Twenty-five years after they hit the gospel trail, THE TAGOE SISTERS
have not looked back, and they continue to share their experiences with
people all over the world who are affected by their music in different
ways.
Lydia Dedei Yawson nee Tagoe and Elizabeth Korkoi Tagoe
were born to the late Hammond Ayikwei Tagoe of Korle-Wokon, a suburb of
Accra and the late Madam Theresa Aidoo of Dunkwa-on-Offin in the Central
Region on July 27, in the 60s.
They had their education at the
Alogboshie primary and middle schools, near Achimota in Accra. They
continued to the YMCA to learn dressmaking but abandoned it to answer
their call musically. Even though their parents were against their
singing when showed a strong inclination towards that line, they were
not dissuaded and joined the ‘I am that I am’ church choir.
Together
with Hannah Tsia Mensah, they became the ‘I am Three Sisters’ and were
the great force behind the great I Am That I Am Church and toured the
country in year long conventions. They did not sing gospel songs but
collaborated and supported musicians such as Felix Bell, Gemann, Sidiku
Buari and other top Ivorian musicians.
With the Advent Heralds
between 1982 and 1983, the twins performed during the Open Bible Crusade
which toured the length and breadth of the country and came to be
recognized as the first group or duo male and female rendering
contemporary gospel music to the nation. That they are Ghana Queens of
contemporary gospel music is not in doubt. Through their Godfather, Nana
Ekumfi II, they met the late reverend Amoako who became their spiritual
leader in 1985.
“Reverend Amoako pointed out to our godfather
that we were talented and advised him that he should leave us in his
hands.” Lydia told me. “The Resurrection Power Evangelistic Ministries
base and we continued to attend crusades and conventions from the north
to the south of the country with our godfather,” continued Elizabeth.
Lydia
mentioned that in 1987, there was a program in London and he ‘he took
us along. When we came back we released our first album a year later
titled ‘Stay In My Heart’, followed by ‘Nyame Ye Kese’ in 1990’.
According to Elizabeth, in the same year when they were returning to
Accra from a crusade in Takoradi, they had a fatal accident between
Mankessim and Apam and they lost spiritual leader Rev. Amoako. But they
met Reverend Yawson at the ‘Harvesters Evangelistic Ministries’ All
Pastors and Evangelist Conference (APRICON) and that set the twins on
another course.
He started writing their songs and two years
later came out with ‘Yesu Be Ye Ama Wo, Manya Yesu (1994), Anka Matete
(1996) and Watua Maka in (2000).’
Their exciting music has
traveled all over the world transcending cultural and political
barriers, leaving joy and inspirations wherever they performed. The
two-part style of singing and the occasional injections of the two-part
harmony has come to stay, and other gospel duos and trios have picked
that style. According to the twins, God is using them to set people free
from their troubles, sin, mending hearts, inspiring and encouraging
people to believe in the Lord and above all, reach out to the poor and
needy bringing them hope and closer to the Almighty.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Stella Aba Seal
For someone like Stella Aba Seal who’s only hobby is singing, it
doesn’t come as a surprise that has all her energies are geared towards
her work as a professional musician. In the 12 years that she’s been
into music, Stella Ahenewa Dugan (nee Seal) released nine soul -
inspiring and uplifting albums.
As a child, Stella’s first dreamed of becoming a nurse and had no intentions of becoming a musician “I loved to sing very much even as a kid but had no idea I’ll end up in the music industry. My dream was always to become a nurse even though I was scared of blood. Music is something I stumbled on and when I realized that I was cut for that, I run with it till now. I guess it was God’s plan for me to become a musician because the Bible says that ‘even when we were still in the womb, God already knew what He was going to do with us’ and so I thank him for His direction.”
Stella, the second of four siblings, was born to Madam Violet Addo from Anum Boso and Mr. Theophilus Seal, (deceased) who was half British and half Camerounian in the Eastern Region. She started her primary education at the New Town 4 School and continued at the Kotobabi 2 Middle School. Stella trained as a secretary at the Accra Polytechnic after her GCE ‘O’ level in 1981 at the City Secondary and Business College at Caprice in Accra.
“After Accra Poly, I went to a dressmaking school at the former Singer Sewing Company, now known as Kalbs, where I learnt how to sew. I later went to the Ghana Airways Training School where I passed out with AITA’s Basic Certificate in passenger handling, sales and reservations. “All that while, I was still singing in the church — at the Ghana Evangelical Society (GES) in Accra together with a Janet Asomani, now Mrs... Hughes. I joined the Christian Action Faith Ministries (CAFM) after five years at GES for another five years before I decided to record my first album.”
Stella, who said she became a Christian in 1979 in secondary school through one Cornelius Adjah-Cofie, the then school prefect of her school, indicated that in 1990, with the knowledge that she was a Christian with the responsibility to pull others to God, she decided to do that through her God-given talent which is singing. “My first album titled You’re In My Heart, which was released in 1990 did not do very well because I think at the time it did not catch on with people who didn’t understand why I chose to sing in English instead of the local dialect. According to her, she retrieved all the cassettes and compact discs (CDs) from the market.
“The following year, I recorded my second album — Daadaa Nyinara which was a huge success. In fact, to a lot of Ghanaians, that was my debut album - it was actually my second. “The album was so successful and even won the then Entertainment Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana (ECRAG) award for Best Gospel Album of the Year. “I used part of the profit from this album to offset some of the debts I incurred in my first project.”
But even before she recorded, Stella had been adjudged the Singer of the Year by Rex Image Associates then an entertainment outfit. She also carried the Distinguished Female Personality and Inspirational Voice of the Year Awards in her stride, all pointing to Stella’s versatility in the music field.
To date, her albums include Ahenmanmu, Okura Yeemu, Ontonko with the hit song Gyem Taataa and King of Kings, another English album she recorded for Sterns Records in the United Kingdom.Her current album is Oye Onyame which again brings to the fore Stella’s pedigree as a musician.
Asked if she has any regret not becoming a nurse, Stella said no. “I’ve really enjoyed being in the music industry and I have no regrets whatsoever. “As frail and imperfect as I am, I’m encouraged and spurred on by the fact that I’ve been a channel of blessing for many people,” she revealed.
Now on John Mensah Sarpong (JMS) label, Stella said she admires musician Mary Ghansah a lot because of her tenacity in music. “I’ve been involved in music myself so I know what it takes and how difficult it is to stay in the music industry. You see, it’s not just the beauty of her voice alone but her spirit as well which really draws people to God. I pray that her labour will not be in vain and that God, through her, will raise up young ones to take over from her.
Stella likes to spend time with her family when she is not on the road. Stella has three kids - Ruth -10, Michael - 7 and Seth - 5, who, she says, are very dear to her heart.
She has also undertaken a number of tours outside the country including a tour which took her to London, Germany and Canada.
As a child, Stella’s first dreamed of becoming a nurse and had no intentions of becoming a musician “I loved to sing very much even as a kid but had no idea I’ll end up in the music industry. My dream was always to become a nurse even though I was scared of blood. Music is something I stumbled on and when I realized that I was cut for that, I run with it till now. I guess it was God’s plan for me to become a musician because the Bible says that ‘even when we were still in the womb, God already knew what He was going to do with us’ and so I thank him for His direction.”
Stella, the second of four siblings, was born to Madam Violet Addo from Anum Boso and Mr. Theophilus Seal, (deceased) who was half British and half Camerounian in the Eastern Region. She started her primary education at the New Town 4 School and continued at the Kotobabi 2 Middle School. Stella trained as a secretary at the Accra Polytechnic after her GCE ‘O’ level in 1981 at the City Secondary and Business College at Caprice in Accra.
“After Accra Poly, I went to a dressmaking school at the former Singer Sewing Company, now known as Kalbs, where I learnt how to sew. I later went to the Ghana Airways Training School where I passed out with AITA’s Basic Certificate in passenger handling, sales and reservations. “All that while, I was still singing in the church — at the Ghana Evangelical Society (GES) in Accra together with a Janet Asomani, now Mrs... Hughes. I joined the Christian Action Faith Ministries (CAFM) after five years at GES for another five years before I decided to record my first album.”
Stella, who said she became a Christian in 1979 in secondary school through one Cornelius Adjah-Cofie, the then school prefect of her school, indicated that in 1990, with the knowledge that she was a Christian with the responsibility to pull others to God, she decided to do that through her God-given talent which is singing. “My first album titled You’re In My Heart, which was released in 1990 did not do very well because I think at the time it did not catch on with people who didn’t understand why I chose to sing in English instead of the local dialect. According to her, she retrieved all the cassettes and compact discs (CDs) from the market.
“The following year, I recorded my second album — Daadaa Nyinara which was a huge success. In fact, to a lot of Ghanaians, that was my debut album - it was actually my second. “The album was so successful and even won the then Entertainment Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana (ECRAG) award for Best Gospel Album of the Year. “I used part of the profit from this album to offset some of the debts I incurred in my first project.”
But even before she recorded, Stella had been adjudged the Singer of the Year by Rex Image Associates then an entertainment outfit. She also carried the Distinguished Female Personality and Inspirational Voice of the Year Awards in her stride, all pointing to Stella’s versatility in the music field.
To date, her albums include Ahenmanmu, Okura Yeemu, Ontonko with the hit song Gyem Taataa and King of Kings, another English album she recorded for Sterns Records in the United Kingdom.Her current album is Oye Onyame which again brings to the fore Stella’s pedigree as a musician.
Asked if she has any regret not becoming a nurse, Stella said no. “I’ve really enjoyed being in the music industry and I have no regrets whatsoever. “As frail and imperfect as I am, I’m encouraged and spurred on by the fact that I’ve been a channel of blessing for many people,” she revealed.
Now on John Mensah Sarpong (JMS) label, Stella said she admires musician Mary Ghansah a lot because of her tenacity in music. “I’ve been involved in music myself so I know what it takes and how difficult it is to stay in the music industry. You see, it’s not just the beauty of her voice alone but her spirit as well which really draws people to God. I pray that her labour will not be in vain and that God, through her, will raise up young ones to take over from her.
Stella likes to spend time with her family when she is not on the road. Stella has three kids - Ruth -10, Michael - 7 and Seth - 5, who, she says, are very dear to her heart.
She has also undertaken a number of tours outside the country including a tour which took her to London, Germany and Canada.
Philipa Baafi
In 1999, Philipa came out with her
maiden album, Nyame Honhon sane, just when she had completed senior
secondary school. In 2002, she came out with her another album, Mogya
Nakasa. She followed up Mogya Nakasa with Okyeso Nyame, which was
released in February 2004.
Because of Philipa’s fondness for the mirror, which she claimed gave her the true reflection of her image, her close pals have nicknamed her “The Mirror Lady”.
She confided in The Mirror weekly that all her life depended on the mirror and because of that she had no hobby. What she did in her leisure time was to grab a mirror and stare into it as if her survival depended on that crave.
According to Philipa, who started singing at the Bantama Methodist Church in Kumasi, she discovered her potential at the tender age of nine.
At that age, she did not confine singing to her church alone. There were times when she went to other churches in Kumasi and its environs to do some renditions.
She continued singing, this time in a more polished and captivating style, when she entered the St. Monica’s Secondary School at Asante Mampong in 1996. After her SSS programme, she enrolled at the FC Institute of Beauty Therapy to study Physiology and Anatomy.
On completion, she proceeded to Cologne, Germany, to pursue a diploma course in beauty therapy for three months.
According to Philipa, her childhood dream was to become a medical doctor but that ambition was jettisoned very early in her life when she lost both parents in quick succession.
She said that that ambition had been rekindled and that she was working towards achieving the goal of becoming a medical officer. She was hopeful of going back to school, especially after she had received assurances from her husband who had promised to support her to fulfil her childhood dream.
At the moment, Philipa doubles as a musician and a beauty therapist. She has two shops in Kumasi and several assistants who help her in her work.
Philipa was born in Kumasi on May 15, 1980, the first of three children born to Ms Grace Acheampong, a trader, and Mr Akwasi Baafi, who was domiciled in Germany, both of blessed memory. She started school at the Kings International School, before continuing at St Monica’s, where she was the Girls’ Prefect, the President of the Scripture Union and the Science Club.
Philipa is full of gratitude to her aunt, Ms Felicia Acheampong, who took care of her and her two siblings when their parents died. She has gospel divas, Amy Newman of Ghana and Rebecca Malope of South Africa, as her local and international role models, respectively.
She worships at the Calvary Baptist Church at Adabraka in Accra and she is grateful to her numerous fans for their loyalty.
Because of Philipa’s fondness for the mirror, which she claimed gave her the true reflection of her image, her close pals have nicknamed her “The Mirror Lady”.
She confided in The Mirror weekly that all her life depended on the mirror and because of that she had no hobby. What she did in her leisure time was to grab a mirror and stare into it as if her survival depended on that crave.
According to Philipa, who started singing at the Bantama Methodist Church in Kumasi, she discovered her potential at the tender age of nine.
At that age, she did not confine singing to her church alone. There were times when she went to other churches in Kumasi and its environs to do some renditions.
She continued singing, this time in a more polished and captivating style, when she entered the St. Monica’s Secondary School at Asante Mampong in 1996. After her SSS programme, she enrolled at the FC Institute of Beauty Therapy to study Physiology and Anatomy.
On completion, she proceeded to Cologne, Germany, to pursue a diploma course in beauty therapy for three months.
According to Philipa, her childhood dream was to become a medical doctor but that ambition was jettisoned very early in her life when she lost both parents in quick succession.
She said that that ambition had been rekindled and that she was working towards achieving the goal of becoming a medical officer. She was hopeful of going back to school, especially after she had received assurances from her husband who had promised to support her to fulfil her childhood dream.
At the moment, Philipa doubles as a musician and a beauty therapist. She has two shops in Kumasi and several assistants who help her in her work.
Philipa was born in Kumasi on May 15, 1980, the first of three children born to Ms Grace Acheampong, a trader, and Mr Akwasi Baafi, who was domiciled in Germany, both of blessed memory. She started school at the Kings International School, before continuing at St Monica’s, where she was the Girls’ Prefect, the President of the Scripture Union and the Science Club.
Philipa is full of gratitude to her aunt, Ms Felicia Acheampong, who took care of her and her two siblings when their parents died. She has gospel divas, Amy Newman of Ghana and Rebecca Malope of South Africa, as her local and international role models, respectively.
She worships at the Calvary Baptist Church at Adabraka in Accra and she is grateful to her numerous fans for their loyalty.
Nobel Nketsiah
His decision to become a musician
instead of a health professional was initially resisted by his mother,
who as a result stopped talking to him for quite sometime.
However, Noble Nketia did not give up his cherished dream and went ahead into the music profession.
Realising that it was his God given talent, his mother, the late Madam Veronica Fayosa, a Dispensary Assistant, co-operated and gave him all the needed support.
His father Mr. Emmanuel Winfred Kofi Nketia, a music teacher and also founder of Greater Christian Singers, seemed to have had an influence on Noble’s interest in music.
Noble Nketia, 27, was born at Winneba in the Central Region. He is the fifth of eight children to his father, but the first born of three to his mother. The only child of the relationship between his Mom and Dad.
He, however, schooled and lived most of his life in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital. He started his education at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Nursery, then to Christian Preparatory School, and to Calvary Preparatory and Junior Secondary School and finally completed his basic education at the Holy Spirit M. A. Junior Secondary School.
He later enrolled into the Anglican Secondary School where he obtained his Senior Secondary School Certificate.
Right from Junior Secondary School Form One, Noble Nketia joined the school choir and participated in various choral festivals organised by the District Education Unit for Schools in the district.
He was also privileged to be a member of the district choir which won the first prize in the regional choral festival which was held in Tamale in 1996.
