?You May Kiss The Bride? ? That?s Hammer

Hammer of the Last Two Even though he has been influential in the success of hiplife artistes like Obrafour and Tinny, Hammer aka Edward Nana Poku Osei of the Last Two records is not someone one may recognize on the street.

For the past six years, Hammer has made a great contribution to the music industry doubling as an instrumental producer and manager for artistes like Deeba, Dogo and Kwaw Kese apart from Obrafour and Tinny, all of whom have become successful in their own right. He has also worked with Joe Frazier and TH4 Kwages.

Hammer?s journey began while he was began while he was schooling at the Presby Boys Secondary School; when with his friend Yaw Opare Anoff, they would create beats on the piano during their leisure times.

?I would ?crew? the beats in my head and then bug Yaw to find them on the keyboard and before I realized I had made a lot of them. The rest as they say is history?, Hammer said.

Even though Hammer achieved major success with Obrafour?s debut album ?Pae Mu Ka? which was also his first major project it was not until he struck gold again with Deeba that he decided to take up instrumentation as a career.

?As much as I enjoyed doing it, it was just a hobby for me, something I loved doing but at that time it wouldn?t have been a career option if I had been given a choice?, he said.

After Deeba came Dogo who was followed by Tinny who has also proven that he is worth his salt. He has continued to work on Obrafour and Tinny?s subsequent albums even though they are no longer under his tutelage.

Finally, Hammer has released his first album, a compilation titled ?Sounds of Our Time? to inaugurate his Last Two records label formerly a production label and also graduate new rappers from his unaccredited academy, where he grooms up and coming rappers he calls his foot soldiers on precision, timing, lyrics and delivery among others.

?Sounds of Our Time? is a 14 track cassette and 20-track CD compilation that features Hammer at his hard core beats best. The hottest track ?You May Kiss the Bride? which is done by Bollie (who calls himself ?Check it out?), is already receiving airplaying.

With funny lyrics and perfect rhyming coupled with great beat, Bollie laments in the song that the woman he has given his heart to, is the cause of all his woes including letting him miss something as important as his mother?s funeral and cries that he has not been able to do anything productive with his life since he met her.

Another hot track is ?Kwakwa? which is done by Kwaw Kese and also has great instrumentation. On it Kwaw Kese tells someone that he has beaten him to it despite all he has done. He tells him that he made it much to his disappointment. The language could have been toned down because it is a bit strong. It is a great track by all standards despite its faults.

?Skillz? which is only English track on the compilation is done by Trigger and Nyega and is an absolute delight. The yougmen have a good grasp on the language and use it well on what can be called an R&B track. Of course they ?slang? but they do it with such deftness that the listener will not mind and the good beat accompanying it makes it even better.

?Dora? or ?Dola? as is pronounced by Motia who does the track is also very well done. Motia delivers his lines well when he tells Dora that she is the rib of his rib and that there is nobody like her. He assures her of his undying love and promises her that he will not hurt her.

Other tracks like ?Wotome? (Ewe), ?Ke Shika le? (Ga), ?Gnamoa Kwesi (Twi), ?The Workshop?, ?Ngbe Yee Yoo? which is done by new girl group Last page can all be found on this compilation. And with this album Hammer sets out to prove that yes indeed making stars is what he does best.