Hiplife: The True Definition; searching for the soul of the godfather
The roots of hiplife music has been associated with legends such as K. K. Kaboobo and Gyedu Blay-Ambollay way back in the 1980s, when they made highlife songs with fast flowing lyrics that resemble what was officially popularised by Reggie Rockstone in the 90’s (1997). Many refer to him as the “Godfather of Hiplife” because of this, and especially, because of the nature in which he executed his music style and its relevance today. However, it is still arguable for those who know their hiplife history so well. I may be wrong but don’t you remember as far back as early 1996, an underground hiplife artist called Mahonny P (aka Mahonnie P) had a number of hiplife tracks on some of the airwaves (radio)? This is way before Reggie took it to mainstream success. This may sound unbelievable or come to you as a shock, but I do remember a track that sounded like “Ebe ye yie nti mempe aba…” way back in early 1996 when I was preparing to sit for my final advance level (A’ level) exams. I believe some Presecans (Odadee): Riis House (5) will agree with me on this one. Charley! Please understand that I am not a “hater”, and neither do I intend robbing Reggie of his legacy, but I have an honest obligation to keep it real as a hiplifer. No doubt he will forever be the revolutionist of the art. And I’m proud of you, brother.
Anyway, as Reggie branded this new genre of Ghanaian music as hiplife, it was obviously understood as the fusion of our traditional highlife and western hip hop. Apparently, the name suggests a very simplistic definition and this is the reason why hiplife is not the same today. Charley, I don’t need to brag, but I have done my home work very well and that is why I am bringing it to your chest like an Asthma attack!! It is my wish and hope, that after reading this article you as a hiplifer will upgrade your horizon and see things with a deeper analytical approach. We as hiplifers should also learn to be sophisticated listeners in order not to accept any cheap imitations as hiplife music. Cha! This is our thing. We live it, breathe it and eat it. It is our “hiplifestyle”, so I guess it’s only right that I say it’s about time to take it back to what & where it is suppose to be.
It may surprise you to learn that the very first mainstream full length hiplife album that set the trend and direction had a much deeper definition than what most Ghanaians know as hiplife. Reggie’s debut [Makaa Maka-1997] surprisingly had no typical highlife/hip hop blends. This compelled me to identify a much deeper definition of what our Godfather portrayed. I can’t speak for him but it was obvious that he never stood for the simplistic formulae [Highlife + Hip Hop = Hiplife]. He was more open to embrace this art form as not necessarily a blend of highlife and hip hop, but rather a creative blend of Ghanaian culture or concepts with Western hip hop music. You do not need to agree with me now but I believe when you go back and listen to the album, you will begin to understand where I am coming from.
Another observation made on the album was the use of beats, bars and hooks (Choruses). As identified in hip hop, there was the use of funk (funky beats), but the difference come in when the output was made more Ghanaian by looping traditional Ghanaian and African beats to perfectly blend, as well as a significantly rhyming in vernacular. This could even be heard on the interludes (makaa maka skits) where Zapp Malet did such a great job keeping it funky with “adowa” beats. It is for such reasons that even the English lyrics on “Nightlife in Accra” and the follow up single “Keep Your Eyes on the Road” are still relevant as hiplife tracks. Different but similar productions were achieved by “The Last 2” right from the intro to the outro on Obrafo’s “Pae Mu Ka” debut [1999]. Thus, the earlier works had more focus on achieving blends of traditional drums and funky beats. In addition, the beauty of these productions was the fact that our traditional instruments played a major role in achieving good harmony. This is something that so called hiplife songs of today lack.