After school, Noble Nketia worked for some-time, to help the family. Since he did science in secondary school, his mother wanted him to be a medical doctor, or a health professional like her twin-brother who was a Dispensary Technician at the Pharmacy Department of the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. According to Noble, his mother loved seeing doctors and other health professionals in their white uniforms so much so that she just wanted her son to be one of them.
"On one on one basis, I told her I wanted to be a first class musician and a C-class doctor because she didn’t like the idea of me going for choir practice. However, to me, music was the best gift and a man is known for his gift, so I felt I should go on with music instead of forcing to become a doctor just because my mom wants me to do so." Noble Nketia told The Spectator in an interview.
His mother eventually gave up her wish when she realised her son was born with the talent in music and begun supporting him in whatever he did.
From that point, Noble started working on his first album "Yesu do" which had eight tracks on it. The songs on the album include the title track "Yesu Do," "Adom Arakwa", "Masee Mmere," "I am thirsting for you" and "His is my God."
Noble said "I owe my beginning to one Morris who was then working with Hit Digital studio and lived in the same area with me. He helped me so much, he was very good."
It was his first album, "Yesu Do", which was released in October 2001 which brought Noble Nketia to the lime light as a gospel musician. The songs were so catchy that some companies used them for their jingles.
Noble Nketia started recording his second album "Gye Me" in 2003 when his mother died. He managed to release the album which had 10 songs including "Me Dan Wo", "Gye me," and Mewo Nyame Bi" but the loss of his mother affected him so much so that he could not put in maximum effort to promote his album.
"My mom was my strength and everything to me. I loved her and she loved me so much. Her loss was a great blow to me and everything of mine went down. So I had to live without her and to take care of my two sisters," Noble said.
His current album "My Vision" which has 14 tracks including "Semetease ," "Mommetie," "Mmofra Yi," and "Mensi Den" was released in 2004 with a social responsibility project CHILD AID (Thousand Kids Off The Street Project) which is currently on-going in collaboration with some volunteers. It has a Dutch, Robert Van-den, as its director and Dorcas Annor assisting with Noble Nketia as an ambassador.
Noble Nketia was decorated as a Youth Peace Ambassador in September 2006 during the mounting of the "Peace Pole" 55.5 feet high at KNUST.
His album "My Vision" was adjudged the best gospel album of the year 2005/2006 and "Semetease" won best Gospel Song of the year, both by the Ghana Music Awards. He also won the Ceval Gospel Music Award for the best album of the year 2006.
Noble Nketia is currently working on his fourth album which he hopes would be out by June, 2007. The new album will be released at the official launch on his website.
For his plans, Noble Nketia would soon be going on a national tour in aid of the street child. The occasion would be used to draw the attention of people to the project and educate the public on the need for peace not only in Ghana, but Africa and the world at large.
He also plans to study music at the University of Education, Winneba.
Asked about his inspirers he said "While growing up I loved the music of people like Michael Jackson but when I became a Christian, I turned to listening to foreign gospel music and local music of Daughters of Glorious Jesus. Currently I look up to learning any music I lay hands on, open my eyes and ears wide and look up to God as to what he wants me to do and God has always been my inspirer."
"It is God’s favour that has brought me this far. Without God’s favour I would never have been where I am. Secondly humility, patience, hardwork and commitment have greatly contributed to my success," he added.
Noble Nketia who knows a little about the keyboard, plays the percussion is now learning to play the guitar has performed in a number of countries including Canada where he performed during the 75th anniversary of the Assemblies of God Church. He is a member of the Assemblies of God Church and is married to Eunice, a social worker, currently in France. Noble recently performed at the President’s Show in both Accra and Kumasi as part of the Ghana at 50 celebrations.
With his 11 years experience in music, Noble Nketia writes music the way he thinks it should go. He does soul music, cool but sometimes does contemporary. His hobbies include football, swimming, reading and travelling. Banku with any good soup or pepper goes for his best food.
However, Noble Nketia did not give up his cherished dream and went ahead into the music profession.
Realising that it was his God given talent, his mother, the late Madam Veronica Fayosa, a Dispensary Assistant, co-operated and gave him all the needed support.
His father Mr. Emmanuel Winfred Kofi Nketia, a music teacher and also founder of Greater Christian Singers, seemed to have had an influence on Noble’s interest in music.
Noble Nketia, 27, was born at Winneba in the Central Region. He is the fifth of eight children to his father, but the first born of three to his mother. The only child of the relationship between his Mom and Dad.
He, however, schooled and lived most of his life in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital. He started his education at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Nursery, then to Christian Preparatory School, and to Calvary Preparatory and Junior Secondary School and finally completed his basic education at the Holy Spirit M. A. Junior Secondary School.
He later enrolled into the Anglican Secondary School where he obtained his Senior Secondary School Certificate.
Right from Junior Secondary School Form One, Noble Nketia joined the school choir and participated in various choral festivals organised by the District Education Unit for Schools in the district.
He was also privileged to be a member of the district choir which won the first prize in the regional choral festival which was held in Tamale in 1996.
After school, Noble Nketia worked for some-time, to help the family. Since he did science in secondary school, his mother wanted him to be a medical doctor, or a health professional like her twin-brother who was a Dispensary Technician at the Pharmacy Department of the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. According to Noble, his mother loved seeing doctors and other health professionals in their white uniforms so much so that she just wanted her son to be one of them.
"On one on one basis, I told her I wanted to be a first class musician and a C-class doctor because she didn’t like the idea of me going for choir practice. However, to me, music was the best gift and a man is known for his gift, so I felt I should go on with music instead of forcing to become a doctor just because my mom wants me to do so." Noble Nketia told The Spectator in an interview.
His mother eventually gave up her wish when she realised her son was born with the talent in music and begun supporting him in whatever he did.
From that point, Noble started working on his first album "Yesu do" which had eight tracks on it. The songs on the album include the title track "Yesu Do," "Adom Arakwa", "Masee Mmere," "I am thirsting for you" and "His is my God."
Noble said "I owe my beginning to one Morris who was then working with Hit Digital studio and lived in the same area with me. He helped me so much, he was very good."
It was his first album, "Yesu Do", which was released in October 2001 which brought Noble Nketia to the lime light as a gospel musician. The songs were so catchy that some companies used them for their jingles.
Noble Nketia started recording his second album "Gye Me" in 2003 when his mother died. He managed to release the album which had 10 songs including "Me Dan Wo", "Gye me," and Mewo Nyame Bi" but the loss of his mother affected him so much so that he could not put in maximum effort to promote his album.
"My mom was my strength and everything to me. I loved her and she loved me so much. Her loss was a great blow to me and everything of mine went down. So I had to live without her and to take care of my two sisters," Noble said.
His current album "My Vision" which has 14 tracks including "Semetease ," "Mommetie," "Mmofra Yi," and "Mensi Den" was released in 2004 with a social responsibility project CHILD AID (Thousand Kids Off The Street Project) which is currently on-going in collaboration with some volunteers. It has a Dutch, Robert Van-den, as its director and Dorcas Annor assisting with Noble Nketia as an ambassador.
Noble Nketia was decorated as a Youth Peace Ambassador in September 2006 during the mounting of the "Peace Pole" 55.5 feet high at KNUST.
His album "My Vision" was adjudged the best gospel album of the year 2005/2006 and "Semetease" won best Gospel Song of the year, both by the Ghana Music Awards. He also won the Ceval Gospel Music Award for the best album of the year 2006.
Noble Nketia is currently working on his fourth album which he hopes would be out by June, 2007. The new album will be released at the official launch on his website.
For his plans, Noble Nketia would soon be going on a national tour in aid of the street child. The occasion would be used to draw the attention of people to the project and educate the public on the need for peace not only in Ghana, but Africa and the world at large.
He also plans to study music at the University of Education, Winneba.
Asked about his inspirers he said "While growing up I loved the music of people like Michael Jackson but when I became a Christian, I turned to listening to foreign gospel music and local music of Daughters of Glorious Jesus. Currently I look up to learning any music I lay hands on, open my eyes and ears wide and look up to God as to what he wants me to do and God has always been my inspirer."
"It is God’s favour that has brought me this far. Without God’s favour I would never have been where I am. Secondly humility, patience, hardwork and commitment have greatly contributed to my success," he added.
Noble Nketia who knows a little about the keyboard, plays the percussion is now learning to play the guitar has performed in a number of countries including Canada where he performed during the 75th anniversary of the Assemblies of God Church. He is a member of the Assemblies of God Church and is married to Eunice, a social worker, currently in France. Noble recently performed at the President’s Show in both Accra and Kumasi as part of the Ghana at 50 celebrations.
With his 11 years experience in music, Noble Nketia writes music the way he thinks it should go. He does soul music, cool but sometimes does contemporary. His hobbies include football, swimming, reading and travelling. Banku with any good soup or pepper goes for his best food.
Sonnie Badu
|
Reggie Rockstone
Born in the U.K. on April 11th in the late 1960's, Rockstone attached
himself to the Hip Hop movement in the early 80's as a dancer.
Travelling on a tri-continental basis (ie Accra, New York, London), he broadened his Hip Hop scope. A natural performer and trained actor, he grabbed the mike with no problem when his calling came in 1991.
His first "fifteen minutes of fame" came as a dancer in Accra, Ghana in the early 80's. His second chance of fame came in 1992-93 as member of one of the top rap groups from London, England.
He belonged to PLZ (Parables, Linguistics and Zlang) with Fredi Funkstone, Jay (both from West Africa) & DJ Pogo of the U.K. Number one hits from PLZ included "If it Aint PLZ" and an EP entitled "Build a Wall Around Your Dreams" released on an independent label called "Go For the Juggler."
1994 became the watershed or turning point in his entertainment career. The rap scene in London was not rewarding enough. He returned to Accra to encounter a whole generation of people grooving to African-American rythms, all heavily influenced by the same elements of Hip Hop that he knew all too well.
He had an ingenious idea! Use the hip hop beats with authentic phat production and lace it with true African dialect; The Akan language of Twi.
It became the tool to make such butter classics as "Sweetie, Sweetie", "Tsoo Boi", "Nightlife in Accra" and "Agoo" from his debut album in 1997 entitled "Makaa! Maka!" - translated as "I said it and that's that!".
Launched on an independent label called KASSA RECORDS that he partly owns, Reggie Rockstone has reached Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians across four continents.
The pioneer of rap music in local dialect in Ghana. His specialty is Asante Twi. He is well-versed in English. He has international acclaim and has performed in many places such as West Africa, UK, France, USA & Switzerland. His videos are aired as far as South Africa on M-Net's 24 hr music television station, Channel 'O' which has an audience of millions across a large part of Africa (44 countries!). He has his own extensive website with Realaudio and MP3 files which includes a guestbook with hits from all over the world. His new album was released in July 2000. It is called "ME KA (I will Say!). This is a 7 song EP, with a second part due at the end of January 2001. The official Rockstone site will be updated. (See bottom). The majority of his tracks were produced by veteran Hip Hop trooper; Rab 'The International' Bakari
The album 'Makaa, Maka!' featured members from the PLZ crew (see down this page). The singles from this album did well on the local market and received international attention. Its follow-up, the single 'Plan Ben?' in Twi language was released as a cassette/cd single and features Root-I who's into ragga. Hot singles off his 1st album Makaa Maka (97): 'Tsoo Boi' ('Choo-bu-eh', similar to hey, ho!), Agoo! (ah-goh) (a Twi call of announcement); Nightlife In Accra; 'Anigye Be Fie' (ah-nee-jeh-beh fee-eh), 'Sweetie, Sweetie' and 'My Turn To Burn' which featured Fredi Funkstone
Hot singles from 'Me Na Me Kae' (1999): 'Keep Your Eyes on The Road'; Eye Mo De Anaa (eh-yeh-muh-deh ah-naah); 'Plan Ben?'(What Plan?) 'Different you, Different Me', 'Ya Bounce Wo Visa';(They have bounced your visa). Songs like 'Eye Mo De Anaa' (Is it Sweet to Y'all) cleverly sample Fela's 1977 hit - 'Shakara' and 'Keep Your Eyes On The Road' uses a very famous 1970's highlife tune by Alhaji K. Frimpong. English cuts like 'Walk Like an African' and 'Where I'm From' showed the true versatility of Rockstone's skills. The lyrics are deep. He even touched on the issue of abortion, where he supported the birth; Triple S wanted the abortion and her homegirl (C.A.B.) coaxed her to 'get rid' of the pregnancy. Of course this is not true; but it was cleverly acted out on record by these three talented emcees.
PLZ (Parables, Linguistics and Zlang) was the UK based group that Reggie Rockstone was in before moving on to a solo carreer; other members were Dj Pogo and Fred Funkstone. Number one hits from PLZ included "If it Aint PLZ" and an EP entitled "Build a Wall Around Your Dreams" released on an independent label called "Go For the Juggler." PLZ contributed to the PANAFEST festival in Ghana in 1994. UK magazine HHC reported: "As they performed their turntable set-up broke down. They decided to continue to perform with live percussion provided by highlife-group Marriots International. Then they started to freestyle in Twi, something that was totally new to them. The way in which the crowd reacted to the use of their native language, made them think of incorporating more 'African' elements in their music".
Unfortunately; his popular website at www.webstar.com.gh/rockstone was recently shut down due to a company buyout of the hosting server in Accra. They are currently looking for a new server to upload his updated website which probably will be: www.reggierockstone.com. The website was a wealth of information for Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians across the globe. Most people were probably introduced to the Hip Hop movement taking place in Ghana through this portal. It had a guest-book which became a battle ground for player-haters and supporters of Rockstone. He had free MP3 files; RealVideo clips; lyrics and even a page to order his merchandise such a CDs; cassettes; posters & T-shirts.
If you heard some noise about 'The Mapouka Dance' or him sampling Manu Dibango's 'Soul Makossa' then that's some hits from his new album
Travelling on a tri-continental basis (ie Accra, New York, London), he broadened his Hip Hop scope. A natural performer and trained actor, he grabbed the mike with no problem when his calling came in 1991.
His first "fifteen minutes of fame" came as a dancer in Accra, Ghana in the early 80's. His second chance of fame came in 1992-93 as member of one of the top rap groups from London, England.
He belonged to PLZ (Parables, Linguistics and Zlang) with Fredi Funkstone, Jay (both from West Africa) & DJ Pogo of the U.K. Number one hits from PLZ included "If it Aint PLZ" and an EP entitled "Build a Wall Around Your Dreams" released on an independent label called "Go For the Juggler."
1994 became the watershed or turning point in his entertainment career. The rap scene in London was not rewarding enough. He returned to Accra to encounter a whole generation of people grooving to African-American rythms, all heavily influenced by the same elements of Hip Hop that he knew all too well.
He had an ingenious idea! Use the hip hop beats with authentic phat production and lace it with true African dialect; The Akan language of Twi.
It became the tool to make such butter classics as "Sweetie, Sweetie", "Tsoo Boi", "Nightlife in Accra" and "Agoo" from his debut album in 1997 entitled "Makaa! Maka!" - translated as "I said it and that's that!".
Launched on an independent label called KASSA RECORDS that he partly owns, Reggie Rockstone has reached Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians across four continents.
