4Style TV, a Ghanaian entertainment program, has created an awards show to acknowledge big name hip-hop industry players for their influence in Ghanaian rap culture. Artists from Ghana and throughout the continent of Africa will be acknowledged with nominations and awards, as well as a chance to perform live in front of hundreds of fans.
The award show is the first of its kind and will celebrate the emergence of the hip-life, a fusion of traditional highlife and hip-hop music in the Ghanaian music industry.
The launch of 4Style’s TV Ghana Hip-Hop Awards has been a groundbreaking feat for Ghana, celebrating the unity that has developed through the unification of rap music. The Award Show’s set-up can be compared to the MAMA’s or the Channel O Music Video Awards.
Ghana adopted hip-hop in the early 1990s, allowing innovative artists such as ‘grandpapa’ Riggie Rockstone, to emerge as a trail blazing performer. Riggie Rockstone created a new style of music that would set the tone for several years to come. Since the emergence of Rockstone’s Hip-life music genre, youth have utilized rap as a means of self expression. Young Ghanaians thrive off rap music, strongly supporting its universal movement.
The 4Style TV Hip-Hop Awards will showcase nominations in over 19 categories. Nominations include artists that have acquired fame in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Angola.
Hip-hop has successfully evolved from the music of America’s inner-cities to a popular genre that is absorbed and appreciated around the world. 4Style TV described Hip-hop as a culture without language barriers, easily embraced across the world wide globe.