Buzz
People like me failed to uphold the Hiplife genre for the young generation – Okyeame Kwame
Celebrated Ghanaian rapper, Okyeame Kwame has recently expressed his reflections on the evolution of the Hiplife genre, admitting that individuals like himself failed to preserve its essence for the younger generation in the country.
Okyeame admitted that the hip-life genre is suffering due to some measures exhibited by its predecessor. He detailed that the genre’s predecessors did not invest in attracting the young generation to be interested in carrying the torch to the next generation to keep the genre alive, just like others.
Known for his contributions to the Hiplife and high-life scenes, Okyeame Kwame’s candid acknowledgment points to the challenges faced by the genre in maintaining its cultural relevance and impact. He stressed that enough was not done to uphold the Hiplife genre in Ghana.
Speaking with Bola Ray on Starr Chat, he acknowledged that the genre is in ‘Coma’ because he and his colleagues failed to pass the genre on to the young generation.
“I think that for every genre to be able to stay alive, there must be a group of young people who are interested in carrying the torch to the next young generation and for hiplife we don’t have that.
“People like myself have failed the young generation completely, because when I took on the mantle of hiplife in 1996, the last thing I knew was anthropology, sociology or marketing. I didn’t know I was supposed to carry this thing upfront and give it to someone else,” the Rap Doctor added.
The rap doctor emphasized the effort of the Western world to ensure the success of Hiplife when compared to Ghana.
“This thing we’re doing, this is not how it’s done. Big Daddy Kane will carry to a point and give it to Jay Z, Jay Z will give it to another person, another person will give it to Kanye, that is how we keep it moving,” he added
The award-winning singer and songwriter further averred that he was disloyal to Okyeame Quophi. He went solo and released songs outside of their group, Akyeame.