The pioneer of rap music in local dialect in Ghana. His specialty is Asante Twi. He is well-versed in English. He has international acclaim and has performed in many places such as West Africa, UK, France, USA & Switzerland. His videos are aired as far as South Africa on M-Net's 24 hr music television station, Channel 'O' which has an audience of millions across a large part of Africa (44 countries!). He has his own extensive website with Realaudio and MP3 files which includes a guestbook with hits from all over the world. His new album was released in July 2000. It is called "ME KA (I will Say!). This is a 7 song EP, with a second part due at the end of January 2001. The official Rockstone site will be updated. (See bottom). The majority of his tracks were produced by veteran Hip Hop trooper; Rab 'The International' Bakari
The album 'Makaa, Maka!' featured members from the PLZ crew (see down this page). The singles from this album did well on the local market and received international attention. Its follow-up, the single 'Plan Ben?' in Twi language was released as a cassette/cd single and features Root-I who's into ragga. Hot singles off his 1st album Makaa Maka (97): 'Tsoo Boi' ('Choo-bu-eh', similar to hey, ho!), Agoo! (ah-goh) (a Twi call of announcement); Nightlife In Accra; 'Anigye Be Fie' (ah-nee-jeh-beh fee-eh), 'Sweetie, Sweetie' and 'My Turn To Burn' which featured Fredi Funkstone
Hot singles from 'Me Na Me Kae' (1999): 'Keep Your Eyes on The Road'; Eye Mo De Anaa (eh-yeh-muh-deh ah-naah); 'Plan Ben?'(What Plan?) 'Different you, Different Me', 'Ya Bounce Wo Visa';(They have bounced your visa). Songs like 'Eye Mo De Anaa' (Is it Sweet to Y'all) cleverly sample Fela's 1977 hit - 'Shakara' and 'Keep Your Eyes On The Road' uses a very famous 1970's highlife tune by Alhaji K. Frimpong. English cuts like 'Walk Like an African' and 'Where I'm From' showed the true versatility of Rockstone's skills. The lyrics are deep. He even touched on the issue of abortion, where he supported the birth; Triple S wanted the abortion and her homegirl (C.A.B.) coaxed her to 'get rid' of the pregnancy. Of course this is not true; but it was cleverly acted out on record by these three talented emcees.
PLZ (Parables, Linguistics and Zlang) was the UK based group that Reggie Rockstone was in before moving on to a solo carreer; other members were Dj Pogo and Fred Funkstone. Number one hits from PLZ included "If it Aint PLZ" and an EP entitled "Build a Wall Around Your Dreams" released on an independent label called "Go For the Juggler." PLZ contributed to the PANAFEST festival in Ghana in 1994. UK magazine HHC reported: "As they performed their turntable set-up broke down. They decided to continue to perform with live percussion provided by highlife-group Marriots International. Then they started to freestyle in Twi, something that was totally new to them. The way in which the crowd reacted to the use of their native language, made them think of incorporating more 'African' elements in their music".
Unfortunately; his popular website at www.webstar.com.gh/rockstone was recently shut down due to a company buyout of the hosting server in Accra. They are currently looking for a new server to upload his updated website which probably will be: www.reggierockstone.com. The website was a wealth of information for Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians across the globe. Most people were probably introduced to the Hip Hop movement taking place in Ghana through this portal. It had a guest-book which became a battle ground for player-haters and supporters of Rockstone. He had free MP3 files; RealVideo clips; lyrics and even a page to order his merchandise such a CDs; cassettes; posters & T-shirts.
If you heard some noise about 'The Mapouka Dance' or him sampling Manu Dibango's 'Soul Makossa' then that's some hits from his new album
Ofori Amponsah
He was born to Mr Johnson Kwadwo Ofori and Mrs Georgina Nkansah in 1974.
He started his education at Agogo Practice school and continued at Konongo Odumase Secondary School where he developed a lot of interest in reading and later poetry and he started writing a series of poems which according to him he used in the lyrics of Asew and some of his earlier songs.
Ofori Amponsah after he has dropped out of school in Upper Six met one Marcus,a rastafarian,who started teaching the rudiments of music.
He was later identified as a potential by Daddy Lumba who collaborated with him in producing Woho Kyere.After this he had to wait for six years before launching himself on full scale in 2000.
He has ever since produced five CDs the latest being Otoolege.
He started his education at Agogo Practice school and continued at Konongo Odumase Secondary School where he developed a lot of interest in reading and later poetry and he started writing a series of poems which according to him he used in the lyrics of Asew and some of his earlier songs.
Ofori Amponsah after he has dropped out of school in Upper Six met one Marcus,a rastafarian,who started teaching the rudiments of music.
He was later identified as a potential by Daddy Lumba who collaborated with him in producing Woho Kyere.After this he had to wait for six years before launching himself on full scale in 2000.
He has ever since produced five CDs the latest being Otoolege.
Lord Kenya
Winner of the Hiplife Album of the Year at the Ghana Music Award 2001,
Best Ghanaian Rap Music Award at the Anansekrom Festival in Canada 2000,
as well as a string of nominations elswhere, Lord Kenya appears set to
reap more accolades.
Lord Kenya was specially invited to the tourism paradise Sun City, South Africa, to perform at the Face of Africa 2001 after party where he stunned his mostly youth audience with rap music Ghana style.
Curiously, Lord Kenya was not born a lord, he earned it. He was born Abraham Philip Akpor Kojo Kenya to an Nzema father from Senzire and an Asante mother from Fumesua on September 19, 1978 in Kumasi.
He had his primary education at the Central International School and his Secondary education at the Anglican Secondary School after which he did his sixth form at the Mpraeso Secondary School.
The rap sensation became acquainted with music right from birth. However, Lord Kenya's desire to become a professional really began to burn at the age of 17, just after he completed high school at Kumasi Anglican Secondary School, where he was called “Babylonian” because of his insatiable energy which later made high the school's 400m and 110m hurdles champion.
At the onset, Kenya experienced some hindrances from his parents when he decided to take music as a carer. His parents had wanted him to become a lawyer instead of a musician. On his father's birthday party Kenya was able to convince his parents about his chosen profession when he took the microphone and started bursting some rhymes, which kept the audience on their feet all through the night.
Realising the heat in the young man, his father decided to give Kenya a helping hand which led to the recording of Kenya's first single Car N'aba, recorded at Kampsite in 1998.
He joined Slip Music in the same year and released his debut album Sika Card which instantly became one of the nations hits due to its musical appeal as well as the depth of the lyrics.
His fame actually spread like wildfire when he featured on Daasebre Gyamenah's title track Kokooko which became an instant hit because of its fantastic blend of rap and hiplife music.
Many an audience have marvelled at Kenya's performance on stage and especially at some of the nation's great events like, Osibisa's Farewell Show, the grand finale of Miss Lux Universe at the International Conference Centre, Ghana Music Awards Night and even alongside great African stars like Rex Omar at the Stratford Rex, Tottenham Tempo, London, just to mention a few.
The rap Lord has three albums to his credit. These are Sika, Sika Baa and Yeesom Sika which is currently topping the charts in Ghana. Lord Kenya was nominated as the Artist of the Year while the title track of his second album Sika Baa also nominated as Rap Music of the Year at the first Ghana Music Awards.
Lord Kenya's best food is rice and stew while light blue is his best colour. In his spare time, he likes to listen to music and also observe nature.
Lord Kenya was specially invited to the tourism paradise Sun City, South Africa, to perform at the Face of Africa 2001 after party where he stunned his mostly youth audience with rap music Ghana style.
Curiously, Lord Kenya was not born a lord, he earned it. He was born Abraham Philip Akpor Kojo Kenya to an Nzema father from Senzire and an Asante mother from Fumesua on September 19, 1978 in Kumasi.
He had his primary education at the Central International School and his Secondary education at the Anglican Secondary School after which he did his sixth form at the Mpraeso Secondary School.
The rap sensation became acquainted with music right from birth. However, Lord Kenya's desire to become a professional really began to burn at the age of 17, just after he completed high school at Kumasi Anglican Secondary School, where he was called “Babylonian” because of his insatiable energy which later made high the school's 400m and 110m hurdles champion.
At the onset, Kenya experienced some hindrances from his parents when he decided to take music as a carer. His parents had wanted him to become a lawyer instead of a musician. On his father's birthday party Kenya was able to convince his parents about his chosen profession when he took the microphone and started bursting some rhymes, which kept the audience on their feet all through the night.
Realising the heat in the young man, his father decided to give Kenya a helping hand which led to the recording of Kenya's first single Car N'aba, recorded at Kampsite in 1998.
He joined Slip Music in the same year and released his debut album Sika Card which instantly became one of the nations hits due to its musical appeal as well as the depth of the lyrics.
His fame actually spread like wildfire when he featured on Daasebre Gyamenah's title track Kokooko which became an instant hit because of its fantastic blend of rap and hiplife music.
Many an audience have marvelled at Kenya's performance on stage and especially at some of the nation's great events like, Osibisa's Farewell Show, the grand finale of Miss Lux Universe at the International Conference Centre, Ghana Music Awards Night and even alongside great African stars like Rex Omar at the Stratford Rex, Tottenham Tempo, London, just to mention a few.
The rap Lord has three albums to his credit. These are Sika, Sika Baa and Yeesom Sika which is currently topping the charts in Ghana. Lord Kenya was nominated as the Artist of the Year while the title track of his second album Sika Baa also nominated as Rap Music of the Year at the first Ghana Music Awards.
Lord Kenya's best food is rice and stew while light blue is his best colour. In his spare time, he likes to listen to music and also observe nature.
Okomfoo Kwaadee
Jerry Anaabaa a.k.a. Okomfoo hails from Navrongo in the Upper East
Region of Ghana. He attended Martyrs of Uganda Preparatory School in
Kumasi after which he proceeded to Navrongo Senior Secondary School.
Okomfoo has since birth dreamt of becoming a musician. Lo and behold his dreams have come to reality by the kind courtesy of “Vybetown Records” a subsidiary of “Vybetown Entertainment Consult”, an entertainment consultancy based in Osei Krom / Kumasi.
The debut album dubbed “Kwaadee” which is also the title track brings out the ingenuity of Okomfoo. With his powerful and traditional lyrics that is very typical of the true Ghanaian, he is surely poised to climb high the ladder of Kasahare and take it to a completely different level. In the first of its kind, Okomfoo goes back to the grassroots narrating stories (just like in anansesem) while rhyming in a way that everyone who listens embraces.
This new style (which he prefers not to be embraces in the Hip life family) would hold everyone – both old and young – spellbound while impacting the very useful experience and advice on the listeners.
In fact Okomfoo has paved the way forward to many new and coming artiste and his coming in his own style makes him a force to reckon with when it comes to good traditional lyrics. It is believed that no one comes near his style and he advocates for potential musicians going their own style.
The debut album has some 8 very powerful and strikingly different songs. With songs like “Kwaadee” (Aboro ne Bayie) and “Ataa Adwoa” you will straight away point where Okomfoo comes from, and he is surely one of the most versatile Hip life artiste in the music arena presently. Songs like “Meba Monkyen” would place him among the elite musicians doing contemporary Hip life whilst “Abrantee” recounting some real life experience is slow and refreshing. Coming from the Upper East, Okomfoo has one track (Pito) in Frafra one of the languages in that part of Ghana and all these goes out to point to the very versatile nature of the musician.
Okomfoo also does very good ragga in Ghanaian languages and one song on the album “Asete” would place him as among the first if not the first doing this in Twi. “Asete” on the Okomfoo Album will set Rastafarians jumping around and singing praises to Jah Almighty.
Okomfoo has since birth dreamt of becoming a musician. Lo and behold his dreams have come to reality by the kind courtesy of “Vybetown Records” a subsidiary of “Vybetown Entertainment Consult”, an entertainment consultancy based in Osei Krom / Kumasi.
The debut album dubbed “Kwaadee” which is also the title track brings out the ingenuity of Okomfoo. With his powerful and traditional lyrics that is very typical of the true Ghanaian, he is surely poised to climb high the ladder of Kasahare and take it to a completely different level. In the first of its kind, Okomfoo goes back to the grassroots narrating stories (just like in anansesem) while rhyming in a way that everyone who listens embraces.
This new style (which he prefers not to be embraces in the Hip life family) would hold everyone – both old and young – spellbound while impacting the very useful experience and advice on the listeners.
In fact Okomfoo has paved the way forward to many new and coming artiste and his coming in his own style makes him a force to reckon with when it comes to good traditional lyrics. It is believed that no one comes near his style and he advocates for potential musicians going their own style.
The debut album has some 8 very powerful and strikingly different songs. With songs like “Kwaadee” (Aboro ne Bayie) and “Ataa Adwoa” you will straight away point where Okomfoo comes from, and he is surely one of the most versatile Hip life artiste in the music arena presently. Songs like “Meba Monkyen” would place him among the elite musicians doing contemporary Hip life whilst “Abrantee” recounting some real life experience is slow and refreshing. Coming from the Upper East, Okomfoo has one track (Pito) in Frafra one of the languages in that part of Ghana and all these goes out to point to the very versatile nature of the musician.
Okomfoo also does very good ragga in Ghanaian languages and one song on the album “Asete” would place him as among the first if not the first doing this in Twi. “Asete” on the Okomfoo Album will set Rastafarians jumping around and singing praises to Jah Almighty.
Irene Logan
Irene Logan and Jane Awindor are a duo representing a new age in
Ghanaian music. They are contemporary rhythm and blues and pop singers,
with large influences from Western genres.
They are the product of a listening generation that has lived on music by Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, K-Ci and Jojo among others.
Though Irene has lived most of her life in Ghana, she is a Liberian (born to Liberian parents. Her father and brother died when she was really young. Upon moving to Ghana, her mother got married to a Ghanaian.
Irene Logan grew up surrounded by a music, her step-dad a guitarist and singer while her mother sang professionally too. She has her first go at a microphone at 3. At gae 5, she performed at the Natioanl Theatre with the Christian Action Faith Ministry. It was a gospel rock show where they sang 'People need the Lord'.
By the time she was in Achimota School (before that John Teye Memorial and en route to Zenith College) studying music, literature and history, she was a choir leader. She went on to perform at various places, including weddings, churches, and even Miss Teen Personality 2002. She also won an Opera Singing Competition and a song-writing competition for a Fanta song she composed with some friends. She was part of a group called S-Touch which also featured Salimi Akill, Richie, Ferguson and Selassie Hanson.
Jane was also born in a family of entertainers. Her mother, Adwoa Awindor, is the popular host of the program 'Greetings from Abroad'. Jane has been singing since she was six. She attended Yaa Asantewaa Secondary School and then moved on to the University of Ghana.
Irene and Jane were discovered through Charter house's Stars of the Future pop contest where Irene emerged the winner and declared Ghana’s International Music Star and Jane who came in third. They have blended their talents and had thrilling experiences working together after spending most of their lives as solo artistes.
Their debut video featuring the hit single, Heat it up, features Nana Tuffour aka NeezBuck (University of Pennsylvania) while their Unveiled album also features Amandzeba Nat Brew, Blu3 (Uganda) and Wutah.
Some of their songs include Odo kai, Baby, Ding dong, Girl power, Don't wanna be lonely, Don't give up, Rivers, Always, etc
They are the product of a listening generation that has lived on music by Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, K-Ci and Jojo among others.
Though Irene has lived most of her life in Ghana, she is a Liberian (born to Liberian parents. Her father and brother died when she was really young. Upon moving to Ghana, her mother got married to a Ghanaian.
Irene Logan grew up surrounded by a music, her step-dad a guitarist and singer while her mother sang professionally too. She has her first go at a microphone at 3. At gae 5, she performed at the Natioanl Theatre with the Christian Action Faith Ministry. It was a gospel rock show where they sang 'People need the Lord'.
By the time she was in Achimota School (before that John Teye Memorial and en route to Zenith College) studying music, literature and history, she was a choir leader. She went on to perform at various places, including weddings, churches, and even Miss Teen Personality 2002. She also won an Opera Singing Competition and a song-writing competition for a Fanta song she composed with some friends. She was part of a group called S-Touch which also featured Salimi Akill, Richie, Ferguson and Selassie Hanson.
Jane was also born in a family of entertainers. Her mother, Adwoa Awindor, is the popular host of the program 'Greetings from Abroad'. Jane has been singing since she was six. She attended Yaa Asantewaa Secondary School and then moved on to the University of Ghana.
Irene and Jane were discovered through Charter house's Stars of the Future pop contest where Irene emerged the winner and declared Ghana’s International Music Star and Jane who came in third. They have blended their talents and had thrilling experiences working together after spending most of their lives as solo artistes.
