EVENT REVIEW: CLIMAX OF ACCRA HIP-HOP WEEK

By Joseph ‘Aqweci Ofori

& Alan Kyeremateng

This article was published on Ghana Community Online (http://ghanacommunity.com/event-review-accra-hip-hop-week-climax-concert/)

The maiden edition of the Accra Hip-Hop Week, a 6-Day event held at Alliance Francaise which took place from 16th to 21st November, 2015 was historical. For the first time, a whole week was dedicated to Hip-Hop in the capital of Ghana to promote the culture. The programme was arranged in a manner that encompassed all the elements of Hip-Hop i.e Rap/emceeing, b-boying/break dancing, beat boxing, DJ’ing and graffiti.

During the climax of the programme, a Hip-Hop concert was staged for both upcoming emcees and mainstream hip-hop acts to grace the whole week with energized performances. The host of the event Daboo gave out an extravaganza, and he was straight to the point. His diction perfectly fit to the purpose of the concert. It commenced with an interlude of songs freshly delivered by one of the greatest female disc jockeys, DJ Keyyz, the official DJ for the night. She handled the turntables excellently, exhibiting the gift of her fingers.

DJ Keyyyz

Then the audience was blessed with a performance from Kahaz, the opening act. He performed his most deep songs, and with support from Flippa and Hurricane Fizz, they satisfied the people with a quite loved song in the circles of Ghanaian Hip-Hop, ‘Black Star’. The emcees didn’t hesitate on dropping bars off the top of their heads.

L-R: Hurricane Fizz, Daboo (MC), Kahaz, Flippa

Kahaz

Another upcoming emcee with the stage name Abladzo Kwame, also known as “The Ewe Boy” gave the audience a profusion of songs from his mixtape albums. Kula took the stage and dropped some real knowledge, making the audience want to hear more of him. The songs he performed were so relatable and advisable.

Kula

Almost everyone present at the event was put in a frenzy when the dapper rapper M.anifest got up on stage unintroduced. It got extra humorous when he presented himself verbally as a special uninvited guest. The measure of his love for hip-hop must be great. He took the audience through a journey of his musical projects, and got everyone on on their feets performing his hit single “Forget Dem”. His movement on the stage, cohesion with the DJ and interaction with the audience proved that he is really a pro.

M.anifest

M.anifest Rocking the Stage

insert pictures named ‘.Manifest1’ and ‘.Manifest2’ here

Another surprise came in the form of one of the fastest Ghanaian rappers , Gemini. The “I’ll Do, Don’t Do” hitmaker with his tongue-twisting abilities had jaws dropping, and fans jumping and shouting out his refrains. He called out the headliner for the event, Edem, who graced the show with a splendid performance. The VRMG signee took it way back into time with “Keva”, “Bra Frɛ Me”, etc. In fact, he took the fans through a plethora of his hip-hop songs from the “Volta Regime” and “Books & Rhymes” albums.

Gemini

Edem

Edem rocking the Stage

With all these, every person who made it to Alliance Francaise was sure to have had a good time. Although the turnout wasn’t that impressive, Yoyo Tinz, the organization body had a good concept and plan and delivered it with passion for the culture. It’d be a great thing if the Hip-Hop week becomes an annual event to grow the genre in the nation. And yes! next time there is Accra Hip-Hop week we won’t miss it for anything.