VIP Off To Jo?burg

VIP Charterhouse, Ghana?s Foremost showbiz events managers must be feeling good this weekend as two of their programmes ? Ghana Music Awards and Miss Maliaka, Ghana, enjoy the highlights on the continent?s media stage.

Yesterday, VIP, the hiplife trio which won the Artiste of the Year award at Ghana Music Awards 2003, were scheduled to fly to Johannesburg, South Africa, to perform at the prestigious KORA ALL Africa Music Awards which comes off on Sunday.

Also on the trip to South Africa is hiplife supreme Reggie Rockstone, who together with Rex Omar, are nominees for West Africa as well as officials of Charterhouse.

Goodies Music Production, who are producers of VIP are thrilled that the threesome Lazzy (Abdul Hamid Ibrahim), Promzy (Emmanuel Ababio) and Prodigal (Joseph Nana Ofori) have been given the opportunity to widen their horizons.

?We have been told by Charterhouse that we may have the opportunity to link up with other South African performer and also record companies from all over Africa,? the producers told showbiz.

For VIP, their initial involvement with music started way back in the early nineties, in Nima in Accra. As a group they embody the greatness and perseverance that reflect a tough, unforgiving and miserable ghetto life.

When they first met to see who is who raps competition, little did they know that they were super stars in the making. Out of the rappers at this first meeting many groups emerged.

They then came together under one big clan called Rescue Squad with about 30 members. It was through this, VIP (Vision In Progress) was born. Their vocal abilities also reflect their childhood ambitions.

At the tender ages of between 16-18 years they have emerged as a leading rap youth fondly identified and remembered with their Totem Dog (the Dog was later poisoned).

The name VIP was adopted by Blackofe, a popular Radio & TV presenter. By 1996, they have come out with their album, ?Bibi Ba? with tracks like ?Rana Sala? and ?Mame Kwan?. That same year they earned recognition among music fans when they featured on a Close Up show at the Trade Fair Centre.

In their request to achieve their hearts desire in music the young lads in 1998 released their second album ?Yede Aba? with hit tracks like ?Zo Mu Wasa?, ?Oba Sweetie? and ?Money Lover? on the Precise Music label. This was the real beginning of the success story of VIP.

After the two-year contract with Precise Music, the group signed a new contact with one of the leading music companies in the country, Goodies Music Production. They then released their third album ?Lumbe, Lumbe, Lumbe? which did well on the local music scene, especially ?Daben Na Odo Beba?.

VIP was nominated for the Ghana Music Awards 2002 for Hiplife rap of the year, one year after, in 2003, VIP broke their own record with their new album, ?Ahomka Womu?, winning five tittles at the Ghana Music Awards including the Artiste of the Year for which they are currently in South Africa.