Everyone agrees we are in the twenty first century, a new age of human
thinking and understanding science, technology, business and the arts
have become areas molded with sophistication of such ever changing time
and milieu. The clear cloud of higher standards in a competitive world
is comfortably covering our skies deep into a future that we are yet to
imagine. Hiplife is a music form which came about as a result of this
global phenomenon. Indeed Ghana is not the only country in Africa whose
music has been modernized to suit the growing trend of a new generation
of people.
 
Reggie Rockstone started Hiplife with an amazing attitude of performing live with DJ Rab doing all the scratches and mixes as he laid tracks of hiplife grand papa in their instrumental versions from his turn table. One could easily imagine the great future that laid ahead of hiplife then, but now things have taken a very different turn in terms of stage performances. One cannot but empathize with those who pay good money for shows that are full of sub-standard performances.

You can easily predict the particular songs hiplife artistes will play for performances and even the type of stage movement they will make. Artistes have become bed fellows of mediocrity and pleasing their egos with false stardom whiles leaving fans dissatisfied. What the heck is going on? I wonder if these hiplife artistes feel good each time they mount the stage only to mime through their own songs. How can someone call this live performance when in actual fact there is nothing live about it? Some cannot even mime through songs they claim are theirs. It's a burning shame the low standards we have set as artistes of such a promising industry.
 
Recollect the highlife days when it was all about live band music, when you compulsorily have to do live performances to be able to reach the top as a musician. You need a great deal of experience with known bands, where you could easily see grey-haired old men playing in guitar band stand. Today it has all been reduced to a social lampoon of immaturity. Hiplife may not last long if we should continue with these sub-standard stage performances. Now that some are have dreams of going international, it will be in our ultimate advantage to concede that it does take miming on stage to be called an international super star.
 
Lets be care, lest we start adoring undesirable people as super stars. They may not even come third place in karaoke competitions in certain countries. Like it is widely said in Abossey Okai " Massa " if you can't spell then don't even try writing. If you can't sing your own songs live on stage for us to fully enjoy like we did with the CDs, then please don't waist our time and money on sub-standards. Music is growing globally our musicians have to grow along. Well rehearsed stagecraft is not expensive or difficult for any serious musician. We need to see something new and different from the performers.