The Ghanaian music industry has experience tremendous success with various beef which has help the growth .The first of it kind happened in 1994 between Daddy Lumba and Nana Acheampong.
Mr Austine Woode who was able to give the exact result for the 2016 and 2020 general election is here with a deep breakdown of series of top 10 music beef.
This is was his projection.
In a tweet cited by countryghana from the camp of Mr Augustine Woode,here is the break down of historic music Beef.
1. LUMBA BROTHERS 2 of the best Ghanaian musicians were once a group known as LUMBA BROTHERS in the late 80s Daddy Lumba and Nana Acheampong known as LUMBA BROTHERS released their first song in 1988/89 titled “Yɛɛ yɛ aka akwantuo mu”
GHANA MUSIC SERIES
This is to highlight happenings in #GhanaMusic over the years with insight into some of the behind the scene activities by the players in the industry
This will include, Artiste profile, album reviews, awards and more
It promises to be fun on Thursdays
We start today with a thread on some of the lyrical “wars” known as “beefs” that got many talking in times past
We look at the creative dexterity of the Ghanaian musician to conjure words not fists to carry out a message
10 MUSIC “BEEFS” IN GHANA EXPLAINED
1. LUMBA BROTHERS
2 of the best Ghanaian musicians were once a group known as LUMBA BROTHERS in the late 80s
Daddy Lumba and Nana Acheampong known as LUMBA BROTHERS released their first song in 1988/89 titled “Yɛɛ yɛ aka akwantuo mu”
The 2 musicians is rumored had a fall out and went solo but no specifics have been talked about it since
However many believe the 1994/95 hit song “Nanka ɛbɛyɛ dɛn” by Nana Acheampong was partly taking direct shots at his former group member Daddy Lumba
There’s a line in the song where he says
me ne woa na ɛyɛ adwuma baako
Ɛkaa wo nko anka medeɛ nsei
Nana Nyame nso mpɛ bɔnee
W’ahyira hyira me ama no aboro so
This many says he was referring to LUMBA as both doing music but Daddy Lumba wishing for his downfall
So in 1996/97 when Daddy Lumba released “Sɛsɛɛ wo see”, many found subtle jabs at Nana Acheampong as a reply
In this part, he talks about;
Wonnim yɛ aa yɛ ma yɛnhwɛ
Na gyae nsɛm keka
Wo baa yɛ yɛ huu wo ooo
Funny enough, both songs started with the two talking about a woman
2. EX DOE VRS CHICAGO
In 1998, these two Hiplife stars released the hit single “Daavi medekuku” which was done in only the ewe language
But after this song, things went sour between the two
After this Ex Doe released “Maba” in 1999. Many say Maba was attacking Chicago and reason for the bad blood
However Maba attacked Reggie Rockstone more
Wo na wo kaa yɛ o
Hwan na kaa yɛ o
Dwane kɔ tɛ
This was because Reggie’s first albums were titled “Maka maka” “Me na meka yɛ”
Also he says
Rasta wo nto reggae
Wo se wo yɛ rapper
Me deɛ me nim sɛ wo yɛ dancer
Ɔmo aa ɔmo pɛ wo na bɛ yɛ wo master master
Reggie Rockstone has dreadlocks
Was a former dancer
NB: Many say Okyeame Quophi instigated Ex Doe to attack reggie but it was never proven
Here there is a line Ex Doe says
“Wo frɛ wo ho President
Wo so wo nte wo residence
Reggie Rockstone calls himself “Oseikrom President” but doesn’t live in Kumasi
In 2017, I interviewed Reggie and when I asked him, he retorted “seisei hwan na ɛni residence”
This was after ex doe was struggling to have a place in Canada according to reports in sections of the Ghanaian media
Then Chicago replied Ex Doe and this time addressed him directly in “Wo bɛ kɔ”
His first line was
First of all ɛbaa ne sɛn na wo gyae Nifah(secondary school)
Wo chopbox ne wo trunk
Ɛwɔ he fa
Ɔmo aa wo de ɔmo ka no
Ɔmo awie school nti yɛ na kɔ fa
