Reggie Rockstone, the creator of the Hiplife music genre, has made the startling admission that, had the Hiplife revolution he spearheaded been today, he would have taken the commercial side of music more seriously.
The Grandfather of Hiplife emphasized this while responding to a listener’s inquiry on Class FM on whether he would have done things differently if he had the benefit of hindsight.
There is always space for improvement, so yes. I firmly believe that. He was astounded by the “wonderful skills” he had discovered and by the fact that “people have been able to make and earn a life [from] this [genre].”
The ‘Makaa Maka’ monster hit rapper claims that he would have prioritized the business aspect of his craft much more simply because it is known as show business (showbiz). However, he admits that because the love and ease of making music was simply a gift from God, he never gave it much thought from a business perspective.
The ‘Makaa Maka’ monster hit rapper claims that he would have prioritized the business aspect of his craft much more simply because it is known as show business (showbiz). However, he admits that because the love and ease of making music was simply a gift from God, he never gave it much thought from a business perspective.
Reggie said, “I would have definitely looked at it from a more business sense today, knowing the world and how things have been positioned.”
Who’s to say that I would have given it my all if I had approached it from a business perspective, he quickly questioned? He responded, “Maybe the freedom of it; the very selflessness of it is what made it reach the masses.
Back to the significance of considering music, in this case Hiplife, as a commercial enterprise, he thought about the potential economic gain Ghana could have had from the genre and the revolution it sparked if it had been carefully planned.
He admitted, “I do see that economically, it might have tremendously helped my country.” He said, “You know, you get to travel all over the world.”
I’ve lived long enough to witness what it has become,” he said, adding that although he never took the business aspect seriously, performers like “Sarkodie, Black Sherif, and Shatta Wale, sprang from a seed that was sown.”
