Oshe B Drops Another Blazing Single Tittled 'Sugar'

Oshe B Drops Another Blazing Single Tittled 'Sugar

October 26, 2019 | By Yaw Amoako Updates24gh

Bless Me hitmaker Oshe B drops yet another banger following the recent success of his released dance single 'Makaranta'. The new jam is titled 'Sugar' which is produced by award winning sound engineer Possigee, anticipate, listen and share this beautiful lovely song...

Oshe B - Sugar (download)

A Look At The Cleanest City In Africa

A Look At The Cleanest City In Africa

October 15, 2019 | By Yaw Amoako Updates24gh

You’ve probably heard about Singapore and Colombo, some of the cleanest cities in Asia and the world. But did you know that Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, is also one of the cleanest cities in the world? Yep. In fact, it’s so clean it holds the official title of “The Cleanest City in Africa.

Country Snapshot

In the global landscape, Rwanda is perhaps most known for the deadly 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. However, since then the nation has gone through a significant socio-economic change in efforts to transform itself.

Take a look at this snapshot for some quick facts about Rwanda.

East Africa

Rwanda is in East Africa and bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kigali

Located in the center of the country, Kigali is the capital of Rwanda.

12.7 Million

The current population of Rwanda is quite young. The median age is 19.6 years old!

17%

Just over 2 million Rwandans live in urban areas. This number is quickly growing.

158th

Rwanda is 158th (out of 189) on the Human Development Index, which is a measure of life expectancy, education, income.

Doing Business

According to the World Bank, Rwanda is ranked 2nd in terms of doing business in Africa, after Mauritus.

* These facts are sourced from a variety of reputable resources, such as World Bank, Worldometers, Statista

Rwandan officials have expressed hopes to one day be the Singapore of Africa. That is a big dream! Singapore is well known for being extremely orderly and strict about its laws. In particular, Singapore has always taken cleanliness very seriously, punishing people harshly for littering or even leaving a public toilet without flushing. I still remember one of my childhood memories of Singapore from the early 2000s when my parents told me that chewing gum is illegal in Singapore. To be honest, it terrified me.

Community-first approach

Citizens work together to clean on the day of Umuganda. Photo Kigali Today

In Rwanda, community service is mandatory for any able citizen between the ages of 18 and 65. In fact, Rwandans get fined if they don’t take part in community service. Even expats are encouraged to join in and why wouldn’t they? It’s one of the best ways to immerse yourself in the local culture.

Community service in Rwanda falls under the umbrella of Umuganda, which has deep ties with the nation’s history. The word Umuganda originates from Kinyarwanda, which is one of Rwanda’s official languages, along with English, French, and Swahili.

"Umuganda is a practice that is rooted in the Rwandan culture of self-help and cooperation. In traditional Rwandan culture, members of the community would call upon their family, friends, and neighbours to help them complete difficult tasks."
- Rwanda Governance Board

To maintain the city’s cleanliness, on the last Saturday of each month the citizens of Kigali come together to do a massive city clean up. If needed, they can do this more than once per month. Umuganda was officially institutionalized in 2007 with the passing of a Prime Ministerial Order.

Plastic bags are banned

One of the initiatives that have been credited with cleaning up Rwanda is its ban on single-use plastic bags. Plastic bags have been banned in Rwanda since 2008 and smuggling plastics bags into the country is considered a serious offence. Citizens that break this rule can even find themselves in jail. In Rwanda’s case, banning plastic bags have lead to not only to a cleaner city but also better crop yields. In contrast, New York City, one of the most developed cities in the world, still hasn’t banned plastic bags. In that regard, Rwanda is already ahead of its time.

Newly-created jobs

To clean up Rwanda, the government is actively granting operating licenses to private companies. In 2018, licenses were granted to 200 cleaning service companies that also hire women cleaners, providing them with a new source of income. Not only is Rwanda keeping its country clean but it’s also creating new economic opportunities for its people.

Health and wellness education


Rwandans understand that a dirty environment can lead to poor health of its citizens. In the rural villages, community health clubs are changing the mindset of citizens when it comes to cleanliness by educating them about the health and environment benefits of maintaining a clean environment. Such initiatives are especially important as Kigali’s metropolitan population is rapidly growing.

A Brief History Of Ghanaian Highlife Music

A Brief History Of Ghanaian Highlife Music

October 15, 2019 | By Robert Knibbs  Updates24gh

The notes and rhythms of Ghana’s Highlife music genre have developed to the sound of the country’s traumatic history and political turmoil. Yet, the genre evolved from a past filled with tradition and survived, propelled by musicians such as Nana Ampadu and Osibisa. We take a look at the gradual evolution and current state of Ghanaian Highlife – and its younger cousin, Hiplife.

