The National Museum of Ghana, in the nation's capital of Accra, is getting ready to open its doors for the Culture Curators: Hip Hop 50 exhibition to honor this golden anniversary while also recognizing and paying tribute to Ghana's distinctive influence and contribution through Hip Life, Azonto, and Hip Hop created by Ghanaians at home and abroad who are among the pioneers who laid the groundwork for the African sound. Hip Hop Culture is celebrating its 50th anniversary with worldwide celebrations.
Hip Hop was gaining popularity in Ghana during the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s as young Ghanaians who had been living abroad, like Hip Life Grandpapa Reggie Rockstone and Panji Anoff, marked their own years of return to create and introduce a new genre of music called Hip-Life that blended Hip Hop and Ghanaian High Life music with the addition of rapping.
Rhythmic African Poetry (RAP), whose foundation had also been laid in Ghana with one of the pioneers of High Life Gyedu Blay Ambolley, is said to have recorded Ghana's first RAP with his forever classic "Sinigua-do" song in 1973, gave rise to the Talking Drums era with the introduction of Ghana's first Hip Hop group pushing its African roots.
In celebration of Hip Hop's 50th anniversary and Ghana's Hip Life/Azonto history, Culture Curators and a group of artists and industry stakeholders in Ghana will host a full day of events at the National Museum of Ghana (Accra) on Sunday, August 27. These events will include: In addition to a cypher, live graffiti art, film screenings, and an exhibition drawn from the records of Ghanaians who created, manifested, and shared their own love and hip-hop stories both domestically and internationally. Ghanaians have made contributions to the worldwide Hip Hop culture in all of its forms from Accra to New York and London. The exhibit will feature artifacts like Hip Hop producer Eric "Coptic" Matlock's platinum plaque for Notorious B.I.G., DJ Kofi's jacket from the 1995 Technics UK Mixing Championship, one of the earliest Hip Life records ever produced, and vintage newspaper clippings from the 1990s and 2000s featuring Hip Hop legends like Public Enemy, Fat Joe, Jay Z, and Busta Rhymes on their first visits to Ghana for performances, along with commissioned art work from Accra art week.
According to Culture Curator Aretha Amma Sarfo-Kantanka, "I am beyond amazed and excited about how this exhibition and event is manifesting itself solely from the commitment of creatives who love and grew up on Hip Hop coming together to celebrate ourselves and our icons and living legends." "That seems really hip-hop to me. Hip-hop's capacity to bring together artists, inspire creativity in all of our many skills, and simply have fun while producing enduring and wonderful moments in time for the culture is what I witnessed and liked about it growing up in New York.
In keeping with the words of Ghana's first president Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, "I am not African because I was born in Africa, but because Africa was born in me", Culture Curators: Hip Hop 50 continues the Pan-African connections between Ghana and the Diaspora in an archive exhibition honoring Producer/Music Executive DJ Rab Bakari, who was born in Queens, New York and was one of the pioneers in coining Ghana's Hip Life genre of music while The National Museum of Ghana (Accra) will host the Culture Curators: Hip Hop 50 exhibition through December 2023, with monthly activations, changes, and additions to the exhibition providing museum visitors with fresh and original experiences each month with a focus on the various facets of Hip Hop Culture.
National Museum of Ghana information
Accra, the capital of Ghana, is home to the National Museum of Ghana. Of the six museums run by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB), it is the oldest and largest.
On March 5, 1957, the eve of Ghana's independence, the museum building was inaugurated as part of the celebrations. Archaeology, anthropology, and art comprise the museum's three main subject areas of collection. The museum reopened its doors in 2022 in a new renaissance to present Ghana: Past, Present, and Future after closing in 2015 for extensive repairs.
About Culture Curators Global Fusion Productions Inc. / GF Productions created the collaboration environment and idea for culture curators.
Contact: +233 26 372 3678 (WhatsApp Texts Only), globalfusionproductions@gmail.com.