BY: J. KWEKU DOH
Listen to the hit song by Nigerian rap heavyweight M.I., “African Rapper No 1” which features another Nigerian singer by name Flava, at a point in the song, he sings “this one na highlife and hiphop combination”. Clearly, Flava did not have a name for the combination he describes in the song.
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| Accra City, the birthplace of Hip-life |
Could it be that Reggie Rockstone did a trendsetting and distinguished act of naming a musical genre not just for Ghana but the whole of West Africa? I believe Flava, did not know Reggie Rockstone already named the combination he describes in that song, he named it back in 1997 and it is called hip-life.
When Reginald Yaw Osei aka Reggie Rockstone started rapping over highlife inspired beats in 1997, he termed the fusion of American rap and Ghanaian highlife music cultures as Hip-life. However, the question that still lingers on the minds of most people fifteen years after this groundbreaking invention by Reggie Rockstone is what exactly hiplife is.
With the game evolving through the Jay-Q inspired ‘Asokpor’, to the Sarkodie inspired ‘Azonto’ that characterizes the market now, one is left wondering, what exactly goes into a hiplife song?
Differentiating music genres is a very difficult thing to do. It is hard to tell where a song falls as the traits that define a song and the genre it falls in are closely related and tied together.
Take for example Reggae music and what is termed Lover’s Rock, they both usually have the same rhythm, the difference lies in the lyrical content. The same can be said of various other genres, Rock and Punk rock, soul and R&B and many other forms that are closely tied to each other.
With hiplife, it is very important to note that, the underlying requirement is rap. As defined by Reggie Rockstone, he was rapping over highlife beats. And so for any song to qualify as a hiplife song, it basically must have rap in there.
And then to the next principle, which strictly says, the instrumentation to the song must have elements of highlife or must be highlife inspired.
The early years of Reggie Rockstone’s music were characterized by sampling of existing songs ranging from songs by Alhaji K. Frimpong, to songs by Fela Kuti of Nigeria among others.
This clearly defines the highlife inspired aspect of hiplife as most of the songs sampled were highlife songs. One cannot dispute the highlife nature of the classic hiplife song M’asan aba by the Group Akyeame released in the early years of hiplife. That and countless other classics by acts such as Obrafuor, Lord Kenya, Tic Tac and many more were highlife based.
And then to language and slang which mostly define genres and sub genres. When Reggie started in 1997, he was rapping both in Twi and in English. “Keep your eyez on the roll” for instance had Reggie rapping in English over an Alhaji K. Frimpong highlife sample.
On other songs, he fused Twi with English, sometimes Twi throughout with a smattering of Pidgen here and there. This translates to mean that, no matter the language an individual is rapping in, as far as the beat is highlife inspired or has elements of highlife in it; the song can be described as a hiplife song.
With the boundaries and sound scope of hiplife clearly defined, one then will ask why such names as ‘GH Rap’, ‘Twi Pop’, ‘Azonto’, and many others that we here mentioned in songs and on radio. The answer to that; Genre and its sub-genres, Period! It is very important to note that, just as a tree has branches, music genres also have sub-genres.
Take rap in America for example, based on factors such as themes, slangs, geographical locations, instrumentation, rap is sub classified to include ‘Gangsta rap’, ‘Mafioso rap’, ‘Crunk’ and countless other sub-genres.
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And lest I forget, Hiplife is even a sub-genre of rap, not to forget that in South-Africa, they fuse rap with traditional music and call it Kwaito. GH Rap, Twi Pop, Azonto and all that could be referred to as sub-genres of hiplife.
A few might want to dispute this and say that they rap in English and so they do Hiphop. People, your flows might never get as tight as Nasir Jones (Nas) or Sean Corey Carter (Jay-Z), neither will your beats bang as hard as those of Dr Dre or Timbaland. You might want to stay in your lane as defined by Reggie Rockstone.
After all, Hip-hop, hiplife or hip whatever you might want to call it, the underlying thing that cuts through all is rap. Hate it or love it, Reggie already named it Hiplife. “Maka aa maka”!
Twitter: @Jkwekudoh Facebook: Julius Kweku Doh