In the late 90s, the albums and singles which were released by Nananom, Exdoe, Buk Bak, Akyeame and VIP, were so unique and perfectly reflected the true hiplife definition. Songs like Buk Bak’s “Kome Ke Kena”, Exdoe’s “Daavi Meda Kuku” and Akyeame’s “Brebre Obaahemaa” nailed it with no doubt. Later in 1999, Obrafo treated us with an all time masterpiece debut- what an album it was with even intro and outro getting airplay. That was “Kasahare” at its best, if not the “Golden Years”. Don’t get me wrong because I also believe in evolution and revolution of music. All I am trying to say is that when hip hop artists such as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Twista, DMX and Busta Rhymes came out with unique & distinctive delivering styles and flows, they still stuck to the unwritten laws of hip hop and kept the music “hip”. Even today’s Southern Crunk, Snap and Trapp music are still “funkyfied” regardless of criticisms of being corny and weak. Nas is already screaming that hip hop is dead and so is KRS One with hopes of hip hop living once again. In no time, “brodas” will be screaming about this same issue.
One can easily misinterpret me or even brand me as an “old fashion hater” but trust me, I still have good ears for recently released real hiplife productions such as Ksn’s work on “Na Yatal” (Kwaw Kese), JayQ’s work on “Gonja Barracks” (Buk Bak), Hammer’s work on “Ako” (Obrafo) and “Suudwe” (KK Fosu ft Batman & Tinny -though it’s more of burger/ contemporary highlife with rap). Oh, and need I remind you of the remix to Na Yatal ft 2Toff and that club banger “Besin” (VIP)? There is absolutely no reason for me to hate on the music I love and so passionate about. It’s all for the good of it, so we can one day layback and reminisce about the G.O.D.; I mean the good old days. The real soldiers out there know ya boy is just keeping it real.
We should understand that it is alright to be madly creative, innovative and versatile. However, highlife is suppose to sound like highlife and nothing else. So should Rock, Jazz, Blues, Country, Hip Hop, RnB, Classical, Afro beats and Traditional Folks music. Hence my cry-out is for hiplife artists and fans to open up their minds, hearts and ears to accept what is real hiplife. Some may find this funny, others will agree or disagree with me. But for real, hiplifers should be aware and understand these three unwritten laws of hiplife:
1. There is the need for a hiplife track to be funky. In other words, hip by nature. We claim that it is our version of hip hop, so you take that away, and you are disconnecting it from hip hop. Is that what we want?
2. Rapping over a raw highlife beat or song does not necessarily make it a hiplife song. I don’t care how tight your flow is or how heavy your lyrical punches are on point. You are still not representing or should I say reppin’ the culture? The same goes for kasahare on raw “Jamma beats”, “Kpalogo beats” or any other Ghanaian or African traditional songs. There is the need to be more creative with what you intend doing as a producer or rapper in achieving the good blend and harmony that hiplifers deserve to listen to.
Probably, old hits like “Comfort” (Exdoe ft Dr. Paa Bobo), “Atenteben” (Obour), “Brebre Obaahema- Zapp Malet mix” (Akyeame) or even the all time hiplife classic album of Obrafo with The Last 2 (Pae Mu Ka) can school them a little.
I guess you are thinking that producers have more responsibility here right? Wrong!!!!!!!!! Don’t you know that an artist will be judged accordingly regardless of who ever produce his or her song? No one thinks of Johnny “J” as the producer of Tupac Amaru Shakur’s “Dear Mama” or “Hit ‘em up”. It’s all about Pac having a touching hit record for his mother or mothers and having a banging dissing track to Biggie & the Bad Boy Family. This is why you should have ears for the right kick. And you the listener have a reputation to keep since your peers and even your enemies will judge you based on the “cream” or “garbage” that you listen to? You’ve got a responsibility too, fool!!
3. Making so called hiplife tracks with more than 50% singing has no place in hiplife music. When did kasahare stop being straight forward spitting and rhyming? Charley! You are an MC for God’s sake! Leave the singing to the singers and just kick your rhymes. You still have a chance on your hooks anyway. For real, it kinda places it in the category of highlife or contemporary (boga) highlife with a featured rapper. We need to get our hooks and bars well organised and keep it real 4 real.
I must however emphasis that I am not against “jamma rap” and neither am I against kpalogo or highlife rap in anyway. We must understand that if we want our hiplife music to remain youthful, substantial, unique, valued and sustainable; there is the need to have innovative blends whiles keeping the hip in hiplife alive. After all, it is called hiplife or should I say “hip-alive”?
