The era of Obrafour and Shatta Wale: Money vrs deep lyrical content

In the Ghana rap game, obviously Obrafour and Sarkodie have dominantly ruled their era. But comparing the era of Obrafour and the generation of Sarkodie clearly shows that the new crop of musicians are hungry to jam to tunes that will bring them money.

They mostly ‘care less’ about the impact their music will have on their listeners. Thus, our contemporary urban artistes in the country jump into the studio and do any record without analysing the content or message in their songs.

All these account for their one-time-hit songs which fade away within a twinkling of an eye. It’s only in our time that you hear a song today and that same song will be noise to you the next day.

Gone are the days when artistes like Obrafour, Okomfour Kwaad??, Lord Kenya, Daasebre Gyamenah (RIP), Okyeame Kwame, Barima Sidney took the pain to reason, think thoroughly to write musical lines and rhymes that contained good morals and values.

Listeners of Obrafour on radio and television could clearly acknowledge the maturity in his lyrics which contains good morals. “Pae Mu Ka”, a debut album of Obrafour can never be compared to any of the current albums released by these current hip life and hip hop musicians we have in the country. It’s very bad as the moral standard keeps on falling as the likes of Yaa Pono, Shatta Wale, D Black, Sarkodie, Guru, Kwaw Kese, Pappy Kojo, Stonebwoy, EL and many others continues to hit into the studios to record singles and mixtapes.

Although, some contemporary artistes have tried to release songs that advice and inspire the youth of today to live good lives.

Realistically, I’m not saying that all the current songs are trash, but majority of them are nothing but profane, ego and bragging lyrics throughout. Namely; Hand To Mouth by Sarkodie, Susuka by Kofi Kinaata, Club by Donzy, No Shortcut To Heaven by M.Anifest and others are good with deep lyrical content.

However, some of our artiste do not take time to sit, think and come out with reasonable records similar to the aforementioned ones. They’re interested in getting a single popular hook and jump on it. Artiste like Guru is no exception.

Recently, Sarkodie released a track titled “Fa Sor Ho“, it’s very unfortunate that no moral lesson could be deduced from that particular song! The current hip life/hip pop musicians in Ghana simply lack the important content in their songs. I wish they go to the likes of Obrafour and Okyeame Kwame to seek counsel on how to compose long lasting songs.

The truth hurts, but it must be told. An artiste like Article Wan will simply fade from the system just like Atom of “Ye Wo Krom” fame.

Thus, his popular song titled “Solo” lacks all the ingredients of a music that can stand the test of time. I do not know if our contemporary hip life/hip pop artistes think about the future at all?

Because, if you take your time to compose good music that contains moral values, your name shall be relevant in the music industry for quite long. Obrafour did “Pae Mu Ka” many years ago, but it’s still relevant today.

Ghanaians are tired of their one day hit songs that are only played in the clubs. Ghanaian artistes like Atom, Secure Pabene, Dr Slim, Nana Boroo, Zigi, Eduwodzi and many others are all lost from our music industry as a result of the “wack songs” they composed just to make money!

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