Ghanaian gospel musician Perez Musik has opened up about his early days in music, revealing that he was nicknamed “Tinny” during his time at Mfantsipim School.

Speaking on Joy Learning TV, Perez Musik, who has since carved a niche for himself in the gospel music industry, reflected on the experiences that shaped his interest in music and entertainment long before he became professionally known.

The gospel singer explained that his ability to rap in Ga earned him the nickname “Tinny”, inspired by Ghanaian rapper Tinny at the time.

“I used to rap in Ga. At that time, Tinny was the big deal. So they used to call me Tinny,” he revealed.

According to him, his fascination with entertainment began at a young age, particularly after watching television programmes and becoming curious about how certain visual effects were created.

He recalled being intrigued by an episode of ‘By the Fireside’ in which a character appeared to disappear. This prompted him to figure out how he could recreate the effect himself, despite having no formal knowledge of video editing.

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“I’ve always wanted to do something around music and entertainment. I once watched By the Fireside, and they were doing the ghost effect. Kwaku Ananse, or somebody like this, he disappeared. I was intrigued. I was like, ‘How did they do that effect?’ The funny thing is, nobody taught me how to achieve that effect.

“I sat down and thought, ‘If I put the camera down static and record an empty frame, then make the person come in or go out of the frame, when I cut it, I’ll get that effect.’ I didn’t even know there was anything called editing. The idea just popped into my head that, ‘I can actually do this,’” he said.

His interest in how entertainment productions were put together deepened when a crew arrived at his uncle’s house to shoot a music video.

Watching the crew work helped him understand how artistes could be filmed in different locations while appearing to perform seamlessly to the same song.

“I see music videos on TV. And I’m like, ‘Ah, the person is standing at different locations. But the song is seamless.’ So having watched the crew record and edit at my uncle’s place gave me a better understanding of what happened behind the scenes.

“So you’ll be playing the music, and you record. When you finish, and you edit, and then you put the music under it, I’m like, ‘Oh, okay,’” he recalled.

He noted that by the time he entered Mfantsipim School, his interest in music had already developed considerably.

He had even recorded a demo album, which eventually made its way to him after he arrived at the school.

“I recorded an album, like a demo album. It was brought to me later in school. My first day, I had a CD,” he recalled.

The demo attracted the attention of some senior students, who were curious about the CD and his involvement in music.

They eventually introduced him to Angel, who was a senior at Mfantsipim and later became known as Sarkodie’s manager.

“One of the seniors was going through my things and they were like, ‘What is the CD? What are you doing?’ And I said, ‘Oh, it’s my songs.’ They listened to it and then they took me to Angel, Sarkodie’s manager. Angel was my senior. He listened to it and he was impressed,” he narrated.

Perez Musik said he was subsequently given an opportunity to perform at the school’s first entertainment programme of the academic year.

“So that weekend, the first entertainment in school, the very first one, I was made to perform. I performed my song. So I became very popular in school from the first week,” he continued.

@joy_learning I was nicknamed ‘Tinny’ at Mfantsipim because I used to rap in Ga – Perez Musik Full interview here: https://youtu.be/RuzJcvGX93g?si=WNanI7LR2kwNDOO4 #thecareertrail #joylearning #joynews ♬ original sound - Joy_learningtv