Ghana Music Industry has witnessed some finest and excellent music producers and sound engineers.

These music producers and sound engineers helped the very best artists to make Ghana music what it is today. Here we bring you the top 5 music of all time.

1. Hammer

Hammer of The Last Two (born Edward Nana Poku Osei, March 27, 1976) is a record producer in the Ghanaian music industry. He is the founder and CEO of The Last Two Music Group and is also known for grooming some of the best Ghanaian Hip Hop or Hiplife artists, including Obrafour, Tinny, Kwaw Kese, Sarkodie, Ayigbe Edem, and others. As a producer, he is credited as one of the pioneers and key figures in the popularization of Hiplife or Hip Hop made in Ghana.

Hammer attended Yellow Duckling nursery school, St Theresa’s School, Achimota Primary School and finally the Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School, Legon.

Hammer was known to drum on any surface available to him anywhere he found himself and was also known to patrol his neighborhood with a boom box sound system while playing loud music with friends.

The name “Hammer” initially came from a mock performance of MC Hammer’s “Here comes the Hammer” back in school as a fresher but now the Hammer name is related to the raging heavy drums associated with his music production.

Hammer began his career in music accidentally, when a friend of his (Yaw Opare Anoff, aka Way Deep), a gifted keyboardist at the time encouraged him to take up the career because he realized Hammer had the ability to dissect and analyze music in the most unusual ways as a professional does.

He also had the habit of finding faults with world-class professional music which he thought could be better. This friend and Hammer then formed a production unit called The Last Two, meaning the only two left to put Ghana on the world map musically. Together they produced an album for a young artist called Obrafour which became the highest selling Hiplife album in Ghana.

This album was called Pae mu ka. Way Deep, however, left for the United States while Hammer remained as “one of the two” left alone with the task of fulfilling the dream of two. Hammer however decided to maintain the name The Last Two as a tribute to his friendship with Way Deep.

2. Richie

Richie Mensah (born 17 May 1986), better known by his stage name Richie, is an award winning Ghanaian singer-songwriter and record producer. After producing records for several artists, Richie set up Lynx Entertainment record label and released his debut album All of Me on the label in 2008.

He has since then gone on to win several awards both as a singer and record producer and is fast establishing himself as one of the biggest names in the Ghanaian music industry.

Richie was born in Accra, Ghana, and started performing at the age of six with his brother and sister at local variety shows. He decided to embark on a career in music while studying science at Achimota Senior High School, Accra. Richie graduated from Achimota Senior High School in 2003 and started producing records while studying computer software engineering at NIIT, Accra.

Richie set up Lynx Entertainment in 2006 and became the first artist signed to the record label. He went on to sign ASEM, OJ Blaq, Irene Logan, Eazzy, Zigi and MzVee as well as producing for and collaborating with Tinny, Okyeame Kwame, VIP, Praye, Bradez, Irene and Jane, Obour, Becca and several other big names in the Ghanaian music industry.

He also worked on Originality the third album of Nigerian R&B star Faze. The artistes on the record label have had critical and commercial success with songs such as “Frema”, “Pigaro”, “Runaway”, “Wengeze”, “No More Kpayor”, “You Say Wey Tin” and “One Gal” with the label winning the “record label of the year” award at the Ghana Music Awards in 2009.

In 2010, the artistes on the Lynx Entertainment record label Richie, ASEM, OJ Blaq, Eazzy and Zigi collaborated on Africa’s Moment, which was featured on Hello Afrika, Sony Music’s release in conjunction with the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The song was also featured in the Vodafone advert that staged the first ever flashmob in West Africa. Lynx Entertainment released Back 2 Zero in July 2011.

The album featured all the artistes on the record label as well as several renowned Ghanaian musicians such as Gyedu Blay-Ambolley, Tinny, V.I.P, Okyeame Kwame, Efya, Trigmatic, Sonni Balli, EL, Jael Wiafe, Ayigbe Edem and Iwan.