Highlife music has not been a single movement, it has not been a statement of political intent, of uprising or the idealism of a particular group, no use of it to channel a particular message has subsumed its sound. No one group has made it their own, and therefore it has remained a wonderfully rare example of free spirit and expression of the human experience.

The foundations of the tradition are grounded, initially separately, in the north and south of Ghana. The sub-Saharan north has long acted as a cultural catch-all for the traffic of Western Africa at large. The Songnai and Mali empires caused ethic migration and the blurring of cultural borders in West Africa, bringing praise-singing traditions of the Frafra, Ghurunsi, and Dagomba people in the northeast together with that of the Dagara, Lobi, Wala, and Sissala in the northwest.

This spiritual identity is tempered by the osmotic folk music of the south. The music of southern Ghana seems historical to have taken a more internal and pragmatic focus; the settled Ashanti south incorporated music as a relief and pleasure in and of itself rather than as a billboard for their identity as a tribal entity. This is reflected in the simpler folk style, which has simmered into existence with a gradual influence from neighbouring Benin and Togo.



The emergence of the music that has come to be defined as “Highlife” can be traced back to the early 20th century and the international interest in Africa’s Gold Coast, as it was known. The constant influx of Europeans since the 15th century introduced the indigenous population to hymns, shanties, and marches, and as the Ashanti people organized and attempted the uprising which resulted in the War of the Golden Stool, a musical tradition was born, and the seeds of Ghana’s identity were sown.

Though the Ashanti uprising against the British was initially unsuccessful, it was their assertiveness which led to the creation of art powerful enough to hide in plain view what it was intended to express. The Ashanti people wanted to be free and this shared objective gave rise to the musical union. Traditional African instruments such as the seperewa harp-lute and the gankogul bell were combined with European harmonies and guitars as people expressed themselves through song. Perhaps, even the appearance in which the genre took its name is indicative of the cultural displacement effected upon the colonizing forces.

With the failed uprising behind them and no opportunity for self-governance forthcoming, attention was given to social matters and the formation of strata. As it became fashionable for people to be seen in certain hotels with certain bands playing, the media and fledgeling record companies attached an aspirational label to the by-then sonically defined genre. The music was not simply part of “living the highlife,” it was, in itself, Highlife. The self-confidence of bands and musicians took off and has continued for generations, allowing the evolution of the form. In the wake of the Second World War, jazz, blues, reggae, and even funk influences gave rise to acts like Osibisa, who carried Highlife beyond Africa and into the living rooms of the world.

As the music evolved, the concerns and intentions of those who practised it also shifted. When Ghana was formed in 1957, the Socialist-aligned government saw Highlife as a powerful tool for forming a national identity. State-funded bands appeared in order to ensure that the correct image was propagated. The breakthrough onto the world stage and potential for the international fame and financial gains that commerce brings saw a huge increase in the use of the English language over the traditional Akan dialects, though this cultural compromise never took any deep political or cultural effect due to the dire economic state of the country at the time.

It was perhaps the terrible state of the economy in the 1970s and lack of opportunity to export the Highlife genre and capitalize on interest that preserved the genre from becoming merely a commercial tool. This economic suppression allowed artists like Nana Ampadu to appropriate the music as the voice of a people with protest songs such as Aware bone. At face value, the song describes the difficulties of marriage – an innocent topic to tackle, and relevant to many – but, according to colloquial account, was actually written about the “marriage” between Mother Ghana and Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, head of state between 1972 and 1978. This idiomatic use of the genre is a perfect example of its status as a tool for all to benefit from.



The prevailing popularity of traditional artists like Koo Nimo, a Ghanaian national treasure, despite the influx of American influence in the 1990s, shows that the affinity with the sound transcends the normally fickle forces that guide the music industry. Some Ghanaian artists have found international fame through the Hiplife style, which became popular at the turn of the century but at the cost of trading something of their national identity. Fortunately, the classic Highlife style has remained and resisted the pull to the Hiplife middle ground.

Living The High-Life 'Golden Voice Of Africa' Pat Thomas

Living The High-Life 'Golden Voice Of Africa' Pat Thomas

October 14, 2019 | By Yaw Amoako Updates24gh

Pat Thomas "the golden voice of West Africa" embodied the glory days of Ghanaian highlife in the 60s and 70s alongside the great Ebo Taylor. The music fell out of fashion in the 80s but Thomas never stopped singing. He made a much-praised comeback in 2015 with the Kwashibu Area Band thanks to Ghanian musician and producer Kwame Yeboah and together they've now released another gem: Obiaa! (Everyone).

