THE GHANAIAN HIP-LIFE INDUSTRY

There have been a lot of hit makers in the Ghanaian music industry, be it old school or new school. Since the days when Reggie Rockstone first introduced it in Ghana, there have been quite a number of hiplife musicians in the country. Some of these musicians helped to take the music genre to another level, releasing hit after hit and keeping audiences happy wherever they go. Rappers such as Akyeame, Lord Kenya, Obrafour, Buk Bak, Tic Tac, among others have become household names and are still recognised as incredible contributors to music in Ghana till date.

Some came in groups as others came in as solo artists. We had musicians who came and made hit after hit whilst others came and fell off. We’ve had groups split and get back together again, we’ve had groups split never to be heard from again and we’ve solo artists get together as groups. The question is what causes the break-ups and what makes some musicians one-hit wonders? Is it that our musicians rush in bringing the music out? Or they just lack the right people to manage their affairs for them? 

We’ve had groups like Buk Bak split up only to discover that none of them fared any better alone (Bright put out an okay album as Ronny completely fell of the radar) and thus they needed to get back together to make the magic their fans know them for. We’ve had artists leave groups only to find out that there cannot survive on their own (Friction, who was the lead singer of V.I.P left the group and fell off whilst the group keeps soaring high till date). Some groups also split and the one people thought held the group together fell off whilst the other soared. Akyeame were one of the best groups in the country and most people thought Okyeame Quophi was the life force of the group till they split and Okyeame Kwame went on to become one of the most prolific lyricists in the country. Quophi has however diverted his attention to other more profitable ventures after his solo album failed to make the impact he was expecting.

There are other musicians who came in solo but still fell off the radar after one or two hits (Osaman Kwaku, Omanhene Pozo, Mr. Oduro, just to name a few). They have also been other musicians who after their debut albums have been maintaining and dropping hits. Rappers like Okyeame Kwame (who is in my opinion the best lyricist in Ghana), Obrafour, V.I.P have maintained their streak of hits and new acts such as Sarkodie, R2bees, D-Black and Bradez are continuing this trend. There are also upcoming artists who based on their small catalogues prove that they have promising careers and if being let in the door can survive in such a shaky industry. Underground acts like Ko-Jo Cue, Bra Kevin, Kay-Ara, Blurr, Lousika, Joey B, Rumor, Ian Jazzi and a host of others are proving with their mixtapes that they deserve a shot at the throne too.

All-In-All, we still have a growing industry and it’s too early to compare ours to let’s say that of the americans since apart from the fact that they have almost a 20year head start on us, we are also learning from them. With the way we are progressing, it is safe to say that very soon we will be rubbing shoulders with the big music industries, Kudos to our musicians, Hiplife LIVES!!!