What?s Up? For Hiplife Artiste

Hiplife which is stylish blend of Ghanaian highlife, hip pop, rhythm and blues and hard core rap is running it?s way fast into the musical scene and we could get eight out of ten people tapping their feet to Batman?s Linda or Obour?s Konkontibaa but one has to ask, are hiplife artistes really concerned about the culture of this country or just filling pockets.

Some have argued that music is a creative art and so the fellow who creates it must be allowed to express their talent in any manner they dream fit but since the work of the musician does not stay with him or her and ultimately finds its way to the public, it is proper that decorum is applied when that work is being created.

Hiplife as well as we know is a mixture of good and bad lyrics, those with good lyrics mirror society and preach about things that go on in our daily lives; the other side of hiplife songs that rakes in money is profanity.

Most hiplife artistes come out with musical lyrics on the notion that sex sells so they use profanity as their main idea to perhaps become more popular and make more money to beat other colleagues. We see most of them dreadlocks, others on tattoos and those who choose to be ?a little more calm? decide on pinning.

Most of the youth usually look up to these hiplife artistes and they copy their lifestyles, so if they don?t carry out any good message what will their admirers be learning then.

Kofi, a 13 old boy once told me he has saved enough money to get his ear pinned and had plans of growing his hair because he wanted to look exactly like Tinny and have a lot of girls around him. An artiste influenced a little boy with an idea like this, so is he learning the right thing or the wrong ones. In this era of HIV/AIDS, if virtually all the songs the youth listen to are about sex, then what future leaders are we producing?

Most of them when interviewed have their own style of confusing the public; they say things contrary to the main idea of their songs forgetting their own siblings or friends could be the most affected.

However, it is note worthy that some few of these hiplife artistes use good lyrics to educate society, e.g. Obrafour, his ?ntentie pa? is one waving song all Ghanaians have respected and appreciated including the vice president himself. Other artistes are therefore encouraged to follow his footsteps, Kudos Obrafour.

There must be some sort of standard for the lyrics that musicians use; there are choices in language which will carry the same message. Composers must respect the rights of the vulnerable such as the youth and minors who can be influenced by the type of lyrics being sung.

Just making music with any word and making it available to every body will not benefit society and will also not help in the development of our culture.

The Musicians Union of Ghana needs to educate the young-up and coming artistes and those who already believe they are hiplife kings to be more conscious of the lyrics they use because music has large impact on society. If possible a law that can ban bad lyrics should be promulgated to help curb indiscipline in our society.