Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) likes to put on live TV events for the kids on public holidays. Called "Our Day," these day-long events are inteneded to give the kids something fun to do when they aren't in school on Republic Day, Independence Day, and other major holidays.

Kiki Stone was one of the many artists who performed at this particular editoon of "Our Day". Complete with the inevitable technical difficulties of a live TV show in Ghana, the numerous rappers moved the crowd of mostly pre-pubescent kids.

I like Kiki because he is real, one of the most honest and focused cats I ran into out there. He is trying to follow the hard-beaten path of aspiring, young hiplifers: record and master some tracks with your own money (begged, borrowed, or [rarely] stolen), find a producer to release and promote your album, and then hustle to make a name for yourself in a sea of similar acts. Kiki has hope that he will make it big one day, and he has already made some headway.

A funny thing about this event was that it led to Kiki and his friends being invited to perform on the Saturday night live music show on TV3 (Ghana's most popular privately-owned station). Music Music is probably the most-watched TV in Ghana and it normally features a parade of artists, known and unknown. While many of the artists that perform on the show actually pay to play--one aspect of the harsh realities of showbiz in Ghana--Kiki and company were invtied, and therefore were given free publicity (which is hard to come by in a place where you have to pay the equivalent of hundreds of dollars before you will hear your song on any notable radio program). Out of all the emerging rappers who performed that day for GBC, why did the producers of Music Music choose Kiki? Apparently it was because he had a goofy foreigner with a camera following him around that day. It's a sad and complex fact that many Ghanaians see the involvment of someone from the West as a mark of legitimacy. Despite my having no real business with Kiki, apart from being a curious friend making a bit of a case-study out of him and his music, these people simply saw us together and decided he was cool. At least that's what he told me, who knows?

Hiplife now basically sounds like what you hear from Kiki. The jama beat, dense layers of plastic-sounding percussion samples, and a nicely sung, love-themed hook.

Is this really what most hip-hop sounds like in Africa? Well, no, but in Ghana this seems to be the order of the day. And besides, if they are doing something that doesn't sound like a complete imitation of American hip-hop, then I say more power to them. Who wants to sit around rocking their head to hard beats when they can slap on some Timberlands and a jersey and sweatily grind the night away with a sweetheart...