After producing songs for several African artistes, Richie released his debut album All of Me in 2008. The album featured hit singles “Frema”, “When I Get You” and “Dirty Dance”. The release of this album established Richie as one of the hottest R&B stars on the Ghanaian music scene and led to award nominations at the 2009 Ghana Music Awards for “Discovery of the Year”, “Best Male Vocal”, “Hip Hop Song of the Year”, “Afro Pop Song of the Year” and “Collaboration of the Year”.

He also won “Male Music Star of the Year” award at the 2009 Joy FM’s Nite with the Stars. Richie again won the award for “Producer of the Year” at the 2010 Ghana Music Awards and “Simple”, a song he produced for the Ghanaian music duo Bradez, won “Most Popular Song of the Year” at the Ghana Music Awards in 2010 and “West African Song of the Year” at the 2010 Museke Online African Music Awards.

Richie continues to nurture young talent and has established “Lynx School of Arts”, a performing arts school in Ghana for talented people looking to enter the entertainment business

In 2012, he signed an all female group called D3 to his Lynx Entertainment record label. The group, released hit singles such as ‘Good Girls Gone Bad’ and ‘Gyani Gyani’ before splitting at the end of 2013 due to educational commitments of the young group members.

The lead singer of the group, MzVee was subsequently signed to the record label as a solo artiste and has gone on to release two albums, Reveelation in 2014 and Verified in 2015, to commercial and critical acclaim.

Currently he’s coaching young heavyweight Kuami Eugene, KiDi and Dope nation to greatness just like he’s always been doing.

3. Appietus

Appiah Dankwah, popularly known as Appietus (born 12 March 1977) is a Ghanaian musician, music producer and sound engineer based in Accra, Ghana. The name Appietus gained prominence from his signature “Appietus in the mix”. It was, however, coined from the phrase “Appiahs’ Tools”. He has been the winner of six music industry awards in the 10-year span from the start of his career.

He won the Ghana Music Honours 2015 Best Music Producer and Sound Engineer award, Sun Shine Music Awards 2010 Best Sound Engineer award and the UK Ghana Music Awards, Best Sound Engineer in 2008. His remarkable work has also led him to represent the country in some international programs including WOMEX 2013 in Wales, UK, and Worldtronics in Berlin, Germany, 2012.

Born Appiah Dankwah to Osei Poku and Susana Appiah in Accra, but from Aduman in the Ashanti Region. He attended Ebenezer Secondary School in Dansoman (Class of 1993).

Appietus established his own studio (Creative Studioz) at Dansoman Sahara in the year 2006. Creative Studioz started off as a partnership between Amandzeba and Appietus till the contract expired when Appietus took over as CEO till date.

He has had the opportunity to be on the panel for the Vodafone Icons in 2012 and 2013. He mentored the group that won the 2012 Vodafone Icons and from which an eminent artist Wiyaala has emerged.

Appietus is versatile in his work, his versatility has been proven in his productions, from the various genres he produces and (or) records. His style has always been to adapt to the flow of what trends, he has recorded several genres of music (Afro-Pop, Hi-Life, Reggae, Gospel, Dance Hall, African Traditional, Hiplife, Azonto), which affirm his ability to easily adjust when the need arises.

4. Magnom

Joseph Bulley born in Accra, professionally known as Magnom is a Ghanaian record producer and recording artist , who produces music ranging from Hiphop, dancehall, and Afrobeats. He gained the attention of Ghanaians after he produced the song “illuminati” for Sarkodie.

Magnom grew up around a dad who listened to all genres of music, which helped him in his love for music. He started out as a rapper in a group with fellow rapper Asem but he quit rap for record production.

Magnom attended Christ The King for his junior high school education. He had his secondary education at St. Peters Senior High School and later obtained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from the University of Ghana , Legon where he studied Psychology, Linguistics and Religion

Magnom started working professionally while he was in the university and through working with Asem he later got introduced to other mainstream artistes in Ghana. Since then he has worked with several top artistes such as Sarkodie , VVIP, Samini, Edem, Raquel, Guru, 2face Idibia, Shaker, Flowking Stone, Asem and Popcaan and other musicians. He was nominated for Producer of the Year at the 2015 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards for his production on Edem’s hit song “Koene

On 31 December 2017 Magnom made his first performance outside Ghana at Kigali, Rwanda. He performed at Roc NYE Celebrations on New Year’s Eve at Kigali Serena Hotel. Magnom referred to Kigali as his second home after his performance.

