Odiefour and Obrafour in Canada Ghanaian hiplife music received a glowing revival in Toronto with the visit of current best rap artist, Obrafour, popularly known as Rap Priest.

The ace rapper was in Toronto to receive the Anansekrom 2003 Award for Rap Artist of the Year at the annual program organised by the African Heritage Association - Afrihili in conjunction with the National Theatre of Ghana.

When the twice postponed Anansekrom Festival was finally scheduled for January 31, an unusually sparse crowd of about two hundred had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the popular rapper for the first time at the beautiful Don Bosco Auditorium.

After receiving his award, Obrafuor needed just 25 minutes to announce his full presence and artistic talent by holding the crowd spellbound with excellent arranged lyrics backed by equally captivating rhythms.

The evening for the popular annual Anansekrom event had been heavily jeopardized by a week-long snowstorm amid an equally big funeral for the Ghanaian community. Also honoured at Anansekrom 2003 (but staged in 2004) was Ghana-based Alexiboat Productions for being producers of the most watched Ghanaian movies in Canada. The award for Alexiboat was received by Obrafuor.

Then came Valentine?s Day, February 14. This time the venue was the Canadian Legion Hall where a packed hall demonstrated to Obrafuor their love for him in particular and for hiplife music in general.

The crowd made up of nearly 80% youth gave Obrafuor a ?musical red carpet? into their fold with an unending tumultuous applause as the Rastafarian rapper mounted the stage accompanied by a group of female dancers.

The next sixty minutes saw the entire audience singing along with Obrafuor almost all his compositions that he released that evening in a non-stop action packed blast. Thus, the Rap Priest defied the otherwise cold winter weather, blazed the atmosphere with his superb lyrics, and justified the ?red carpet? reception accorded him by his teeming fans.

The Valentine Jam also featured a line up of young Toronto-based Hiplife artist namely Enaamafo, Cold Squad, Double Dee, ?A? Connection and Krysta Moh, all having the opportunity to treat the large audience to songs from their yet to be released hiplife albums.