Reggie Rockstone
Reggie Rockstone (civil Reggie Ossei ) is a Ghanaian rapper . He is the founder and most important musician of Hiplife , a Ghanaian variant of hip-hop that is based on high- life music.
Career
Rockstone was born in the UK, grew up in Ghana and moved to New York City to study there. There he got to know the beginning hip-hop and got into the scene. He later moved to London where he began his music career. Together with his friends Fred Funkstone and DJ Pogo he formed the group PLZ ( Parables Linguists and Slang ). You had a chart success in the UK with If It Ain't PLZ .
On the occasion of the Panama Festival in 1994 he came to Ghana. The Panafest (from Pan-African-Fest) brought together Africans in the diaspora , Afro-Americans and Afro-Caribs for an international cultural festival. At the festival, the group's turntables collapsed, the highlife group Marriots International took over and the rappers started a freestyle rap in Twi . The performance was such a success that Rockstone decided to stay in Ghana.
The single Tsoo Boi was the first commercially successful hip-hop single in Ghana to be rapped in a local language. The term Hiplife appears for the first time in their lyrics , which is why Rockstone is considered the creator of the genre. In 1997 the first commercially successful Hiplife LP, Makaa Maka, was released . He succeeded in finding a distributor in the USA, so that finally The Source also published a report on him in 2001. In 2002 he released Last Show and won the Kora Award for the best African hip-hop video with the release 'Ah' (Fa me bone kye me) .
Rockstone raps in Twi, Pidgin English, and English. His lyrics often revolve around socio-political topics such as the difficulties of getting a Ghanaian visa for Europe and North America, life in the African slums, the dangerous traffic in his homeland, the problems of diaspora life or AIDS and teenage pregnancies .
Discography
- 1996: Tsoo Boi
- 1997: Makaa Maka ('I said it because I said it!')
- 1998: Plan Ben? (Single)
- 1999: Me Na Me Kae ('I was the one who said it')
- 2000: Me Ka (I will say)
- 2002: Last Show
Web links
- Reggie RockStone at Discogs (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rockstone, Reggie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Reggie Ossei (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Ghanaian rapper |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 20th century |