Their debut video featuring the hit single, Heat it up, features Nana Tuffour aka NeezBuck (University of Pennsylvania) while their Unveiled album also features Amandzeba Nat Brew, Blu3 (Uganda) and Wutah.
Some of their songs include Odo kai, Baby, Ding dong, Girl power, Don't wanna be lonely, Don't give up, Rivers, Always, etc
VIP
VIP is made up of Abdul Hamidu Ibrahim (Lazzy) Emmanuel Promzy Ababio
(Promzy) Joseph Nana Ofori (Prodigal) Their initial involvement with
music started way back in the early nineties, at Nima a suburb of Accra.
As a group they easily embodied the greatness and perseverance that reflected a tough, unforgiving and ambitious Ghetto life. They met to see "who is who"in rap competitions. Little did they know that one day they would become superstars.
When the Netherlands Royal couples, His Royal Highness Willem Alexander and Princess Mixima visited Ghana, VIP innovatively composed a song entitled "Friends" for the august occasion also referred to as "LASTING IMPACT" which took VIP for a live musical performance in Denhaag, Netherlands.
VIP was nominated for the Ghana Music Awards 2002 as the Hip-Life Rap Music Group of the Year. Many people have marvelled at their performance on stage and the most current is the fantastic and unprecedented one they did at the National Theatre during the Ghana Music Awards Night. They also toured the nation with great Osibisa band.
Swimming in fame, they have won several awards such as "Artiste of the Year", "Song of the Year", "Hiplife Artiste of the Year", "Hiplife Song of the Year" and "Hiplife Album of the Year" all in 2004 "Ghana Music Awards". Their hit song "Ahomka Womu"also won the "Best Music Video Directing", which went to Felix Dakat.
Having however grabbed the prestigious "Artiste of the Year Award", Lazzy, Promzy and Prodigal, making up the VIP crew represented the nation Ghana at the "2004 Kora Awards" in South Africa which they really made Ghana so proud, and performed alongside with Malian renowned musician Salifu Keita, among others. That same year 2004, VIP represented Ghana as ambassadors in Greece, Athens as part of the fundraising activities for the 2004 Olympics Games.
VIP were also among a few selected Hip-Life artistes that performed alongside the maestro and Grammy Awards winner, Shaggy of Jamaica, when they later toured Ghana for the Christmas 2003 festivities. The two days concerts took place at the Accra International Conference Centre on January 1st, 2004, and at the nation's Wembley, "Ohene Djan Sports Stadium" on 2nd January 2004, which pulled one of the biggest crowds ever seen in the nation's entertainment history. VIP, Goodies and Hostess Ambassador Juli Endee in a radio interview in Monrovia, Liberia. VIP were flown by United Nations chartered flight to Liberia and Sierra Leone where they participated in the "Peace and Reconciliation Concerts" organised by the United Nations and Liberian Government.
A "Thank you" concerts were also organised by United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone February, 2005. The Group again flew to South Africa to win another Award as the "Best Group in AFRICA"in March, 2005.
In addition to that, VIP performed at the NESCAFE AFRICAN REVELATION (NAR) finals at the Independence Square, Osu, Accra, on March 19, 2005.
VIP together with all the artistes under Goodies Music Production Label at the forefront in "FIGHTING HIV/AIDS THROUGH MUSIC" the crusade launched by Goodies Foundation and Goodies Music Production in Collaboration with Ghana AIDS Commission, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) organised a forum to educate all musicians about the HIV/AIDS pandemic so that they can disseminate the message to the people. They actively participated in the numerous seminars, rallies, concerts, and charitable initiatives by Goodies Music Production, Goodies Foundation and West Africa AIDS Foundation, as well as those organised by many other organisations like Vintage Vision Limited. They are currently the biggest Group in Africa and Award Superstars for Channel O Music Video Award 2005.
The trios VIP the nations most glamorous group launched their latest album "PUSSY CAT" at Busynet in Accra. The event was organised by Goodies Music Production, Metro TV, Goodies Foundation, in collaboration with Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Ghana Health Services, Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City, Prodigy International Production Association /Panafrica-Ghana, Trak Mastas International and VIP Fan Club Nima Branch. The corporate and media launched was a spectacular one which saw most of the promising artistes at the function. A public launch will be announced later.
The uniqueness about this album is that, it features collaboration between VIP and three prominent international non-Ghanaian artistes namely; Tony Tetuila and 2 Face of Nigeria, and Awadi from Senegal. In addition, it also features reigning local artistes like K.K Fosu, Castro and Tinny. The group also featured on their latest album entitled "I DO" of Afro Moses, a Ghanaian musician based in Australia, and on the latest album entitled "FIGHT NO MORE" of Ambassador Juli Endee of Liberia.
Internationally, VIP has performed in the United Kingdom, Amsterdam, Denhaag, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and South Africa.
As a group they easily embodied the greatness and perseverance that reflected a tough, unforgiving and ambitious Ghetto life. They met to see "who is who"in rap competitions. Little did they know that one day they would become superstars.
When the Netherlands Royal couples, His Royal Highness Willem Alexander and Princess Mixima visited Ghana, VIP innovatively composed a song entitled "Friends" for the august occasion also referred to as "LASTING IMPACT" which took VIP for a live musical performance in Denhaag, Netherlands.
VIP was nominated for the Ghana Music Awards 2002 as the Hip-Life Rap Music Group of the Year. Many people have marvelled at their performance on stage and the most current is the fantastic and unprecedented one they did at the National Theatre during the Ghana Music Awards Night. They also toured the nation with great Osibisa band.
Swimming in fame, they have won several awards such as "Artiste of the Year", "Song of the Year", "Hiplife Artiste of the Year", "Hiplife Song of the Year" and "Hiplife Album of the Year" all in 2004 "Ghana Music Awards". Their hit song "Ahomka Womu"also won the "Best Music Video Directing", which went to Felix Dakat.
Having however grabbed the prestigious "Artiste of the Year Award", Lazzy, Promzy and Prodigal, making up the VIP crew represented the nation Ghana at the "2004 Kora Awards" in South Africa which they really made Ghana so proud, and performed alongside with Malian renowned musician Salifu Keita, among others. That same year 2004, VIP represented Ghana as ambassadors in Greece, Athens as part of the fundraising activities for the 2004 Olympics Games.
VIP were also among a few selected Hip-Life artistes that performed alongside the maestro and Grammy Awards winner, Shaggy of Jamaica, when they later toured Ghana for the Christmas 2003 festivities. The two days concerts took place at the Accra International Conference Centre on January 1st, 2004, and at the nation's Wembley, "Ohene Djan Sports Stadium" on 2nd January 2004, which pulled one of the biggest crowds ever seen in the nation's entertainment history. VIP, Goodies and Hostess Ambassador Juli Endee in a radio interview in Monrovia, Liberia. VIP were flown by United Nations chartered flight to Liberia and Sierra Leone where they participated in the "Peace and Reconciliation Concerts" organised by the United Nations and Liberian Government.
A "Thank you" concerts were also organised by United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone February, 2005. The Group again flew to South Africa to win another Award as the "Best Group in AFRICA"in March, 2005.
In addition to that, VIP performed at the NESCAFE AFRICAN REVELATION (NAR) finals at the Independence Square, Osu, Accra, on March 19, 2005.
VIP together with all the artistes under Goodies Music Production Label at the forefront in "FIGHTING HIV/AIDS THROUGH MUSIC" the crusade launched by Goodies Foundation and Goodies Music Production in Collaboration with Ghana AIDS Commission, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) organised a forum to educate all musicians about the HIV/AIDS pandemic so that they can disseminate the message to the people. They actively participated in the numerous seminars, rallies, concerts, and charitable initiatives by Goodies Music Production, Goodies Foundation and West Africa AIDS Foundation, as well as those organised by many other organisations like Vintage Vision Limited. They are currently the biggest Group in Africa and Award Superstars for Channel O Music Video Award 2005.
The trios VIP the nations most glamorous group launched their latest album "PUSSY CAT" at Busynet in Accra. The event was organised by Goodies Music Production, Metro TV, Goodies Foundation, in collaboration with Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Ghana Health Services, Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City, Prodigy International Production Association /Panafrica-Ghana, Trak Mastas International and VIP Fan Club Nima Branch. The corporate and media launched was a spectacular one which saw most of the promising artistes at the function. A public launch will be announced later.
The uniqueness about this album is that, it features collaboration between VIP and three prominent international non-Ghanaian artistes namely; Tony Tetuila and 2 Face of Nigeria, and Awadi from Senegal. In addition, it also features reigning local artistes like K.K Fosu, Castro and Tinny. The group also featured on their latest album entitled "I DO" of Afro Moses, a Ghanaian musician based in Australia, and on the latest album entitled "FIGHT NO MORE" of Ambassador Juli Endee of Liberia.
Internationally, VIP has performed in the United Kingdom, Amsterdam, Denhaag, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and South Africa.
Echo
Echo is a Ghanaian Afro-pop duo made up of Charles Yeboah Danso and Elijah Owusu Danso.
Their biggest break was winning the 2007 Ghana edition of the Nescafe African Revelation and placed third in the West Africa finals.
They had taken part in the 2005 competition won by Traffic.
Elijah studied at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology while Charles is educated in radio and Television.
Some of their songs are Zoji zoji, Gologolo, Walewale, Shikome, and Poserede
Their biggest break was winning the 2007 Ghana edition of the Nescafe African Revelation and placed third in the West Africa finals.
They had taken part in the 2005 competition won by Traffic.
Elijah studied at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology while Charles is educated in radio and Television.
Some of their songs are Zoji zoji, Gologolo, Walewale, Shikome, and Poserede
Akatakyie
Akatakyie is made up of two brothers, Prince Kwabena Budu Asumaning aka
Kobby Culture and Ebenezer Kwasi Okyere Asumaning aka King Pharoah.
Okatakyie (singular) means braver warrior/person.
Their debut album, Ghana mbaa, made a lot of waves on the Ghanaian music scene in 1999. It was hard to classify them a hiplife or highlife group as Odo esisi me ruled various charts and gained them Ghana music award nominations including the best hiplife song. They followed this with Odo Esikyire, Yede aba and Esi.
They have hits like Ghana mmaa, Agoo, Odo esikyire, Sinsima, Esi, Meyare, Masan aba, Oman baapa, Odo ye musu anaa, among others.
Their debut album, Ghana mbaa, made a lot of waves on the Ghanaian music scene in 1999. It was hard to classify them a hiplife or highlife group as Odo esisi me ruled various charts and gained them Ghana music award nominations including the best hiplife song. They followed this with Odo Esikyire, Yede aba and Esi.
They have hits like Ghana mmaa, Agoo, Odo esikyire, Sinsima, Esi, Meyare, Masan aba, Oman baapa, Odo ye musu anaa, among others.
Ayigbe Edem
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Ayigbe Edem is a Ghanaian rapper/hiplife artist. He raps in Ewe and is the premier rapper in that language.
He first featured in Hammer's compilation called 'Crusade of the Lost Files'.
His debut album, ‘Volta Regime’, was released in late 2008. The
13-track album with an introduction on the origin of the Ewes and skits
to each cut and has lyrics in Ewe, Twi, Ga, English, etc.
Some of his songs include Nyornuviade, Teva (bougez), Bra Fremi, De afor tome, Give it up, Lorlortor, etc.
He first featured in Hammer's compilation called 'Crusade of the Lost Files'.
His debut album, ‘Volta Regime’, was released in late 2008. The
13-track album with an introduction on the origin of the Ewes and skits
to each cut and has lyrics in Ewe, Twi, Ga, English, etc.
Some of his songs include Nyornuviade, Teva (bougez), Bra Fremi, De afor tome, Give it up, Lorlortor, etc.
Abrantie Amakye Dede
Dan Amakye Dede is one of Ghana's
premier highlife artistes and is affectionately called 'Iron Boy' and is
also known as the highlife maestro. He is also affectionately called
'Abrantie' (Gentleman).
Amakye Dede began his career in 1973 when he joined the Kumapim Royals as a composer and vocalist. This band was led by the legendary high life singer, Akwasi Ampofo Agyei (AAA) of blessed memory.
With them, they had hits like Abebi Bewua Eso, Wanware Me A, Odo Mani Agyina and the seminal Ohohoo Batani. He moved to Nigeria where he had his hit 'Jealousy go shame'.
He then formed his own band, the Apollo High Kings, in 1980. He dominated the highlife scene in the 80's, 90's and continues to have hit songs in the 21st century.
He has almost 20 albums to his credit. In his later career, he experimented with different genres; soca, Cclypso, lovers rock and pop music.
He owns a very popular bar in Accra called Abrantee Spot, where he helps celebrate live-band music.
Some of his popular songs include Handkerchief, Seniwa, Brebrebe yi, Mensuro, Mabre, Broken Promises, Nsuo Amuna, Sokoo na mmaa pe, Kose kose, Dabi dabi, Mefre wo, Okyena sesei, Odo nfonii, Nka akyi, M'ani agyina, To be a man na war, etc
Amakye Dede began his career in 1973 when he joined the Kumapim Royals as a composer and vocalist. This band was led by the legendary high life singer, Akwasi Ampofo Agyei (AAA) of blessed memory.
With them, they had hits like Abebi Bewua Eso, Wanware Me A, Odo Mani Agyina and the seminal Ohohoo Batani. He moved to Nigeria where he had his hit 'Jealousy go shame'.
He then formed his own band, the Apollo High Kings, in 1980. He dominated the highlife scene in the 80's, 90's and continues to have hit songs in the 21st century.
He has almost 20 albums to his credit. In his later career, he experimented with different genres; soca, Cclypso, lovers rock and pop music.
He owns a very popular bar in Accra called Abrantee Spot, where he helps celebrate live-band music.
Some of his popular songs include Handkerchief, Seniwa, Brebrebe yi, Mensuro, Mabre, Broken Promises, Nsuo Amuna, Sokoo na mmaa pe, Kose kose, Dabi dabi, Mefre wo, Okyena sesei, Odo nfonii, Nka akyi, M'ani agyina, To be a man na war, etc
Abena Yankson
Abena Yankson’s desire to praise her maker began long ago when her
talent was identified in the formative years of her life. By the very
tender age of 9, Abena was showcasing her musical talent on the big
stage; by that age she had already mastered ‘big stage’ abibi ndwom (a
local musical type) performances under the tutelage of her grand auntie.
Her impressive and captivating performances were however limited to Christian programmes and mainly to the official functions (camp meetings) of the Methodist Church in Ajumako circuit.
It is not surprising that abibi ndwom has been cleverly fused with pop rhythms on this album. She was the lead vocalist for a number of singing groups in her hometown, Ampia-Ajumako in the Central Region where she was born and spent the first decade of her life.
Abena had a very keen interest in Education and never allowed anything to disrupt her dream of climbing up the academic ladder. She holds an MSc degree in Health Planning and Management from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and a BSc in Community Nutrition from University for Development Studies. She attended Mfantsiman Girls Senior Secondary School and Obuasi Presbyterian Junior Secondary School, after a primary education in her home town.
Her academic ambition was never a hindrance to her desire of making the Lord’s service her delight. At the university she was the praise and worship team leader for Ghana Fellowship of Evangelical Students (GHAFES) and Ghana Methodist Students Union (GHAMSU), Treasurer and Assistant Secretary for GHAFES at the University for Development Studies (UDS) and also a founding member of the Nyankpala Methodist Church in the Northern region. She was also an active member of Campus Crusade for Christ and took part in several evangelism activities both within and off campus.
