Gospel musician Perez Musik has revealed that he was nicknamed “Tinny” by his schoolmates at Mfantsipim School because of his interest in rapping in Ga.

Speaking on The Career Trail on Joy Learning TV and Joy News, he recalled how his passion for music and entertainment developed before and during his secondary school years.

Perez Musik said his interest in entertainment began at an early age. He recalled being fascinated by television productions and wondering how filmmakers created visual effects.

He cited an episode of By the Fireside in which a character disappeared, saying he began thinking about how such an effect could be recreated without knowing that the process involved video editing.

His interest deepened after a production crew came to his uncle's house to shoot a music video.

“I see music videos on TV. And I'm like, ‘Ah, the person is standing at different locations. But the song is seamless,’” he recalled.

By the time he entered Mfantsipim School, Perez Musik had already recorded a demo album, which he took with him to school.

A senior student discovered the CD and introduced him to Angel, who was his senior at Mfantsipim and would later become Sarkodie's manager.

Angel listened to his songs and was impressed. Perez Musik said he was subsequently given the 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 said.

His Ga rap style soon earned him the nickname “Tinny”, after the rapper of the same name who was prominent 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 said.

Despite his interest in music, Perez Musik said the education system did not provide an obvious academic path for what he wanted to pursue.

He initially considered General Arts because it offered music but eventually left the class after becoming frustrated with the way the subject was taught.

“The music teacher was so boring. Like, he made the music very difficult. Like, it was so boring. So I left,” he recalled.

He subsequently moved to a technical programme, where he studied mathematics, physics, building construction and building drawing.

Although he enjoyed building construction and performed reasonably well in the subject, music and entertainment remained his main passion.