Celebrated dancer and music star Slim Buster has urged musicians to value quality over numbers of streams and fans.

He indicated that the quality he was talking about could be achieved by collaborations and not working in silos - as young stars are fond of - seeking individual glory.

He admonished the new breed of music stars to lay aside their pride and work with veterans, even if, their eyes, the latter did not have the fame and leverage they were enjoying at present. 

Slim Buster spoke to Summy Brown on Accra 100.5 FM, emphasising that numbers did not necessarily signal quality.

To explain his point, he said even though Toyota had huge numbers of customers, it could not be compared to "prestige" brands like Rolls Royce and Porshe. 

"Excuse me to say, because some of our musicians are fools, they pride themselves in being number one and having huge numbers [like Toyota], and so [they] don't [desire] to collaborate with the Rolls Royces," he bemoaned.

"We have good musicians that have the talent and quality to deliver a good production for those people but those people are thinking about numbers and so they don't want to collaborate with them. And so what I know in the industry will perish me with when I die." 

The Hiplife star minced no words when he said musicians who were driven and puffed up by numbers, contrary to what they may believe, "can never be the best".

"The Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, and everything are the best cars ever," he said, alluding to the lasting legacies of veteran musicians.

The UK-based Ghanaian singer and sound engineer cited Afro Roots originator, humanitarian and culture diplomat Rocky Dawuni as a talent in the Rolls Royce category, seeing as he is "a very quality musician," and a veteran, too.

"Put all the top stars together, and you [still] can't compare them to him. He presents his master tape to the Grammys and straight away they pick him out. The Grammys are not there for numbers. They are there for a certain standard of music, and you have to reach that height, and once you do, they will never reject you," Slim Buster went on.

When he mentioned Afro Dancehall originator Stonebwoy, his thoughts were bittersweet.

He appeared to favour Stonebwoy's music when they were indigenous, or leaned in that direction.

Thus, he cited Stonebwoy's collaboration with five-time Grammy-winning Beninese Angelique Kidjo - a woman with many decades of experience - emphasising that their award-winning song Manodzi was Rolls Royce music.

"Listen to that song [carefully]. When you present it anywhere, even those who don't understand the language would love it," Slim Buster remarked happily. 

He seemed greatly pleased that Stonebwoy invited a seasoned veteran on his song, and encouraged for more of that to be done, not just with singers but with other creatives like instrumentalists and producers, too, even when they may not boast of huge traction currently.

"So we need to stop the foolishness of thinking about numbers," he rebuked, urging: "Now we have to start thinking about quality production, working with different types of people - so if you play music and you want horns on it, you take experts [to do so]."

Again, Stonebwoy's catalogue provided a good example, in his view, as he brought up the megahit Jejereje featuring Amsterdam-based DJ, producer, and guitarist Ginton.

"You see the guy who played the guitars on Jejereje, he made the song [exceptional]!" Slim Buster exclaimed.

He went on to grieve that "Stonebwoy [regretably] says [in Slim Buster's opinion] that he doesn't like that [kind of music] and so he went back to Dancehall. [Meanwhile,] Jejereje is one of his biggest hits." 

"So let's work with professionals and stop being in the studio and only working [by] ourselves, and [producing gibberish] music," the Masan Aba hitmaker appealed.

"We have the talents. Let's stop the selfishness. I think that's our problem," Slim Buster concluded, stressing the value of cross-generational knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Kokonsa is the musician's latest offering featuring Highlife star Nana Quame. He revealed he had songs with Joint77 which were yet to be released, too.