parents down
and tell them about dance.
(16:15):
They'll be like, ah, so youactually made us sit here, took
out one hour to talk about dance, you know.
So I told them I want to dance,I will change.
I remember my words.
I was like whatever you putyour mind to, you can make it
(16:39):
happen.
Whatever you put your mind to,you can make it happen.
If it is whatever painting,whatever me, I believe that I
can do something with dance andI'm gonna make money out of it,
did you?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
did you not feel like you were disappointing them by
not following what they?
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I just had to gather courage.
I just had to be very hopeful.
I was like I was extremelypositive, extremely.
How do they feel about it now?
Now, like you said, we arestill in the process.
We are still living life.
I know a lot of people are onstandby to see how I'm going to
(17:22):
be like in the near future, butyou're not God.
God is in charge of everythingand me.
I believe that this thing I'mdoing is I'm not just doing it
for me, I'm doing it for a wholegeneration.
So I have to be very, verymindful of my movements and
everything I feel like.
Now.
They're super happy yeah, youare praying for me and they are
(17:47):
hoping that I do somethingbetter with the dance and the
opportunity and the grace that Ihave right now.
You know they are happy.
They are happy but they arestill scared.
You know, happy but scared.
Right, right, right.
You know of the outcome.
Yes, because the more I grow,the more I meet challenges as a
human being, as a talent, as abrand.
(18:10):
You know I'm going to getmarried.
I'm going to have kids.
You know, to get to that point,I won't be dancing anymore.
So all those things they adviseme about it.
We are more like buddies now.
We just talk about things to do.
Are more like buddies now.
We just talk about things to do, what not to do.
But in the beginning theydidn't really talk about
(18:31):
anything.
They didn't really care likethat.
Okay, maybe they cared, butthey didn't show signs.
You know how parents are.
Yeah, they didn't really showsigns.
But now they call me, theyadvise me on certain things
sometimes you know.
When they hear things about methat's like bad, they want to
know why and all those things.
(18:53):
Yeah, I'm super happy thatthrough dance I'm able to like
connect with them on a differentlevel, because me I didn't even
know I could have a longerconversation with my dad.
The longest conversation I hadwith my dad was when I was
telling him I wanted to dance.
We never had any, we never evencrossed paths Because he didn't
(19:15):
like the idea.
He didn't like the idea until Iwanted to like, until I think I
did.
I did a video with my mom andit went viral and I was like I
don't know, I'm personal likewhy don't?
you want to dance with me, right?
Why is it always my mom?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
so I introduced him and then I think, yeah, we came
close after that do you blameyour parents for taking the
stance that they did to makesure that you take the path that
they know has led tosustainable success for many
people?
Speaker 1 (19:57):
sometimes you have to be stubborn, sometimes go for
what your heart is telling you,but it has to be positive.
You know, had I not taken thisbold step, I wouldn't know that
I can actually ignore my parentsand do certain things.
Okay, you know, I feel like metrying to prove them wrong
(20:24):
brought me this far, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
So I just want to tell you something.
You are sitting in a space ofpassion, yeah, and I'm sitting
in a space of profession, yeah,in the sense that my father
wanted me to become a pharmacist, a doctor or a dentist.
Okay, I mean, you recall thatwe've had some dealings in the
(20:48):
past where I was trying to chasemy passion in music and it
didn't work out.
It didn't work out because itwasn't paying before, yeah, so
you know there was no supportcoming through, yeah, but a path
that was recommended for me bymy parents worked out massively.
(21:09):
So I'm just saying that it'sbeautiful to follow your passion
, especially, you know, you area good example of someone that's
followed their passion.
There are plenty people, butwhat are the chances of somebody
succeeding in the field of apassion?
What are the chances?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
I feel like I don't know.
I don't really know, but I gavemyself five years.
Even after five years, I don'tdo anything proper with dance.
I just quit and go and findsomething better to do.
You know, but I had had in me.
I realized that dance, dancewas the only thing that made me
(21:50):
feel free.
So I had to, I had to find ways, creative ways, ways that can
help me make money from dancingwithout any artists, any support
from any artists.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
It was challenging wow, if I take you back to the
entire process up until now,what do you think has been your
most darkest moment that madeyou feel like giving up?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
when I started getting backlashes from people
on the internet, backlashes frompeople on the internet about me
leaving my ex-dance crew.
They didn't know the story, soI don't know why everyone felt
like it was the truth, you know.
(22:41):
So I was disturbed, I wasdepressed, I was thinking
differently, I felt like I lostmyself.
You know my name the fame,because I was thinking about
fame at that moment.
I was thinking about so I'mgonna go like nobody's going to
see me again, you know.
(23:03):
But that actually helped me.
How did you bounce?
back from that.
It was my darkest moments, butmy blessing in disguise.
Like I started getting voicenotes from people I didn't even
know were looking out for me.
These were like like top people.
(23:25):
These were like top peoplesending me voice notes.
Some were calling Don't give up.
I've seen this before.
Some people leave teams andthat's the end.
Others also leave and theybecome different.
(23:46):
They become greater.
I remember my dad called me inthe middle of the night, like
midnight.
My dad does not call me at thattime.
He will not even call.
If I want to talk to my dad, Ihave to go through my mum, but
he called me.
If I want to talk to my dad, Ihave to go through my mom, but
(24:08):
he called me.