3. OBRAFOUR VRS LORD KENYA
The Ghana rap sɔfoɔ after releasing “Pae Mu Ka” in 1999 went on a hiatus and came back to find Lord Kenya dominating the Hiplife scene with “Sika baa”(99/2000) and “Yɛɛsom Sika”(2001) albums
Then Lord Kenya earned the name “Rap Heavyweight Champion”
Obrafour releases 2nd album “Asɛm Sɛbɛ” in 2001
On the Asɛm Sɛbɛ track he featured TH4Kwagees who has a line saying
Sɔre fri do na egua ne wura na ba
Awala ɛnnyɛ Jesus ɛyɛ dɛn nante po do
Who calls himself Lord? 😂😂😂
Also Obrafour raps
Wo pre fa ahenkyɛ a
Obia nsom wo da
So the debate among fans on who was a better rapper had started and Lord Kenya fans said he was versatile because he had done 2 songs on both albums strictly in English
Obrafour replies here
Me nka brɔfo aa
Ɛnkyerɛ sɛ me nte pɔtɔ kasa
Me nte brɔfo koraa nnyɛ me NO ne me Yes
On “Bra bɛ hwɛ” Obrafour goes after Lord Kenya by saying
Mr Tipper bi se ɔyɛ boss
Wa te gyama ɔkaa sɔ ɛnɛ yɛ nora
Wei na me nhu bi da Sakora(Lord Kenya is a skinhead)
On “Ɔyɛ Ohene remix”
Obrafour now fully attacks Lord Kenya because opening line is
L.K. do you wanna try?
#FunFact on Oyɛ Ohene original version, Obrafour said “ɛbɛyɛ wo sɛ Saul ne Damascus kwan so” attacking Lord Kenya in 2003
In 2013, Lord Kenya was on his way to buy weed and he says God struck him down. He’s now a Pastor
Christians will appreciate this better
4. OBRAFOƆ VRS REGGIE ROCKSTONE/SIDNEY
In 2000/2001 on his song “Do the do” Reggie Rockstone had a line in there that said
Yɛ wo me na me kuta me mic
Doctor no hwɛ m’anim saa na ɔse akwadaa bɛ yɛ bright
Ɛhɔ aa na me buei m’ani na me se dassrite
So on Bra bɛ hwɛ Obrafour replies Reggie Rockstone with
Y’anwo obiaa microphone tua n’ano
W’anka no yie aa
Mɛ te wo to
Reggie Rockstone’s Cousin is Sidney(Nananom fame) so when Reggie featured him on “Me kaa ma na hye wo”
Sidney put Obrafour in his place with this line
Ɛsi so ɛbɔ so(Lord Kenya’s opening line in Ɛnnyom no)
Ɛno na ɛwɔ so
Wo baa dabɛn na wo bu bɛ
Sidney went after Obrafour again on his own song “Obaa Kɔkɔɔ”
There’s a line in there which says
Who born twins by mistake
Hwan nɛ kaa sɛ apɔnkye nwe cake
This was because at that time, a lady in America had said she and Obrafour had twins and the rapper was refusing it
That line was a direct mock to Obrafour’s line in his hit single WHO BORN YOU BY MISTAKE which featured Bazaar(also on Dɛɛba)
Obrafour said
Who born you by mistake
Ɛwiase apɔnkye bɛn na we cake
Hwan na pia car
Driver anaa ne mate
Agorɔ no y’apɔn mo nyinaa ayɛ late
NB: In a 2020 interview, Obrafour says he was inspired to enter music(rap) by Reggie Rockstone
5. KK FOSU VRS BATMAN
They were known as “The Trinity” which had KK Fosu, Kokoveli and Batman(now Samini)
They had hit songs like Zaazaa by Kokoveli
They also had the hit song “Sudwɛ” by KK Fosu
Then on his maiden album “Dankwansere” Batman had a song titled Egwe(King) extoling his great feats in that period in Ghana music
This was because, he got featured in many songs and those songs became hits
Batman featured someone called “Gogomi” on this track but after this we never heard(😊) of him again
Batman in the last verse said he was the Oga now
So KK Fosu did a song titled “Oga” featuring Quata attacking Batman and telling him it was because he featured him on songs that got him popular and can afford to say he’s “Oga”
Here Quata takes a dig at Batman with
Anka ano kɛseɛ na yɛ de nɔ bass aa
Anka aboa prɛko yɛ choirister
It was a jibe at Batman’s signature “Gbuee
KK Fosu also said”Yɛ pɛ akɔkono ama na we abɛ aa, hwan ne gogomi”
NB: some say Gogomi is now Mugeez of R2Bees but can’t confirm
