Eric Papa Ankomah Dixon, a.k.a P. A. The Hustler, a Ghanaian musician based in Britain is in town with a new scheme to take Ghanaian hiplife music to a higher international pedestal and the release of his debut album titled Menewo Beye, attests to this.

The album which has 10 songs is already enjoying airplay on some of the major radio stations in Accra.

Most of the songs on this album use the hip-hop rhythm but P.A. told Showbiz that he chooses to call them hiplife because he intends to achieve a fusion of the two rhythms in his music.

He hopes to hit not only on the local front but most importantly to penetrate the international market with his blend of hiplife melody and hip-hop rhythm.

The rest of the songs on the album are done in the reggae vein.

A unique thing that strikes anyone who listens to P.A’s songs is his ability to easily blend both the English and Twi languages in his lyrics to make them sound clearly understandable appealing to both local and foreign music lovers.

Menewo Beye, the album title, is a danceable hiplife song with a pop-like rhythm. In this song, he sings of his unchanging love for his partner. He praises the woman for her beauty and promises to love her no matter what happens in life.

Another favourite song on the album is Konkonsani which strictly takes the Hip-hop style with a beautiful rap piece done by Culture Rhyme.

This song talks about the damage that gossips cause to society. He drew inspiration for this song from an experience he had in which he lost a Jamaican lady he loved due to false rumours which circulated that he was a drug addict and a vagabond.

One is treated to good reggae pieces like Drastical and I Wanna Know on the album. Drastical laments a partner’s failure to fulfil her promise of loving a man for life because she found another man while in I Wanna Know , he begs his lover to clear her doubt and tell him if he is the one she loves.

Life Inna the Ghetto is another enjoyable reggae song on the album. In the song, P.A uses “the ghetto” as a metaphor to represent hardships of poor people and says that it does not only exist in Africa but around the world.

He talks of the poverty in “the ghettos” and the inhabitants’ quest for survival even if it means making money through foul means like drug trafficking and gambling. He says “You have got to be tough to live in the ghettos.”

The 35-year-old musician said that he used to hang out in the “London ghettos” with Jamaican friends when he was 14 years and that was where he earned the name ‘The Hustler’.

According to him, most of his friends died there but he escaped unharmed and is glad he has eventually left those bad days behind.

Other good songs on the album are Kekyere Me, Life Yede, Holiday in USA as well as the intro and outro at the beginning and at the end of the album respectively.

All songs were recorded and produced by Onelove Records which is owned by him.

Papa Ankomah Dixon left the port city of Takoradi to London together with his mother, Mary Ayele Dixon and younger brother at the age of seven and had his education at Slade Brook High School, Brentfield Road and Casio College, Watford where he was a footballer and a boxer.

He is currently working with the Royal Fleet Axillary, a sailing company in London and is married with three children.