Veteran musician Reggie Rockstone has bemoaned the disrespect he gets from young people, especially on Twitter.
In an interview with Andy Dosty on Daybreak Hitz, he said such people who say all sorts of disrespectful things to him are attracting curses for themselves.
“People say I am now poor and say all sorts of things to me, especially on Twitter. I am the pioneer of Hiplife. I am the reason Ghana had something unique to hold on to and now the young ones insult me on Twitter.”
“When people do this it is a sign of ingratitude. I always tell our young brothers and sisters that they are cursing themselves because I have done nothing but good to them. In African tradition, it is a curse.”
Reggie Rockstone was reacting to controversies surrounding the recently-released documentary on hiplife, titled Hiplife Rewind produced by the BBC.
According to him, instead of holding on to what he believes is our musical heritage, many people are focusing on the wrong things.
He added that this attitude of Ghanaians is the main reason why Nigerians have taken the lead when it comes to music in Africa.
“Our Nigerian brothers are now doing what we used to do. There is money in music now and people are making a lot of it. Meanwhile, we started this movement.”
The documentary featured the likes of Reggie Rockstone himself, music producer Panji Anoff, legendary video director Abraham Ohene-Djan, Kuami Eugene, KiDi, M.anifest, Eno, and Gyedu-Blay Ambolley.
It has since received heavy criticism from very important personalities who also contributed to the birth and evolution of the hip-life genre.
The like of Quophi Okyeame believes that he should have been involved in the documentary.
Reggie Rockstone (Reginald Yaw Asante Ossei, “the Godfather of Hiplife”) is a Ghanaian rapper. He was born in the United Kingdom but lived in his early years in Kumasi and Accra.
He has been living in Ghana continuously since he pioneered the Hip-Life movement in 1994.
He is married to Dr Zilla Limann, Daughter of Hilla Limann, the only president of the third Republic of Ghana. They have three kids together and have been married since 2001.
He pioneered the Hiplife art and has played an important role in the development of this uniquely African genre in Ghana. He raps in Akan precisely Asante Twi and English.