Apart from winning souls for Christ she also has keen interest in saving lives through preventive health care. She has been working in the health sector since the completion of school and has particular interest in maternal and child health issues. After her education at UDS, Abena worked with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in a very busy district in the Northern Region. Abena did not just serve the people of Savelugu in the Northern Region with her health professional abilities; she also found time for God and established a Choir in the Savelugu branch of the Methodist Church. She is currently working with an international NGO that deals with health communication issues and worships with Carlvary Methodist Church, Adabraka, Accra.
Her weekends and leisure time after work are mostly spent on song writing and composition. She has worked hard to make her dream of helping fulfill the great commission a reality through songs writing. It is obvious that Abena has savoured the delicious pleasure of praising her maker through music with a passion that has been amply and forcefully manifested in her first studio effort.
This debut album affirms Abena Yankson as a heart that has hungrily sought to eternally praise and worship her maker. Her fans (old and new) might have waited for a long time for this album, but the wait is evidence that this project has been completed in God’s time. It is a work of faith, of prayer, of endurance, and ultimately the work of a servant who had stood and identified with her Lord (Jesus!)
The lyrics will undeniably illuminate your every step as you seek to get closer to your maker and seek to secure your destiny. I also believe that every listener’s soul will be nourished to flourish as you feed on the wonderful contents of the album.
Her impressive and captivating performances were however limited to Christian programmes and mainly to the official functions (camp meetings) of the Methodist Church in Ajumako circuit.
It is not surprising that abibi ndwom has been cleverly fused with pop rhythms on this album. She was the lead vocalist for a number of singing groups in her hometown, Ampia-Ajumako in the Central Region where she was born and spent the first decade of her life.
Abena had a very keen interest in Education and never allowed anything to disrupt her dream of climbing up the academic ladder. She holds an MSc degree in Health Planning and Management from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and a BSc in Community Nutrition from University for Development Studies. She attended Mfantsiman Girls Senior Secondary School and Obuasi Presbyterian Junior Secondary School, after a primary education in her home town.
Her academic ambition was never a hindrance to her desire of making the Lord’s service her delight. At the university she was the praise and worship team leader for Ghana Fellowship of Evangelical Students (GHAFES) and Ghana Methodist Students Union (GHAMSU), Treasurer and Assistant Secretary for GHAFES at the University for Development Studies (UDS) and also a founding member of the Nyankpala Methodist Church in the Northern region. She was also an active member of Campus Crusade for Christ and took part in several evangelism activities both within and off campus.
Apart from winning souls for Christ she also has keen interest in saving lives through preventive health care. She has been working in the health sector since the completion of school and has particular interest in maternal and child health issues. After her education at UDS, Abena worked with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in a very busy district in the Northern Region. Abena did not just serve the people of Savelugu in the Northern Region with her health professional abilities; she also found time for God and established a Choir in the Savelugu branch of the Methodist Church. She is currently working with an international NGO that deals with health communication issues and worships with Carlvary Methodist Church, Adabraka, Accra.
Her weekends and leisure time after work are mostly spent on song writing and composition. She has worked hard to make her dream of helping fulfill the great commission a reality through songs writing. It is obvious that Abena has savoured the delicious pleasure of praising her maker through music with a passion that has been amply and forcefully manifested in her first studio effort.
This debut album affirms Abena Yankson as a heart that has hungrily sought to eternally praise and worship her maker. Her fans (old and new) might have waited for a long time for this album, but the wait is evidence that this project has been completed in God’s time. It is a work of faith, of prayer, of endurance, and ultimately the work of a servant who had stood and identified with her Lord (Jesus!)
The lyrics will undeniably illuminate your every step as you seek to get closer to your maker and seek to secure your destiny. I also believe that every listener’s soul will be nourished to flourish as you feed on the wonderful contents of the album.
Barima Sidney
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Blakk Rasta
Blakk Rasta was born on the Monday of 2nd September 1974 in Tamale in
the Northern part of Ghana, West Africa. He was born to devout
Ahmadi-Moslem parents.
As a growing youth in the slums of Moshie-Zongo and Aboabo, Blakk Rasta (born ABUBAKAR AHMED), underwent a lot of injustice, favouritism and other social ills.
Education was number one on Blakk Rasta’s mind since his parents were both educationists. He grew up as a learned ghetto youth who was a real role model for other youths in the slums. He topped his class several times. Everyone in the slum saw Blakk Rasta as an extraordinary chap with over-endowed academic talent.
Music was the last thing to Blakk Rasta though he enjoyed listening to very popular slow music. The ghetto chap wrote several plays, directed and acted some of them. He writes novels too and won several writing competitions.
In 1990, Osman Habib Dollar, a ghetto youth told Blakk Rasta about a Nigerian Reggae superstar-Ras Kimono. Blakk Rasta was immediately captured by the lyrical presentation of the singer. He particularly wondered why people should fight black people and Rasta. All this was mentioned in the Ras Kimono music. Blakk Rasta wept over some of the lyrics and started asking about Rastafari and Black people. This research opened Blakk Rasta to several mind-blowing experiences, which led him to embrace Rasta, though still a Moslem.
Blakk Rasta met Ras Kimono in 1993, watched the artiste perform live and, for the extreme love for the artiste, Blakk Rasta formed a conscious youth club called ‘The Ras Theatre Group’ in Tamale, which acted plays, made movies and performed Ras Kimono’s music.
That was when Blakk Rasta started trying to write his own lyrics. The first one he wrote was ‘Keep on Rockin’ / I & I Rastas.
His first album, “Rasta shrine” came out in April 2000. It was a smash hit with singles like ‘Afreeka swit’, and “Keep on Rockin’ / I & I Rastas”
In 2003 July, ‘More Fyah’ was released and the single ‘ Congo Bongo’ was voted as the best reggae song of the year 2003 by the Ghana music award.
In February 2004, Blakk Rasta visited England where he teamed up with accomplished artistes to produce the hit single ‘ Kunta Kinte’ to be released in February 2005 on the ‘Ganja Minister’ album (Blakk Rasta’s third album). Ras coz, Moffart, Sista B, Sista Lahnah, Suniel and dancehall great, Macka B all featured on this album.
Blakk Rasta is currently Ghana’s number one Reggae star. His greatest assets are his humility, consciousness and fearlessness.
Beside music, writing and travelling, Blakk Rasta is a reggae DJ. on Hitz 103.7 FM, Accra, and judged as the best Reggae DJ in Ghana.
He is a vegetarian – no meat, fish, eggs, white sugar, flour, salt and anything animal.
Blakk Rasta does Reggae music pouring out conscious lyrics about Blackness, Rasta and spiritual love.
Sometimes the music has some Jamaican influences and touches. The music is done in English, Jamaican Patois and some African languages.
Live instruments are used in recording Blakk Rasta’s Reggae.
Harmonies are never compromised. Blakk Rasta loves female harmonies backed by powerful harmonies from the horn family.
Roots reggae is the backbone of Blakk Rasta’s music though a few dancehall vibes and toasts come flinging in. Dub poetry is another aspect of his music.
People who will not enjoy Blakk Rasta’s music are those who hate Black consciousness and social justice.
Rastafari! Enjoy the music
Education has always been a priority in Blakk Rasta’s upbringing. He attended the following schools:
1. Ahmadiyya Primary School
(Tamale, Ghana) 1979 -1985
2. Zogbeli Junior Secondary School
(Tamale, Ghana) 1985 - 1988
3. Tamale Secondary School
(Tamale, Ghana) 1988 - 1989
4. T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School
(Kumasi, Ghana) 1989 – 1995
5. Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology (Kumasi, Ghana) 1997 – 2001
Blakk Rasta holds a Bsc degree in Land Economy, soon to start a course in Law.
As a growing youth in the slums of Moshie-Zongo and Aboabo, Blakk Rasta (born ABUBAKAR AHMED), underwent a lot of injustice, favouritism and other social ills.
Education was number one on Blakk Rasta’s mind since his parents were both educationists. He grew up as a learned ghetto youth who was a real role model for other youths in the slums. He topped his class several times. Everyone in the slum saw Blakk Rasta as an extraordinary chap with over-endowed academic talent.
Music was the last thing to Blakk Rasta though he enjoyed listening to very popular slow music. The ghetto chap wrote several plays, directed and acted some of them. He writes novels too and won several writing competitions.
In 1990, Osman Habib Dollar, a ghetto youth told Blakk Rasta about a Nigerian Reggae superstar-Ras Kimono. Blakk Rasta was immediately captured by the lyrical presentation of the singer. He particularly wondered why people should fight black people and Rasta. All this was mentioned in the Ras Kimono music. Blakk Rasta wept over some of the lyrics and started asking about Rastafari and Black people. This research opened Blakk Rasta to several mind-blowing experiences, which led him to embrace Rasta, though still a Moslem.
Blakk Rasta met Ras Kimono in 1993, watched the artiste perform live and, for the extreme love for the artiste, Blakk Rasta formed a conscious youth club called ‘The Ras Theatre Group’ in Tamale, which acted plays, made movies and performed Ras Kimono’s music.
That was when Blakk Rasta started trying to write his own lyrics. The first one he wrote was ‘Keep on Rockin’ / I & I Rastas.
His first album, “Rasta shrine” came out in April 2000. It was a smash hit with singles like ‘Afreeka swit’, and “Keep on Rockin’ / I & I Rastas”
In 2003 July, ‘More Fyah’ was released and the single ‘ Congo Bongo’ was voted as the best reggae song of the year 2003 by the Ghana music award.
In February 2004, Blakk Rasta visited England where he teamed up with accomplished artistes to produce the hit single ‘ Kunta Kinte’ to be released in February 2005 on the ‘Ganja Minister’ album (Blakk Rasta’s third album). Ras coz, Moffart, Sista B, Sista Lahnah, Suniel and dancehall great, Macka B all featured on this album.
Blakk Rasta is currently Ghana’s number one Reggae star. His greatest assets are his humility, consciousness and fearlessness.
Beside music, writing and travelling, Blakk Rasta is a reggae DJ. on Hitz 103.7 FM, Accra, and judged as the best Reggae DJ in Ghana.
He is a vegetarian – no meat, fish, eggs, white sugar, flour, salt and anything animal.
Blakk Rasta does Reggae music pouring out conscious lyrics about Blackness, Rasta and spiritual love.
Sometimes the music has some Jamaican influences and touches. The music is done in English, Jamaican Patois and some African languages.
Live instruments are used in recording Blakk Rasta’s Reggae.
Harmonies are never compromised. Blakk Rasta loves female harmonies backed by powerful harmonies from the horn family.
Roots reggae is the backbone of Blakk Rasta’s music though a few dancehall vibes and toasts come flinging in. Dub poetry is another aspect of his music.
People who will not enjoy Blakk Rasta’s music are those who hate Black consciousness and social justice.
Rastafari! Enjoy the music
Education has always been a priority in Blakk Rasta’s upbringing. He attended the following schools:
1. Ahmadiyya Primary School
(Tamale, Ghana) 1979 -1985
2. Zogbeli Junior Secondary School
(Tamale, Ghana) 1985 - 1988
3. Tamale Secondary School
(Tamale, Ghana) 1988 - 1989
4. T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School
(Kumasi, Ghana) 1989 – 1995
5. Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology (Kumasi, Ghana) 1997 – 2001
Blakk Rasta holds a Bsc degree in Land Economy, soon to start a course in Law.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Antwi ne Antwi
Antwi ne Antwi's real names are David Kwasi Okyere Antwi and Michael
Kwame Antwi. They are believed to be relatives of Ghana's music maestro -
Kojo Antwi.
Their music borrows from rhythms from all over Africa (including Nigerian juju and Francophone African sounds) and their music is a great blend of hiplife and highlife.
Through albums like Sekina, Eye de, Aku sika and Congo Sodja, they have been very consistent and had great airplay.
Some of their songs are Congo Sodja, Aisha, Africa, Ngozi, Aku sika, Ajara, African Girls, Made de, Mansah, Fa wo nsa, Akoma, Kwajedu, Jemima, Kaa nyemi, Fine lady, I dey die, Odo nkomo, Maaso mehye bi, O my baby, etc
Their music borrows from rhythms from all over Africa (including Nigerian juju and Francophone African sounds) and their music is a great blend of hiplife and highlife.
Through albums like Sekina, Eye de, Aku sika and Congo Sodja, they have been very consistent and had great airplay.
Some of their songs are Congo Sodja, Aisha, Africa, Ngozi, Aku sika, Ajara, African Girls, Made de, Mansah, Fa wo nsa, Akoma, Kwajedu, Jemima, Kaa nyemi, Fine lady, I dey die, Odo nkomo, Maaso mehye bi, O my baby, etc
A-Plus
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Asem
In an era when the Ghanaian music
scene has been crying out for a flamboyant artiste with the talent and
personality to keep tongues wagging and scores of crowds entertained,
enters ASEM.
Nana Wiafe Asante Mensah – otherwise known as ASEM – is the star whose music is making waves at the length and breath of the country even before its official release.
ASEM is the youngest of five boys to his parents. It was while sneaking into his family boys' quarters to bond with his brothers as they listened to hip-hop music that he developed a strong passion for music. It was in those surroundings that his desire to grow up to be a master entertainer and lyricist soared to its apogee. This explains his ability to put together mind-boggling lyrics laced with humorous punch lines and gasping metaphors.
Despite picking up the love for music at an early age, it was in St. Peter's Senior High School that he nurtured his talent.
He found himself in an environment filled with people who shared in his dream to be a star in the entertainment industry, specifically by engaging themselves in the genres of hip-life and hip-hop. Together with these promising rappers he formed a group which they tagged the 'Frontliners.' They planned to record an album but this plan fell through once they went their separate ways to further their education. Due to his resilience and will to succeed in show business ASEM kept at it, attempting to build a successful career while sticking to his plan of entering an institution of higher learning, that is, the Ghana Institute of Journalism.
With the help of Richie, who was then scouting for talent to add to the music empire he was trying to build, ASEM rediscovered himself and turned out a whole new style as the newest and hottest artiste with Lynx Entertainment. In working with Richie, who is a singer, producer, sound engineer and CEO of Lynx Entertainment, ASEM has evolved – creating his own brand of Ghanaian music and in the process carved a niche for himself as an artiste who comes up the pleasantly unexpected.
The talented son of Kwawu Atibie in the Eastern Region of Ghana aims to go beyond the shores of the African continent with his unique style of music. His inspiration comes from his admiration for artistes such as K.K. Kabobo, Reggie Rockstone, Kris Kross and Ludacris and it is the versatile mix of creativity and flexibility provided by these artistes that gives ASEM his unique approach to music. So as he drops his first album after having teased Ghanaians with songs such as 'Give Me Blow' and 'Pigaro', the obvious prediction is sooner rather than later, this talented young man will have the whole world singing to his tempo.
Nana Wiafe Asante Mensah – otherwise known as ASEM – is the star whose music is making waves at the length and breath of the country even before its official release.
ASEM is the youngest of five boys to his parents. It was while sneaking into his family boys' quarters to bond with his brothers as they listened to hip-hop music that he developed a strong passion for music. It was in those surroundings that his desire to grow up to be a master entertainer and lyricist soared to its apogee. This explains his ability to put together mind-boggling lyrics laced with humorous punch lines and gasping metaphors.
Despite picking up the love for music at an early age, it was in St. Peter's Senior High School that he nurtured his talent.
He found himself in an environment filled with people who shared in his dream to be a star in the entertainment industry, specifically by engaging themselves in the genres of hip-life and hip-hop. Together with these promising rappers he formed a group which they tagged the 'Frontliners.' They planned to record an album but this plan fell through once they went their separate ways to further their education. Due to his resilience and will to succeed in show business ASEM kept at it, attempting to build a successful career while sticking to his plan of entering an institution of higher learning, that is, the Ghana Institute of Journalism.
With the help of Richie, who was then scouting for talent to add to the music empire he was trying to build, ASEM rediscovered himself and turned out a whole new style as the newest and hottest artiste with Lynx Entertainment. In working with Richie, who is a singer, producer, sound engineer and CEO of Lynx Entertainment, ASEM has evolved – creating his own brand of Ghanaian music and in the process carved a niche for himself as an artiste who comes up the pleasantly unexpected.
