Richie and Co. turn their backs on Hiplife
Well they say it's getting 'crunky' out there in Ghana but to be serious I'm not the kind to be 'fooled' by the weak punch lines and ring tone beats. I grew up listening to the Kool G Rap's, the Big Daddy Kane's etc therefore a Soldier Boy will forever remain soldier boy to me. A rap track is not just about stringing words together, it's about heavy punch lines, tight beats and good arrangements to make the rhymes meaningful. On a bigger scale, the game in Ghana is far better now with new releases coming week in week out.
At least the radio will sound out something new on the regular. I remember my Augusco days in the mid to late 90's where rhymes, beats and a shouting crowd remained the hallmark of every entertainment night. It's like a u-turn to those days. On vacations you will see the likes of Talking Drums, Taboo, Kwa-C, Funk Klan, Nananom, Shock Klan, Funky Funkture, NFL just to mention a few rocking crowds from the Beach parties to the stage of the National Theatre. It was pure Hip Hop at work and to be honest cats like The Traditional Rulers (Ex-Doe, Shabba and Jonnie) and Nananom (Sydney, Jyoti and Pozo) were rapping in the local dialects of Twi, Ewe and Ga before Reggie Rockstone put the business on cd as a commercial venture in 96 / 97.
Thanks to the Rock, it's a whole venture now with decent albums, quality videos, sell out shows etc leading the way now. I see 90's era coming back and this time with some smart showbiz entrepreneurs with money on their mind. As Snoop once said 'the game is to be sold not to be told'. It could not have come at the right time with enough producers to make albums sound varied, more rappers to help us separate the whack ones from the relevant ones, enough radio stations to give us a sense of decent choices and most importantly enough decent djs to make the useless ones remain forever useless. It's not surprising that Panji and the rest of the Pidgeon Music team toured most cities and towns of Ghana with their 'Cultural Caravan' selling the goods of the game to the nation or Kwaku T and D-Black working on their own reality show for MTV. Thats how far we have come.
With the likes of Jay So, Kaywa, Richie, M.A, Q-Beats, Mensa and co working magic on the beats, the likes of Zapp Mallet, Jay Q, Appietus and the rest can have a few off days which in effect will lead us to a destination where an album will have more than one producer working on the beats. At least variety will bring out the best in any talented artist. I see us getting there and with the Nigerian industry as a yard stick I am only hoping and PRAYING that we will believe in what we have as a Nation full of talent. Its about time promoters paid the right value for our artists just as they would for a P-Square or a 2Face and not to let the likes of my friend Wanlov waste precious hours negotiating for a deserving booking fee.
The strong will always remain stronger if not more relevant and with this crunk stuff, if you consider it as the easiest way out as an artist then be prepared to be out played as quickly as Soldier Boy lasted with his crunk dat superman!.