Listen to Thomas and Yeboah, two generations of highlife, discussing their love of the music, where the "high" in highlife came from and how the younger generation is discovering the importance of this music, the precursor to Nigeria's afrobeat.

"They themselves realise you have to go back to the roots," says Thomas. "We're doing lots of collaborations and it's working out good."

Obiaa! is out on Strut Records.

Pat Thomas and the Kwashibu Area Band are on a European tour. Check out their facebook page for details.

$pacely Of La Même Gang Shares First Solo Project 'Fine$$e Or Be Fine$$ed'

$pacely Of La Même Gang Shares First Solo Project 'Fine$$e Or Be Fine$$ed'

October 14, 2019 | By Yaw Amoako Updates24gh

La Même Gang is an urban Ghanaian hip-hop/alté collective based in Accra. The group is made up of six members that include Darkovibes, Kiddblack, Nxwrth, RJZ, $pacely and Kwaku BS.

$pacely drop his first solo project entitled Fine$$e Or Be Fine$$ed. The 10-track project shows the artist's versatile sound and certainly has a number of bangers worth listening to.

Speaking about the new project in an interview with OkayAfrica $pacely said,

"Fine$$e or Be Fine$$ed is an experimental journey into my mood, every mood has a song. I write about things I see and have been through like love, brotherhood, the struggle."

"I had a chance to go to Nigeria earlier this year which is when I met with a bunch of artists like BOJ and prettyboy D-O, but the earliest song on the EP was "Sweet" which I did with Odunsi a year ago and held onto it for the right time."
The artist continued, 

"The tape is very diverse and was influenced by the different producers I worked with like Kuvie, Kayso and Moor Sound to try out new sounds and not box myself to let fans see I do more than trap music. It's a piece of me and I hope listeners enjoy it."

From the class uptempo hip-hop beats in "Can't Lose" and "Sweet" to the laid-back sound of "Somimu," this project strikes a good balance between the traditional and the alternative.

Listen to Fine$$e or Be Fine$$ed below.

Top 10 #GreatestHipHopSongs Of All Time

Top 10 #GreatestHipHopSongs Of All Time

October 9, 2019 | By Yaw Amoako Updates24gh

Hip-hop is a dominant cultural force, driving conversations about music, literature, and entertainment forward.

In no doubt, Hip-hop is pop culture now. The genre’s dominance of radio waves, streaming numbers, and billboard charts is undeniable, not to mention its influence on everything from avant-garde electronica to the DNA of mainstream pop music from artists.

The results are dominated by the so-called ‘Golden Age’ of hip-hop between the mid-80s and mid-90s

Heres our list of top 10 Hip-hop songs of all time.

Dear Mama, 2Pac

“You are appreciated…” Tupac Shakur’s Dear Mama is as much a homage to his own mother as it is to issues still plaguing the black community today. The song is nuanced and complex in contrast to its sampled Sadie by The Spinners, a bluesy ode to an angelic depiction of the artist’s mother. Touching on poverty, addiction, single motherhood and the effects of incarceration on a family, Dear Mama’s most famous line – “even as a crack fiend mama, you always was a black queen mama” – is a sobering reminder of love’s ability to rise above life’s hardships, no matter how great. Allyson Toy, Critic...

N.Y. State of Mind, Nas

New York City public housing represented progression when it was introduced in 1936; it eventually symbolised the urban chaos and ruin gripping the city by the century’s end. It was bedlam, but it was home to young boys like Nasir Jones, who could see the broken crack vials and murder from his window. This struggle is in his DNA, yet he starts off N.Y. State of Mind muttering that he doesn’t know how to start what would be the opening song of his opus, Illmatic. In a flash of genius, Nas begins on a cue, sprinting through gunfire, crime film fantasies, and braggadocio – each scene as vivid as the next. It’s a dense, almost overflowing performance, but its most iconic line – “I never sleep, ’cause sleep is the cousin of death” – is one of the most concise and complete take-ups on New Yorker survivalism ever recorded. Brian Josephs, critic...

Passin’ Me By, The Pharcyde

At a time when the hardcore sounds of Death Row Records dominated LA’s rap scene, The Pharcyde released a song about still being haunted by their failed childhood crushes. A melancholic head-nodder, Passin’ Me By stirs with animated flows from the group’s four pun-conscious lyricists atop a mellowed-out beat that samples Quincy Jones’ Summer In The City. The playful vividness The Pharcyde grants to ordinarily mundane details of unrequited love holds its weight against the spectacle of the period’s gangsta rap – offering another expression of valid black manhood in hip-hop culture.

