Omar Sterling, also known as Paedae, from the popular music group R2Bees, has reiterated his disdain for the worship of celebrities.
The Stay by Plan podcast recently posted a video on YouTube in which they asked Sterling what he dislikes but has noticed others enjoying. The renowned rapper responded by saying, “I think mine would be celebrity worship.” He mentioned that he once posted about it on Twitter, and the tweet went viral. “Don’t look up to celebrities. What is famous is rarely wise,” he recollected.
Sterling went on to emphasize that he is “not a fan of celebrity worship” because being a celebrity does not necessarily signify possessing the wisdom required to lead a generation or govern a nation. He argued that being famous does not necessarily mean understanding current affairs enough to effectively offer relevant solutions when necessary.
He explained, “…to be a celebrity… if you have a talent and you’re able to exploit it, you become known. It doesn’t mean you’re a wise man. And you know, we need wise men to build generations, not celebrities. You can be a celebrity and not have anything [constructive] to say regarding [governance] and political issues.”
Sterling attributed his “very strong spirit” to never looking up to anyone as his hero, even though he “admired a lot of people”. He believes that celebrity worship interferes with one’s growth and true self-actualization. “We didn’t have heroes to worship so we were able to become ourselves [and] not become somebody else,” he explained.
The rapper, known for his philosophical rap songs, like 2021’s A Mountain Full of Gold, argued that celebrity worship interferes with one’s growth and true self-actualization.
On the other hand, Mugeez, the extroverted half of R2Bees, responded to a question regarding how the genre-adventurous duo has stayed relevant throughout the changing scenes of contemporary African music.
He stated, “It’s all about staying focused, giving the people what they want, we study the game, we know what they want always so [that’s how] we define our sound.”
