The advent of Hip lfe music in the early to mid-90s in Ghana has seen lots of great artistes rapped some memorable bars on wax. In this piece, we look at some of the most over the top statements made by artistes on songs. Below are the criteria used:
i) the context of the bar, was it meant to be a simple joke/brag, was it said in a diss track,or the artiste said it with all seriousness.
ii) the artiste, is he/she known to make ridiculously playful statements in his songs or this was a one off thing.
iii) the longevity of said bar, does it still makes sense til date, did the bar look even more silly with time?
So in no particular order here we go…
1. ‘Man wan graduate to buying my own pool from stealing boxers’-DarkoVibes (Bangers)
Do you know how low a brother must sink before he starts stealing boxer shorts? Were said boxers new, or worn by some other dude before Darko nipped them? Did this theft occur in the boarding house during his Senior High School days, or perhaps he stole new boxers from some trader at Kantamanto market?
https://m.soundcloud.com/darkovibes/bangers
2.’Me tah mpo mmon, ne wham aye de Omo’–Pappy Kojo (Aye Late)
To wit ‘my farts don’t even stink, it smells like a detergent’. Not even gonna count how many times man like Pappy has rapped about farts, dude can be nasty with his proper Takoradi Fanti, but exactly what does the dude eat that makes his farts smell like a detergent?
3.’I woke up inna de Punani’–Stonebwoy (Kunaani)
Look I’m not even gonna dispute the fact that Stonebwoy’s newfound riches from music landed him a couple of fine women. But did the dude actually wake up one morning after a wild night of partying to find that his was in woman’s vagina? Did he fall asleep in the middle of banging? Did he pass out while giving a girl cunilingus because he had too much liquor?
4.’Eye na eye me woanwa, se ahuofe fuor bi tese Jackie Appiah womo ko tiefi’-Yaa Pono (Freestyle)
To wit ‘sometimes I wonder whether hot girls like Jackie Appiah’s callibre also ease themselves’. Pono is probably the Ghanaian artiste with the most humorous hyperboles in the game, however to claim that hot girls probably don’t sh*t like everyone else was a bit of a reach. To his credit he has toned down his more ludicrous bars since he became (sort of) a mainstream artiste, but Pono rapping free styles over King Mo Jo’s beats was indeed prime Yaa Pono!
5.’I know some pirates from East Africa’-Dex Kwasi (Africa)
Of all Ghanaian rappers in the Diaspora, no one matches Dada Dex the Juice Lee in terms of street cred or metaphors or convoluted hyperbole. Lighter is a dope rapper, Blitz is one serious Mcee but Dex Kwasi combines that Kumasi, Osu, Texas sensibilities into one huge ball of realness. Needless to say Dex is a rapper, so how on God’s green earth did he become acquainted with pirates from East Africa? Does he buy looted merchandise from them? Was he stranded on an islanded with them? Did he steal a pirate’s girlfriend?
6.’In the ass paa?, I no dey enter exit’-Wanluv Kubolor (Rapipi Jay)
Unlike every other bar on the list, this did not sound outrageous on first hearing it, it is a pretty standard thing for a homophobe to say. However, this bar did not age well, reason being having declared his dislike for anal sex, 6 years later Wanluv started walking around in a T-shirt with the word ‘TRUMU’ scribbled boldly infront, then he changed his twitter handle to the word ‘Trumu’, when I asked him about his newfound affection for anal activities, Kubolor replied me that he entered the wrong whole once and fell in love with anal.
7.’Bruh me pa wo kyew’ tu na menta’– Kwaw Kese (Kwakwa)
To wit ‘Please remove it (your dick?) so I can fart!’On Kwaw’s second biggest single in 2004, he teamed up with Hammer to deliver the timeless Kwakwa street anthem. Kwaw Kese’s Swedru brand of Fanti flowed nicely on Hammer’s signature thumping baselines and for a while Kwaw had the ear of the whole Ghana. Question is, was Kwaw sodomising a poor girl who needed a break to fart? With Kwaw you can never tell.
8.’Hammer, last 2 apart from me are you impressed? No!’ Sarkodie -(Saa okodie no)
What makes Sark’s bragadocio so outrageous is he was not under the Last 2 record label when he claimed that he was better than every rapper on the label. You gotta remember Last 2 has always been home to some of the greatest hiplife artiste ever, Obrafour alone is a force to be reckoned with, let alone the rest. So for Sark to appear on a Last 2 produced track and proclaim to the owner of Last 2 music Hammer himself that he was better than everyone else on that label was ridiculously outrageous.
9.’Kwasia ben na eka se bronni amma anka bibini nhye drawers (dross)?-Reggie Rockstone-(medde be bom)
To wit ‘which fool said that black people did not wear undergarments before the arrival of Caucasians? Hip life legend Rockstone was not pulling any punches when he questioned why some folks think white people are better than black just because they are exotic.
10. ‘Wo ne woa tua te dom, nea mo hye pie me hye de pra fam’-Obrafour (Asem beba dabi)
To wit ‘what you and your crew wear as flashy clothes I wear them for dirty jobs’. Man like Obrafour has always had some of the sickest bars in Hiplife history, however what makes this bar stand out is he was in a beef with Okyeame Kwame at the time and he seems to claim Kwame and his Ksi crew cant even compare their clothes to his. Burn!
Needless to say there are more outrageous bars in hiplife than I can fit in a Top 10, that being said honorable mentions go to cats like Mensa, Okyeame Kwame, Guru, Flow king Stone, Shatta Wale, Tinny, Paa Dogo, Kwaadee,KGPM, Blitz e.t.c
urbanlifegh 