Reggie Rockstone lectures Hip life

The task for ’next big thing emcees’ was Hiplife, the emcees who are so accustomed to hip hop had to go for lessons from no other person than the Grandpapa of hip hop and hip life, Reggie Rockstone.

Reggie Rockstone released his first debut album ‘Maka Maka’ in 1998, a fusion of rap and highlife which later became known as Hiplife.

Reggie told the wanna be emcees that hip hop is of black origin and they should own it, rather than  being intimidated by the fact that most people see hip hop as foreign.

He said one of the challenges he faced when he came out with his hip life album was acceptance and understanding. Ghanaians had gotten used to the highlife rhythm so adapting to the new form of music was very difficult but with time they warmed up to it and now is the fastest growing music in Ghana.

Reggie said although hip hop is still not well accepted in Ghana it has a great future, so the upcoming emcees should be ready to take hip hop to the next level and continue the good work of D-Black, EL, Kwaku Tee and other hip hop artiste who are currently putting GH hip hop on the world map.

“Hip hop is my religion and if I had known that hip life would one day become this big, I would have registered it in my name so I get the royalties”. Notwithstanding this, Reggie is proud that the hip life movement he started years ago has blossomed and bigger things are yet to come.

For the ‘next big thing emcees’ hip life task on Sunday, Reggie told them that converting from hip hop to hip life, especially when they are singing about love, will be a bit of a challenge since they are used to the hardcore rap.

However their songs should have good punch lines, good rhyming, interesting messages and most of all good delivery.

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