The latest anthology of the rise of the bubble gum contemporary music primarily features the works of one ‘hot’ producer lacing tracks for every artist hungry for a little time in the spotlight. The last six years produced a stale monotony of uninspiring mainstream ‘pop’ with phenomenonal media support and the rise to prominence of talking heads on radio who gave lot of shine to a genre of mundane Hiplife music.
Of those who championed the new school version is 4X4, one of the most prolific artists whose success seemed to mirror the consistent hit-making ability of ‘Jama’ beat miners as evidenced on their new cd Hot Girls.com.
If anybody was expecting ‘Sikli te’ style cuts on the new album -- surprise! The duo strayed into not just Hip-Hop, but Crunk. 4x4 is one of the new school breeds flaunting their attention-grabbing antics to the crowds that matter to them. Abortion and Captain Planet deliver charged lyrics on rope-stretched-taut chops and fresh lyrical inspiration.
Crunk music from the south of the US has in the last few years taken the spot of hardcore rap and given Hip-hop some sort of a forced face lift. It’s found its way to Ghana somehow and 4x4 are also looking to cash in on the style and maybe the success of crunk artists across the Atlantic. This might be all it would take to change the direction of a genre that the media has ignorantly tagged Hiplife.
Abortion and Captain Planet might have funny names but this time they claim they’re not in for the fun. They want to alter the parameters of the music industry and hopefully lose the pigeon-holing that has defined their career.
Hot girls.com sounds like a refined version of the dreary Jama anthems that everybody bumps to, not because they have exceptional production - but radio rotation ensures that you ride along the away. What they did with this new album wasn’t out of the ordinary but at least they tried to do something different and that’s what matters for the most part.