It's like all these thingshappen to the greatest.
Wow, that's been my motive.
Like it made me, like Iconnected a lot of dots.
Like anytime something happenedin my life, my dad would call
(24:28):
me.
I don't know how he finds out,maybe I'm in some, so he knows
me better.
Was like tough things.
Uh, there's a, there's a,there's a saying something I
forgot, but he said somethinglike that I.
It was like all these thingshappen to the greatest.
So just keep your head up, andit made me child.
(24:51):
I was like this in the beginning.
After that call, I was like I'mready for the world, let's go.
I started traveling after thattime, I started moving from one
place to the other.
I started doing crazy things.
I did a lot of like it's 2023,2024.
That's when I did like all mydance challenges went viral.
(25:13):
It was like I just needed torefresh my mind.
I was invited to a lot of homes.
People don't know about this,but people were inviting me to
their homes to talk to me.
They were worried To me.
I had nobody watching.
(25:34):
I felt like I left.
Everyone left me.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
But in 2023, 2024, I had everybody calling you felt a
sense of loneliness, I feltlike yes, for a very long time
it's like no, this is not me.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Imagine you have about 30 people you see every
day, you feel like they'refamily, and all of a sudden, all
those 30 people are against youor they are normal.
You don't see them.
Sometimes you see them, youcan't even get close because you
(26:12):
don't even know what's going on.
I had to put myself together.
I had to actually talk tomyself every day when I wake up.
Talk to myself, I pray, Get onthe road.
See, I steady the game,Self-actualization.
(26:34):
That's when I didn't even knowthat I could do so many things.
I didn't know.
I just thought, bro, I'm justdancing and you know if you like
it, fine.
If you don't like it, I'm'tknow.
I just thought, bro, I'm justdancing and you know if you like
it, fine, If you don't like it,I'm doing me.
I didn't know I can actuallyhave new people under my arms.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
channel and we appreciate youfor being here.
But if you haven't become partof the family, connect with us.
Hit the subscribe button Now.
Let's carry on the conversation.
(27:19):
You know when in QI, I think,there's a proverb that simply
translates to the person that isconstructing the road doesn't
know how bent or crooked it isbehind them.
You know, when you're under theleadership of someone and you
(27:46):
are a good observer, you're ableto see the mistakes of that
leader.
And some people what they tryto do is that they try to sit
with the leader to put forththose, will I say, complaints or
changes or whatever it is thatthey feel inside.
But some people do take a boldstep to say that, no, every
(28:10):
mistake that I'm seeing when Ibreak out, I'm going to make
mine better.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's absolutely nothingwrong with that.
As a matter of fact, the worldthrives on that.
People must think different anddo things differently.
That is the beauty of thisworld.
(28:30):
The different shapes, colorsforms.
What I really want to delveinto is the lessons you learned
from your previous group thatallowed you to start yours.
What lessons did you learn?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
My ex-dance group taught me a lot Discipline,
number one.
Two, love, unity.
Three, endurance.
That's the last one becausewhen I started my new team,
(29:14):
dance grow and live academy, Ijust knew there were a lot of
talents around the world inGhana, africa but I didn't know.
I didn't know, I didn't knowthat it's not just about talent.
I just thought it was talent,talent, talent.
I didn't know about it when Iwas in my previous.
(29:36):
I was just like I get a talent,we work.
Talent is talent.
You like talent, but you can bevery talented and still be
wherever you are.
You never move.
You need discipline, you needto be together, you need to love
each other, you need to be, youneed to have that zeal, that
(30:00):
anger in you, that fire.
That's how someone is gonnalike get attracted to you,
because they see the passion inyour eyes, even through, like
your movements, even when youlook at them.
In these days they call it aura.
I didn't know about all thesethings when I was in the past.
(30:24):
I just thought we were justdancing and having fun, people
were just loving us.
But when I, when I came out ofit it took me a while step by
step, started with 5 people.
Then I had 40 people.
(30:44):
Then it came down to 10.
That's suck.
A lot of people, okay, becausethey wanted the affiliation.
You didn't care about it.
That's how I'm a dance goodLord.
I'm okay doing all sorts ofweird stuff around.
So to dissolve everybody and Icalled 10.
(31:07):
The first five people I wasworking with those were my
people.
Then I added 10 more and itbecame 20.
Now we are almost 30.
And I feel like we are ready.
For the past two years we'vebeen moving step by step.
We are growing.
We are ready.
For the past two years we'vebeen moving step by step.
We're growing, we are fittingin, people are loving us, and
(31:32):
it's just two years.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Now, what I really want to understand is in the
previous interview where youspoke about you being a
co-founder in the previous group.
Now, how did you guys in thebeginning decide who the leader
was going to be?
Speaker 1 (31:49):
decide who the leader is going to be.
Yeah, we did not decide, we dideverything.
We, we gave each other a role.
Huh, what was your?
My role was to fish the talents.
Okay, and because I'm like morelike you know, have too much
(32:11):
energy, I did extra.
Okay, like we go on stage andI'm like you know, I I used to
like motivate them a lot,because sometimes someone will
come to dance class and he orshe is not in a good mood
because maybe his dad or her dadsaid something, went and found
(32:33):
a job to do.
Why are you always dancing?
So I have to always motivatethem, psych them up.
