|
Hiplife
Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style that fuses Ghanaian culture and hip hop. Recorded predominantly in the Ghanaian Akan language, hiplife is rapidly gaining popularity in the 2010s throughout West Africa and abroad, especially in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Germany. History Reginald Osei, known in music circles as Reggie Rockstone, is touted by some as the originator of hiplife; others disagree. Nonetheless, the origins of Ghanaian hip hop go back to the 1980s, with performers such as K.K. Kabobo and Gyedu Blay Ambolley. As early as 1973, Ambolley released his first record, "Simigwado" – a semi-rap in Fante-style highlife – to a small audience, which showed him performing highlife variations with fast-spoken, poetic lyrics. Ambolley would go on to be hailed the father of rap, not only in Ghana but in the world. Over time, Ghanaians became influenced by American hip hop, reggae, dance hall. There was an emerging underground hip hop collective in the ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zapp Mallet
Emmanuel Mallet popularly known as Zapp Mallet is a veteran Ghanaian recording engineer and a record producer. He is recognized as one of the pioneers of the hiplife genre that started in the early 1990s in Ghana. He is also recognized as the only recording engineer to have won the Ghana Music Awards on three consecutive occasions; 1999, 2000, 2001. Early life and education Zapp was born in Accra, Ghana. He had his secondary education at the Accra Academy from 1975 to 1982. He continued to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi where he studied publishing skills for his bachelor's degree. Some of Zapp's earliest experiences in music were during his secondary school days when he played drums for the Accra Academy school band. At university level, he was able to add playing of the guitar and bass guitar to his art. He subsequently featured for various Christian groups with his art in Accra and Kumasi.http://www.pinnaclegh.co"Zapp Mallet in Focus" Modern Ghana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reggie Rockstone
Reggie Rockstone (Reginald Yaw Asante Ossei, "the Godfather of Hiplife") is a Ghanaian rapper. He was born in the United Kingdom but lived his early years in Kumasi and Accra. He has been living in Ghana continuously since he pioneered the Hip-Life movement in 1994. He pioneered the Hiplife art and has played an important role in the development of this uniquely African genre in Ghana. He raps in Akan precisely Asante Twi and English. In 2004, Rockstone won the Kora Award for the best African video and he performed in front of a 50,000-person crowd in Ghana, together with Shaggy. In 2006, he recorded a track with the Jamaican Dancehall singer Beenie Man called "Chukku Chakka" (in reference to Rockstone's 1999 hit "Eye Mo De Anaa", which sampled Fela Kuti). Rockstone is featured in the 2007 documentaryLiving the Hiplife (dir. Jesse Weaver Shipley). Reggie Rockstone is the son of fashion designer Ricky "Ricci" Ossei (Saint Ossei). Reggie Rockstone attended Achimota School. Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ball J
Albert Serebo Ayeh-Hanson (born 8 November 1984), known by his stage name Ball J or Ball J Beat, is a Ghanaian rapper, sound engineer, record producer and entrepreneur from Accra. He spent most of his formative years in the U.S State of California. Ball J is the CEO and founder of Nu Afrika Records. He is currently signed to Platinum Management, an American record label and the brand ambassador to Roca Bella Brands. Ball J was a pioneering member of the Skillions Records when it began on the campus of Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School–Legon ( PRESEC). He worked together with Jayso, the label's founder and formed a genre which they called GH Rap ( hip hop made in Ghana). Besides being a rapper, Ball J is also one of the best hip hop, hiplife and azonto sound engineers in Africa with Weiyɛ Ball J Beat () as his signature. He was nominated for Best Producer of the year in Ghana Music Awards 2015. He holds a Degree in Business Management from the University of Profess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jay Q
Jeff Tennyson Quaye (born 24 December 1977 in Osu), professionally known by his stage name Jay Q, is a Ghanaian musician, record producer, record executive, sound engineer, songwriter and keyboardist. He is the founder and current CEO of Q-Lex Entertainment and Jay-Qlex Recording Studio. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many musicians, including Buk Bak, VIP, Castro, Mzbel, Obrafour, Daddy Lumba, Nana Acheampong, Ofori Amponsah, Akosua Agyapong, Obuoba J. A. Adofo, Wulomei, and others. As a producer Jay Q is credited as a key figure in the popularization of Hiplife, Highlife and Gospel. He introduced Jama (kpanlogo) into Hiplife, which became laudable and was accepted in Ghana, Africa and the rest of the World. In 2003, Jay Q won an award for Best Sound Engineer in Ghana. Early life Jay Q was born and raised in Accra, Ghana, by Jeff Tennyson Quaye (snr) and Miss Comfort Adjin-Tettey. His church, Emmanuel Assemblies Of God, sponsored his keyboard studies at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Togo in the east.Jackson, John G. (2001) ''Introduction to African Civilizations'', Citadel Press, p. 201, . Ghana covers an area of , spanning diverse biomes that range from coastal savannas to tropical rainforests. With nearly 31 million inhabitants (according to 2021 census), Ghana is the second-most populous country in West Africa, after Nigeria. The capital and largest city is Accra; other major cities are Kumasi, Tamale, and Sekondi-Takoradi. The first permanent state in present-day Ghana was the Bono state of the 11th century. Numerous kingdoms and empires emerged over the centuries, of which the most powerful were the Kingdom of Dagbon in the north and the Ashanti Empire in the south. Beginning in the 15th century, the Portuguese E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley is a Ghanaian highlife musician, songwriter, producer, and composer. The first musician from Ghana and the world to formally incorporate rap forms into local highlife rhythms, Ambolley created the musical genre Simigwa. Career Gyedu-Blay Ambolley was rather unknown outside of West Africa until Soundway Records included his seminal Simigwa-Do, which Ambolley released in 1973, on their first anthology, Ghana Soundz. Ambolley's sound has led many to label him the godfather of hiplife, the fusion of hip hop and highlife idioms. Ambolley stood aside AL Threats at the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles.His song Simigua-do is considered the first Ghanaian version of previously introduced American rap in the world released in 1973 . Ambolley, Sammy Lartey and Ebo Taylor are the few musicians who envisioned a future for high-life music in the late 60s and early 70s and helped transform the genre fusing high-life, funk and jazz Jazz is a music genre that or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osibisa
