Impact of Hip Life music on the youth

Music plays a significant role in the lives of children and adolescents with respect to socialisation. When a piece of music is good, it attracts a lot of patrons as it is heard almost everywhere: on radio, by way of video recordings and on the Internet.

Parents are often unaware of the lyrics their children are listening to. Music offers a powerful tool for effective communications, and many a time children, consciously or unconsciously, learn the lyrics and that become part of their psyche.

Hip life is a Ghanaian musical style which fuses highlife and hip hop, recorded predominantly in the Akan. I am of the opinion that since this genre of music is carved from our own local highlife, its lyrics should be kept dignifying.

Every good highlife music is educative and characterised by very thoughtful words that sound well in the ears. On the other hand, hip life is not the same; it has taken a new dimension today.

Its content has diverted from the main idea behind the genre. It is now portraying the hip pop style with wild and unethical lyrics as displayed by some artistes. The youth love these kinds of music because that is what the market is offering.

But behind these gathering clouds of Hip life, there is the proverbial silver lining. I have a few suggestions in respect of this silver lining. Artistes should endeavor to follow the great lessons that highlife songs teach us, they are devoid of profanity.

These days the Hip life songs are about women and how sexy they are; this makes the lyrics monotonous and too boring, taking creativity out from the music. Lyrics should be filled with wisdom, and not about sex and women. And when it becomes necessary that such stuff be introduced, then it should be done the proper way.

Hip life should be used to preach peace and educate the youth and not profanity.