So I was more like that, but Idon't think you chose a leader.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Were you happy with the leadership?
Speaker 1 (32:47):
there were a lot of things that we could work on,
but you know, working in a groupis it's like sometimes you have
to be a fool that was good.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
do you feel like there was more you could have
done in that group that you didnot do?
Yeah.
Okay.
Is that a reason why youstarted yours?
No, why did?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
you start your group.
I started my own group becauseI realized there are a lot of
talents.
There are a lot of talents andeven I cry.
And these people keep coming tome.
You know, they keep saying Iwant to train under you, I want
(33:33):
to be under you, I want you tofocus on me, I want to make you
proud.
But when we are there and theycome, it's not like that,
because I have a lot of thingsthat are only me, the things
that I think about, about myself.
I have a lot the things that Iused to think about some of the
(33:54):
people in the team that'salready.
There were a lot.
So how am I going to have timefor you, the newbie?
I'm not going to have time, I'mnot going to pay attention.
So I realised and there were alot of things that were
happening that I was like youknow what?
I'm not too happy about it andI don't want to go back and
(34:18):
forth with anybody.
I just want to be me.
I just want to be me, I justwant to have fun, I just want to
enjoy my, my journey, you know.
So I believe that the newpeople that I'm working with are
people that are willing to pushdance to a different level.
(34:39):
They are willing to see andthey love my vision.
You know like I want them to doextraordinary stuff with dance
in Ghana and I like howpassionate they are about the
dance, like I see it in theireyes.
Did you feel?
Speaker 2 (34:59):
appreciated in the previous group.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Sometimes yeah, Sometimes no, it was on and off,
you know.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
There was an internal battle you were having with
yourself.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
I don't know.
At that point me, I didn't knowwhat was going on in my life.
Like I said, I didn't reallypay attention to anything.
All I knew was we loved eachother and we were dancing.
You know, no one actuallylectured me on so many things.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
So now you break off.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
And you get the idea.
I want to start my own group.
That comes at some point andagain, look, kudos to you.
You've done a fantastic jobwith that group.
But you know what's the plan,the future plan for that group,
dgl.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Dance, grow live.
Wow.
The future plan is to see thelegacy live forever.
The future plan is to createsuccess for everyone in the team
(36:17):
.
I'm not going to dance for mywhole life.
I want to be at home and I seeDance, Go, Live Academy, the
future around things in Ghana,in Africa, in the world.
I want to see them take care oftheir families through dance.
(36:38):
I want to see them inspiretheir communities.
I want to see a lot of greattalents coming out of Africa
because of Dance, Grow and Live.
I want to see someone say I amwho I am because I used to look
up to Dance, Grow and Live.
I used to look up to dance,grow and live.
(37:00):
I used to look up to thesepeople in this team.
So it's not even about myself,it's not even about those in the
team.
It's about these three thingsDance, grow and live, do you
think, dance?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
as you have seen, it is enough to take care of you up
until pension time yeah, I'vesaved a lot.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I've saved a lot of money and I have a very
beautiful team around me who arealways planning ahead, who are
always putting me on my toes,who are advising me on what to
invest my money in, who to workwith, how to spend my money,
(37:50):
like basically managing myfinances for me.
So I I believe, obviously, asan entrepreneur, I would love to
do other things in my life.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
What are some other things that you think you can
invest your money in to expandyour portfolio?
Speaker 1 (38:09):
A lot of things as time goes on we'll find.
You never know.
Sometimes I can just tell youwhat I want to do with my money,
but I might go home and it willbe a different, a different new
idea will come, you know.
So gradually it's going to pickup.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Because the reason I say that is because recently I
saw that you bought a beautifulcar.
Yeah, and I love it yeah.
It's one of my dream cars.
Right, it's a beautiful car.
The question that was runningthrough my mind is, as a young
person, when you make money andthe car is the first I've seen
(38:50):
from you, but the biggestquestion is how about
accommodation?
That was what was runningthrough my head, so I thought
you know what, let me not justthink about it.
When you come out, I'll ask youhow about accommodation?
That was what was runningthrough my head, so I thought
you know what, let me not justthink about it.
When you come, I'll ask you.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
How about accommodation?
Yes, okay, when it comes, I'llcome here.
I'll come back here to talkabout my accommodation, okay.
However, I want to live my lifedepends on me.
Actually, I'm not living thislife to impress anybody.
Like I said, I want to inspirethe next generation.
(39:24):
If I have a car and you'rethinking about why didn't I buy
a house first and I bought a car, that's up to you, that's in
your head.
That's how you feel I live thislife with no regrets.
If I've bought a car, and youfeel I live this life with no
regrets if I've.
If I've bought a car and youthink I should buy a house,
that's fine.
When the time comes for me tobuy a house, I'll buy the house
(39:50):
and that's fine with me, becauseI'm not.
I'm not trying to live my lifelike everybody.
I try to be very different.
I feel like as an individual oras a young talent like me.
People try to put theirpressure on you.
(40:12):
People try to um, I don't knowhow to put it.
People want you to do what theythink is best for you.
Right, you know, but where werethey when you were struggling?
Where were they when you hadnobody to talk to?
And you're talking to yourselfand you're praying to God for
(40:33):
opportunities.
Why didn't they call me?
So?
Why are they trying to adviseme?
Because I saw a lot of comments.
