If you think of the architects of hiplife, the sound which dominated Ghanaian airwaves from the mid 1990s going, a handful of key music producers come to mind immediately: Hammer, Zap Mallet, Jay Q, and… Appietus.
These beat titans have left such a deep mark on the Ghanaian music landscape, they remain very influential figures to this day, with Appietus in particular making regular appearances on TV and radio. So it’s a special honor – and pleasure – to work hand in hand with Appietus on this fantastic collection of hit songs, which are very much alive at any gathering in Ghana, but which somehow remained scattered and not always accessible.
The gap is now bridged, and these hiplife classics are there for the world to enjoy. The compilation features chart topping names such as Praye, Wutah or Barima Sidney, as well as forgotten names such as Cash Unit, who’s song Ayoo was one of the top songs of 2011.
Today, as afrobeats takes over the world, remember these are the songs that took over Ghana, this is the first generation of digitally produced Ghanaian music, the first iteration of Ghanaian music fused in with hip hop. In other words, this is a very significant step on the path to afrobeats, or to put it even more bluntly: this is a piece of history!
Stream: Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube | Deezer | Sou
Download: wav | 320 mp3 | Bandcamp | iTunes
