Kweku Ananse How would you define Hip-hop (music) in Ghana? Nana Osei Mainoo a.k.a Kweku Ananse would simply say beats, kicking rhymes and insight into the hip-hop game. Kweku Ananse needs no introduction for the youth out there, he is a regular feature on late Thursday?s evenings, one of the young dudes alongside the likes of Bushke and D.J. Lack who play a lot of progressive Ghanaian and International Hip-hop music.
Born 15th February, 1978 in Germany but raised in Ghana, he received his first elementary education at a Military School at Burma Camp, then proceeded to SOS and then to Christ the King International. Thereafter he entered into St. Augustine Secondary College where he spent a year and a half later and left to SOS Herman Gmeinner International College here he completed his IGCSE.
Kweku Ananse then went to the United World College of the Atlantic (UWC) in Wales, Britain to do the International Baccalaureate. His hobbies as you can see by now are anything that pertains to old and classic Hip-hop music and anything funky. When he was in Britain he started Disc Jockeying, this, his affiliations with the Taboo Crew and Ziggy Brown of Kapital FM commenced his entering into the music world.
He returned back to his Motherland Ghana in 1998. He found himself at Joy FM around June but sadly left and joined the Vibe family at Vibe FM in September. But worked as receptionist, he later decided to quit his job as a receptionist and later reapplied as a presenter. He started presenting shows like GQ?s Street Beats, Between the Sheets and Party Mix (where they called people in the city of Accra and would play wacky jokes on them). Sadly in 1999, he had to leave for Montreal to obtain a Bachelor?s Degree in Chemical Engineering. There he linked with a resourceful crew of Canadian, French, Ghanaian and Jamaican music lovers.
He says their contribution to his appreciation of music is what makes his selections unusual. In July 2003, he returned to Ghana and completed a 7 month internship with KITE, the Kumasi Institute for Technology Environment, an NGO involved in Power Sector Reform, Sustainable Development and Gender-Energy issues.
He now works with SIGN-TIFICS, an NGO involved in promoting technological and cultural exchanges. The NGO?s objectives are to bridge the gaps between people in and across the African Continent and beyond. This means sharing problems and solutions with our fellow Ghanaians as well as with people from the diverse global community.
He says it all starts with the documentation, progression and evolution of our indigenous cultures; the agricultural practices, urban/environmental management techniques, governance, music and technology. ?We are currently working on a musical project with Pidgen Music and the University of Ghana as a fund-raiser for the School of Performing Arts? Music Department?s expansion plans?.
He started part time radio and Disc jockeying in September 2003 when he returned from
Canada. He kept bumping into Mike Cooke, CEO of Vibe FM and kept convincing him that he still wanted to join the Vibe family.
Kweku Ananse has been a regular name in our folktales; history holds him as the one who is most cunning, especially at his own expense when he tries to scam others. The Kweku Ananse tales tell of the harsh price for dishonesty. As such Kweku Ananse of Vibe FM, who has been hosting a new programme called ?Different Flavours?, has been selecting a deviously cunning mix of hip-hop, neo-soul, afro beat, jazz, palm wine music, dub, roots and broken beat. The programme aims to subtly trace the roots of Hip-hop and showcases independent hip-hop whilst pointing nature?s virtues; it starts at 10:00pm to 1:00am on every Thursdays on VIBE 91.9 FM. He says ?hip-hop has nurtured him and is trying to give the public what it has taught me.? ?There are different aspects of music out there so he tries to capture or invite people to share their opinions and ideas with his listeners.?
Once he brought Agedem (Peter Gyewu-Kyem), a nutritionist and rapper who gave a brilliant talk on how to use our own natural resources sustainably. To him, he doesn?t have any favourite edition of his show; it?s for the audience to judge he says. His choice of music for the programme are exquisite as he tries to blend Ghanaian music (from the Pidgen Music camp, Ramblers, Hewale Sounds, Kusum Gboo, Koo Nimo and music from Dr. Kwame Nkrumah?s era) with what he calls progressive music inspired by the African Diaspora.
He is armed with an arsenal of Pete Rock, Jay Dee of Slum Village, Madlib, the Soulquarians, Little Brother and Planet Asia tracks but will occasionally delve into some Wes Montgomery, Cal Tjader, the Gilberto?s, Fela Kuti, Lee Scratch Perry, Wale Oyejide and K. Gyasi. The show can boast of having listeners in their teen to late 30s and 40s which is quite impressive. It is now co-hosted by Dede of Smash TV fame.
Ghana Music.Com asked him his opinion on hip-hop culture in Ghana now as an industry man? He says the culture is live and kicking, more of the young are fusing other aspects of hip-hop, namely turn-tabling, break dancing and graffiti into our own culture and main stream media. ?The industry is also quite impressive, competitive and selling impressive units?. Kweku Ananse thinks so many things have created the Ghanaian music scene to localize hip-hop culture into hip-life.
He sees the likes of Reggie Rockstone?s, VIP, Lord Lust, Talking Drums, etc experimenting with more material from gurus like Alhaji K. Frimpong, Gyedu Ambolley, Prof. Collins, Kofi Ghanaba, Koo Nimo, Ebo Taylor and the Traditional Ensembles as the way forward. He predicts VIP, Cy Lover, Bushke, Q the Lord Lust, Pidgen Music and many others going international and Reggie Rockstone hitting Super Stardom Status but insists this genre of music be supported by social infrastructure from the public, private and voluntary sectors. He says the old timers have been doing it, its time we reinvigorate what they achieved between the 50?s to the 70?s. He also thinks songs in Hausa, one of the most widely spoken languages in West-Africa, could give Ghanaian Artistes access to larger audiences.
What would Kweku Ananse do for Hip-hop music in Ghana? Currently he is dabbling into music production under Pidgen Music. He is also willing to inspire the generations of today who like wholesome hip-hop through the tracks he drops on his show. If he had a chance of bringing International Artistes to Ghana it would be Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Busta-Rhymes and or African Bambaata. He says to the young ones out there who want to spit (rap) or play a larger role in Ghana?s hip-hop community ?B-boys, B-girls start engaging yourselves in the system, learn what you can, get yourselves organised and lets start promoting and patronising the progressive hip-hop shows of old acclaim, where Emcees and Dancers became Legends?
Kweku gives thanks to the whole Vibe FM crew for showing him love and to KKD, Woodman, Naa Adjokor, Bushke, George B, Giles Bossman, GQ and Prime Cut for nurturing the hip-hop community in Ghana. ?These are the peoples who were giving us the freshness from time back, my contributions to underground and independent hip-hop would have no audience if not for their work. My first time on radio Bushke had me come on his show at Groove, respect due?. People who want to reach him can link with him at nasei@hotmail.com.
Sadly again he will be leaving for Montreal in Canada for a Masters in Waste Management, a course he had always wanted to do. But to all his lovers of Different Flavours his research will be based in Ghana so he will be passing thru occasionally. He hopes we give Dede the needed support on Different Flavours after he is away.
What fascinates Ghana Music.Com is his voice. His uncharacteristic and traceable accent of the Queen?s language mixed with some local Twi and Ga languages makes him a true soldier of hiphop.
Kweku Ananse?s Favourite Indy Hip Hop labels
? Stonesthrow Records
? Barely Breaking Even Records
? ABB Records
? Groove Attack Records
Kweku Ananse?s Top Hip Hop Production Houses
? Touch of Jazz
? Madlib
? Pete Rock
? 9th Wonder
?Jay Dee