NB: KK Fosu and Batman(Samini) have patched their differences since then
6. KONTIHENE VRS KWAW KESE
Kontihene came out with Aketesia and Asesa in 2001
Aketesia won Ghana Music Awards 2002 Most Popular Song of the year(then highest award)
I haven’t heard a line attacking Kwaw but rumor had it in an interview he called the “Hammer boys” as drop outs
So in 2004 on the Execution Diary, Kwaw Kese on “Ɔyɛ Nonsense” attacked Kontihene with the line
Migizigi
Bra Tema na bɛ hwɛ
Ɛyɛ yawa
Kontihene has a song titled Migizigi where he used a certain language developed by young SHS boys in Ashanti region
Also on Kwakwa, Kwaw Kese went in hard and the last two introduces that song as “The official war song”
On Nayatal, Kwaw Kese decided to stop the subtle jibes and attack Kontihene strongly by mentioning his name
Papa bi aa me nim no
Yɛ frɛ no Koo nti
7. OBRAFOƆ VRS OKYEAME KWAME/OBOUR
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since following Hiplife in the 25 years, it is that, Obrafour doesn’t want to play second fiddle when discussion on who is the best comes out
So anytime a rapper is at the top, Obrafour “attacks” that rapper
In 2008/2009 Obour released “Killing The game” featuring Okyeame Kwame
In this song, the two together with music producer Richie talked about some of the challenges the Ghanaian music industry was facing and solutions to them
Here both Obour and Okyeame Kwame give solutions and end by saying “Hiplife is never gonna die”
So between 2008-2010 before crowing it with GHANA MUSIC AWARDS ARTISTE OF THE YEAR, Okyeame Kwame was the biggest artiste and on his hit song “Woso” he starts by calling himself”Best Rapper Alive” BRA
Saa asɛm no koraa na Ghana rap sɔfoɔ ɛnpɛ no 😂😂😂
Then in 2009 after a long hiatus(3-4 years), Obrafour releases one of the most creative pieces of music artwork in a song titled “Kaseɛbɔ” where he’s being interviewed by a radio presenter(Nana Yaw Maradona(Guru)) discussing the problems facing Ghana music
Here Guru attacks Okyeame Kwame with
Ɛnkra yɛ nsa aka fri Kumasi ne sɛ
Nnwomtonii OK so akɔto monaa
Also
Obi agye abɔ so Best Rapper Alive
Yɛ hwehwɛɛ mu mpo
Ne album nnuru 5
In his reply to the radio presenter, Obrafour goes hard on Okyeame Kwame
In his last question, Guru throws a jibe at Obour
Me tee nnwom bi
Killing the game
Enti yɛ bɛ no yie ɛne atopa jenjen
Simple and short yɛ se Hiplife awu
The atopa jenjen line was because Obour who did “Killing The game” had gone to do a song titled Atopa jenjen which was francophone music themed
NB: spot Nana Akua(Mzbel) in both the Kaseɛbɔ and Atopa jenjen videos 😂😂😂
So TV3 invited both Okyeame Kwame and Obrafour into their studio on the program “Spotlight” to appreciate the issues
Part 2 of the TV3 interview with Okyeame Kwame and Obrafour over Kaseɛbɔ diss song
So the stage was set for the LIVE battle
It’s Messi(the one many say is the best) against Cristiano(the one at the top many hate)
In the end we all know who will score a goal in that final for his team to win at the biggest stage
Okyeame Kwame did it with finesse
Rumor has it the concept of the Kaseɛbɔ song was developed by Okyeame Quophi who was together with Okyeame Kwame in the group Akyeame
They fell out and became solo artiste
8. ASEM VRS TEMA
Asem became popular in 2008 when his hit single Give me Blow was the toast of many a youth on Ghanaian University Campus
I might say Give me Blow was the first song in the 2000s to become popular without radio airplay(yeah it had sexually explicit content)
After some features where Asem praised himself as the new kid on the bloc taking over, the was a revolution brewing in Tema