5. Killbeatz

Joseph Kwame Addison, popularly known as KillBeatz, is a Ghanaian music producer and sound engineer from Tema. He is also the CEO of Legacy Life Entertainment, which has signed the Ghanaian musician King Promise.

KillBeatz started playing instruments for his church before he ventured into secular music. He started as a rapper and later switched to music production. He got the name KillBeatz from Ghanaian rapper Omar Sterling (Paedae) of R2Bees.

He was helped by Ghanaian music producer Kaywa at the early stage of his career. He has worked with artists like Sarkodie, Efya, R2Bees, Wizkid, Ed Sheeran, and Fuse ODG, among others.

The various genres of music he produces for include highlife, hiplife, Azonto and Afrobeats. In 2012, KillBeatz contributed heavily to the Azonto music genre by producing beats for a lot of Azonto songs during its prime.

Killbeatz won Producer of the Year at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) in 2013, 2014, and 2018. He received production credit on a song titled “Bibia Be Ye Ye” by British singer Ed Sheeran featuring UK-based Ghanaian artiste Fuse ODG. The song was part of Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (“Divide”) album, which won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 60th Grammy Awards in 2018

Ghanaians, Africans and the world as a whole have once been entertained by talented celebrities especially by some popular music partners.

Today, we are going to use just 3 minutes of our time to read about some of Africa’s best entertainment groups which can no longer be found anywhere in the world of entertainment and why their groups collapsed.

As they say, “charity begins at home”, we will  talk about collapsed Ghanaian celebrity groups and why their group collapsed.

Our first on the list is 4×4.

4×4 was a Ghanaian trio singing group back in the 2000s which includes, Captain Planet (Sylvanus Dodji Jeoffrey), Abortion who is now known as Coded (Raphael Edem Avornyo) and Fresh Prince (Prince Tamakloe).

Ghanaians last heard of this group back in 2014 when they dropped their banger, “Dance” featuring Davido and since then, not even jingle has been dropped by them, they have been individually releasing songs yet they have denied all claims that their group is dead.

Per our observations about 4×4, the group after the release of the track in 2014, that same year Captain Planet got married to his wife, Uche Ofodile.

Could Captain Planet’s marriage to Uche be the reason behind their inactiveness? Let’s try to figure it out here, A few days ago Captain Planet disclosed that as a man you need to listen to your wife’s advise because he, (Captain Planet) was once told by his wife to stay away from friends. Now think about this.

PRAYE

Before we continue, let’s try and explain the meaning of their name, ‘Praye’ which is translated from Akan to English as ‘broom’. Broom is a true symbol of unity.  But one may ask what happened to that unity between these artistes?
Without any doubt, Praye thrilled Ghanaians in the 90’s and 2000’s and was later named winners of the Nescafe Africa Revelation, Ghana Edition in 2004.

The trio continued dropping hits music until Cartel Big Jay and Eugene announced that their partner, Praye Tintin had left their team.

A few years later, Eugene, one of the remaining two got married to an actress by name Beverly Afaglo. After Eugene’s marriage to the actress, their group did not last a year before it collapsed.

However, around 2017, two members of the group decided to resurrect their team but Eugene refused and according to Praye Tintin in an interview, Eugene’s refusal to rejoin the group is because of his wife’s influence.

ANTWI NE ANTWI

Made up of two brothers David and Michael Kofi Antwi – thrilled music lovers with several hit songs including Sekina, Congo Soldier, and Uncle Ebo.

After five albums, which include, Dwene Wo Ho (2000), Sekina (2002), and Uncle Ebo (2003) to their credit, David, who is now an Evangelist, explained that he gave his life to Christ after he fell sick in 2006. How the the great duo parted was was extremely shocking but a good move considering the fact that they did their best to entertain everyone.

