Gh hip hop, Gh rap or Ghana hip hop is a hip hop genre, subculture and

art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defi ...

that developed in Ghana during the late 1990s. The hip-hop genre came into existence in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

through

Reggie Rockstone Reggie Rockstone (Reginald Yaw Asante Ossei, "the Godfather of Hiplife") is a Ghanaian rapper. He was born in the United Kingdom but lived his early years in Kumasi and Accra. He has been living in Ghana continuously since he pioneered the Hip- ...

, who is known as the hip-life father, and other notable musicians such as

Jayso Paul "Jayso" Nuamah Donkor (born June 1, 1983) is a Ghanaian rapper, record producer, singer, songwriter and entrepreneur. After 10 years in the music industry as a rapper and producer, Jayso gained more attention following his work on Sarkodie' ...

and

Ball J Albert Serebo Ayeh-Hanson (born 8 November 1984), known by his stage name Ball J or Ball J Beat, is a Ghanaian rapper, sound engineer, record producer and entrepreneur from Accra. He spent most of his formative years in the U.S State of Calif ...

. It first came to Ghana as Hiplife, where

introduced a fusion of hip-hop beats with African sounds to create a whole new genre.

Hiplife Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style that fuses Ghanaian culture and hip hop. Recorded predominantly in the Ghanaian Akan language, hiplife is rapidly gaining popularity in the 2010s throughout West Africa and abroad, especially in the United K ...

is different from Western hip hop because it involves local dialects such as

Twi Twi () is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 17-18 million speakers in total, includ ...

, Ga, Ewe,

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

and broken English, popularly known in Ghana as " pidgin". Some hip-hop musicians in the early era were Reggie Rockstone, Kae Sun, Sway DeSafo,

Samini Emmanuel Andrews Sammini (born 22 December 1981 in Accra, Ghana), known by his stage name Samini (formerly as Batman Samini), is a Ghanaian Reggae and Dance hall recording artiste from Wa, Ghana. His genre of music is a melodious mixture of h ...

Okyeame Kwame Kwame Nsiah-Apau (born 17 April 1976), known by his stage name Okyeame Kwame and nicknamed Rap Doctor, is a Ghanaian musician, songwriter, creative director and entrepreneur. Life and career Early life Apau was born in Kumasi, Ashanti Region ...

, Bradez, Buk Bak,

D-Black Desmond Kwesi Blackmore (born January 12, 1987), known by his stage name D-Black, is an anglophone hip-hop and Afrobeat musician and entrepreneur from Ghana. He has been described as "a successful entertainment mogul" Early life Born Desmond K ...

, Sarkodie,

Tic Tac Tic Tac (stylized as "tic tac") is a brand of small, hard mint manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero. They were first produced in 1969 and are now available in a variety of flavours in over 100 countries. Tic Tacs are usually sold in sma ...

Obrafour Michael Elliot Kwabena Okyere Darko popularly known as Obrafour, other names include Rap Executioner and Rap Sofo (born 1976) is a Ghanaian hiplife musician and rapper. Obrafour has a unique style of Twi rapping and storytelling. His popular and ...

, 4x4,

Kwaw Kese Emmanuel Kofi Botwe , known by his stage name Kwaw Kese and popularly called Abodam (''craziness''), is a Ghanaian hiplife artist. Kwaw Kese is well known for his hit album ''Abodam 2007'', for which he won five awards at the 2008 edition of the ...

Ayigbe Edem Denning Edem Hotor is a Ghanaian people, Ghanaian recording artist and entertainer who performs under the name Edem. In 2015, he was awarded Best International Act-Africa at the Black Canadian Awards in Canada. Early life Edem hails from Dzogadz ...

and upcoming artists such as Lil Shaker, Bra Kevin, Yaa Pono, Loone, Asem, and EL. Some songs from this era of hip hop were Asabone, Eye Mo De Anaa, and you no get money.

Hip hop evolution

Fast forward twenty-four years, and hip hop evolved into a more diverse and trendy culture where festivals like the Chale Wote Street Art Festival were a means by which the culture was made widespread. This brought about groups such as yoyo tinz which promoted Ghanaian hip hop through TV shows and documentaries. This also brought about the induction of "Kasahari" which is a twi word meaning "Fast Talk" and is mostly associated with musicians that rap fast. This was a term given to musicians who rapped very fast while using the local dialect known as twi. Some products of Kasahari include Sarkodie and Obrafour.

Hip hop today

Hip hop in Ghana experienced some tensions between two well-known rappers namely Sarkodie and M.anifest This conflict came into existence when Sarkodie in a song titled Bossy, used a popular phrase of Manifest and this sparked tensions between them. Manifest reacted to this by doing a song titled the godMc and this tension continued. Hip hop in

has been taken over now by the "new school" with acts such as Patapaa, Pappy Kojo,

Joey B Darryl Paa Kwesi Bannerman-Martin (born 20 August 1989), known under the stage name Joey B, is a Ghanaian hip hop recording artist. He is well known for his single "Tonga". Early life and career Joey B was born in Cape Coast, Ghana. He realized ...

, La meme gang, Big Ghun, Amerado, B4bonah, teephlow, Kojo Cue, Lil shaker, R2bees and Kwesi Arthur.

References

{{hiphop Ghanaian hip hop Hip hop genres