The talented son of Kwawu Atibie in the Eastern Region of Ghana aims to go beyond the shores of the African continent with his unique style of music. His inspiration comes from his admiration for artistes such as K.K. Kabobo, Reggie Rockstone, Kris Kross and Ludacris and it is the versatile mix of creativity and flexibility provided by these artistes that gives ASEM his unique approach to music. So as he drops his first album after having teased Ghanaians with songs such as 'Give Me Blow' and 'Pigaro', the obvious prediction is sooner rather than later, this talented young man will have the whole world singing to his tempo.
Daddy Lumba
With over 25 albums under his belt, Daddy Lumba's albums have yielded
more number one and top ten hits than any other Ghanaian musician in our
time. Coining so many phrases with his lyrics, Lumba has been
responsible for some of the lingo used in everyday language.
Going to a social function without hearing at least one of his songs is like going to Chicago without seeing the Sears Tower silhouetting the skyline.
Born Charles Kojo Fosu, Daddy Lumba started his music career as one of the duo in the group Lumba Brothers, when he collaborated with his partner Nana Acheampong and released their first album entitled 'Yereye Aka Akwantuo Mu'. This song depicted the number of Ghanaian immigrants that originally leave the country to seek better fortunes abroad but make those temporary homes permanent due to financial, emotional or other unforeseen hardships. The album was produced by Lumba's wife.
After Lumba Brothers, Lumba's first solo album became an instant hit catapulting him straight into superstar status and making him a household name and a national treasure. Since then, he has averaged an album a year and has collaborated with other top musicians such as A. B. Crentsil, Selina, Felix Owusu, Yaw Micah, Borax and lately with Pat Thomas another iconic figure in the Ghanaian music industry.
On his first solo album, the song 'Theresa' quickly became a hit as he crooned about a lover and how no other woman is comparable. His delivery was unique, his style was impeccable. His ability to coin and mince ordinary sounding words and turning them into indecipherable incoherent phrases put his vocal technique unlike any other Ghanaian musician before him. His up tempo beats were undeniably high heat.
On the title track 'Obi ato me so boo', the steady thumping drums and the consistent groovy bass line along with the sharp piercing lead guitar licks sent chills through one's spine. On the song, his simultaneous craving and praising a new found lover while chiding and humiliating a former lover puts one in a bi-polar mood swing. However his uncanny ability to drag people along this sing-along melodic joy ride depending on whether you are praising a lover or dishing out insults to a former leave listeners to conjecture where they stand.
His second album 'Sika Asem' wasted no time in climbing up the charts thus squashing the 'sophomore syndrome', a situation whereby most musicians' second album fail to meet the standards or exceed their first ones. This album established him as a gifted musician who would be around for a long time.
Year after year he released one hit album after the another including, 'Ohia Asem', 'Playboy', 'Seese Wo Se', 'Odo Foforo', Biribi Gye Gye Wo' and 'Back for Good'. Then just like so many pop musicians before him had done, he found a new life in gospel music and released 'Mesom Jesus' and 'Woana Na Otene'. Praising and singing about Jesus had become a passion and he reached out to the many fans who had previously not listened to his secular music.
After taking some time off from the pop scene, Lumba reverted to the genre and released 'Aben Wo Ha' an album that took the country and his fans by storm. His finesse with words was up to the summit, his beat had become even more vibrant and the consistency of his tempo had precise and recognizable overtones of his familiar and unique style. The master had coined yet another phrase for the country.
After having collaborated previously with other stars, Lumba in 1999 paired up with a rising star Ofori Amponsah to release 'Woho Kyere'. That album produced five hits and thrust Amposah into the national spotlight. Reenergized, Lumba followed up with 'Adepa Hye Adepa', 'Poison', 'Papa Samo', 'Ofie Banbofo', 'Asee Ho', Odo Bewu Dee Eno Nwu' and the latest, collaboration with Pat Thomas entitled 'Ahenfo Kyinie'.
Going to a social function without hearing at least one of his songs is like going to Chicago without seeing the Sears Tower silhouetting the skyline.
Born Charles Kojo Fosu, Daddy Lumba started his music career as one of the duo in the group Lumba Brothers, when he collaborated with his partner Nana Acheampong and released their first album entitled 'Yereye Aka Akwantuo Mu'. This song depicted the number of Ghanaian immigrants that originally leave the country to seek better fortunes abroad but make those temporary homes permanent due to financial, emotional or other unforeseen hardships. The album was produced by Lumba's wife.
After Lumba Brothers, Lumba's first solo album became an instant hit catapulting him straight into superstar status and making him a household name and a national treasure. Since then, he has averaged an album a year and has collaborated with other top musicians such as A. B. Crentsil, Selina, Felix Owusu, Yaw Micah, Borax and lately with Pat Thomas another iconic figure in the Ghanaian music industry.
On his first solo album, the song 'Theresa' quickly became a hit as he crooned about a lover and how no other woman is comparable. His delivery was unique, his style was impeccable. His ability to coin and mince ordinary sounding words and turning them into indecipherable incoherent phrases put his vocal technique unlike any other Ghanaian musician before him. His up tempo beats were undeniably high heat.
On the title track 'Obi ato me so boo', the steady thumping drums and the consistent groovy bass line along with the sharp piercing lead guitar licks sent chills through one's spine. On the song, his simultaneous craving and praising a new found lover while chiding and humiliating a former lover puts one in a bi-polar mood swing. However his uncanny ability to drag people along this sing-along melodic joy ride depending on whether you are praising a lover or dishing out insults to a former leave listeners to conjecture where they stand.
His second album 'Sika Asem' wasted no time in climbing up the charts thus squashing the 'sophomore syndrome', a situation whereby most musicians' second album fail to meet the standards or exceed their first ones. This album established him as a gifted musician who would be around for a long time.
Year after year he released one hit album after the another including, 'Ohia Asem', 'Playboy', 'Seese Wo Se', 'Odo Foforo', Biribi Gye Gye Wo' and 'Back for Good'. Then just like so many pop musicians before him had done, he found a new life in gospel music and released 'Mesom Jesus' and 'Woana Na Otene'. Praising and singing about Jesus had become a passion and he reached out to the many fans who had previously not listened to his secular music.
After taking some time off from the pop scene, Lumba reverted to the genre and released 'Aben Wo Ha' an album that took the country and his fans by storm. His finesse with words was up to the summit, his beat had become even more vibrant and the consistency of his tempo had precise and recognizable overtones of his familiar and unique style. The master had coined yet another phrase for the country.
After having collaborated previously with other stars, Lumba in 1999 paired up with a rising star Ofori Amponsah to release 'Woho Kyere'. That album produced five hits and thrust Amposah into the national spotlight. Reenergized, Lumba followed up with 'Adepa Hye Adepa', 'Poison', 'Papa Samo', 'Ofie Banbofo', 'Asee Ho', Odo Bewu Dee Eno Nwu' and the latest, collaboration with Pat Thomas entitled 'Ahenfo Kyinie'.
Obour
Since age, 1, Bice Osei Kuffour has
been very adventurous, daring and untouchable. If you hit him with
stick, run for your life because he would respond with a stone [Twi
meaning for 'Obour'].
And as if a character transplant, that was the exact lifestyle of his late grand dad, Nana Kwesi [O]Buor; hence Bice's showbiz name. "They say I did most of the things my grand dad did", says Obour.
He was born at 'Braha Bebu Me' (Dekyemenso) in the Ashanti Region on November 7, 1981 to Christiana Addo and reverend B.O Kuffour. Of his seven sibblings, all his sisters and even his mother sung in the church.
At six, he played most of the drums especially the Atumpan in the Juaso-Ashanti Akyem chief's palace where his father used to preside over before accepting Christ. According to him, that inspired him a lot, lyrically.
Right from his basic education days at the State Experimental School (Kumasi) through to the Soul Clinic School (Accra), Garrisson Junior Secondary School (Burma Camp) and Mfantsipim School, Obour never joked with his studies.
As the first hip-life artist to reach his level at university, smart-headed Obour combine his tertiary education with music very effectively. Several situations tempted him to choose between education and music. "But nothing detered me since I knew I was doing execellently well at both. I just schedule my time properly".
Moreover, any time he had to subtitute a few lectures for major concert or international shows, he always made special arrangement with TAs (Teaching Assistants) to help him catch up.
Just after his secondary school, Obour solicited help from his London-based cousin, J. Amano. important person in his music career, hooked him up to his personal Soul Records label.
'Atentenben' won three awards for Soul Records at the Ghana Music Awards in 2002; including Video of the year. That contributed to Soul Records winning the Record Label of the Year. Same video won the Best at Our Music Awards (OMA) in 2002.
His second album was fueled by the track 'Nana Obour', which was earlier on featured on Soul Records' 'Adakamo' compilation album. The album was titled "Dondo" and featured such classic tunes as 'Mesoodae' and 'Palm Wine'. 'Nana Obour' won the Best Video at both Ghana Music Awards and Ghana Music Awards UK in 2003.
Now that he has decided to do both schooling and business, he is concentrating on other ventures. He just opened a Pub in Osu known as Scores Sports Pub. His Music Production outfit, Adwinfi and Family Tree Entertainment label are doing great.
Very soon, he will start a clothing line to be known as Adwinsfi Gear. Obour's 'Obour-For-the-Girl-Child' charitable campaign seeks to support the under privileged girl child both financially and morally to take up education as her priority.
And as if a character transplant, that was the exact lifestyle of his late grand dad, Nana Kwesi [O]Buor; hence Bice's showbiz name. "They say I did most of the things my grand dad did", says Obour.
He was born at 'Braha Bebu Me' (Dekyemenso) in the Ashanti Region on November 7, 1981 to Christiana Addo and reverend B.O Kuffour. Of his seven sibblings, all his sisters and even his mother sung in the church.
At six, he played most of the drums especially the Atumpan in the Juaso-Ashanti Akyem chief's palace where his father used to preside over before accepting Christ. According to him, that inspired him a lot, lyrically.
Right from his basic education days at the State Experimental School (Kumasi) through to the Soul Clinic School (Accra), Garrisson Junior Secondary School (Burma Camp) and Mfantsipim School, Obour never joked with his studies.
As the first hip-life artist to reach his level at university, smart-headed Obour combine his tertiary education with music very effectively. Several situations tempted him to choose between education and music. "But nothing detered me since I knew I was doing execellently well at both. I just schedule my time properly".
Moreover, any time he had to subtitute a few lectures for major concert or international shows, he always made special arrangement with TAs (Teaching Assistants) to help him catch up.
Just after his secondary school, Obour solicited help from his London-based cousin, J. Amano. important person in his music career, hooked him up to his personal Soul Records label.
'Atentenben' won three awards for Soul Records at the Ghana Music Awards in 2002; including Video of the year. That contributed to Soul Records winning the Record Label of the Year. Same video won the Best at Our Music Awards (OMA) in 2002.
His second album was fueled by the track 'Nana Obour', which was earlier on featured on Soul Records' 'Adakamo' compilation album. The album was titled "Dondo" and featured such classic tunes as 'Mesoodae' and 'Palm Wine'. 'Nana Obour' won the Best Video at both Ghana Music Awards and Ghana Music Awards UK in 2003.
Now that he has decided to do both schooling and business, he is concentrating on other ventures. He just opened a Pub in Osu known as Scores Sports Pub. His Music Production outfit, Adwinfi and Family Tree Entertainment label are doing great.
Very soon, he will start a clothing line to be known as Adwinsfi Gear. Obour's 'Obour-For-the-Girl-Child' charitable campaign seeks to support the under privileged girl child both financially and morally to take up education as her priority.
Okyeame Kwame
Kwame Nsiah Appau, known in the Ghanaian Music circles as Okyeame Kwame
was born into a family of eight, one girl and five boys including his
parents.
His father was an accountant and the mother, a tutor. His entire dream was to become a professional musician though his parents wanted him to become a doctor.
He attended Kumasi Anglican Secondary school and there, he took some lessons in music but it was his literature master that really encouraged him with his words. He started writing music in the primary school and started performing on stage whilst in secondary school,
He has been in the music industry for seven years and has four albums in the name of Akyeame and one solo album titled ‘Bohye Ba’ under his coat.
He has never been in a position of playing a ‘blame game’ but always stands to face his responsibilities as a man, than always blaming people for everything because he always regards his mistakes as a stage in life.
The award winner wishes that all his colleagues in the music industry would help to lift the name of the Ghanaian music industry high rather than focusing on the money they will get.
Aside Kwame’s music, he also has a live band and directs video clips. He has also entered the movie industry with two movies (Comforter, Twist and Turns and an upcoming movie titled ‘Sorry For Love’), one TV series and some adverts
So far, Kwame has featured on so many albums of talented musicians and he thinks that he has achieved almost half of his dream.
His father was an accountant and the mother, a tutor. His entire dream was to become a professional musician though his parents wanted him to become a doctor.
He attended Kumasi Anglican Secondary school and there, he took some lessons in music but it was his literature master that really encouraged him with his words. He started writing music in the primary school and started performing on stage whilst in secondary school,
He has been in the music industry for seven years and has four albums in the name of Akyeame and one solo album titled ‘Bohye Ba’ under his coat.
He has never been in a position of playing a ‘blame game’ but always stands to face his responsibilities as a man, than always blaming people for everything because he always regards his mistakes as a stage in life.
The award winner wishes that all his colleagues in the music industry would help to lift the name of the Ghanaian music industry high rather than focusing on the money they will get.
Aside Kwame’s music, he also has a live band and directs video clips. He has also entered the movie industry with two movies (Comforter, Twist and Turns and an upcoming movie titled ‘Sorry For Love’), one TV series and some adverts
So far, Kwame has featured on so many albums of talented musicians and he thinks that he has achieved almost half of his dream.
OD4 (Odeefo)
Henry Agyei Gyamerah is a ragga
musician from Ghana whose stage name is OD4. OD4 is derived from Obiara
di fo, which means everyone is guilty.
The 4 signifies that his melody is on 4 notes. He is a proponent of raglife music and describes his music as a mix of dancehall and highlife.
Some of his popular songs are Wonya da, Odo nkoaa, Ten Thousand, Twe ma me, SLIMA girls and Darling (a lot of which he has worked on with Ras Nigga, who he is rumoured to be going out with).
He has strong ties with the TV3 Mentor show and is believed to have contributed lyrics to "Yeresei adze", the Western Region representatives' song.
The 4 signifies that his melody is on 4 notes. He is a proponent of raglife music and describes his music as a mix of dancehall and highlife.
Some of his popular songs are Wonya da, Odo nkoaa, Ten Thousand, Twe ma me, SLIMA girls and Darling (a lot of which he has worked on with Ras Nigga, who he is rumoured to be going out with).
He has strong ties with the TV3 Mentor show and is believed to have contributed lyrics to "Yeresei adze", the Western Region representatives' song.
Nana Acheampong
Ernest 'Owoahene' Nana Acheampong is one of the most popular musicians
ever in Ghana. He is also the other half of the famous Sibo brothers who
popularized Burger highlife in Ghana (the other is Charles Kojo Fosu
aka Daddy Lumba).
Nana Acheampong is also known as the Champion Lover boy. The Abuakwa native and Kumasi Technical Institute graduate has a musical career spanning almost 15 years.
In middle school, he led his school band. He left for Germany in the eighties and played with the Talking Drum band. He formed his band in 1987 before he hooked up with Daddy Lumba.
He owns the Owoahene Studio, in Suame Kumasi, where he has done his latest recordings with himself as Executive Producer for Owoahene Music. His Na anka ebeye den hit is believe to have sold the most copies ever for an album in Ghana.
