The story of Hiplife is vast and voluminous but it is still imperative that we tell it. However, due to its vastness, the story can only be told in bits from one area to another. While some documentation has been done on the genre, there seem to be some disagreements when such stories come out. Albeit the disagreements, the celebration of what Hiplife represents to Ghana as a country and its contribution to African music as a whole must be highlighted. Which is what iMullar has done over the last few months.
Since the genre’s inception in 1990s, Hiplife has not only elevated Ghana’s music image, but it’s also given Ghana an identity outside Highlife. The movement, which is Hiplife, was a catalyst and foundation on which several artists built their daring nature to explore the fusion of Western sounds with our Ghanaian sounds. As such, the branches of Hiplife expanded into several sounds like RagLife, TwiPop ,and today’s Ghanaian Drill. The contributions of those before are as important as the contributions of those present. While celebrating the works of the past, we must also highlight the roles of the people continuing the story and trajectory of Hiplife.
As part of iMullar’s effort to document and amplify the Hiplife story, we put together a series of articles and cover stories. In our latest article, we speak to some industry persons and artists as we seek to understand what the next tale is as far as the hiplife story is concerned.
Hiplife is a way of life; it identifies and has elements of where I’m from as a Ghanaian through music in its raw form. It has been a never-dying sound that has gained international attention, influencing productions of modern music through samples and encouraging a sense of pride in local culture, mostly shown on social media with the diasporas, trends, and fashion lifestyle.
As an artist, I make sure there’s always a touch of hip-life elements in music, which makes me feel connected to my roots. Hiplife has empowered me to be raw about how I express my experiences about love and societal challenges with my pen game and still sound unique. Looking good has been something I never missed seeing when it comes to Hiplife; fashion and lifestyle always mattered to me. In terms of amplification, Hiplife needs collaborations with artists from other music cultures that will attract newer styles and reach to put Hiplife on a much more global stage and also as locals owning the sound with pride as a Ghanaian sound.
Hiplife means my childhood—the heavy kicks from Hammer and the Broken Bottle by Jay-Q. Hiplife represents a time when music was relatable to a certain degree and the dialects cut across.
Hiplife has been cast aside from other sounds. Since the pioneers of the genre hung their boots the newcomers felt that adopting genres that appeal to the world would get their foot in the door. No, we haven’t done enough to amplify the genre in our music space.
I feel the only way we can leverage Hiplife looking at how African music is being received is by finding ways to reinvent the genre and make it appealing to the world for it to be accepted.




As a ’90s baby, Hiplife provided the soundtrack to much of my upbringing in Accra. The sounds shaped my experiences and evoked emotions that continue to influence my lifestyle today. It’s a genre that fills me with pride as a Ghanaian – not just because of its origins, but because it inspires a positive drive and creates a creatively genuine safe space for many who have engaged with it in various ways.
Hiplife has evolved, but not within the geographical talent pool I once thought would spearhead its growth. It has not been cast aside, but many musicians and executives have chased bandwagons tied to genres originating from countries outside Ghana. Even though many mentors of today’s front-runners in the music industry emerged from the Hiplife era, the genre has not been favoured or optimized enough, and the evidence is clear with every shuffle of the music player.
It will take a deliberate effort to rediscover that fine line that revitalizes the ecosystem, recognizing that the next big sound is likely sitting on a dusty vinyl in an old Ghanaian bedroom. The spotlight is on Africa, where new sounds are emerging each day. The Hiplife renaissance will be what takes the audio experience to the next level, and nostalgia is on our side. Let’s make sure posterity is too.
Hiplife, to me, is one of the genres that truly sparked my love for music, if not the main one. It’s what I grew up listening to, and its connection to poetry and storytelling—something I’ve always been passionate about—drew me in from the start. Hiplife felt like a natural bridge between my love for words and rhythm, and it played a huge role in shaping my musical journey. I don’t necessarily think Hiplife has been cast aside in terms of its sound or what it represents. I believe we’ve just started grouping everything under singular terms. Would I call that evolution? Not really. Genres like Afrobeats have their distinct characteristics, so when an artist’s sound doesn’t align with those, it can feel like they’re seen as doing something “wrong,” rather than simply creating Hiplife. It’s more about perception than the actual decline of the genre itself.
