Hiplife: The good, bad and ugly

Hiplife, the genre of music that is supposed to catapult Ghana music to the international arenas, auditoriums, garner Grammy-like awards and sell million records worldwide is stalling and the many factors stultifying the craft are innumerable…. Come with me.

The Beginning

Ambolley, Azigiza, Poncho( of GBC fame) were doing what was supposed to be rap until a young ‘returnee’ called Reginald Osei aka Reggie Osei, aka Reggie Rockstone aka Yaw Asante rolled the dice and came up with Hiplife. Hiplife was derived from the words Hiphop and Highlife and it was heralded.

The Takeover

After Reggie blazed the trail with outstanding, alluring tunes like ‘Agoo’, Tsooboi’, ‘Nightlife in Accra’ and ‘Sweetie Sweetie’, he got Accra and the rest of Ghana on ‘lockdown’. Not only did he attract our attention, he influenced others young ‘guns’ to take the trade with such alacrity and dexterity. And when Nananom’s “Wo Kyere Wo Ho”, “Buk Bak’s “ Komi Ke Kena”, Akyeame’s “Brebre” hit the airwaves, everyone from the kids, the adults to the grannies were all muttering nothing but hiplife.

Cocoa Season

1999 to the early millennium would be encrypted in the history books as the ‘cocoa season’ of hiplife. With much apologies but no regret, highlife, gospel and reggae were all relegated to the background and all that reigned was hiplife. Radio and television were inundated with hiplife music and their purveyors, concerts were graced by hiplifers and distributors sold more hiplife records. Reggie, Lord Kenya, Akyeame, Obrafour, Akatakyie, Sydney, Buk Bak, VIP, SASS Squad were taking the bigger size of the cake.

Collaborations

The takeover was so fierce that the popular parlance “if you can’t beat them, join them” came into play. The then-floundering highlife had no choice but to feature hiplife in their songs, and it didn’t come as a surprise when overly confident independent artists like Kojo Antwi, Daddy Lumba, Nana Acheampong and co. were featuring hiplife in their respective songs.

Consistency

One attribute of a good artist is his/her ability to stay consistent, one bane of hiplife. One hit album and they then slip into oblivion. When was the last time you heard of Deeba, Araz, KGPM, Nash Towah, Osaman Kwaku and co.? Many hiplifers misapply the word consistency by trying feverishly to tow the same line of a previous hit album and it always backfires. Is it me or “Comm. center” and Toffee” from Castro are similar, what about VIP’s “ Ahomka Womu” and “My Love” albums? If you want consistency, check out Akatakyie.

Break ups

Call it greed, independence, disagreement or whatever but then break-up of groups or bands is a worldwide phenomenon that comes with repercussions.

Casualties

T-Blaze - from LifeLine Family

Friction - from VIP

Okyeame Quophi - from Akyeame

SASS Squad- from original SASS Squad

TH4 Kwages- from original SASS Squad

Bright - from Buk Bak

Success:

Okyeame Quame - from Akyeame

Sydney - from Nananom

Mensah - from LifeLine Family.

Promotion

In those days, when a hiplife album is released, the artist moved from one radio station to the other and plodded from one TV house to the other in the name of promotion but unfortunately after the proliferation of radio, that kind of promotion has hit a snag. After the release of the single, the artist goes to one or two stations and relaxes, and after the first week of massive airplay, it is shoved into the shelf.

Tours

Hiplife throughout its existence has failed woefully in this sector. With over a thousand fold of artist and a million hit singles, only Obour is on record to have embarked on a not-too-successful nation-wide tour. After a hit album, all the hiplifer gloss over is the paltry sales from the album and one or two gigs in the capital, instead of taking advantage of the popularity of his album to amass wealth from tours. It can be a four-city or five- city tour, not necessarily a nation-wide tour.