Ghanaians as a whole must refrain from just being copycats and followers. I am emphasising this because I was born in a society that will sell its soul for money and power. I guess we wanna blame it on poverty, right? Yeah, right! A person comes out with an idea and the whole nation follows. Please be unique and have some pride. It’s just healthy for the hiplife climate and our society as a whole.
I believe in trends but we must still open our hearts to versatility.
I believe in cross-overs but we must first understand our place.
I believe in variations but we must still stay within our category.
There is a dignity to hold, a pride to keep and a reputation to preserve.
It’s not all about the money homey (homie)!
Swallow the shallowness, draw the depth and
Keep it real!
Respect, One love!
Holla at ya boy,
Megadon!
Kwadwo Ohene-Akoto
PS: I would like to hear from you, so feel free to holla at me with your opinion.
Email
, GHC 4.73 only.
Man, I love this article. You really know the hiplife game, like me :-)
I agree with you about the roots, kabobo dems definitely blazed the trail. I never heard about Mahonny P but there are other cats like Kweku P, Cy-lover who released singles before Reggie. Reggie just christened hiplife and someone could correct me, but I think he released the first hiplife album.
I like the hiplifestyle word... we should write another article about that. The first hiplife songs mostly had funky, hip hop or American beats laced with Twi rap. So we could say, a lot of early hiplife songs did not even have highlife beats. You could argue that Pae mu ka and Hammer's beats were funky and not highlife. But Hammer told me once, that his beats are still traditional, he plays sounds that are local, it just doesn't sound like highlife. This even makes his stuff more remarkable. Thanks for the revelation about mixing funk with adowa or traditional beats.
I think, rapping in Twi over any beat can be considered hiplife these days. Are we not glad that we've overcome the days of stealing American beats - like Sisqo, etc. I would rather we used makossa, Fela Kuti beats.
I don't see why people are bad-mouthing hiplife of today. There are many more hiplifers these days so there is bound to be some 'crap' and some good songs. A lot of new songs can rival the classics of old and today's hiplifer has to make a pretty good, well-researched and unique song to produce new classics. It's not easy.
About your criteria for hiplife songs, I don't think they need to be funky. I love the ones with jama or kpanlogo beats or those laced with highlife. The music is changing, it is a broad genre, giving birth to raglife, contemporary highlife, etc. Hiplifers are featuring Gyedu Blay, Kojo Antwi, Ofori Amponsah, Afro Moses and these musicians come from a background that is not funk. I don't see hiplife as our version of hip hop, all we borrow from the West is primarily "RAP" and not "BEATS".
Don't you think rapping over a funky beat is not as creative as over a jama beat? The latter is our bonafide property and hasn't been done before, that is creativity.
I'll agree that we need less singing in hiplife tracks. The interesting is, a lot of our hiplifers come from singing backgrounds, that's what they've done since they were young. I just don't think we should leave all the singing to the highlife musicians.
Mega Don, keep them coming!
Chale! Much appreciation for commenting on my article entitled “Hiplife: the true definition”. You seem to know your stuff and you kept it real with me. Exactly, what I wanted from a true soldier. I like the fact that we can agree to disagree on some issues because that's what a discussion is all about. It's good to know that at least someone also believes that some “cats” dropped some hiplife tracks before Reggie, though I never heard those ones you mentioned. A good thing will be for you to update the site with those "pre-hiplife" songs. I beleive most hiplifers will appreciate that knowledge fo'sho'. I guess I'll let you write the article on the "hiplifestyle" since you are more closer to the culture, won't you? Haha!! Thanks Bro!
However, certain parts of your comments made me realize that you may not have understood some of my views. Thus, in your third paragraph, you made a comments like "Are we not glad that we've overcome the days of stealing American beats"; and that made me feel like you think I was fine with that back in the day. I'm actually not down with "lifting" but I appreciated "good sampling". Moreover, I was giving more props to the productions on "Pae Mu Ka" mainly because they broke that trend that made hiplife a copycat culture. I'm actually glad that Hammer told you about using traditional beats to achieve funky beats, since that clarifies my point. I kept using the word "blend" suggesting that using raw "jama", “kpalogo”, “adowa” etc. isn’t creative enough. The amazing part is to achieve a good blend, and not lifting a highlife or "kpalogo" song just as raw as it comes. I think it's disgusting that most of today's hiplife tracks are taking that trend.