So on T.E.M.A R2Bees and Sarkodie decided to put Asem in his place
Paedae says
These days
Class one rappers dey claim say dem open new chapters
Also Sarkodie dissed Asem by
Modeɛ dabia mmaa no see
Wo nnwom yɛ tee no once
Obi download
Obiaa ntua sika ɛmmɛ tie BS
So Asem decided to come at the whole Tema revolution with No More Kpayor
He replies Sarkodie by saying
I dey play better shows
I’m paid
See I’m getting more dough
Here Asem went after R2Bees
He says dem be jon boys so
For the other squad
They don’t deserve to be mentioned
Puss in boots
Craving for attention
Cry babies waiting for detention
Crusading to attend my convention
Also says Sarkodie is
Lil skinny dude
Just wanna act tough
No more Kpayor woke up the demon on TEMA and on T.E.M.A Part 2 dubbed final warning
They went in hard and you could sense the anger had built up
Mugeez was angry
Yaw Siki and Paedae with the final nail in the coffin
It’s weird the guy who starts the rap here, Yaw Siki is now a Pastor
He had the best flow on this track
Paedae be boss 🔥🔥🔥
After this, Asem decided to toy with all the TEMA squad 😂😂😂
9. SARKODIE VRS MANIFEST
Sarkodie won Hip hop song at 2016 VGMAs with “Hand to mouth
EL says that Paedae deserved it and EL before this had a song titled “KING WITHOUT A CROWN” subtly attacking Sarkodie who is referred to as the King of Ghana rap music
So Sarkodie does Bossy
Sarkodie subtle says EL be yawa cos he pretends
Only mention of M.anifest was at the end where he says
M.anifest me serɛ wo
Lemme use your http://do.do.do.ti.do
To end this verse
Sarkodie never dissed M.anifest on “Bossy”
So M.anifest does “God MC” and he goes after Sarkodie which after 6 years still can’t appreciate what triggered it
He really dress down Sarkodie intellectually
This was unfair on Sarkodie
Proper dress down
This is M.anifest’s response in God MC to Sarkodie’s lines in “Bossy”
M.anifest had awoken the demon and he didn’t envisage the wrath of the gods that was coming his way
Twitter mocked King Sark so he had to respond and man did he respond bigly on “Kanta”
He was cool on first verse addressing national issues
M.anifest and his fans didn’t envisage this murder
See the thing is “aboa funu” dey hurt pass don’t be a fool
Second verse of Kanta is badass
If someone says Sarkodie is not a top rapper, just send him/her this verse
FULLSTOP
10. SHATTA WALE VRS EVERYBODY
There’s nothing to say except tell you how and when this “monster” was unleashed
Find out below in a thread I did some time back
It was the night of GHANA MUSIC AWARDS 2012 and in the category for Reggae/Dancehall song of the year, we had
Toffee Pon Tongue(Obolo bolo ɛsumɔ skin tight) – Kaakie
Shatta City – Shatta Wale
Bandana from Ghana in 2004 is now called Shatta Wale after almost 8 years hiatus
On the night Kaakie wins and hell broke loose
Shatta Wale and his gang had for the first time done something never seen before
They angrily stormed out of the venue destroying property and using unprintable words on Kaakie
Their reason…
He believed he had the best Dancehall song but what he failed to realize was we were not looking for the best/proper Dancehall song as they said but the most popular Dancehall song
For example many lovers of reggae don’t rate Lucky Dube
After that Shatta Wale has a beef with Samini, Charterhaus, Ponobiom, Stonebwoy, Sarkodie and everyone
In some instances he had a good case but in others he went overboard
Thank you
The end
Austine Woode
Akomadan
See you again next week for another edition of GHANA MUSIC SERIES #GhanaMusic
Stay safe
Originally tweeted by Austine Woode (@obiMpenaAustine) on March 31, 2022.