Renowned rapper and songwriter from Ghana, Okyeame Kwame, has expressed dissatisfaction with the current generation of rappers’ apparent disregard for the hiplife tag.
Since it’s hard to discover the genre label on digital music stores, many young rappers in Ghana, according to Okyeame, would rather to identify as hip hop or Asakaa (Ghanaian drill) than call themselves hiplife artistes.
He said this on X during an interview with Kwame Dadzie, the entertainment correspondent for Joy FM.
Dadzie who expressed worry about the lull in the hiplife field wrote: “I admire @Okyeamekwame ‘s love for hiplife and his annual hiplife concert but what is the end-goal? Your people say hiplife is dead. Even these young rappers would rather want to identify with hip hop or Asakaa than hiplife?”
In response to the post, Okyeame gave an explanation for why the hiplife moniker may no longer be used by rappers in their younger generations.
He explained that legally they still do hiplife even though they might not go by that term.
“A younger generation will give up on tradition when it fails them. Reference “killing the game” if they call their music hiplife, how will it fit on Spotify and other streaming sites ? People choose their business hero’s based on financial and social impact, how many heroes did hiplife create? Nuances,” he intimated.
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Okyeame Kwame was then asked what was not done right. In his answer he wrote: “We didn’t build a digital platform to sell our art . We didn’t collectively turn our gifts into a multi billion business. We didn’t create a culture that was inviting enough to attract the young artiste. We didn’t invest much younger acts . We didn’t invest in research and development. We left these to chance.”
Asked if he meant hiplife had failed, he answered in the affirmative.
“Yes please! We failed to find a spot on the streaming sites. The sites do not have hiplife as a genre but has Hiphop and afro beats so why would a young person who wishes to publish his music globally call it hiplife?” he indicated.
Thus, he disproved the idea that, in light of current events, concerts honoring hiplife (such as his yearly hiplife concerts) might not be required.
“The goal is to evoke nostalgia and also maintain the heritage of Ghana’s music genre #HIPLIFE and make sure it is not forgotten in the annals of history.
The beautiful #asakaa music is #hiplife (Hiphop + Highlife). The term hiplife has just not been used for it,” he explained
Okyeame Kwame pointed out that the Grammy Awards are run on a business model when explaining why the Recording Academy of the Grammy Awards chose to highlight Ghanaian drill rather than its parent genre, hiplife.
Okyeame Kwame pointed out that the Grammy Awards are run on a business model when explaining why the Recording Academy of the Grammy Awards chose to highlight Ghanaian drill rather than its parent genre, hiplife.
“The Grammy award is not consequential here . It is an American award , they choose what will benefit their agenda financially . Do you think they involve some Ghanaian genres because they love Ghana or because they want to be relevant in Ghana ? It is business not charity,” he stated.
Another iconic hiplife artiste, TiC, shared his thought on the matter.
“Hip Life is dead.” There’s no need to start the convo this way…. Is Hip Hop dead? No, but the real hip hop is not flowing like it used to. Again it has gone through different transformations, to the extent that the real hip hop lovers will say it doesn’t sound like before, yet hip hop is still alive. Why can’t we do the same here, accept that the original versions of HipLife is not flowing but we still got it in the new vibe rather than saying it is dead. Life goes on not backwards i guess,” he posted.