Again, in your last paragraph, I realized you agreed with my view of having less singing in hiplife. However, you may have understood me as saying that hiplife artists should leave the singing for highlife artists alone. I was far from that, and that's why I said, and I quote "Charley! You are an MC for God’s sake! Leave the singing to the singers and just kick your rhymes. YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE ON YOUR HOOKS ANYWAY. For real, it kinda places it in the category of highlife or contemporary (boga) highlife with a featured rapper." Meaning there's the need for hiplife artists to get their choruses (hooks) and rap lyrics (bars) well organized in order to apportion enough singing on their hooks in relation to bars. You feel me? Well, I hope you'll take a second look and get me right.
Finally, I'll say that I don't think hiplife primarily borrowed "rap" and not "beats" from hip hop; since you and I know that until the early 2000's, hiplife sounded so much like a vernacular version of hip hop. Perhaps, you are refusing to see hip hop as more of a culture than a genre of music. Please take a look around you an visualize the similarities in concepts, presentation, gestures, lifestyle, trends, language(jargons/slang) etc. I think it's much deeper than you think Bro. The difference is just ours reflecting what's in our society. This same reason surprises me that you don't see hiplife as our version of hip hop, because it is so obvious and I believe many will agree with me on this one. My question to you is that if you don't see it that way, how do you see it then? I hope you're not going to say that it something very different from hip hop haha!
Anyway, as I said earlier on, we can always agree to disagree so long as we have our unique reasons. Just to clarify and let you know. I'm working on an article entitled "The Hip in Hiplife". And though, I'm so busy at the moment, I'm hoping to finish very soon so we can all enjoy it. I hope it will unveil more of the things hiplife has borrowed from hip hop. One love brother! I appreciate your comments. Keep them coming Chale!
Holla at yo boy!
Mega Don.
Hey Mega Don, you be Don ampa. I am waiting for your Hip in Hiplife article. I was helping a friend with this documentary he's doing on VIP (Vision in Progress) and Hiplife and we were having this discussion about what does the "hip" in "hiplife" mean? Is it the rap or the funky beats or both?
Concerning the less singing by artistes, I kind of agree. They do have their hooks to fall upon. I don't think they necessarily need the butterfly voices of songbirds like Shee to make hits, but we need them to keep it real, most of the time. I would also like to see the creative blends of beats. The interesting thing is, almost every other beat is African in someway, we are just used to the Timbaland stuff coming from well (Timbaland and the US) so we associate funk with America.
Keep em coming bro!
Finally, i have found like minds to discus my hiplife thoughts with. Although, my article i posted on Ghanaweb.com forum in the entertainment section is one of the most viewed, i still don't think i had the right audiences to engage in wider debate. The only person who compelled me to write more is AKWADAA. This is the link to that article...
http://discussions.ghanaweb.com/viewtopic.php?t=59157&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
I remember vividly when i first heard Reggie Rockstone's track "Tshooboi" on radio Universe(Legon University Radio) in the Summer of 1995. I was so much in love with the track that i recorded it on a tape and took it everywhere i went. I recollect even giving it to the trotro driver to bumb it through my journey which had everybody in the ride talking about what young people have started doing with music. I was love with it not because it was the first hiplife track i have ever heard but i was fascinated by the fact that it was the first commercial track ever played on radio. Just like you guys, my recollection of hiplife music (wasn't called hiplife at the time) i heard was from Talking Drums (made up of Kwaku T. and another guy i have forgotten of). There were several others i can't seem to remember the names now. I'm sure you guys will also agree with me that there were several local artist doing hiplife in the various schools like Accra Aca, Presec, Accra Girls, WASS during inter school competitions and entertainment shows way before Reggie released his "Maka,Maka" album.