Beef

Many music enthusiasts shudder and flinch at the mention of ‘beef’. A healthy beef is one bereft of violence but a lyrical war. When Ex-Doe lyrically battled Reggie and Chicago, people sent SOS calls for fear of a Ghana ‘B.I.G- Tupac’ saga, but Ex-doe earned my utmost respect for starting that beef with Nana King’s helping hand on ‘Maba’.

Healthy beef is good for the industry as it is a good promotional and marketing strategy. Want proof? Ex-Doe’s album with the diss track ‘Maba’ went multi-platinum and was his best work ever. Chicago’s album with the Ex-doe diss track ‘Wo Be Ko’ has been his best work till date. So Kwaw Kese, go get them lame rappers.

Business

Hiplife artistes have been unable to parlay their success in music into other ventures. With Samini as an excerption, how many hiplifers are featured on billboards, radio and television endorsing products for reputable companies?

Lord Kenya’s clothing line LK was done and worn by Kenya alone, Obrafour’s much-anticipated clothing line “Execution Wear” fizzled out before it could hit stores.

Obour’s ‘Scores’ nightclub was allegedly closed down for tax invasion.

Misplaced Focus

The resurgence of highlife courtesy of Ofori Amponsah, Kofi B, Kofi Nti, K. K. Fosu and co. got hiplifers scratching their heads. Considering the whirlwind success of the highlife or funky highlife guys, the hiplife artists are venturing into singing, instead of sticking with rapping and improving on it.

Hiplifers are now singing 80% and rapping 20%. Change is good but you shouldn’t force it when you can’t do it. If you suck in singing, give the singing role to a professional singer. That’s why there are collaborations.

Lyrics

Slot in Reggie’s maiden ‘Makaa Maka’, Akyeame’s ‘Brebre’ or Obrafour’s ‘Pae Mu Ka’ and you’ll still relish the lyrical ingenuity of these guys. Today’s generation of hiplifers are lyrically bankrupt, making less sense and sounding vulgar always. Some get short of lyrics in their songs so they resort to Oh Oh Oh, Na Na Na Na until the song fades. Songwriting is a talent but can also be learnt.

Live Band/Miming

Hiplifers have come under severe castigations for their dismal live band performances, but candidly, how many of you enjoy hiplife performed live? Apart from Samini again, who has control over live bands and performs with ease, many of the others suck with live bands.

Many of our local bands can’t play like the Roots, so hiplife tunes played live always sound boring and out of whack.

Beats

Hiplifers cannot do without sound engineers and vive versa. The rise of hiplife saw the rise of sound engineers like good old Zapp Mallet, Jay Q, Appietus, Morris Babyface and Hammer. But these same producers are undermining the art. Jay Q’s sound for Castro is the same heard for Mzbel and Shilo, Appietus sound for Ofori is the same heard for Obrafour and Hammer’s beat for Tinny is the same for Kwaw Kese, Boli, Okra, and Quata.

Recognition

The government of Ghana has held two national awards where it rewards citizens who have contributed to Ghana’s development in their respective endeavours, and music was not left out. But the two awards held so far disregarded hiplife, meaning that hiplife has done nothing for the country. Perhaps, hiplifers should abandon their baggy shirts and jeans and start rapping and singing in suits and tuxedos.

Sales

Show business is derived from the word ‘show’ and ‘business’, but hiplife artists are doing more of the ‘show’. You enter into the business to sell music and when that priority is lost, then forget it. Is hiplife selling? Absolutely not!

The music charts are full of highlife and gospel tracks and things are not looking good on the market. Selling 300,000 copies nation-wide for a hiplifer has now become a daunting task.

Hope

Yes, there is hope. For the past four years, hiplife has garnered worldwide recognition, annexing international awards, KORA, MOBO, Channel O, MTV charts and all are good indicators that there is hope. If the artists write good lyrics, get good beats from sound engineers, have discipline, get better promotion and marketing, good producers and advisors, and remain business-minded, then yes, there is hope.