‘Ghana's struggling economy has killed hiplife’ — Okyeame Kwame

Ghanaian hiplife singer Okyeame Kwame

Ghanaian rapper Kwame Nsia Apua, known widely as Okyeame Kwame has attributed the seeming demise of hiplife genre in Ghana to the country's struggling economy.

In an interview on Accra-based Starr FM's Star Chat with Bola Ray, Okyeame Kwame asserted that art and culture cannot thrive if the economy is not stable and people are struggling to meet their basic needs.

"You can't indulge in art unless you grow and feed yourself. Because I have never seen a hungry boy looking at the sunset and saying that it is a beautiful sunset," the rapper stated.

"Bola when you have a broken leg you don’t think of anything other than to heal that pain. So for us Africans, we have sort of relegated our economy and given it to the white man to do what they want with it," he added.

The crooner further noted that the poor state of Ghana's economy had negatively impacted other sectors like fashion.

"We can’t enjoy the sunset, we can’t taste food, that’s why our fashion is not going anywhere. Hiplife couldn’t survive because of the economy," he noted.

While commending successive governments' efforts to improve the economy, Okyeame said it was still "woefully inadequate."