I think hiplife surge to the level it is right now because Ghanaian youth shun hiphop which was widely the norm before Reggie unleashing his classic album. For the first time, Ghanaian youth had something they can call their own creation and it's hip. The debate on types of hiplife genres out there is always going to prevail because there are sizeable amount of us that appreciates the current trend of hiplife music and i know there are more folks our there eager to see hiplife return back to it's roots, which is infusing or blending more hiphop beats in their music. My article is on Raglife gaining recognition after a long neglect. Check it out...
"RAGLIFE IS NOW THE NEW HIPLIFE"
Have you guys noticed how Raglife (dancehall/hiplife) is gaining momentum deliberately in the ghana music industry? The truth of the matter is, most of our current crop of hiplifers are already well vested with dancehall or reggae capabitilities but refrain from it since it doesn't sell as much. However, with their comrad Samini (Batman) winning international awards and also being the most famous and sort after artist in ghana currently, some of these hiplife cats are emerging with raglife tracks or tunes in their respective albums.
Some of the hiplife artists that can effectively make a difference in the raglife category are Screwface (Bue Bue), Bandana, Reggie Zippy ("Virgin" & "For sale"), [Natty]Borax ("tenewonsa"), [Late]Terry Bonchaka, Sugar Ranking ("Call from the streets"), Okomfuor Kwadee (few of you might know that this guy rattles Patua like no other), Yoggy Doggy (the original dancehall don dada who never made it big unfortunately), Ronnie of Bubbak fame ("Burn de weed", "Children crying"), Akatakyi ("Sie sie obaanu" & "Sweety" ft Black Prophet") Friction [formal fourth member of V.I.P], Akesiefuor ("African girls"), Five5 ("African gurlz"), Wutah ("Big Dreams"), Od4 ("Darling" & "Slim girls"), Barowski ("Okyerewa ba" & "Dancehall party" plus rapped on all the Ofori Amponsah's hits songs), Kokovelli ("Holiday"), Andy[of Mentor 3 tv fame] ("Sweety" ft Batman), Madfish, ("Yawooya"), RasNigga[female raglife artist], etc (remind me if i forgot anybody).
Let me make this clear before some of you narrow minded folks start attacking the fact that ghanaians are doing reggae or dancehall music. Reggae has been part of our social lifes since day one. Most of us grew up with reggae being played around us whether during outdooring ceremony or just a neighbor blowing up their latest acquired stereo with some Bob Marley tunes or some Culture songs. [Why?]Raglife because the kids of today grew up listenning to dancehall music which was really popolar in the late 80s to 90s. Constructive criticism are welcome.
Below are some links pertaining to some of the lesser known artists mentioned here....
Sugar Ranking: http://ghanabase.com/news/2007/1437.asp
Barowski: http://ghanabase.com/barosky/biography.asp
Borax: http://www.ghanabase.com/kojofolson/biography.asp
Five5: http://www.ghanabase.com/fivefive/biography.asp
More links later.
Response from AKWADAA...
The reason for the rag life take over is because there are no good rappers out there. If you remember when MC's like reggie, obrafo, nkasei, akyeame, tic tac, Xdo, VIP, Kenya and many more were at their peak the raglife artist were just featurings. This is because the past MC's used to be lyrical and they rhyme too, line for line. They always gave you something to rap a long to. Plus their songs too had concepts that made you follow the song. But now when you have pple like KoKo, Amingo, FBS, etc who are less lyrical (no lyrics at all) and barely rhymes, the rapping becomes tiring and unattractive. Raglife on the otherhand is fresh and the artist have taken a cue from earlier hiplifers. That is to have bars that rhyme. From Root I, Yoggi to Samini and Skrewface, you notice their lines be rhyming just like dance hall and rap itself. Todays hiplife rappers just talk, they don't rap thats why they r declining.
Rebutal from me...