The song’s climax comes at its fourth and final verse, which group member, Fatlip, decorates with now-iconic quotable like “there she goes again the dopest Ethiopian” and “my dear, my dear, my dear, you do not know me but I know you very well”. Yet it’s the visceral utterance of his final “Damn!” – his response to the returned delivery of a letter to his love interest – that captures the all-too-familiar sense of longing at the song’s core. Damola Durosomo, OkayAfrica...

93 ’Til Infinity, Souls of Mischief

“Sometimes it gets a little hectic out there,” Tajai, of “the mighty Souls Of Mischief crew,” announced in the opening seconds of the song. “Out there” was Oakland, Calfornia. And, yes, Oakland in 1993 was very hectic – the previous year being the most violent in the city’s history. It’s with this backdrop that Souls Of Mischief – consisting of Opio, A-Plus, Tajai, and Phesto – crafted one of rap music’s greatest songs centred around escapism. A warm jam about chasing skins, smoking blunts and just chilling. Even after all these years, the best thing about the song is how communal and unworried all the elements are: from the unpredictable nature of the verses to the serene video, in which the crew took a day trip to Yosemite National Park – truly hip-hop first and last. Dimas Sanfiorenzo, OkayPlayer...

C.R.E.A.M., Wu-Tang Clan

What I personally love about C.R.E.A.M is not its instantly recognisable hook, but its undeniably ‘New Yawk’ boom-bap beat. That particular production style was a staple of ’90s hip-hop, and when paired with the track’s delicate piano, it creates a union unlike any other. Thanks to this combination of soft and spicy sonic elements and storytelling from the Wu's perspective, C.R.E.A.M. is a song that's thought-provoking, bone-chilling, and 100% real – and what’s hip-hop without a little authenticity by way of the city that started it all? The song's credo is still strikingly relevant nearly three decades later. J’na Jefferson, Writer...

Nuthin' But A ‘G’ Thang, Dr Dre

Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang was Dylan going electric with a snake-charmer synthesiser, a Leon Haywood sample, and a ’64 Impala. It was Dorothy storming into Oz, the black-and-white blandness becoming blindingly technicolour; Toto transformed into a vicious dog with a melodic bark. There was only before and after the lead single from 1992's The Chronic. This was the anthem that established a platonic ideal for West Coast gangsta rap. If NWA kicked down the front door, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg snuck into the living room and threw a house party that lasted until 6am. The G-Funk era starts here, with a soundtrack as a funky as a batch of collard greens. Classics would follow, but this was where perfection was first perfected. Jeff Weiss, Passion of the Weiss...

The Message, Grandmaster Flash

A Year Zero for hip-hop, heralding a seismic change in music that continues to be felt to this day. The Message showed there was much more to rap than good-time block party vibes and impressive turntable skills. Its downbeat sound and pessimistic mood were not popular at the time, even with the band by some accounts. But its scathing depiction of inner-city despair and the struggle within – punctuated with a cri-de-coeur of a chorus – showed how hip-hop could be used as a powerful instrument for social commentary, and it elevated the MC to a starring role in its cause. Simon Frantz, BBC Music...

Shook Ones (Part II), Mobb Deep

Despite posthumous reverence for Prodigy, Mobb Deep's importance often gets lost in conversations about hip-hop greatness. But Shook Ones (Part II), from their 1995 classic album The Infamous, can never be taken from them. Over an iconic sample that sounded like it could have been in The Exorcist, P and Havoc, both at the end of their teenage years, dropped rhymes that were just as menacing. “Ain’t no such thing as halfway crooks” – so whether it's stabbing your brain with your nose bone or letting off gunshots that made you levitate, Mobb Deep’s grim, graphic violence illustrated survival tactics in their home of Queensbridge, NY. The song was featured in Eminem’s film 8 Mile, and has been sampled or quoted by dozens of rappers in the years since. William E. Ketchum III, Vibe...

Fight the Power, Public Enemy

It’s the song that encapsulated the crux of a culture. Black America was in motion and a rap group helped define that transitive period between America’s Civil Rights movement and hip-hop’s massive takeover. Before rap music and hip-hop culture became the lingua franca of oppressed and marginalised groups across the globe, Public Enemy spoke for the streets of New York and amplified the voices of a silenced people nationwide. It was protest music for a new era, confronting the constraints of a gilded era on the cusp of progress, but in the throes of conflict. Attached to the pivotal Spike Lee film, Do The Right Thing, the song earned the group a Grammy nomination and went on to make the Recording Industry Association of America’s Songs of the Century list. But Fight the Power didn’t transcend rap; it integrated the genre into the fabric of America’s cultural canon. The summer of 1989 never saw it coming, and the nation’s never been the same since. Ivie Ani, critic...

