Hashim, One Of Ny's Hottest Producers/Originator Of Hiplife

When you talk about major party organizers with a huge crowd in the US who have had an impact on Ghanaians, young and old in the North America, you hear the name Sammy Tuga and Associates featuring DJ E-love. But one young man is also creating a name for his himself which needs mentioning.

One Saturday night at a party in 2004, a handsome, popular and well built young man in New York acknowledged my presence with a hug. The young man later on was introduced at the event by the MC/DJ Osei Kwame as one of the visionaries and instrumental with the production of the hit single "Ahomka Womu" by the well known and loveable group, Vision in Progress aka VIP. The song was played as a dedication from this young man to the couple of the night. As the couple bagan to dance, this young man and his entourage also joined in and created a scene which was incredible. They showered money non-stop on the couple. Those who witnessed what happened gave a huge round of applause.

This young man is seen at many major events in New York and has worked with many Hip-life artistes including his group, VIP. He always organizes after-parties and his parties are always jam packed.

Noticing his rate of popularity and his dedication to Hiplife, Mr. CNN decided to put a spotlight on this young man and let the world know he is one of the hardest working young men around. Credit should always be given to those who deserve it and "player hating" put us backwards. We need to learn to compliment each other as it is the way forward. Our country will be successful if we learn to accept and commend our brothers and sisters who are doing great and needs recognition.

Hashim Haruna, aka Big Hash does not need any further introduction as he is a very popular guy. Being born in Nima is a three-way-street; you either become a musician, a hustler or less fortunate. He was fortunate to come from a good family. The family moved to the states to continue his education. Earlier he went to Englebert School (Accra) and Adisco for two terms before moving to America.

Hashim says, he went to a high school and attended college to obtain a degree in medical lab-technology. Although he left Ghana around the time the hip life movement started but Promzy of VIP always used to send him tapes. "We never have our own party, we always used to go to parties of different cultures and listened to their music and the only way for these people to hear our music is to start having our own parties", he added. This is the main reason why he started organizing parties in order to bring all cultures together. It works now because anytime he and his group organize a party, there are different people of diverse cultures who dance to the Ghanaian music and love it.

The members of his squad are of diverse background because he needs unity to make the movement stay strong. He commends DJ E-love and appreciates what he and his group are doing in the community. His company is BDN (Booggie Down Nima), was started around the beginning of Nima and credited Goodies for helping to make this dream become a reality for him and VIP. "I know a lot of people have second thoughts when they hear the name Nima. Nima came from the word "niima" in Ga (chief's town) or in Arabic "neeima" which means prosperity.

Hashim says BDN is for everyone, not just for him and VIP alone because it is a nonprofit project. He goes; "The only way to move forward is to give back that's the motto we have and the scholarship fund that was started five years ago. What I do is, anytime I organize a party, some percentage goes towards the scholarship funds".

He gives "props" on the upcoming new VIP album which is going to make "some noise". Hashim and his team's mission, is to build a youth center in Nima and there is a clothing line called VG (Vision Gear) in the works. A new group also appearing is called FOI (Fruit of Inspiration) l'kryz and Double Eye. They are featured on the new VIPs album. Also coming soon is a Hiplife documentary called "Home Grown by Eli who produced the "Besin" video with him.

Read more about BDN at www.bdnvision.org . Hashim works with Goodies who has contributed immensely to Ghanaian music as Hiplife is now played all over Africa. "We trying the same thing over here, we even have a guy who works for me in Atlanta to produce a track on the VIP new album".

Hashim says to his fans to watch out for the big surprise by the end of the year. He and his entourage are having an after picnic party and a talent show showcasing local talents on Saturday, Aug. 6th.

For more information, log on to www.bdnvision.org .

"Nuff respect & Big Up to Big Hash, VIP and the whole crew for your creative ideas. "Asalamu Aleiku", Aleikum Asalam.