I think you should buy a normalcar and you have to go and buy
a house a lot of things.
Can you just saycongratulations and move?
on you know, if that time comes,that I don't have any money
(40:55):
again, you still come and talk,so I feel like everyone has
their own opinion about thingsthat we do as a celebrity?
Speaker 2 (41:08):
I don't know, especially if your.
Your.
Everything is online, right?
Yeah, you know I was not.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I was not even going to post about this thing.
I mean, everyone has his ownopinion about things and yeah me
, I come from a very humble home, so obviously I'll be thinking
about house, what's on my headand everything, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
It's in stages, yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
I come from a humble home, so I don't think I need to
answer everybody about what I'mtrying to do in my life.
No, that's not a thing for me.
I like to be low key If I havea house, you see Now that I have
a car.
You've seen it, Don't questionwhy?
Oh, Ghana.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
My motherland.
All right, ghana, my motherlandalright.
As a dancer, you know.
I can only imagine how you'vehad to struggle to get through.
You know your money,conversations with artists who
tell you to do, do a dance forthem, do a challenge, and what
not.
How have you been able tonavigate that?
Speaker 1 (42:20):
it's difficult, it's the most difficult thing working
with artists, do a dance forthem, do a challenge and whatnot
.
How have you been able tonavigate that?
It's difficult, it's the mostdifficult thing Working with
artists, brands, working withmanagement.
You always want to outsmart youAlways.
There's no time that I'll belike, ah, you're worth this, let
me give you this.
Always want to ask months.
(42:42):
And it's crazy.
And I keep questioning myself.
I keep questioning myself likewhy Don't you think I want to
make money for myself?
Of course you do so.
Why do you want to make moneyfor your artists but you don't
want to make money?
You don't want to help me makemoney.
You need my service.
My service is going to helpyour artists grow one way or the
(43:03):
other.
Why don't you want to at leastcompensate your family?
Why do you want to do familywith me?
And then I see your artists ina big car looking all flashy and
I'll be walking.
No, it does not make sense.
So I've questioned all my like.
(43:24):
That's the reason why people seedancers, content creators,
whatever, as nobody, because wewant to like oh artists, oh
artists, everything artists.
I don't hate any artists.
I really love people that domusic.
I feel like they are different.
(43:44):
Right, Like to say somethingwith your mouth and everybody
say the same thing.
That's, you're a genius.
But can we also talk about thefact that you have people who
are supporting their music?
You have people who are makingtheir music come true, their
(44:07):
words, whatever they envision.
We, the content creators, makethat come true, so they should
really pay attention to us.
The chicken change is not goingto help, because we also want
to change our lives too.
That's right.
You know, we want to move to.
We want to move from A to Z.
So if you're moving from A to Z, at least take us to C.
(44:32):
But you want us to be at A?
No, that's fine, that's notfine.
Most of the time.
They don't want to pay?
No, most's fine, that's notfine.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Most of the time they don't want to pay.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
No, most of the time they were not paying.
They were not paying in thebeginning and I really got sad.
I got super sad.
That's why I started doing myown thing.
Got to a point I was doingmusic just to help my career.
(44:59):
I didn't do it because I feltlike I was better than any
artist, because I felt like Iwas not making money from
anybody.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
If somebody is starting out, especially the
young people in your group, whatare you going to tell them?
How can they put themselvestogether so that they get what
they deserve?
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Just know that people are going to exploit you, me.
I was exploited way too manytimes, but it also taught me a
lesson, a big lesson when theartists, or when the people come
to you, they're going to comelike my brother you're my
(45:41):
brother do this for me.
It's just a one minute thing.
If you get carried away, thefact that you're working with
this artist and that artist,this artist is big, that's when
you're going to lose it.
So if I say I lost myself,these are the things I'm talking
about.
I got carried away with the factthat I was working with top,
top artists in Ghana.
(46:01):
I was not making any bread Realtalk Facts.
I was not making.
I'd done a lot of dancechallenges for two Dance
challenges that were viral foryears, and I made no money by
the time I realized, bro, timewas fast spent and those artists
(46:25):
were.
They skyrocketed and I wasfound just wanting, you know.
So I had to change my how.
I thought I was just helpingand I was making a name for
myself, but I realized, bro,there was nothing coming into my
pocket.
And this is where we're gettinglike amazing streams, you know,
(46:46):
getting shows everywhere, andnobody cared about me.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
channel and we appreciate youfor being here, but if you
haven't become part of thefamily, connect with us, hit the
subscribe button and let'scarry on the conversation.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
You know how I'm going to make money.
I didn't care, you know, so Ihad to revisit that.
You started charging them.
If it can't pay, that's fine.
Move to the next person,whoever is, whoever thinks I'm
worth it, you know, and itactually made me different.
I feel like it has made me feeldifferent.
(47:36):
I feel like now my dance isappreciated.
So if I do a dance for you andit goes viral, I know I charged
you for it, I know I wascompensated.
You know it has, I mean, god,god's blessing is involved, but
it shows that I put in work andI was paid for it sometimes.
But sometimes I saw a lot ofmessages.
(47:58):
I saw a lot of statements madethat the song is good, my song
is good, that's why it's doingwell.
And it broke my heart.
Imagine you don't sleep, stayall up.
You stay up all night trying tocreate a dance challenge just
(48:20):
to fit the lyrics and a song.
