Hiplife

Hiplife is a common, particularly in Ghana music style. It developed in the 1990s from the popular Ghanaian highlife music and hip-hop, which was imported from the USA.

Within the Ghanaian youth Hiplife was as successful as hip-hop in the Western industrialized countries. In the cities, and especially in Accra there is a large, vibrant and highly competitive scene emphasized that it is hardly possible, however, to be noticed in the industrialized countries.

Hiplife is based on a dominant 4/4 beat, often sampled from highlife tracks, is rapped on the. The music is created mostly in the studio with the aid of electronic devices. Live performances are often carried out in full playback, with performance and dance style of the artist are significant.

As in many varieties of African hip-hop artists can draw on long traditions of narrative chant rapping. The rappers use all the languages ​​spoken in the country Languages ​​: English, Ewe, Fante, French, Ga, Hausa and Twi local languages ​​, often several languages ​​in a track, not always with a substantive meaning.

Pioneer of hiplife and inventor of the term is Reggie Rockstone. The first hiplife album was rock Stones published in 1997 Makaa Maka. Besides Rockstone Lord lust, Lord Kenya, Buk Bak, Obrafour, vision can be found in Progress and Nananom it.

In the 1980s, the Ghanaian pop music began to develop. The government introduced a tax on musical instruments which made ​​it difficult to play live music for many artists. In Ghanaian emigrants colonies, a market for popular music from Ghana began to establish who worked increasingly with electronic devices, synthesizers and keyboards. Influential was the colony here in Hamburg, Germany; In connection to the incurred here called Burger Highlife also a Ghanaian music industry could be established.

In addition, since the privatization of the media landscape in the country many new and smaller stations which both against Western pop music as well as to musical developments in the country were partially open arisen.

Within the country, the scene is highly controversial. The high competitive pressure forces the artists to produce fast and cheap. They often rely on simple musical tracks with provocative and aufmerksamkeitsheischenden messages. Therefore, the scene is under strong criticism because it violates the moral standards of Ghanaians and corrupting the youth.