Some of his songs include Abu aka mesim, Casanova, Kata w'ani te, Deobrenodi, Nipa, Se eye wode, Obibini mu obibini, Ever ready, Odo yarea, Meko odo nkyen, I go die 4 u, Mansusu saa, Ako me square, Brebre Obaahemaa, Wo wone hwan,
Nana Acheampong is also known as the Champion Lover boy. The Abuakwa native and Kumasi Technical Institute graduate has a musical career spanning almost 15 years.
In middle school, he led his school band. He left for Germany in the eighties and played with the Talking Drum band. He formed his band in 1987 before he hooked up with Daddy Lumba.
He owns the Owoahene Studio, in Suame Kumasi, where he has done his latest recordings with himself as Executive Producer for Owoahene Music. His Na anka ebeye den hit is believe to have sold the most copies ever for an album in Ghana.
Some of his songs include Abu aka mesim, Casanova, Kata w'ani te, Deobrenodi, Nipa, Se eye wode, Obibini mu obibini, Ever ready, Odo yarea, Meko odo nkyen, I go die 4 u, Mansusu saa, Ako me square, Brebre Obaahemaa, Wo wone hwan,
Praye
Praye, a Ghanaian hiplife trio made
up of three members are Eugene Baah [Praye ho ne ho], Steven Fiawoo
[Praye tiatia] and Nana Kwame [Praye tenten] was formed during the
maiden edition of the Nescafe African Revelations.
The three started the group and adopted the name ‘Praye’ which means ‘broom’ an indigenous symbol of unity in the Ghanaian community, reflecting their belief in combining their different and unique talents that have been harnessed to make them one of the most entertaining group in Africa. They won the National Championship and the African Revelation Championship as representative of Ghana and at the final event of west and central Africa. Their debut album, Mfitiatse, with the hit track ‘Shordy’ is topped the Music Charts in Ghana for several weeks. Besides the fame they’ve enjoyed in their home country, they’ve also made outstanding achievements within a year in their music career, some of which are, winning a prestigious KORA award for being the best group in West Africa. In the 2006 Ghana Music Awards Festival, they were adjudged the New Artiste of the Year. Their song “Shordy” also wants the New Hiplife song of the year. After the success of their first album, Praye has recently released a new album “Tha Bomb” under their record label Broomx entertainment. |
Kwaw Kesse
Emmanuel Botchwey aka Kwaw Kesse was born in Agona Swedru and started
singing in school, where he sang and rapped every now and then to beats
provided by his friends thumping on table. He had his J.S.S education at
Happy Home J.S.S and then went on for his Secondary education at
Winneba Secondary School.
His major break came when he was featured on Obrafour's Executioner's Diary with his 'Oye Nonsense' track. He continued with winning ways by featuring again on Hammer's 'Sounds of Our Time' compilation. This time around, it was 'Ma Tewo Kwakwa'.
This track made such an impact on the album that it became the favourite of most music lovers. This prepared the way for his debut album, ‘Na Ya Tal’ which was a big hit.
In 2007, he released, another album, 'Abodam 2007' his biggest hit yet. He scored a big hit with the songs, 'Odeim', ' Na Ya Tal remix' and 'Wose Mmaa Pe Wo'.
The success of the album and his amazing performances through out the year earned him 5 Ghana Music Awards in 2008, including Artist of the Year. He has featured on tones of songs and he is currently working on new material.
His major break came when he was featured on Obrafour's Executioner's Diary with his 'Oye Nonsense' track. He continued with winning ways by featuring again on Hammer's 'Sounds of Our Time' compilation. This time around, it was 'Ma Tewo Kwakwa'.
This track made such an impact on the album that it became the favourite of most music lovers. This prepared the way for his debut album, ‘Na Ya Tal’ which was a big hit.
In 2007, he released, another album, 'Abodam 2007' his biggest hit yet. He scored a big hit with the songs, 'Odeim', ' Na Ya Tal remix' and 'Wose Mmaa Pe Wo'.
The success of the album and his amazing performances through out the year earned him 5 Ghana Music Awards in 2008, including Artist of the Year. He has featured on tones of songs and he is currently working on new material.
Mzbel
Mzbel,known in private life as Nana Ekua Amoah,was born on Boxing
Day,that is,December 26,1979 in Accra to Mr Albert A. Amoah, an engineer
and the late Agnes Nyarko.She is the last-born of seven children.
“She grew up in the ghetto — James Town and Mallam,”.After attending God’s Wisdom Preparatory and Morning Star schools, she continued to Korle Gonno I and Owusu Mills JSS at Mamprobi for her junior secondary school education.
She had her senior secondary education at Abuakwa State College between 1995 and 1997 where she offered General Arts. She majored in economics, geography and French.
“As a child, she always wanted to be a newscaster.So after SSS, She applied to go to the Ghana Institute of Journalism but she couldn’t because of financial constraints,”.
She was later convinced by a cousin who supported her with some money to enrol at the Ghana Institute of Languages to become a bilingual secretary between 1998 and 1999.
“That was not what She wanted to do but she had no choice,”. While at the institute,she had the hint that Manifold Tutorial College was offering a one-year course in Production and enrolled, combining it with her course at the Institute of Languages.
She studied public relations,TV and radio production.
After her course,she did her internship with GBC Radio 1 where she hosted a children’s programme “Mmofra kyepem”.
“The financial benefit was not rewarding and her twi was not too good so she moved to Groove FM,now Adom FM,to continue her internship and did a programme titled ‘Kids on Groove’ ”.
A friend who realised her potential and her production background advised her to apply to TV3 as a production assistant for one of the station’s youth programmes known as Goldblast.
She also worked as floor manager for Goldblast and also as a production assistant for another programme Talking Drum.
In the year 2002, Mzbel had the opportunity to work with Hush Hush Studios, which at that time had come on the scene as a new production firm.
“She left TV3 because the pay she was offered at Hush Hush was more lucrative,”.
“While at Hush Hush, She sometimes went into the studio and as the boys were playing the instruments, She sang songs she had created. She did not take it seriously at first and was only doing it for fun.
”Still working part-time at Hush Hush Studios,s he secured another job,at Metro TV,where she was tasked to produce a children’s programme, but because sponsorship for the programme was not forthcoming she ended up as a producer for‘ Smash TV’, a weekend entertainment programme, but had to quit after a few months because of a misunderstanding.
With luck on her side, it did not take long before she got another job this time at Apex Advertising located at Osu in Accra as an editor.
“I liked what I was doing then and also had the chance to meet different people,” she said.
According to Mzbel,“music came accidentally.I never planned to go into music but I’m now enjoying it so I’ve taken it seriously”.
She said one day she had a call from Hush Hush Studios and was informed that some of her songs that she had sung at the studio had been selected for production and that they wanted her to come over and take pictures for posters and cassette inlays.
“I was not really into it,so I told them they could release the songs but I was not going to put up any performances nor was I going to grant any interviews because I was not serious about the songs that had been recorded,” she recalled.
However, she said: “I went ahead and took the photographs and not long afterwards the songs were on air and everyone wanted to know who Mzbel was.
Some even thought it was Abrewanana,another female hiplife artiste,” she said.That marked the beginning of Mzbel’s career. Her first album titled Awosome was released in 2004.
“With a lot of encouragement,I started attending shows and before I knew I was all over the place,” she said.
Mzbel’s current album “16 years” was released in February, this year. It has eight tracks.
She writes all her songs.She describes herself as a very friendly person who likes hanging out with kids.
Most people have criticised Mzbel for the way she dresses which they have described as "sexy" or "skimpy" but she says she dresses in a particular way because she believes as an artiste "you must look unique.
I usually go for white or pink colours because they are more feminine.I sometimes also dress to match with the colour of my hair or nail polish," she said.
Mzbel prays and hopes she becomes more successful in her music career to enable her to be of help to street girls. She plans to have her own production studios.
She believes that hiplife has a bright future.“If we do it well, in the next five years,hiplife will take over the whole of the African continent.”
How did she get the name Mzbel? She explained that while working at Hush Hush Studios,she complained about the way her name Nana was pronounced by her superiors so they chose to call her by her English name Belinda (a name she does not use often),but they shortened it to Bel and sometimes prefixed it with Miss — Miss Bel.
“When her first album was about to be released, she needed a showbiz name and opted for Miss Bel but changed the spelling to Mzbel.”
“She grew up in the ghetto — James Town and Mallam,”.After attending God’s Wisdom Preparatory and Morning Star schools, she continued to Korle Gonno I and Owusu Mills JSS at Mamprobi for her junior secondary school education.
She had her senior secondary education at Abuakwa State College between 1995 and 1997 where she offered General Arts. She majored in economics, geography and French.
“As a child, she always wanted to be a newscaster.So after SSS, She applied to go to the Ghana Institute of Journalism but she couldn’t because of financial constraints,”.
She was later convinced by a cousin who supported her with some money to enrol at the Ghana Institute of Languages to become a bilingual secretary between 1998 and 1999.
“That was not what She wanted to do but she had no choice,”. While at the institute,she had the hint that Manifold Tutorial College was offering a one-year course in Production and enrolled, combining it with her course at the Institute of Languages.
She studied public relations,TV and radio production.
After her course,she did her internship with GBC Radio 1 where she hosted a children’s programme “Mmofra kyepem”.
“The financial benefit was not rewarding and her twi was not too good so she moved to Groove FM,now Adom FM,to continue her internship and did a programme titled ‘Kids on Groove’ ”.
A friend who realised her potential and her production background advised her to apply to TV3 as a production assistant for one of the station’s youth programmes known as Goldblast.
She also worked as floor manager for Goldblast and also as a production assistant for another programme Talking Drum.
In the year 2002, Mzbel had the opportunity to work with Hush Hush Studios, which at that time had come on the scene as a new production firm.
“She left TV3 because the pay she was offered at Hush Hush was more lucrative,”.
“While at Hush Hush, She sometimes went into the studio and as the boys were playing the instruments, She sang songs she had created. She did not take it seriously at first and was only doing it for fun.
”Still working part-time at Hush Hush Studios,s he secured another job,at Metro TV,where she was tasked to produce a children’s programme, but because sponsorship for the programme was not forthcoming she ended up as a producer for‘ Smash TV’, a weekend entertainment programme, but had to quit after a few months because of a misunderstanding.
With luck on her side, it did not take long before she got another job this time at Apex Advertising located at Osu in Accra as an editor.
“I liked what I was doing then and also had the chance to meet different people,” she said.
According to Mzbel,“music came accidentally.I never planned to go into music but I’m now enjoying it so I’ve taken it seriously”.
She said one day she had a call from Hush Hush Studios and was informed that some of her songs that she had sung at the studio had been selected for production and that they wanted her to come over and take pictures for posters and cassette inlays.
“I was not really into it,so I told them they could release the songs but I was not going to put up any performances nor was I going to grant any interviews because I was not serious about the songs that had been recorded,” she recalled.
However, she said: “I went ahead and took the photographs and not long afterwards the songs were on air and everyone wanted to know who Mzbel was.
Some even thought it was Abrewanana,another female hiplife artiste,” she said.That marked the beginning of Mzbel’s career. Her first album titled Awosome was released in 2004.
“With a lot of encouragement,I started attending shows and before I knew I was all over the place,” she said.
Mzbel’s current album “16 years” was released in February, this year. It has eight tracks.
She writes all her songs.She describes herself as a very friendly person who likes hanging out with kids.
Most people have criticised Mzbel for the way she dresses which they have described as "sexy" or "skimpy" but she says she dresses in a particular way because she believes as an artiste "you must look unique.
I usually go for white or pink colours because they are more feminine.I sometimes also dress to match with the colour of my hair or nail polish," she said.
Mzbel prays and hopes she becomes more successful in her music career to enable her to be of help to street girls. She plans to have her own production studios.
She believes that hiplife has a bright future.“If we do it well, in the next five years,hiplife will take over the whole of the African continent.”
How did she get the name Mzbel? She explained that while working at Hush Hush Studios,she complained about the way her name Nana was pronounced by her superiors so they chose to call her by her English name Belinda (a name she does not use often),but they shortened it to Bel and sometimes prefixed it with Miss — Miss Bel.
“When her first album was about to be released, she needed a showbiz name and opted for Miss Bel but changed the spelling to Mzbel.”
Mimi
She was born to Mr. Richard Abu Andani and Mrs. Jane Abu in Kumasi. She
did her schooling there and ended up going to Aburi Girls Secondary
School (Bepow so hann), finishing in 1999.
She continued to the University of Cape Coast where she studied Chemistry. She is a practicing chemist. She also studied Spanish at the University of Alicante in Spain.
She represented Ghana as a housemate on MNET's Big Brother Africa.
Her debut album, Music in Me, was released on October 24, 2009. She is produced by Movingui Records and managed by Empire Entertainment.
She does all genres of music - r&b, dancehall, highlife, hiplife, techno, rock, afro pop, etc.
Some of her songs are Leave me alone, DJ, Fa ma me, Tatoo, etc
She continued to the University of Cape Coast where she studied Chemistry. She is a practicing chemist. She also studied Spanish at the University of Alicante in Spain.
She represented Ghana as a housemate on MNET's Big Brother Africa.
Her debut album, Music in Me, was released on October 24, 2009. She is produced by Movingui Records and managed by Empire Entertainment.
She does all genres of music - r&b, dancehall, highlife, hiplife, techno, rock, afro pop, etc.
Some of her songs are Leave me alone, DJ, Fa ma me, Tatoo, etc
Tinny
Nii Addo Quaynor aka Tinny, who hail from Osu was born in the 80’s to
Mr. Ricky Tetteh Quaynor and Naa Badu Quaynor. He got the name Tinny
from her mum.He is the last born of the 6 children of his parents i.e.
four boys and 2 boys.
He had his primary education at the Osu Home School and then went to Hepter International School Akim Oda . He later moved to Salem J.S.S. He then continued at the Okuapeman Secondary School for his secondary education.
Tinny got into the music industry at the age of 8, by singing and rapping at parties and fun fairs. In 1994 he started performing at Fun World, an entertainment programe which was organized every Sunday at the Ghana National Theater.
His first album was not successful because the engineering works were not so good. Not satisfied with his first album, he later went on to do “Makola Kwakwe”, which became a number 1 hit in the country.
Subsequently, Tinny has recorded several albums and make impact in Ghana and Nigeria. He has become the toast of the youth and an idol to many. He has featured on several songs and has always been rated among the best hiplife artiste.
He runs his own record label and shots his own videos, MTV not too long ago shot a video for him. Though he directs most of his videos now he maintains close ties with Om Studios. He records most of his songs with Richie of Lynx Entertainment.
He has recently been voted and awarded African Artiste of the year at the 2009 edition of the Hip Hop World Awards.
He has several songs with international artistes including Jarule and Faze of Nigeria.
He had his primary education at the Osu Home School and then went to Hepter International School Akim Oda . He later moved to Salem J.S.S. He then continued at the Okuapeman Secondary School for his secondary education.
Tinny got into the music industry at the age of 8, by singing and rapping at parties and fun fairs. In 1994 he started performing at Fun World, an entertainment programe which was organized every Sunday at the Ghana National Theater.
His first album was not successful because the engineering works were not so good. Not satisfied with his first album, he later went on to do “Makola Kwakwe”, which became a number 1 hit in the country.
Subsequently, Tinny has recorded several albums and make impact in Ghana and Nigeria. He has become the toast of the youth and an idol to many. He has featured on several songs and has always been rated among the best hiplife artiste.
He runs his own record label and shots his own videos, MTV not too long ago shot a video for him. Though he directs most of his videos now he maintains close ties with Om Studios. He records most of his songs with Richie of Lynx Entertainment.
He has recently been voted and awarded African Artiste of the year at the 2009 edition of the Hip Hop World Awards.
He has several songs with international artistes including Jarule and Faze of Nigeria.