You share it online and it goesviral.
Everyone does it on socialmedia and now the artist goes on
an interview and says my songis actually a great song.
So, yeah, no credit at least.
(48:41):
I got super pained and mypeople were telling me bro, you
see, we keep telling you and yousay my bro, my sister, my
friend, my family.
So what's your strategy now?
The strategy is to get paid.
I do the job, we move on.
(49:02):
If you want to keep me as yourfriend, that's fine.
If you don't want to keep me asyour friend, that's fine too.
If you pay me my worth, becauseobviously I'm going to grow and
I'm not going to dance like Iused to.
I've been very excuse me to sayvery ignorant about stupid.
(49:27):
That's the main way?
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Yeah, you know, as a dancer, I can't really think of
the ways that you monetize yourcraft.
Yeah, what are some of the waysthat people can monetize?
Speaker 1 (49:40):
yeah, so I work with brands, okay.
I do performances, okay.
I post on my YouTube.
Youtube gives me money.
There are lots of things that Ido.
I don't really remember themright now, but, yeah, because I
(50:06):
have an academy.
People pay to come to the class.
I do dance classes around theworld.
I do festivals as well, yeah,and I host Shows.
I'm going to host a show InZambia, you know, yeah.
(50:31):
What else, yeah, I think I'vedone.
I've done so we are stillbuilding Absolutely.
We are still buildingAbsolutely.
We are still building because,as time goes on, you're going to
find new things, you're goingto think about new things.
That's incredible, yeah, but inthe beginning.
I was just dancing by an artistin music videos.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
So if I was to ask you and I'm not sure what your
answer would be, because Ireally want people to understand
that being a dancer, as amatter of fact, being a talented
and hardworking dancer, pays,yeah.
So what's the biggest gigyou've got so far?
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Biggest biggest, biggest, biggest, biggest,
biggest.
I'm sure you're going to sayyou're going to think it's
working with Beyonce.
No, I think going to Dubai towork with the UAE government.
(51:33):
It brought me a lot of money,yeah, changed my whole account.
Seen Big S, yeah, yeah, so Ithink that's yeah, so what's and
what's the least?
You've been paid to do a job atleast 50 series.
You're joking.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
I'll give you this compensation right no, but I
think you're done fantastic,yeah, but then you know, after
working out your money issues,you know, making sure that
you're now taking what youdeserve, isn't that bringing a
lot of pressure from family,friends, people that you had in
your circle that are no more?
They now see that you have abeautiful car, you're living a
(52:15):
good life.
Speaker 1 (52:16):
This car has brought me a lot of like burden.
It's brought burden on my head.
I've got people from back inthe day calling me, telling me
about their family issues, youknow, telling me to stop saying
things for them.
Family, obviously, family'sfamily.
(52:38):
I love my family, so so, yeah,I'll support them regardless.
But ah, it's been crazy eversince I got this guy.
Like everything is justdifferent for me.
Right now I hardly even pickcalls.
Well, yeah, even before I gohere, I had numerous calls.
(52:59):
You know, it's okay, I mean, Ican handle it, I've always
handled it, but it's just toomuch.
If it was like 1%, that's like10, you know, and I have to have
to take.
If I can afford, fine.
If I can't afford, I'll let youknow, because there's nothing
to hide.
Speaker 2 (53:21):
What's your biggest?
Speaker 1 (53:22):
regret.
There are no regrets in lifefor me.
I feel like every situationshould teach you one thing.
Teach you a thing one way orthe other.
Ever since I left my ex-group,I still face situations, but I'm
able to tackle it because Ilearned some things from the
(53:43):
past as time goes on.
I just know that I'll be facingchallenges.
When it happened, when I leftthe team, it was crazy.
But now, when someone leaves myteam or when I'm about to do
any move and it does not succeed, I will know how to treat it.
(54:07):
I will know how to maneuver myway, because this one was huge.
Yeah, it was huge.
It was different.
Like it hit me when I let, whenI least expected.
That's when it hit me, likefrom people your favorite people
(54:29):
not minding you and me.
I didn't know how to move, howto even react, how to even
behave.
But now, if someone says I'mgoing, I don't want to work with
you again, I'm like, okay, fine, that's the only thing I can
say now.
But and they'll be like why areyou leaving?
Speaker 2 (54:46):
you think you've built that mental toughness?
Speaker 1 (54:48):
yeah, I feel like as a human being or as a creative,
you need to be very tough.
Yeah, there's no, even in andeven in your heart, you don't?
I used to be very emotionalabout everything, like If I tell
someone to come and record me avideo and a person has no show,
I'll be very emotional about it.
But now, if I tell you to come,I already have backup.
(55:09):
So if you don't show, anotherperson is coming, that's right.
Or you might as well just comeand meet Another person.
So you have to prove it.
I feel like it made me realizehow life should, should be lived
, and when I started traveling,I realized it's different out
there, it's very different outthere, and I was out there alone
(55:34):
, right, for about five months,six months.
It's crazy.
No one cared about you.
Do your own thing and let itwork.
If it doesn't work, you try.
So actually, that moment, Ifeel like those moments were
very precious, like they arevery like Special moments.
(55:54):
I don't think I'm going to bein that situation again.
I don't think I'm going to eversee that Again.
Going to be in that situationagain.
I don't think I'm going to eversee that again.
