Ghana’s celebrated rap heavyweight Sarkodie has recounted a comical yet deeply unsettling episode he now describes as the worst stage performance of his career, an experience triggered by an innocent mistake made far from home.
Speaking during an interview on Hitz FM, the multiple award-winning artiste revealed that the incident occurred in the United States, at a time when neither he nor his team suspected anything unusual was about to unfold. According to Sarkodie, they were received at their hotel with a welcoming hamper filled with assorted snacks and treats—a common gesture extended to visiting artistes.
Unbeknownst to him, however, some of the biscuits in the hamper were marijuana-infused. Sarkodie admitted he casually ate the biscuits, completely unaware of their contents. His longtime manager, Angel, also had some and even went ahead to finish what Sarkodie had left behind.
As preparations for the show began, the atmosphere around him started to feel increasingly odd. Sarkodie recalled that Angel suddenly became unusually jovial, laughing uncontrollably for no clear reason. At the time, the rapper was puzzled but did not immediately connect the dots.
Backstage, the situation became even more surreal. Sarkodie said he began sensing that something was seriously wrong with his perception of reality. In a moment he now laughs about, he asked Angel a question that made little sense even to himself—whether the distance from backstage to the performance stage was unusually far. That was when it dawned on him that his senses were distorted and that something was clearly off.
Once he stepped on stage, the experience intensified. Sarkodie described feeling completely detached from time and rhythm, explaining that everything seemed to move in slow motion. In his mind, his songs were dragging, beats felt delayed, and his performance felt disjointed and unnatural.
“All my songs were playing slowly in my head,” he recounted, adding that the sensation left him convinced he was delivering a disastrous show. Throughout the performance, he struggled internally, certain that he was not in control and fearing he was letting his audience down.
Ironically, the reaction from fans told a very different story. After the show, many people approached him to praise what they believed was an outstanding performance, with some even describing it as one of his best. Despite the applause and compliments, Sarkodie said he could not shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.
“People kept telling me it was one of my best performances,” he said, “but deep inside, I knew I wasn’t okay.”
Looking back, Sarkodie now tells the story with laughter, but he admits it remains a vivid reminder of how unpredictable live performances—and life on tour—can be. The experience, while humorous in hindsight, stands out to him as a moment when perception, reality, and performance collided in the most unexpected way.