I do not totally agree with you AKWADAA. There are different angles in hiplife itself, so just because someone doesn't follow your kind of style (totally hiphop) doesn't mean they are wack. Don't forget hiplife grew to the level it is right now because new cats like Akatakyi, Kokovelli, Obour, Bukbak and even Obrafuor started singing. I really like your "welcome to ghana" song featuring my boy Wanlov but non of your other songs can come close to any of the hiplife songs out there topping the charts. you are probably one of the cats who thought Hammer of Last 2 was the best among the sound engineers because he uses more hiphop beats. I noticed most of the younger generation hiplife lovers like 23 and under share similar views while us in our late 20s appreciate hiplife blend with older songs or some traditional hooks. Bottom line is there are different types of hiplife for everyone.
Response from AKWADAA
I didn't advocate for people to follow what i do because i didn't create hiplife. Am following those who started. I was only explaining why people like the raglife more. Plus i don't want people to use hip hop beatz. Reggie used Alhaji K frimpong - Kyen kyen di adi ma wu and came up with keep your eyez on the road. Now thats hiplife. Rapping over hip hop beats don't make it hiplife. Hiplife is rappin in a local dialect or rhyming over a beat heavily influenced by Highlife. Example 1 if i took a Koo Nimo and rhymed local its hiplife and 2) if i took a Jay Z beat and rhymed local on it that means i did a hiplife track with a hip hop beat. 3) If I rhyme brofo over Koo Nimo (etc) its still hiplife, but if i spit Bleh only over a hip hop beat that hiplife identity is lost in my opinion. You don't have to agree but thats what I say. Now back to the artist you mentioned they are not rappers, they are what we called hip jama. The song is not about the artist but the producer and the hook. A true hiplife artist make up the song, the producer doesnt matter. Pae Mu Ka, no one knew Hammer but Obrafo's lyrics brought the beat maker to the lime light. Real Hiplife is a track that the rappers lyrics is important than beat or hook, and if you was to refer to the song you'll start quoting bars from the rapper. For example Ask anyone about Obrafo - Pae Muka, i bet they will start - open the door - and prolly finish the whole verse. Ask the same person about KoKo's Zaazaa and they will prolly say Zaa zaa zaaa Kokoveli wasan ba (h00k) and can't do the verse. Am not downplaying what artist like KoKo have done (I like African Woman) but they are front runners with no lyrics there fore, the rapping aspect is bein lost leaving good lyricists to not come out bcuz pple think Hiplife rappers don't say anything. Question did you like welcome to Ghana cuz your boy was on it? In your opinion my songs won't match the song your fav artist. At least give me credit they got the luxury of studio time and bunch of beats to work Akwada Nyame however works with what he can get but trust listen to the lyrics and you'll learn somethingg. All ghanaian producers reigned one time because most of the Musicians are not talented they just jump on the bang wagon with whatever producer they think is hot and i bet they go in the studio and ask the producer can you do a similar beat like the one you did for that guy. One more thing on the artist you mentioned (and many others) may not be wack musicians, but they are garbage rappers thats what am tryna tell you. They prolly good at what they do but they are not good rappers thats a fact.
Response from me
Yo thanks for taking the time to clarify yourself on the issue at hand. I really appreciate the fact that we are having a healthy debate without insulting each other. I for one enjoys reading more about hiplife music and all the little gossip that goes along with it, so i encourage all the die hard hiplife fans to be more engaged in discussions on this forum.
I do concur with your explanations of the various forms of hiplife music. I don't completly think Raglife is overshadowing hiplife per se but it i think it's starting to gain recognition. I don't think anybody will dispute the fact that Obrafuor is the best lyricist when it comes to hiplife, however, Hammer's beats played a major role in the over all success of his album. I don't even know how Kokovelli became the subject of this debate. i just added him to my list of potential raglife artist because his "summer holiday" track recorded by Jay Q. I like your "welcome to Ghana" track because it's seriusly wicked track making a feel a little more patriotic. Frankly, I guess i didn't pay much attetion to your other tracks so i will go back and do that and give you feed back. One distinguishing factor in our argument that i have noticed is that you are a rapper and a lyricist yourself so you judge other hiplife artist based on how well they rhyme, while i'm just a Dj who appreciate good music so my judgements on hiplife artist are based on how well the audience appreciate or welcome songs that i play.