Richie
From childhood, Richie was tipped to be one of the biggest faces the
music world would ever know. His music talents, he discovered at the age
of 6 and has astounded crowds with his musical dexterity ever since. It
comes as little surprise that at 22, he stands poised to outdoor his
debut album, “All of Me”, a masterpiece that took 5 years of hard work
and dedication.
“All of Me” is like music never before heard within Ghanaian shores, it blends music of different origin and diverse cultures in a perfect mix that is refreshing, remarkable and potentially everlasting in the minds of listeners. Richie is a stickler for perfection and this is evident in the quality of music he produces.
His music incorporates all aspects of his life.
Richie was born and raised in Accra, Ghana and is the youngest of three children. He describes himself as a true African, not afraid of exploring and utilizing ideas and emotions from every part of the world he finds himself. In an industry that is considered difficult especially, in Ghana, Richie’s couldn’t have made it without the support of his family, especially his mother, who has been a great source of inspiration.
He is a sound producer, a sound engineer, a multi-instrumentalist, composer and a singer; ironically, he studied Science in High School and has absolutely no formal music training, none whatsoever. Richie has tutored himself into a professional like none other.
He is a successful entrepreneur with his own record label, LYNX ENTERTAINMENT and Recording Studio, which he set up whilst studying Computer Software Engineering at NIIT. The years have been kind to Richie and to us obviously as his devotion to music slowly ensures his place amongst the stars and in our hearts.
He has worked with renowned Ghanaian artists, like Tinny, Okyeame Quame, Asem, Praye, Nana Fynn, Wutah, Batman Samini, Amandzeba, Irene & Jane, Becca, Bradez, Lady Prempeh, Echo, and Scientific. Internationally, Nigeria’s International Award winner 2face Idibia, Nigerian superstar Faze, and Hip-Hop icon Ja-Rule are additions to his list of associates.
“All of Me” is like music never before heard within Ghanaian shores, it blends music of different origin and diverse cultures in a perfect mix that is refreshing, remarkable and potentially everlasting in the minds of listeners. Richie is a stickler for perfection and this is evident in the quality of music he produces.
His music incorporates all aspects of his life.
Richie was born and raised in Accra, Ghana and is the youngest of three children. He describes himself as a true African, not afraid of exploring and utilizing ideas and emotions from every part of the world he finds himself. In an industry that is considered difficult especially, in Ghana, Richie’s couldn’t have made it without the support of his family, especially his mother, who has been a great source of inspiration.
He is a sound producer, a sound engineer, a multi-instrumentalist, composer and a singer; ironically, he studied Science in High School and has absolutely no formal music training, none whatsoever. Richie has tutored himself into a professional like none other.
He is a successful entrepreneur with his own record label, LYNX ENTERTAINMENT and Recording Studio, which he set up whilst studying Computer Software Engineering at NIIT. The years have been kind to Richie and to us obviously as his devotion to music slowly ensures his place amongst the stars and in our hearts.
He has worked with renowned Ghanaian artists, like Tinny, Okyeame Quame, Asem, Praye, Nana Fynn, Wutah, Batman Samini, Amandzeba, Irene & Jane, Becca, Bradez, Lady Prempeh, Echo, and Scientific. Internationally, Nigeria’s International Award winner 2face Idibia, Nigerian superstar Faze, and Hip-Hop icon Ja-Rule are additions to his list of associates.
Wutah
Daniel Morris (Risky) and Frank Osei (Papa Virus or PV) make Wutah, a
group that was formed five years ago when they collaborated to perform
in a programme at Wesley Grammar Secondary School in Accra.
The name Wutah is a Hausa word which means fire.
The two came into the limelight when they placed second to Praye during the maiden edition of the Nescafe Africa Revelation music competition in Accra.
They later made a demo of some of their songs but had difficulties getting a producer until they met Juliet Amoah of G-strings Entertainment who recorded their album.
Risky and PV, Building Engineering graduate of Takoradi Polytechnic and second year student of Accra Polytechnic respectively live in the same neighbourhood at Mamprobi and wish to stay in the music industry for life.
Wutah’s style of singing on this fast-pacing song proves that hiplife music goes beyond the boundaries of just rapping to the rhythm of a song. Their style is melodious and blends beat of the music.
Their debut album, ‘Anamontuo’ with songs like 'Adonko', 'Gossy Gander' and 'Big Dreams' earned them eleven nominations for ‘The Most Popular Song of the Year’, ‘Album Of the Year’, ‘Artiste of the Year’, ‘Best Male Vocal Performance’, ‘Hiplife Song of the Year, ‘Hiplife Album of the Year’, ‘New Hiplife Artiste of the Year’, ‘Hiplife Artiste of the Year’, ‘New Artiste of the Year’, ‘Song writer of the Year’ and ‘Reggae song of the Year’.
Their track “Big Dreams” won the Reggae song of the year at the 2006 Edition of the Ghana Music Awards.
The name Wutah is a Hausa word which means fire.
The two came into the limelight when they placed second to Praye during the maiden edition of the Nescafe Africa Revelation music competition in Accra.
They later made a demo of some of their songs but had difficulties getting a producer until they met Juliet Amoah of G-strings Entertainment who recorded their album.
Risky and PV, Building Engineering graduate of Takoradi Polytechnic and second year student of Accra Polytechnic respectively live in the same neighbourhood at Mamprobi and wish to stay in the music industry for life.
Wutah’s style of singing on this fast-pacing song proves that hiplife music goes beyond the boundaries of just rapping to the rhythm of a song. Their style is melodious and blends beat of the music.
Their debut album, ‘Anamontuo’ with songs like 'Adonko', 'Gossy Gander' and 'Big Dreams' earned them eleven nominations for ‘The Most Popular Song of the Year’, ‘Album Of the Year’, ‘Artiste of the Year’, ‘Best Male Vocal Performance’, ‘Hiplife Song of the Year, ‘Hiplife Album of the Year’, ‘New Hiplife Artiste of the Year’, ‘Hiplife Artiste of the Year’, ‘New Artiste of the Year’, ‘Song writer of the Year’ and ‘Reggae song of the Year’.
Their track “Big Dreams” won the Reggae song of the year at the 2006 Edition of the Ghana Music Awards.
4x4
4x4 is made up of Captain Planet and
Abortion. Captain Planet's real name is Sylvanus Dodji Jeoffrey.
Abortion was christened Raphael Edem Avornyo.
The 4x4 crew was first made up of these two and Ronnie Coches and Bright Bling Sparkles, the latter two have been known as Buk Bak on the Ghana music scene.
Captain Planet is known to be the first person to rap in Akuapem and he also raps in Twi, Ga, Ewe, and Pidgin English.
Abortion, who is a ragga artiste, started rapping with a group called Kokorokoo which featured Ghana's premier Akuapem rapper, Pope Skinnie. Captain Planet also started rapping in secondary school with a group called the Wu Clan. He was discovered by Buk Bak after featuring in programmes like Kiddafest
Their debut album was Siklitele in 2003 which was a major success. They followed it with Contestant Number 1. Their 2007 album supposedly introduces crunk music into the Ghanaian music scene and has enjoyed major airplay on the back of tracks like HotGirls Dotcom.
Sylvanus aka Captain Planet is trained in Advanced Marketing while Raphael's dream is to become an architect and was trained at ATTC.
Some of their popular songs are Kpekpele, Rekpete, Contestant #1, Odo fitaa, Hotgirls.com, etc
The 4x4 crew was first made up of these two and Ronnie Coches and Bright Bling Sparkles, the latter two have been known as Buk Bak on the Ghana music scene.
Captain Planet is known to be the first person to rap in Akuapem and he also raps in Twi, Ga, Ewe, and Pidgin English.
Abortion, who is a ragga artiste, started rapping with a group called Kokorokoo which featured Ghana's premier Akuapem rapper, Pope Skinnie. Captain Planet also started rapping in secondary school with a group called the Wu Clan. He was discovered by Buk Bak after featuring in programmes like Kiddafest
Their debut album was Siklitele in 2003 which was a major success. They followed it with Contestant Number 1. Their 2007 album supposedly introduces crunk music into the Ghanaian music scene and has enjoyed major airplay on the back of tracks like HotGirls Dotcom.
Sylvanus aka Captain Planet is trained in Advanced Marketing while Raphael's dream is to become an architect and was trained at ATTC.
Some of their popular songs are Kpekpele, Rekpete, Contestant #1, Odo fitaa, Hotgirls.com, etc
R2Bees
R2Bees is a Ghanaian hip-hop/hiplife
group made up of Faisal Hakeem (Paedae da Pralem) and Rashid Mugeez
(Mugeez). They are part of a group of young musicians doing a style
called GH Rap.
The word R2Bees (R2 Bees) comes from the group's mantra which is 'Refuse to be broke', refusing to be broke is not a crime. Their debut album, Da revalution, is coming out soon.
They have an independent label called R2Bees Entertainment and some of the artistes signed on the label are Under, Humble and Waddle.
Mugeez was formerly known as Gogome. He featured on a number of Samini tracks, including Igwe, Lambori (both on the Dankwansere album) and Repatriation (Samini album).
Some of their songs include Up Inna De Klub, I dey mad oh, Yawa girl, Afrika, Run da city, etc.
Source: Museke.com
The word R2Bees (R2 Bees) comes from the group's mantra which is 'Refuse to be broke', refusing to be broke is not a crime. Their debut album, Da revalution, is coming out soon.
They have an independent label called R2Bees Entertainment and some of the artistes signed on the label are Under, Humble and Waddle.
Mugeez was formerly known as Gogome. He featured on a number of Samini tracks, including Igwe, Lambori (both on the Dankwansere album) and Repatriation (Samini album).
Some of their songs include Up Inna De Klub, I dey mad oh, Yawa girl, Afrika, Run da city, etc.
Source: Museke.com
Castro
Theophilus Tagoe, aka Castro who
hails from Takoradi, was born in 1982 to Lydia Tagoe, a trader, and Mr
Coffie, an accountant at the Takoradi Harbor. He attended Anglican
Primary and J.S.S in Takoradi.
He started singing at the tender age of 10. Presently he has two albums to his credit, “sradinam” which was released last year under his current record label and “toffee”, his latest.
Before he launched his debut album in 2003, he had features on hip-life group 4x4 hit track, “sikletele” which officially introduced him into the local music scene. Just like his current album, “sradinam” in no time became one of the favorite hits for many Ghanaians.
Later he proved his superiority when he featured on the beat maker, J-Q of Q-Lex promotion’s compilation which also featured great rappers like, Buk Bak, 4X4, Pop Skinny.
And then later, with Okra, Obrafour, Kow Kese, Dogo and others, they came out with execution diary under the execution record label
Just before his current mega blaster “toffee”, Castro had sung on Buk Bak’s album which also made a great impact in the music arena.
His dreams are to retire and become a producer. His vision is to help bring talented but hidden young artiste to limelight. He believes that by becoming a producer, he would tap the young talented artiste and groom them for the market.
His funs describe him as the 50 Cent of Ghana and he enjoys eating fufu and palm nut soup.
He started singing at the tender age of 10. Presently he has two albums to his credit, “sradinam” which was released last year under his current record label and “toffee”, his latest.
Before he launched his debut album in 2003, he had features on hip-life group 4x4 hit track, “sikletele” which officially introduced him into the local music scene. Just like his current album, “sradinam” in no time became one of the favorite hits for many Ghanaians.
Later he proved his superiority when he featured on the beat maker, J-Q of Q-Lex promotion’s compilation which also featured great rappers like, Buk Bak, 4X4, Pop Skinny.
And then later, with Okra, Obrafour, Kow Kese, Dogo and others, they came out with execution diary under the execution record label
Just before his current mega blaster “toffee”, Castro had sung on Buk Bak’s album which also made a great impact in the music arena.
His dreams are to retire and become a producer. His vision is to help bring talented but hidden young artiste to limelight. He believes that by becoming a producer, he would tap the young talented artiste and groom them for the market.
His funs describe him as the 50 Cent of Ghana and he enjoys eating fufu and palm nut soup.
Sarkodie
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Sarkodie is one of the upcoming
rappers from Ghana. He has battled more than 15 MC’s on the award wining
show called Kasahare on Adom Fm and had K.O(knocked out) each of the
MC’s which is judged by the listening public.
Sarkodie aka OBIDIBI ,.after a long stay in the underground,no doubt that he has become one of hiplife cultural magnet in recent times turning up in one of the most talk about Easter festive events , from Adom Fm Easter charity show to Kwahu MTN Easter bash to the Coca Cola Easter beach bash at the Labardi beach.
What makes his accomplishment truly amazing is that Sarkodie,at the heart of it all, still just the shy calm dude who will cut you with his sharp lyrics that you will keep your head banging. True school hiplife,hip hop fans know however,that Sarkodie amazing story really begins and ends with music.Born Micheal Owusu and was raised in TM(Tema)but he likes to rep Ghana.
The charismatic rapper has blown our minds with his style and delivery in his lyrical content.You could sense his adventureness from the way he sounds cos he says i dont want to sound like this dude or that but want to sound like myself. His goal is to let you enjoy what he is spiting out.Ironically ,the approach to his first album is to set aside all the movement in the hiplife industry and free himself of any pre-conceived notion as to what his song should sound like.
The studios is where he feels most comfortable. He has realized that you cant worry about what u did last year or the troubles out there. He tells the ’Beat maker’ let just do it. "You have to to get in to the mind frame where you’re not tryin to out-do yourself and not trying to sound like someone else but yourself". The studio is where he finds his peace. He has worked with artistes like Castro,Reggie Zippy,Kwaw Kese,Quarta and the list goes on and on, on his album coming soon like the hottest movie he is working with some of the great beat producers, who have produce great beat for some hot artiste on the block now.
He has worked with Hammer,Quick Action,Kewah,Nana Fynn,2Tuff ,Jayso.He quotes, "I like to work with beat makers who don't just play the beats but create them."
Some of his songs are Politics, Baby, Altar, My wife, Yahu mo, Style no, I'm so hood, etc
SOURCE: MUSEKE.COM
Sarkodie aka OBIDIBI ,.after a long stay in the underground,no doubt that he has become one of hiplife cultural magnet in recent times turning up in one of the most talk about Easter festive events , from Adom Fm Easter charity show to Kwahu MTN Easter bash to the Coca Cola Easter beach bash at the Labardi beach.
What makes his accomplishment truly amazing is that Sarkodie,at the heart of it all, still just the shy calm dude who will cut you with his sharp lyrics that you will keep your head banging. True school hiplife,hip hop fans know however,that Sarkodie amazing story really begins and ends with music.Born Micheal Owusu and was raised in TM(Tema)but he likes to rep Ghana.
The charismatic rapper has blown our minds with his style and delivery in his lyrical content.You could sense his adventureness from the way he sounds cos he says i dont want to sound like this dude or that but want to sound like myself. His goal is to let you enjoy what he is spiting out.Ironically ,the approach to his first album is to set aside all the movement in the hiplife industry and free himself of any pre-conceived notion as to what his song should sound like.
The studios is where he feels most comfortable. He has realized that you cant worry about what u did last year or the troubles out there. He tells the ’Beat maker’ let just do it. "You have to to get in to the mind frame where you’re not tryin to out-do yourself and not trying to sound like someone else but yourself". The studio is where he finds his peace. He has worked with artistes like Castro,Reggie Zippy,Kwaw Kese,Quarta and the list goes on and on, on his album coming soon like the hottest movie he is working with some of the great beat producers, who have produce great beat for some hot artiste on the block now.
He has worked with Hammer,Quick Action,Kewah,Nana Fynn,2Tuff ,Jayso.He quotes, "I like to work with beat makers who don't just play the beats but create them."
Some of his songs are Politics, Baby, Altar, My wife, Yahu mo, Style no, I'm so hood, etc
SOURCE: MUSEKE.COM
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