Hiplife artist, Richard Kwesi Siaw Afrofi known in the music circles as Ex Doe has stated that he will forever stay as a hiplife artist and for that matter a pioneer with an experience to impact the upcoming once. In his own words he has stated that he will forever be a hiplife soldier.
Ex Doe who was part of the group called the traditional rulers before going solo speaking on Ahotor Weekend show with DJ Use hypster, emphasized that he with a few artists were the pioneers who pushed the hiplife music brand to what it is now.
Ex Doe further stated that although the introduction of the rap music had a stiffer opposition during the early ears he is so excited that it has transcended even the sours of our borders.
“Most musicians then thought the introduction of the rap music into our society was an introduction of violence which was going to negatively affect the youth but the blend of the foreign beats with our kind of music and culture brought the huge love. I remember doing a song with Dr. Paa BoBo which became a hit song”
“This sparked up the idea to these opposing musicians of the rap song of the need to make the new generation love the hiplife kind of music with a rap line embedded into the song” he stated.
Ex-Doe tried to incorporate Chinese into his next album (Twi Chinese) which did not yield the success he expected, working with the Ashanti International label.
He collaborated with Chicago to release “Daavi mede kuku” (Sister, can I please have some koko – porridge), the most popular Ewe hiplife song to date in 1996.
Even though he is an Akan, he has known more for his Ewe lyrics due to the song’s popularity. He and Chicago got into some misunderstanding over who deserved the credit for that hit. (Chicago actually wrote all the verses according to some sources).
He disappeared from the hiplife scene for a long time and then resurfaced featuring on Tic Tac’s hit, ‘Beware of dogs’. Some of his songs include Yebre, Daavi mede kuku, Gogo wo ho, Comfort, Good one there, etc.
Daniel Koranteng Kwagyiri|ahotoronline.com|Ghana