AKWADAA
Like wise. One request though, since we both agree that Hiplife is a way for the youth to make money. It's about time ya'll DJ's find a way to showcase the other side of Hiplife. Kwaw Kesse had a great party track with Na Ya Tal but i never heard it at no Ghanaian party up here. Meanwhile other artist get their song replayed over and ova. Not just Kwaw there are may more out there with good party songs but i guess if its not Jama you gets no play. I don't know your routine at parties but please try and incorporate the other side of hiplife in it.
Response from me...
You are right! I love kwaw Kesse as one of my personal favourite hiplife artist but barely play he music doing ghanaian parties which are normally patronized by the older folks. "Nayatal" is a wicked track which is liked by most young vibrant audience (even Nigerians, Liberians, Sierra Leone, Togo, etc) but hard to please older audience with a track like that. Trust me, i normally try a new song with my audience and if it doesnt appeal to them, i barely ever play it again during parties.
AKWADAA..
It takes more than one play for pple to like a song. So when an audience at a party don't like it that don't mean you shelve it. Maybe the next party might like it. With new songs you don't have to bump it all the way. A minute play will not mess up ur entire set. I used to be heavy at Ghana Parties (Loved those parties cuz its all love when am there) but now i fell back bcuz a lot of these DJ's bump the same joint, so sometimes it feels like am attending the same party over and over again. The Dj sounds the same. They will start with otoolege when they setting up, play otoolege when the party is about to jump, bump ottolege when the party is reall popping and play otoolege when the party is about to an end. This just an example of how many times some dj's play a song. Can't you subtitute the setting up with some one unknown and hold the popular tunes for the real jump off. I remember b4 you'll go to a party hear hip hop, dance hall and RnB. Can't we have hiplife, raglife and highlife all bumping at parties. I don't even remember the last time i heard Samini at a party if its not featuring but that track he did (forgot the title but it has a Soca beat .....ooo Man/ oko ya wasan ba ooo man.. ode nwom pa na ba oooo)
There are many tracks am hearing and DJ's is not up to date. To me the best Dj is the one that will have searching for song. He'll bump a song and you'll be like damn who is that, i need to go find that. Andy Odarkie got a tuff track, i don't get to hear it. We artist love ya Dj's cuz you the ones that can get our music out there. But if Dj's start becoming like regular fans then they bump what they feel is jumping. But a real DJ can make song jump. This is a nice debate. Stay up
Response from me...
I totally understand your sentiments as a rapper but the sole purpose of Dj is to get the party popping with nonstop music. With that purpose in mind, if i play hiplife music that i personally like and people turn around and look at me, what do you anticipate my next move will be? Don't forget i'm also in the West Coast (California to be precise) where it's much harder to introduce new tracks to my audience as oppose to you guys from the EastCoast where you have more Ghanaian Djs constantly releasing new tracks all the time. Another factor to also consider is more people from the EastCoast take frequent trips to Ghana than us in the WestCoast, therefore, making the EastCoast crowd more used to new tracks than my audience here. Let me give you a prime example...I started introducing "Emmanuela" to my audience about a year ago, but they never responded positively to it till recently when more people visited Ghana and realized it's one of the current hits in Ghana. Another example is Kofi B's latest hit tracks ( Yaw Dompreh and Koforidua flowers), even though these tracks are number one hit tracks in Ghana right now, my audience went sitting when i played it just this past weekend at a well organized Ghanain Black Tie ball here in the San Francisco area. Could you believe i'm working so hard to take my audiences mind of tracks like "Naka Ebe Ye Den," by Nana Acheampong, "Akatasia" by Kontihene and many alike?
Let me just be clear here for a minute. The younger audience are more accepting to the new tracks than their older counterparts. I loved Andy's new track with Batman called "sweety" and That of Batman's soca track called "Samini" but neither of them were able to please my audience. Another track that i dearly love which i'm still findin it hard to win my audiences heart with is Omanpanyin's track "Odo Wuaa" featuring K.K. Fosu & Kofi Nti. So you see my friend, you have to be in the Dj's shows in other to really understand the dynamics. Through my links and connections in Ghana, i get most of the new tracks straight from the studio sometimes before they are even released on the airwaves but i still barely play them till people hear a word or two about it.
