The Genesis of Hiplife/Hippop(Gh Rap) in Ghana

The trend of music in Ghana is very fascinating. Taking a good look at how it all started.
   Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style which fuses highlife and hip hop It is also influenced by dancehall and reggae. Recorded in Ghanaian languages such as Twi, Ewe Ga and fused with a bit of English or even French, hiplife is rapidly gaining popularity throughout West Africa and abroad.
The origins of Ghanaian hip hop goes back to the 1980s, when performers such as K.K. Kabobo and Gyedu Blay Ambolley as early as 1973 with Ambolley's release of his first record, The SIMIGWADO ...a "semi-rap style hi-life" to a small audience which showed him performing highlife variations with fast spoken, poetic lyrics. Ambolley would go on to be held the "father of rap" not only in Ghana but in the world. With time, Ghanaians became influenced by American hip hop, reggae, dance hall. There was an emerging underground hip hop collective in the capital Accra

Gyedu Blay Ambolley

K.K Kabobo

Hiplife's history dates back to the early 1990s when Reginald "Reggie Rockstone" Ossei began to craft this art form with producers Mike Cooke, Rab Bakari, Zapp Mallet and Coal house. Chief G and the Tribe was one of the first rap groups in Ghana consisting of Chief G (now known as Jay Ghartey), Abeeku and Kwaku T. After they broke up before Reggie's foray into what is now termed hiplife, Talking Drums, consisting of Kwaku-T and Bayku, experimented with choruses and hooks in local languages. In Twi, Reggie would flow over hip-hop beats a style that had been used previously in Mahoney P's debut album Kofi Babone. That same era Native Funk Lords group (NFL) came out with the pidgin rap; the originators of the genre, from the Kay's Frequency camp: Tinniequaye, Cil, Jake & Eddy Blay; this group also took inspirations from bands like the Osibisa and Ghanaba of Ghana. It is also to be noted Rapper and Producer Cavell was also part of the original NFL collective and is now known to many as The Mantis. Reggie Rockstone has been described as the "Godfather of Hiplife" since he spawned a new music genre in the country, After his debut album Makaa Maka, with the hit single Choo boi, several hip life acts followed. Oddly enough, in several radio interviews in 2004, Reggie Rockstone stated that he does not perform hiplife this could be mainly attributed to the fact that he now prefers to rap in English. A new era was born late 1998 when a young producer Hammer of The Last Two emerged with original beats plus precision rap artistes. Hammer, born Edward Nana Poku Osei was only 22 years old. Hammer of The Last Two managed to fuse hip hop grooves with local tempo and sweet melody which caught up with both the elite and masses instantly. Known for his heavy drums and lead trumpets, Hammer's originality elevated hiplife to greater heights and inspired and influenced a whole generation of producers like Richie, Kill Beats, Jayso, EL etc. Hammer of The Last Two's groomed artiste line up also eventually became some of the biggest artiste in hiplife today...e.g. Kwaw Kesse, Ayigbe Edem,odeshi, Obrafour, Tinny, Sarkodie etc., Other Ghanaian rappers like Lord Kenya, Obour, V.I.P, The Native Funk Lords (Rapping mainly in pidgin English), Castro Destroyer and MzBel continued the trend of hiplife music which is now one of the most popular forms of music in West Africa
The most popular Hiplife musicians include Tic Tac, Sarkodie, Vision in Progress (VIP), Asem, Obrafour, Ayigbe Edem,odeshi, D-Black, Castro and Samini who won a MOBO award for his contribution to hiplife in 2006. Since the rise of these popular musicians, hiplife has grown in popularity abroad.It must be said though artists like Ayigbe Edem, Kwaw Kesse, D-plan, Richie, ASEM, Sarkodie, Yaa pono, Keps, Lil Pope, Dirgen, Bra Kevin Beats, Greenfield,Iscream.
In 2009 Ghanaian filmmaker, Mantse Aryeequaye, released a documentary focusing on the political history of the hip life movement in Ghana as well as hip-hop music amidst various political climates in the nation. In his film, Rhythm Rising, Aryeequaye also examines many famed Ghanaian artists such as Kwaw Kese, Kwaku Tutu and Obrafour through their experiences within hip life or hip-hop movement. The film works to explore and expose the culture of the hip life movement against the backdrop of Ghana's political environment.
Hip life in Ghana is sticking to a new trend of rhythm and this is mainly being influenced by great music engineers like Kill Beatz, Dj Dijoe Pie-Sie, Jay So looney, Richie, Kaywa and Hammer of The Last Two
 and many others.

It must be noted that hiplife can cover a broad range of musical styles fused together. Artists such as Samini combine reggae/dancehall/ragga scat and patois-tinged sounds of Jamaica with Akan-language lyrics over reggae rhythms fused with Ghanaian melodies. His music is branded by the general populace as hiplife. Then there are artists such as Fritz, Chempe and some others who do not rap or 'DJ' per se; but sing with a heavy R&B influence. Verses; bridges and choruses may be in Twi or sometimes mixed with english, but the structure and the rhythm fusion is suspiciously based on American R&B. But he and other artiste like himself can fall under contemporary highlife.

Second Part would be out soon.