In my opinion, we haven’t done nearly enough to amplify Hiplife, especially considering its immense contribution to our music space. One major issue is how we’ve allowed everything from the continent to be labelled under “Afrobeats,” which overshadows the unique identity of Hiplife. Beyond that, we’ve fallen short in honouring the legends of the genre and preserving their legacy. There’s been little effort to properly archive the catalogue of Hiplife music, and we lack events that specifically celebrate the pioneers and active contributors. Documentation is minimal, and without a focused effort to preserve and promote this genre, its rich history risks being forgotten to some extent.
With the current attention to African music, it’s a perfect time to highlight Hiplife’s unique fusion of rap and traditional Ghanaian elements. We should actively promote Hiplife through collaborations with international artists, incorporate it into major festivals and platforms, and ensure proper documentation and preservation of its legacy. With this, we can position Hiplife as an integral part of our music movement.
For me, Hiplife is nostalgic. It’s connected to so many fond memories of a time when the Ghanaian sound was “cool” and the “in” thing to be associated with. I remember actively learning lyrics to many popular sounds with my brother, and I won’t be surprised if that’s what pushed my brother into dabbling in music as a rapper.
I wouldn’t say Hiplife has been cast aside. If anything, it has only grown and evolved, which is normal if you ask me. We cannot sound a specific same way forever. Music and anything needs to evolve, and we should welcome change all the time. Blacko is a perfect example. He’s doing Hiplife that’s like Trap, and Drill. We are just too obsessed with that predetermined definition of Hiplife; that’s why anyone would think it’s dead.
You leave artists to describe their sound, and they shy away from calling it Hiplife. I don’t know, but the word fusion came and just blurred the lines for everyone. Artists do anything Western, sprinkle with our sound, and call it fusion when it could very obviously be Hiplife. Award shows merge Hiplife with HipHop into one category. It’s almost like we are more concerned about preserving HipHop than Hiplife. We need to start labelling things properly. Award shows should help with this by separating Hiplife from HipHop, so we lowkey educate artists and the public on what that sound is and what it’s grown to become. It will also indirectly get artists to make music that fits into a category. Steady and consistent wins. I don’t think we should be over eager to catch global attention with this too. If we do it right and we enjoy it here, automatically it’d attract more attention. It might not be monumental like Afrobeats and Amapiano, but it’d have its solid standing if you get what I mean.
My first introduction to contemporary music was hip-life. It forms the foundation of my sound. I learned about melodies, song structure, arrangement, and charisma in performance all through studying HipHop. When I think of Hiplife, it reminds me of home, youthfulness, and evergreen.
The growth of the sound is evident in my album Onipa Akoma, Sarkodie’s consistency, and Black Sherif’s global acceptance. If we want to scale it up and amplify it further in today’s world, we need infrastructural investment, talent development as well as data collection and archiving.



I do not have a lot of memories tied to Hipllife, but I appreciate the creators and everyone who contributed to the sound that gave us an identity. Currently, I think it has evolved, and despite a somewhat decline, some people are more receptive to other cultures and genres now. However, the creators and lovers of the genre should project it more! They are trying, but they need to be more intentional about it.
We should check how we are marketing the sound now, who we are selling it to, and the make-up of the sound itself. We need A&Rs who are interested in or love Hiplife in rooms where these creators are to direct the sound and direction of the genre to meet today’s consumers.
Off the back of the above submissions, it is evident that Hiplife music still has a huge role to play in the amplification of Ghanaian music. As such, it would be important that everyone within the ecosystem plays their role in ensuring that Hiplife gets the much-needed recognition and attention as the Ghanaian music industry strives to connect with the global audience.
Written by Nana Kojo Mula.