Send Submissions To: inquiries@fourthavenew.com
The ‘Hiplife Rewind’ documentary; a story of an unrealised potential.
As the saying goes, ‘if you don’t tell your story, someone else will,’ so it’s great to see gatekeepers and other stakeholders give firsthand accounts of African music history. One of such examples is the recent ‘Hiplife Rewind’ documentary published by BBC Africa, recounting the history of the indigenous Ghanaian music genre, ‘Hiplife.’
The documentary called ‘Hiplife Rewind’ was published on the 5th of February, 2023. The documentary saw guest appearances from the ‘Hiplife Grandpapa’ himself, Reggie Rockstone; as well as other gatekeepers such as Panji Anoff, Abraham Ohene-Djan; and artistes Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, M.anifest, Eno Baroney, Kuami Eugene and KiDi. The entire documentary encapsulates the genres tumultuous journey and lessons learnt along the way. Here are 4 key things you can pick up:
1. According to history, the ‘Highlife’ genre was born out the musical influence of soldiers from the West Indies brought by the British to fight the Ghanaian locals in the colonial times.
2. Hiplife as a genre was originated and named by Reggie Rockstone; who is now often referred to as the ‘Hiplife Grandpapa.’ It was just the rapper’s genius way of fusing both ‘Hiphop’ and ‘Highlife’ elements to create something authentic that speaks to the Ghana cultural identity.
3. A closer look at the ‘Afrobeats’ genre, and one notices how it has been influenced by ‘Hiplife.’ It serves as an evidence of the collaborative nature of the two West African countries that dates as far back as seven decades ago.
4. For Ghana’s music to be front and centre on the global stage as that of its counterparts in Nigeria and quite recently South Africa, the Ghanaian music industry would have to move away from its sexist ideologies, go back in time to tap into the original ‘Hiplife sound’ and be authentic.
The question now remains, will Ghana’s current crop of artistes be the ones to lead it to the promised land? Well, time will tell.
You can check out the documentary yourself via the link below:
