Reggie Rockstone Believes Omitting Hiplife From Grammys Best African Music Performance Category Was ‘A Typing Mistake’
It’s a typing mistake’ -Reggie Rockstone on hiplife not mentioned in Grammys Best African Music Performance category
Reggie Rockstone, who is considered to be the father of hip-life music, has said that he is positive that the Grammys’ omission of the well-liked Ghanaian music genre from its new Best African Music category was the result of a typing error.
Reggie Rockstone voiced his unhappiness during Wednesday, June 14, 2023’s Joy FM Twitter Spaces, presented by Kwame Dadzie. He claimed it was sad that the Grammys’ Recording Academy had disregarded the genre that had given prominence to numerous Ghanaian artists.
“Here is another thing that came up. A lot of times when people talk about hiplife and highlife they get them confused. So somebody said to me ‘Reggie, it could have been a typo. So many times people have confused hiplife with highlife because they sound so similar.
“All the same, I am happy that we are in there because it could have gone the other way but it definitely became an eyebrow raiser when I realised the old lady hiplife wasn’t in there. The old lady’s grandmama is in there. That’s highlife. Even Mapouka is in there.
“Hiplife is what sparked the revolution and you can also go back and check before the re-emergence of Afrobeats with the ‘s’. And Nigeria knows this. We’ve always parlayed. We are cousins but you can never do without the old lady hiplife. You gotta be joking,” Reggie Rockstone said.
Highlife and drill music from Ghana were acknowledged as important African music genres on Tuesday, June 13 for the Best African Music Performance category of the 2019 Grammy Awards.
“A track and singles category that honors recordings that use distinctive local expressions from all over the African continent,” according to the Best African Music Performance category.
The category definition states that it includes, but is not limited to, the following musical genres: Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz.