Juicy, Notorious B.I.G.

“It was all a dream...” The Notorious B.I.G. announced his arrival with Juicy and gave hip-hop its eternal anthem. Over a delicious sample of Mtume’s Juicy Fruit, the track is a portrait of a young, black man caught in the everyday struggle. With vivid imagery and vulnerability, he exudes braggadocio and heart. “Born sinner, the opposite of a winner/Remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner?” But Juicy has a happy ending. “Damn right, I like the life I live/’Cause I went from negative to positive/And it's all...good.” That infinite optimism – going from broke to be paid, nobody to legend – still propels rap and keeps us dreaming. Sowmya Krishnamurthy, Critic...

Let's Look Back To Afrobeats In The 70s By Legends: Ginger Baker's Collaboration With Fela Kuti

Let's Look Back To Afrobeats In The 70s By Legends: Ginger Baker's Collaboration With Fela Kuti

October 9, 2019 | By Yaw Amoako Updates24gh

Ginger Baker, a pioneer British rock drummer and co-founder of the band Cream, passed away on 6th of October 2019. He was 80-years-old.

Baker spent several years in the 1970s living and recording in Nigeria, most notably with Fela Kuti.

"Baker had been suffering from myriad ailments, including chronic respiratory illness and osteoarthritis, On September 25th, his family asked fans to keep Baker in their prayers, as he'd reached a critical point that warranted hospitalization. And [Sunday] morning, they informed fans on Facebook the drummer had 'passed away peacefully.'"

Baker was well-known across the world for his work with Cream, the group he formed alongside Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce.

Once Cream disbanded—and short stints with projects like Blind Faith and Ginger Baker's Air Force—the drummer turned his attention to Africa, eventually building a recording studio in Lagos, Nigeria.

The documentary, Ginger Baker in Africa, follows him as he travelled by Range Rover from Algeria to Nigeria, across the Sahara Desert. Once he reached Lagos, he started setting up the studio. Though it took some times to figure out, and several setbacks, Batakota (ARC) studios finally opened at the end of January 1973.

The Lagos studio hosted the likes of Paul McCartney & the Wings and—of course— Fela Kuti. Baker would go on to regularly perform and record with Fela throughout his time in Nigeria.

Baker's drumming appeared on several albums alongside the Nigerian king of afrobeat—including Why Black Man Dey Suffer (1971), Live! (1972) and Stratavarious (1972). "He understands the African beat more than any other Westerner," legendary afrobeat drummer Tony Allen said of Baker in a Rolling Stone interview.

"Though he was prone to outbursts and notoriously difficult to work with (detailed in the 2012 documentary Beware of Mr Baker,) the rest of Baker's life was defined by a profoundly collaborative spirit. He'd play with jazz giants — including, but not limited to, Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Elvin Jones — and founded the prog-rock ensemble, Baker-Gurvitz Army, with brothers, Paul and Adrian Gurvitz, releasing three albums on Janus and ATCO."

Watch Ginger Baker and Fela Kuti performing together in the clip below.

Singer Who Voiced Young Simba in 'The Lion King' Turned Down $2M in Favor of Royalties

Singer Who Voiced Young Simba in 'The Lion King' Turned Down $2M in Favor of Royalties

October 9, 2019 | By Joe Price Complex

Jason Weaver who provided the singing voice for Young Simba in 1994's The Lion King, and ever since he's been collecting royalties for his work. That almost wasn't the case, however, as the actor and singer revealed in an interview for Vlad TV that he was initially offered a $2 million flat rate from Disney with no royalties, but he turned that down.

“I remember it was like $2 million,” said Weaver. “You gotta remember, they’re coming off of Beauty and the Beast. They’re coming off of Aladdin. Disney had bread.” Since Weaver was only a minor at the time, his mother decided that it would be a bigger benefit for her son if she negotiated royalties instead. Eventually, he was able to walk off with $100,000 upfront and a share of royalties.

"Disney had a reputation for re-releasing stuff," he continued. "I think at that time they had put out Sleeping Beauty and some of their old catalog from when Walt Disney was alive. They were releasing that stuff when they were releasing the new Disney stuff, so she [Weaver's mother] was able to see the playing field and go, ‘Wait a minute, this is going to make a lot of money over time, so what happens when my son turns 40? Is he going to be able to get a check for this when they eventually re-release this."


Thanks to the negotiation abilities of his mother, Weaver added that he has been able to more than make-up for turning down $2 million with his royalties from the film.