Saying goodbye 2012 and welcome 2013 with thoughts from Shirley

By Oral Ofori

Shirley smiles with hope and confidence

Dear friends, followers, readers, lovers and haters... I am thankful for all your help and support over the years. I am mostly thankful to everyone who has shared, read, subscribed to or joined my blog ever since it begun a little over a year ago. Special thanks to Heavenly Father and my. Now please let me try and encourage you with words spoken to me by Shirley.

iRAP TV strives to become the face of African entertainment in the USA

By Oral Ofori

Nana Yaw Boateng, aka Nana NYC in performance

There is a television show on the airwaves of the East Coast of the USA that is gathering momentum among Ghanaians and Africans in the State of New York where it all begun. The name of this TV show is iRAP TV, which stands for International Rhythms and Poetry Television. Nana Yaw Boateng, a Ghanaian resident in New York City (NYC) is one of the brainchild behind iRAP TV which has been on the air since March 2012 on respective TV Channels in New York, USA.

International Food, an example of African entrepreneurship in the USA

By Oral Ofori

A typical trading scene at an African market

Desmond Johnson, an African entrepreneur hailing from the West African country of Sierra Leone strongly believes in staying focused on one’s dream, he believes having a strong sense of dedication enables success in whatever human endeavor we find ourselves in. It is on the backdrop of this mentality that Mr. Johnson has come this far with his grocery shop business called International Foods located off the Richmond Highway in Alexandria, VA.

Hiplife 3:16, The gospel according to Reggie Rockstone

By Oral Ofori

The final chapter

Here are the 1st & 2nd publications of this three part blog.

Reggie, all grown up but still looking young in his 50's

After the release of Rockstone's first and second albums, a lot of young artiste started to take hiplife and run away with it, among the many who did this are the group Akyeame. Rockstone called this group as the first to ever release an album that lived up to his precepts when he started hiplife. Akyeame succeeded in excellently rapping in the local Ghanaian Twi dialect over traditional highlife (traditional Ghanaian music) rhythms with hip-hop undertones, something which greatly impressed Reggie.

Hiplife 3:16, The gospel according to Reggie Rockstone

By Oral Ofori

The Exodus

(This is the 2nd of a 3part piece, here's the 1st part)

The Godfather of Hiplife wears a shirt that clearly defines him

'Makaa maka', the first ever hiplife album by Reggie Ossei, was figuratively the trigger that unleashed the hiplife bullet. Everyone--both younger and older generations in Ghana--found this or that track on the album that they could directly or indirectly relate to. The release of this album in Ghana in the year 1997 as talked about in the first series of this three part blog succeeded not only in bridging the gap between the young and old Ghanaian music lover, but also did so in a language that the average Ghanaian could comprehend.

Hiplife 3:16, The gospel according to Reggie Rockstone

The Genesis

Reginald Ossei; also known as Reggie Rockstone, 'the God-Father of hiplife', a Ghanaian music genre which is a fusion of authentic Ghanaian lyrics with a mixture of traditional Ghanaian language and hip-hop instrumentals believes Ghana music has not done enough justice to HipLife as a genre. To right this wrong, Reggie is about to embark on organizing the first ever hiplife music awards in Ghana.

Mutombo The Poet of Ghana presents Africa's spoken word to the world

By Oral Ofori

Mutombo The Poet during a recital in Ghana

Today my piece will be on Spoken Word; a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to talk about happenings in a society. This style of poetry is mainly in the first person singular and generally from the poet’s point of view, it is mostly themed on personal or current events. In entertainment, spoken word performances generally consist of storytelling or poetry. Noted practitioners of this art form are Hedwig Gorski, Gil Scott Heron, Spalding Gray and well known Ghanaian born spoken poets like Kwame Dawes and Mutombo The Poet on whom much will be revealed in this piece.