Osibisa are a Ghanaian-British Afro-Rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London based Caribbean musicians. Osibisa were the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in London, alongside such contemporaries as Assagai, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Demon Fuzz, Black Velvet and Noir, and were largely responsible for the establishment of world music and Afro-Rock as a marketable genre. The original band which featured on the first three studio albums were universally known as the Beautiful Seven. History In Ghana in the 1950s, Teddy Osei (saxophone), Soloman (Sol) Amarfio (drums), Mamon Shareef, and Farhan Freere (flute) played in a highlife band called The Star Gazers. They left to form the Comets, with Osei's brother Mac Tontoh on trumpet, and scored a hit in West Africa with their 1958 song "(I Feel) Pata Pata". In 1962, Osei moved to London to study music on a scholarship from the Ghana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hammer Of The Last Two
Hammer of The Last Two (born Edward Nana Poku Osei; March 27, 1977) is a record producer in the Ghanaian music industry. He is the founder and CEO of The Last Two Music Group and is also known for grooming some of the best Ghanaian Hip Hop or Hiplife artists, including Obrafour, Tinny, Kwaw Kese, Sarkodie, Ayigbe Edem, and others. As a producer, he is credited as one of the pioneers and key figures in the popularization of Hiplife or Hip Hop made in Ghana. Summary The Last Two Hammer began his career in music accidentally, when a friend of his (Yaw Opare Anoff, aka Way Deep), a gifted keyboardist at the time encouraged him to take up the career because he realized Hammer had the ability to dissect and analyze music in the most unusual ways as a professional does. He also had the habit of finding faults with world-class professional music which he thought could be better. This friend and Hammer then formed a production unit called The Last Two, meaning the only two left to p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castro (musician)
Theophilus Tagoe (born 1 May 1982, disappeared 6 July 2014), popularly known as Castro or Castro Under Fire, was a Ghanaian hiplife recording artist and musician. Early life and career He was born in Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana in 1982 to Lydia Tagoe (a trader) and a Mr. Cofie (an accountant). He had his primary and Junior high education at the All Saints Anglican Primary School in Takoradi. He started singing as early as age 10 and entered the musical scene with his 2003 hit song "Sradenam". He had features on the hip-life group 4x4 hit track, "Sikletele," which officially introduced him to the local music scene before he launched his debut album in 2003."Sradinam" soon became one of many Ghanaians' favorite hits. Castro's dream was to retire and become a producer. His dream was to help bring to the limelight talented unknown young artist. He believes that this will develop the young talented artist and groom them for the market by becoming a producer. Castro w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarkodie (rapper)
Michael Owusu Addo (born July 10, 1988) known professionally as Sarkodie (), is a Ghanaian rapper, songwriter, and entrepreneur from Tema. His contributions to the Ghanaian music industry have earned him numerous accolades, including the Vodafone Ghana Music Award for "Artiste of the Decade". He was announced the first winner of BET's Best International Flow artist at the 2019 BET Hip Hop Awards. He is also considered one of the major proponents of the Azonto genre and dance and one of the most successful African rappers of all time. Life and career Early life and career beginnings Sarkodie, the fourth of five children was born on July 10, 1988. He was raised in Koforidua before his parents moved to Tema where he started schooling. He attended Tema Methodist Day Senior High School and proceeded to IPMC, where he earned a degree in graphic design. Sarkodie began his music career as an underground rapper, participating in Adom FM's popular rap competition Kasahare Level. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elom Adablah
Elom Adablah (born 28 June 1989), better known by his stage name E.L, is a Ghanaian Afrobeats musician, rapper, singer and producer. E.L's singles include "Obuu Mo", "Kaalu", "One Ghana", "Auntie Martha", "Shelele", "Mi Naa Bo Po", "Koko" and "KaaBuAme", "See me Sometime", "Abaa" and "Pay Like a Boss". His debut album was ''Something Else'' (2012). E.L released a mixtape he calls ''The BAR (Best African Rapper)'' and in 2017, he released the fourth one called BAR IV. He won Artiste of the Year and Hip-life/Hip-hop Artiste of the Year at the 2015/2016 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. Early life E.L grew up in Dansoman, a suburb of Accra. He first attended St. Martin De Porres School in Dansoman and later transferred to Jack and Jill where he completed his Junior Secondary School level. He then gained admission into Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC), where he discovered music. After high school, he pursued a degree in economics and political science at the Universit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jayso
Paul "Jayso" Nuamah Donkor (born June 1, 1983) is a Ghanaian rapper, record producer, singer, songwriter and entrepreneur. After 10 years in the music industry as a rapper and producer, Jayso gained more attention following his work on Sarkodie's second single, Borga, which featured on his debut album, Maakye. Jayso produced over 70 percent of the songs on that album which also shot him into the limelight. Early life During Jayso's teenage years at Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School (PRESEC-Legon) he formed Skillions, a critically acclaimed hip hop musical collective whose works not only served as the foundation and springboard for young artists to venture into hip hop, but also introduced locally brewed hip hop to the larger Ghanaian music community. Prior to this, Jayso joined another rapper producer JPE (now Kobi Onyame) with his friends Canz and Mr. Scratch to form the Haatsville Project. This resulted in the release of the Haatsville Project mixtape, which got a lot of p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
