The most popular article by Nana Kojo Mula is titled “10 Artists Essential to Ghanaian Hiplife: Reggie Rockstone, Sarkodie, Mzbel & More.
It’s a very good write-up, even though I think some names should have been included. However, we should not downplay this academic work.
He began his write-up by giving historical information about how Hiplife began and narrowed it down to our current generation, in which he mentioned the likes of King Paluta and Black Sherif.
I have listened to my Senior brother Stonebwoy who comes across as a not-too-happy person because his name was omitted from the article, and he believed the likes of Shatta Wale, Samini, and Black Sherif shouldn’t have been included in the write-up.
Again, he does not understand why the current artist of the year, who happens to be him (Stonebwoy) was not featured in the article.
With the greatest of respect to him, the focus of the article was Hiplife, not Dancehall. The fact you have done features for a Hiplife artist even though, by extension, you’ve contributed to Hiplife.
His claim that Shatta Wale and Samini should not have been in the article is completely out of order. For the purpose of education, these artists have played a major role when it comes to Hiplife; Shatta Wale (then) in the 2000s released songs like No Problem, Bandana from Ghana, Moko Hoo, etc and also did some backing of so many Hiplife songs for some artist. Samini (then), on the other hand, did great in the 2000s; he released songs like the monster hit called Linda. These two personalities have really paid their dues to the Hiplife genre.
Stonebwoy raises another concern about the inclusion of King Paluta in the article where his name is omitted from the article, again for the purpose of education when you read the article, you see the writer started from the history of Hiplife and ended with our current dispensation, he will agree to the fact that King Paluta has always been a great Hiplife Artists even though he did not get the shine on time, currently King Paluta is the reigning Hiplife song artist of the year and you think he does not deserve to be included? Please!!!
Stonebwoy is a hardworking artist, and he has done so well for himself, but for him to say he is the reigning artist of the year, therefore, his name should be included is a baseless argument. He should revise his notes and come a bit clean.
He also said they should have included him because he is one of the artists to have come close to the Grammys so many times.
I totally disagree with him on that. The Ghanaian artist who has come closest to winning a Grammy is Rocky Dawuni.
I believe Stonebwoy is crying out of nothing, he has paid his due to the music industry and I believe he should stop creating unnecessary enemies for himself.
By: Nana Oduro Nimapau