You know, I I still havepictures, videos from that
moment where, like, I'll just bein my hotel room and I'm like
how do I do this?
Who do I?
Even at least I?
I had a manager when I was inthe x group.
(56:14):
This is what I was alone.
Speaker 2 (56:19):
You know, do you think you are heavily
misunderstood?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (56:24):
Because I'm changing a new face, I'm bringing a new
thing.
No one has seen that before.
So they'll question every timeand they'll try to fight it.
Speaker 2 (56:36):
If you were to tell that young man or young woman
who's doubting themselves towalk the path that they truly
desire, what would you tell them?
Speaker 1 (56:47):
Believe in God.
Number one Two follow yourheart.
Follow your heart.
Three Dare to be different.
Believe in God.
Number one Two follow yourheart and dare to be different.
(57:12):
Never give up.
That's the last one.
Speaker 2 (57:16):
Today there's a young man that's got a talent.
He's a great dancer, greatmusician.
Whatever it is that they'redoing with their talent In 2025,
If you would advise them to doanything, where would they start
from?
Where should they start fromright now?
Speaker 1 (57:33):
Start now.
Nothing is too late.
How.
Start now.
Social media is the biggesttool that can save you.
Start now.
If it is not your talent, don'tdo it, but hard work can also
(57:54):
make you better.
So start now.
Put in work.
Never look back forward andfocus on the focus, because it's
tough out here.
You don't want to know it'stough, it's crazy and it gets
(58:20):
lonely at the top.
Though.
But if you stay kind, you'reopen-minded, you're humble,
you're gonna have peoplesupporting you to grow the your
dream or your career, build yourcareer.
Yeah, that's how my life hasbeen this whole year, about 17
(58:48):
years of my career.
Speaker 2 (58:50):
I think you've probably answered this question,
but I would ask you anywaywhat's the one thing that you
learned too late, that you wishyou knew earlier?
Speaker 1 (58:59):
money, know how to use your money, know how to use
your money and Know how to useyour money.
And there's nothing like familyin business.
Family is when you're on thenormal grounds, but when it
comes to business, talk yourtalk.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
I actually like this version of you.
No, no, no I.
I like it because I say thatwhen talent meets business,
that's when money making becomeexponential.
Yeah, you may be so talented,so hard working, but if you
don't turn that, switch on you,you took me years, bro, so I've
(59:45):
let money go.
Speaker 1 (59:47):
I've let money go.
I wish that's the downfall of aman, I wish.
Speaker 2 (59:56):
But you see, the issue is you needed to do the
free work.
Yeah, I did it for a long timeTo get attraction, for a very
long time?
Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
How many years?
Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
did you do the free work for Bro?
Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Free work ended in 2023.
Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
That's just a couple of years ago.
It's been a couple of years forme, so you could have started
charging.
Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
Like in 2019.
Yeah, I could have startedcharging like crazily and I knew
people were ready to pay, butthey use.
Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
You see, this is it.
There's two sides to the coin.
Sometimes, don't you think it'stheir courage to ask for your
worth?
That's what stops a lot ofpeople from making money with
their talent People are using mefor their own benefits.
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Did you have the courage to even ask I'll even
meet you in the first place whyI am not the one meeting you?
There's a manager, there's arepresentative.
I see, do you get the point Iget.
So whatever business they havewith you, whatever negotiation
(01:01:07):
they have with you, it's fortheir own benefits.
Maybe they want you to dosomething for them.
Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
And then you just do the dance Me.
Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
I don't know, I don't know about it.
So they come and tell mesomething else and you know, I
only know that it's a job it has.
Come, do it and go.
Whatever they pay, you is yeah,you are talented, you have been
helped.
Can you talk?
You can talk.
But now that I know that thisway I don't have any
(01:01:36):
relationship, I'm not doing any.
I don't need any favour fromthis person.
You come, you get your workdone.
That's it.
Take my money service done.
You're happy, both parties arehappy.
We move on in life.
Sometimes I do something.
In the past I used to dosomething and I'll see an artist
and the person will frown and Idon't know what I've done to
(01:01:57):
the person.
But the person has frowned.
The person doesn't even want totalk to me again and I question
, like not knowing something hashappened in the past.
Something has happened throughmanagement.
Yes, that you were not aware.
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Yes, so this thing happened.
It ended a lady in courtbecause of management, the way
management dealt with the case.
Yeah, she was unaware.
Yeah, the case ended up incourt.
And I would like to pause youguys here for a second.
On the 29th of August, my teamare putting together an event,
our first Connected Minds liveevent.
It's going to be happening atthe British Council, so I'm
(01:02:37):
going to leave all the detailsbelow register and then be a
part of it.
It's going to be an awesome day, complete mindset shift.
So if you've been watching,listening to this program,
following my teachings, youshould be there.
It's only going to be formaximum 200 people and every
other detail is going to be onmy Instagram, and that is
(01:02:58):
Derekabaiti on Instagram.
My question to you is is thereanything I could have asked you
that I didn't that we can stilltalk about in the past?
no, anything that I could haveasked you in this conversation
that you still think we need totalk about I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
Maybe, if I've eaten, that's a good break.
Have you eaten?
Yes, yes, I have.
Thank you, oh, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
I usually don't do breakfast.
You're not a hungry person.
I do one meal a day, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
I don't really be eating well, so my team is
really taking care of that forme.
