The Grammy’s hiplife article brouhaha: Stonebwoy’s Afro-Dancehall ‘doesn’t speak to the story of Hiplife’ – Reggie Rockstone
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The originator of the 1990s revolutionary Ghanaian style of music called Hiplife, Reggie Rockstone, has noted Stonebwoy’s Afro-Dancehall is not Hiplife.
He insinuated Afro-Dancehall may have been influenced by Hiplife, however.
Afro-Dancehall
“That has nothing to do with Hiplife,” he said, speaking to Prince Benjamin (PB) on Class 91.3 FM’s Class Morning Show, Friday, August 30, 2024.
“That’s another fusion that he created.”
“That’s not my road, I don’t know that [theme]. I know about the style. I’ve heard the style. I know what he did with that. But it doesn’t speak to the story of Hiplife. We’re talking about what he created – Afro-Dancehall.”
Genres borrow
Rockstone acknowledged genres are not created in a vacuum but are influenced by old ones.
For instance, he recognised Hiphop as “the mother tree” from which came his Hiplife music, which broadly was a blend of Highlife and Hiphop.
He said: “If we want to be truthful, most music styles borrow from everywhere. A little bit here, a little bit there. Calypso… Even Highlife itself. We would have never had Highlife without the diasporic influence. They all borrow.”
Ragga in Hiplife
Though he argued Afro-Dancehall is not Hiplife music, the rap icon respected the world over commented on the use of Dancehall elements in Hiplife history especially in the 2000s.
“You see, rap in itself and Dancehall – what the Jamaicans deem chatting, you know, the whole style is nonconforming. You can translate Hiphop in so many forms. You can do Gospel rap… Rap is so flexible. You can [use it] to address issues… Nothing surprises me, thus," Reggie Rockstone said.
The serial entrepreneur added: “So Yoggi Doggi and them, they might have been doing the Jamaican-style, Patois-driven vibration over a Highlife-type beat or Ghanaian-friendly beat. This was what Samini was very popular for. So when he’d do Linda – Linda is a perfect example – he was still doing his Jamaica theme [or] vibe on there but the music really relates to Ghanaians. So, yes, it can fall into the Hiplife category, easily.”
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