My father coined the term ‘Hip-life’ - Reggie Rockstone

Reggie hails his late father for his impact on his life.

My father coined the term ‘Hip-life’ - Reggie Rockstone
Reggie Rockstone

Legendary Ghanaian rapper, Reggie Rockstone, has stated that his late father coined the term "Hiplife".

According to him, he originally wanted to be a foreign-based artiste but his father advised him to combine the foreign elements with the local to form a hybrid genre thus, merging the foreign elements of hip-hop with the local Ghanaian elements of highlife to make "Hip-life".

He revealed this in a recent interview with Nkonkonsa on YouTube. Reggie highlighted the influence that his late father Ricky "Ricci" Ossei (Saint Ossei), a renowned fashion designer, had on his life.

Apparently, his father was the sole reason he started his journey into the music realm as he was the one who inspired him to make songs and even built his first studio to record his songs. He narrated that his dad was also his chief marketer and supported his career with all available resources.

'English is my first language. I learned to speak Twi...I'm a British Ashanti New Yorker...He told me not to call it Hip Hop. He said stop the foreign life; let's do a hybrid; Hip Hop, Highlife and we got Hiplife. It was my father and myself. He was very good to me.''

 

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'Shatta Wale said I live in my father's house. It's true. I am staying in my father's house. I am Dada B Original...I inherited my father and just like our President lives in his father's house. Where does Shatta Wale think his children will stay when he dies?''. He narrated.

Reggie Rockstone has now properly allotted the naming rights of the much-debated origins of "hiplife" to his late father.

Reggie pioneered the Hiplife art and has played an important role in the development of this uniquely African genre in Ghana's capital Accra. He raps in Akan Twi and English. In 2004, Rockstone won the Kora Award for the best African video and he performed in front of a 50,000-person crowd in Ghana, together with Shaggy.

In 2006 he recorded a track with the Jamaican Dancehall singer Beenie Man called "Chukku Chakka" (in reference to Rockstone's 1999 hit "Eye Mo De Anaa", which sampled Fela Kuti).