That's good and I'm grateful.
Yeah, yeah, bro, you that forme.
And I'm grateful.
Yeah, yeah, bro.
Yeah, boy, jamal, like we'vereally worked hard.
Like no, you have no time tosleep.
I go here with red eyes.
Yeah, yeah, like sleeplessnights, because it's like I feel
like when I started this newteam with rush, with a certain
(01:04:02):
force, you know, and so in thebeginning I didn't want to do
this.
I just want to concentrate onmyself, because imagine all this
energy, if I invested back intomyself, I could be somewhere
else.
But I realized, no, to have thelegacy continue, I need to
build new like 10, 10, 20, 50million of my type.
(01:04:30):
But then again, I have to bevery careful of who I'm
investing my energy into.
And now it's more like businessfor me, because me, when I was
working in the other team, no,like because me when I was
working in the other team, itfelt like I was being a
philanthropist, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
The people you have under you In the beginning, like
Right in your current, myquestion, in your current team,
yeah, do you have contracts withthem?
Not yet, okay, not yet.
Is that something you'rethinking about?
Yeah, okay, and are you goingto pay them what they are due?
Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Of course, if you're coming to a team, if you're
going to look for a job, I feellike some people send their CV.
Whatever these people, we lookfor them, okay, you know.
So if I look for you on thestreet, obviously I have to
change your life.
You know, it's not even aboutme paying you, but I have to
(01:05:28):
make sure.
Yes, so the payback is youfinding yourself becoming a
brand and now you can take careof yourself.
That's what I do for them.
Okay, you know, but I'm a humanbeing.
I'm human until they get there.
I need to be compensating them.
You know a little bit.
I don't say I don't call thatpayment, because if I'm paying
you, I need to pay your worth,and all of them are worth
millions like of dollars, it'snot even cities because I see
(01:05:52):
what the work they put in and Ilike their energy, I like how
forceful they are when they'reon stage and even off stage.
You know, I've seen like adrastic change in them and I see
it made me feel proud of howfar we've come in these two
years.
Because, like, like I, like Isaid, like we started with like
(01:06:16):
an energy and not everyone canmatch that energy.
But trust me, these kids, I seethe fire in their eyes, you
know, and I wish it was likethat when I started.
You know, like I see it, like Idon't know if it is for fame, I
(01:06:36):
don't know how it's going to belike, but what I see is
different.
Like they want it all forthemselves.
They want, they want to be onstage, they want to be on stage,
they want to be seen, they wantto dance, they want to share
their crafts.
I feel like that name the dance, grow and live shows when
(01:07:01):
you're on stage.
You know, there were times thatthey were laughed at.
I was laughed at what are thesepeople doing?
And now these people are thebest in ghana now.
So I feel like it's a gradualthing.
We are fitting in, we aretaking over.
Like you said, taking over isallowed, it's allowed everywhere
, even on a single carriage.
Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
Yes, yeah, somebody can take over quickly, quick,
yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's.
I say this you know, we've seenNokia, we've seen Blackberry.
Look at Apple now, look atSamsung.
Now, samsung's stuck with thegame.
They are competing with Apple.
Yeah, where's Nokia andBlackberry?
The rest?
So you know, today, you, youcould be leading the game.
Speaker 1 (01:07:43):
You have to be very strategic, be strategic Every
time Like I don't let.
There's not any time that I belike, ah, I let go.
I've been doing this thingalmost 20 years.
There's never a day that theonly time that I've realized I
messed up.
That's when my blessing came,mm, mm, mm, that's when my
(01:08:07):
blessing came.
That's when my blessing came.
So, like I say hard work, butbelieve in God.
If God is not done, done withyou like nobody can say we are
done with you, like God is notdone with you.
You know me, I didn't want todance again.
I'm telling you, in 2022, Ididn't want to dance again.
Yes, I felt like, oh yeah, Ididn't want to dance again.
(01:08:28):
I'm telling you, in 2022, Ididn't want to dance again.
Yes, I felt like, oh yeah, I'vedone it.
I was calculating my business.
All these people are famous,their household names because of
Dance.
God, god, do too much.
This is just the beginning.
There are new faces, new peoplecoming.
You have not seen them yet.
(01:08:50):
Just wait, my son.
These are the new faces.
I have Lali, I have Danny, Ihave Sugar, I have Olali.
They are amazing Latifa Top topdancers right now, who have
been loved from nowhere.
(01:09:11):
If I tell you their background,some coming from the Voltaritan
, some coming from Kumasa.
But you know the beautifulthing.
Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
No, you created this.
You did From the Genesis, yeah,yeah.
So anytime you look back youdid from the genesis.
Yeah, yeah, so anytime you lookback, you're like the inception
of this.
I took a bold decision yeah towake myself back up, yeah, and
give other people hope.
Speaker 1 (01:09:37):
It was never for me yeah, it was never about me.
It will never be about me.
It will never be about me.
That it will never be about me.
That's what people don't know.
These people used to watch mefrom their homes, their villages
, their towns.
They wanted to get close to me.
I left this team.
Now they got close.
(01:09:59):
Now they are doing amazing.
Do you know who is watchingthem and wants to join?
So it's like a train keepsgoing, doing amazing.
Do you know who's watching themand wants to join?
So it's like a train keepsgoing, and that's why we have a
lot of dancers in Ghana rightnow.