Hiplifemantse anaa! welcome o!
The early days of hiplife were very very exciting for some of us. Some of us were still on the DMX, Jay-Z and Tupac stuff so we lost out. Reggie Rockstone was truly a pioneer.
The thing about the types of hiplife is understandable. But look around, hip hop is not even the same these days.
Compare Mr. A Bay Bay to Nas, to Talib Kweli, to Ying Yang Twins, to Lupe Fiasco, to E-40 and the Hyphy crew (RasNii, I know you feel that :-D), Kanye West,
they are all 'hip-hop' artistes, but obviously different for the most part, rap about different issues, on different beats, etc, etc. It's still called hip hop, but there's crunk, reggaeton, hyphy, etc.
Hiplife is in the same situation. The genre has grown over such a short time that people have tried to carve niches for themselves, be different so as to serve unique tastes and so we have things like raglife, etc, rising. So in essence, raglife is not the new hiplife, there is no new hiplife, hiplife is just expanding and changing. The funky beats that Kwaku T rocked back in the day can be used by Pope Skinnie, Okuraseni Samuel or Nyankonton. Look at the albums Kwaadee or Obrafour these days, they use many different beat makers like Hammer, KSN, Sugar tone, Appietus, Jay Q, Roro who for one reason or the other produces various kinds of beats. The common denominator for hiplife is the language - the funky beats is just the hip hop heads speaking. Any rap song that jumps out 'Ghana' at you can be put in the hiplife discussion. Hiplife cannot go back to its roots (which in itself is debatable), we'll have to listen to the jama-infused hiplife, adowa-infused hiplife, borborbor-infused hiplife, kologo-infused hiplife, reggae-infused hiplife, etc.
Concerning raglife, it's true that the ragga influenced guys like Samini, Yoggi Doggi, Screwface, etc are standing on their own when they were reduced to add-ons/extensions in the early years of hiplife. Credit Samini for creating so much hype, it's like every song he touched became gold that his own album was a guaranteed success. Like RasNii rightly puts it, a lot of Ghanaians grew up listening to reggae/ragga instead of hip hop, Rockstone pioneered hiplife from the hip hop angle, now we can see our ganja-crew :-D strutting their stuff.
Like Hiplifemantse mentions, even artistes not considered in the rag-life vein have some kind of raglife grooves.
We should be more concerned about the kinds of lyrics coming out, and not beats, rhythms, especially when these rhythms are what we've made (not known in most cases since some grew up listening to hip hop and RnB) since time immemorial.
Thanks for the links RasNii, some of the artistes have profiles here, we'll be working to get some for the others.
picking up the rasnii and akwadaa nyame debate from the end, it seems there is a bit about deejays, what they play at parties, etc. Personally, I am really tired of Ghanaian and African DJs in the US playing old classics. I am always very happy when they play a new song, or a song that is 'current'. I feel RasNii on the issue of the audiences wanting songs they've already heard to be played, but for the most part, Africans in the US don't have Ki dit mie, Sogea Sogea, Kolomental, Dubula or Akua Ataa playing on our radios regularly. So I feel Deejays should play more current songs at functions and also to keep the party bumping, play songs that have been in the system for awhile.
Sometimes, new songs could be played and they catch on real fast, people get curious, google the song countless times (and find them on museke.com, just kidding) and it increases the song's popularity. Good music is good music and would always find its way to the dance floor if it is meant to be there.
RasNii, been to a party you deejayed before and I loved your selections. Keep it up.
Great article, Mega Don, you are really a don in the hip-life game
Hi Bonaparte,
Thanks for taking time to read my article as well as the compliment. I hope you enjoyed it. However, if you have any opinion about any part of this article, kindly holla at me at oakempire@yahoo.com or paste the comment here. Thanks! good looking!
you have really matured megadon. the stream of your thought is right on the point. Well I like good music and I am not analytical about it. You show the way. Keep it up.
ya sistren
Sika
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