Reggie Rockstone

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Lotsofissues 04:45, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

Reggie Rockstone was nominated for Best male Artist – West Africa for the track 'Ah' in 2004. He also won the best African video for 'Ah' for the Kora All Africa Music Awards held in South Africa (December 2004).

Reggie Ossei, otherwise known by the stage name Reggie Rockstone, is the creator and innovator of the current African language hip-hop music scene. This extremely dynamic artist distinguished himself by being the first to make rap music in his native language Twi, spoken by the Akan and the Ashanti people of west Africa. Rockstone, who was born in Britain but developed his music in the US before returning to Accra, said he had been successful because he was perceived as American but rapped in the local dialect – most often in Asante Twi. He is a Ghanaian and his late dad was a famous designer.

The pioneer of rap music in local dialect in Ghana. His specialty is Asante Twi. He is well-versed in English. He has international acclaim and has performed in many places such as West Africa, UK, France, USA & Switzerland. His videos are aired as far as South Africa on M-Net's 24 hr music television station, Channel 'O' which has an audience of millions across a large part of Africa (44 countries!).

The album 'Makaa, Maka!' featured members from the PLZ crew. The singles from this album did well on the local market and received international attention. Its follow-up, the single 'Plan Ben?' in Twi language was released as a cassette/cd single and features Root-I who's into ragga. Hot singles off his 1st album Makaa Maka (97): 'Tsoo Boi' ('Choo-bu-eh', similar to hey, ho!), Agoo! (ah-goh) (a Twi call of announcement); Nightlife In Accra; 'Anigye Be Fie' (ah-nee-jeh-beh fee-eh), 'Sweetie, Sweetie' and 'My Turn To Burn' which featured Fredi Funkstone

Hot singles from 'Me Na Me Kae' (1999): 'Keep Your Eyes on The Road'; Eye Mo De Anaa (eh-yeh-muh-deh ah-naah); 'Plan Ben?'(What Plan?) 'Different you, Different Me', 'Ya Bounce Wo Visa';(They have bounced your visa). Songs like 'Eye Mo De Anaa' (Is it Sweet to Y'all) cleverly sample Fela's 1977 hit – 'Shakara' and 'Keep Your Eyes On The Road' uses a very famous 1970's highlife tune by Alhaji K. Frimpong. English cuts like 'Walk Like an African' and 'Where I'm From' showed the true versatility of Rockstone's skills. The lyrics are deep. He even touched on the issue of abortion, where he supported the birth; Triple S wanted the abortion and her homegirl (C.A.B.) coaxed her to 'get rid' of the pregnancy. Of course this is not true; but it was cleverly acted out on record by these three talented emcees.

PLZ (Parables, Linguistics and Zlang) was the UK based group that Reggie Rockstone was in before moving on to a solo carreer; other members were Dj Pogo and Fred Funkstone. Number one hits from PLZ included "If it Aint PLZ" and an EP entitled "Build a Wall Around Your Dreams" released on an independent label called "Go For the Juggler." PLZ contributed to the PANAFEST festival in Ghana in 1994. UK magazine HHC reported: "As they performed their turntable set-up broke down. They decided to continue to perform with live percussion provided by highlife-group Marriots International. Then they started to freestyle in Twi, something that was totally new to them. The way in which the crowd reacted to the use of their native language, made them think of incorporating more 'African' elements in their music".

Reggie has been featured in Source Magazine and other Hip-pop magazines. His only serious competitor in Ghana is Obrafour aka Ghana Rap Sofour (Ghana's Rap Priest). Reggie Rockstone and Osibisa are the only two Ghanaians to have their songs on the world's Billboard (Top 500 songs in the world). He is Ghana's best and by far one of Africa's finest.