I was in Nigeria and then onelady walked out to me and she
was like this feels like a dreamcome true.
(01:10:22):
I used to watch you when I wasin GHS.
I used to watch you when I wasin JHS.
I used to watch you constantlyon the phone.
Now you are in my country andyou have called me to come see
you.
I didn't know this day wouldcome.
Look at me.
I was just thinking, oh, I knowthis girl.
She's really good on socialmedia.
(01:10:43):
She never said anything to meand now she comes to me.
I invite, invite her.
She comes to me and she tellsme all these things.
Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
That means I'm doing a great job, yeah but in all of
this, if you put god as thefoundation, what I've learned
from this is the power of socialmedia.
Yeah, it's really pushed you.
Speaker 1 (01:11:06):
Yeah social media changed my life, especially
Instagram.
I suppose on Facebook back in aday, but Instagram, I was not
getting paid from Instagram, butI had all my breakthrough where
.
From Instagram that moment, andI've got something crazy.
(01:11:26):
Come and post the online.
Away from Instagram, thatmoment, and I've done something
crazy.
Come and post it online.
Everybody, yay, get new peoplegravitating to me from all walks
of life.
That's when I realized no, Ihave to take social media
serious, even TikTok.
Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
What's your total audience size on social media?
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
That's crazy.
Don't remember.
Let me see Where's my phone.
Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
Instagram.
Instagram, I think you havelike.
Speaker 1 (01:12:01):
The last time I checked my phone.
Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
And I'm doing this because I want people to
understand that- Okay, instagramis 2.3.
Million.
Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
Million.
Let me check my 3.4 on TikTok3.4 million.
Let me check my Facebook.
That's crazy.
Hey, where's my Facebook?
Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
I just want people to understand the power of social
media.
You know, 1.9 on Facebook, yeah, so we are well over 5 million,
well over.
And Twitter is like 100k, yeah,and I think your, my YouTube is
like 300,000.
Speaker 3 (01:12:45):
That's, and then, of course, you've 100k, yeah, and I
think you're um.
My youtube is like 300, 300 000yeah 300 000.
Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
That's amazing.
I think you've done fantastic.
Um, you've done a great.
It's not my phone.
I think you've done fantastic.
I was gonna ask you my famousquestion motivation or
discipline, but I think Ialready know the answer
discipline, that's right.
I already know the answer.
Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
Someone can motivate you.
But discipline, hey, hardestthing to ever do.
Yeah, if you have discipline,you have, you have everything.
I feel like you never go down.
You might as well you, you justleave the scene a little bit,
but if you have discipline, ifyou always, you have to be
disciplined.
(01:13:27):
I used to stay with this ladycalled Jessica and anytime I
wake up, she's like have youlaid your bed?
I didn't understand.
I was like I want to go to town, I want to go and do something,
but it started from my bedroom,the discipline that she wanted.
Yeah, now I wake up andsubconsciously I want to lay in
(01:13:51):
my bed.
And that's how it has been forthe past four years.
I had to leave my house to goand live somewhere To learn how
to be disciplined.
I felt so comfortable,comfortability, I thought I had
(01:14:11):
worked Me, waking up, laying inmy bed.
Sometimes I will not even eatthe whole day.
I thought I was being a hardguy.
No, I was killing myself,shooting myself in the foot.
I'll leave my face unkept, myhair unkept.
Yeah, that was the beginning offalling off.
(01:14:36):
Go to the barber shop, giveyourself a treat.
That's it.
Wear brand.
Yes, I didn't care at thatpoint.
So laying my bed on all thosethings helped me.
Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
What's the best advice you've ever received?
Speaker 1 (01:15:01):
Best advice, best advice.
Best advice and this questionusually takes time.
(01:15:23):
Don't tell people what you'reabout to do.
Don't share too much.
Don't share too much Until it'sdone.
Don't share too much.
(01:15:44):
I kept hearing it, but one timesomeone said it to me and hit
me Don't share too much.
Don't share too much.
Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
Oh, I get it.
I get it.
Speaker 1 (01:16:00):
Don't share too much.
Someone gets close to you.
You want to share because youthink that person loves you they
use it against you yes, theyare all for what is yours.
They are in for it.
They might come like God, theydon't care about you, like that.
You become who.
(01:16:24):
Actually two, three advicesthat I've heard and, yeah, you
become who you hang with that'sgood.
Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
I've enjoyed this conversation.
I've never seen you speak fromthe core of your daily the way
you have today.
It's been a while it's it'sit's it's been a conversation
that you've spoken a lot.
I spoke only about five percentand that's why it's connected
minds.
I usually like people to justtalk and then share, and I think
(01:16:59):
you've done fantastic.
I am.
I'm happy where I saw you andwhere you are.
Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
Yeah blessings, I think the first time I saw you
was 2013 or 2014.
Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
Yeah, and you've done fantastic.
I remember that day likeyesterday.
Yeah, you've done fantastic andthank you so much for coming.
Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
God bless, God bless.
Speaker 2 (01:17:21):
You're going to make this program go to the next
level again.
And.
I really appreciate it and tomy people, if you made it all
the way to the end, I would loveto know in the comments and if
this is your first time everwatching Connected Minds podcast
.
Hit that subscribe button andthen turn on the notification.
I appreciate you and stayconnected.
(01:17:42):
My name is Derek Abayde.
I'm out.
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