Reggie Rockstone has been acclaimed as the originator of hip life music in Ghana but it is very astonishing up to date to vividly understand and unquestionably know what song falls in the genre of Hip Life. The definition of hip life seems very controversial as much as who started it.

I can boldly say without contempt that, the Ghana Music Award Committee even cannot clearly distinguish between a hip hop and a hip life song. The Afro Pop musician, Wanlov the Kubolor recently expressed his distress about the named committee categorizing his song “Konkonsa” as Hip Hop whiles he believes the song is more Hip Life than most that were selected as hip life.

What then is Hip Life? Many have tried to define Hip Life of which the most popular is Hip Life being a Ghanaian musical style which fuses highlife and hip hop. This derisory definition goes further to confuse us by adding that, Hip Life can also be compared to a mix of dancehall, reggae and Ghanaian highlife music. It is obvious that hip life is opened to several meanings which explains why every song now a days in Ghana is tagged Hip Life.

Depending on the style and focus of Reggie Rockstone, the celebrated Godfather of Hip Life Music in Ghana, I am compelled to define Hip Life as is a music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with backing beats of which the rap is most a times done in the Ghanaian local dialect.

However, if we decide to go by the above definition and focus, then most of the songs we called Hip life today would be dismissed as such. Hip Life is dying not because the Artists are not doing well but because the genre has no definition and focus. What is the value and future of anything that has no definite and identifiable meaning?

Let us go back to the root and find the meaning of Hip Life. I believe Reggie Rockstone has stopped listening to Hip Life by now not because he hates what he started, but because this is not what he started and meant by Hip Life at all. What a shame to the Hip Life Industry!!Big up to Sarkodie for his tremendous effort in bringing back the dreams and aspirations Reggie Rockstone had when he flew down to Ghana to introduce Hip Life.

And woe unto any artist who goes to record any “Jama song” or spoken word and calls it Hip Life. Let us re-package Hip Life in its original meaning and sell it well to the outside world such that you would not have to ask yourself what song this is when you hear Hip Life play anywhere because you can identify songs like reggae from far when you hear them. Why can’t we do the same to Hip Life?

By Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri(Columnist,Ghanacelebrities.com)