“It all started since 2006 when I got sick and it took me two years to be healed by a man of God. A prophecy came that it wasn’t just a sickness; God was calling me so through the healing I had to give my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord and personal savior and I have been in it since 2008. So I am now an evangelist and I am working as man of God,” he narrated.

He added that his calling to do God’s work has affected the fortunes of the group and in spite of that, they tried releasing an album after their split, a mission which has became a daunting one.

“We tried to come out after the healing but it seems God had already picked me out of the group, we have shot about three video but, all [have not] been successful because God just wants to use me. He doesn’t want me to work as Antwi Ne Antwi anymore,” David disclosed.

He has been preaching for three years now and admits “the work of God is so difficult, I don’t want people to think that if you come into the house of the Lord, blessings will be showering on you. You will go through fire before you become what you want to become.”

David however lamented that he misses being the old ‘Antwi Ne Antwi’ but “the hand of God is no more in the name Antwi Ne Antwi,” so a reunion will be impossible.

Asked whether he felt he was a sinner during his days with the group, he stressed that, “doing circular does not mean you are a sinner, doing gospel does not justify that you are a good person or Christian” and that it depends on the message the song carries.

Aside being a minister of the word at the Jesus Generation Ministry in Accra, David said he will be releasing a gospel album soon but will precede it with a motivational song, Victory For Ghana, to inspire Ghanaians.

He has also set his sight on helping his brother repent to join him to do God’s work.

David joins the likes of Hiplife musician Lord Kenya and Hi-life musician Ofori Amponsah who have publicly declared that they have given their lives to Christ.

AKATAKYIE

The duo of Akatakyie is made up of two brothers, Prince Kwabena Budu Asumaning (Kobby Culture) and Ebenezer Kwasi Okyere Asumaning (King Pharoah). They recently released their 5th album and managed to enjoy massive airplay even after almost a decade since their debut. They came out with their maiden album Odo Esisi Me in 1999 which won them the Best Hiplife Song award in the maiden edition of the Ghana Music Awards organized in 2000.

Subsequent to their first album they came out with Ghana Nbaa, Odo Esikyire, Yedi Aba and their latest album “Esi�and these albums all had remarkable hit tracks on them. All their albums when released in their particular year were nominated for Ghana Music Awards.

Since their appearance on the Ghana music industry they have never jumped from one record label to the other, management and their style of music has also not changed. Taking hiplife back; one can say they have really contributed a lot and some call them the real inventors of hiplife that is the fusion of highlife and hip pop. Their style of music has been the trend many hiplifers has trended on.

They’ve had hits like Ghana mmaa, Agoo, Odo esikyire, Sinsima, Esi, Meyare, Masan aba, Oman baapa, Odo ye musu anaa, and Sie sie obaa no featuring Okyeame Kwame.
Hiplife duo, Akatakyie, made up of King Pharaoh and Kobby Culture, has revealed that there were away from music because they were broke.

Speaking in an interview with KMJ on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM, they noted that they had nobody to aid them after the sudden collapse of their record label, Sole Records.

“Financial crises have kept us away from music. We have been totally broke for the past four to five years and I won’t lie about it, things went so bad.

“We were trying to resurrect but people would not allow you to, even those that have the money to support asked so many questions,” the duo revealed.

According to them, unlike the situation now, “we were making money then but not to the extent of how musicians are currently making money.”

Asked what lead to them losing all their money, King Pharaoh explained that; “Well, I will say we never got much. We were going through a lot of problems even with the record company, Sole Records.

“We needed to change the label but when you complain they never listen, they rather listened to [outsiders] .”

According to Kobby Culture, “Sole Records is one of the powerful producers we have ever had in Ghana because [the owner] has all the artistes and musical ideas.

“However, they did not get the right people to manage the company which brought the fall of Akatakyie. We sometimes had to do things all by ourselves…”

The ‘Odo Esisi Me’ hitmakers revealed that, even though they never signed any agreement with Sole Records, they remained loyal to the label.

They were therefore surprised when the owner decided to take a break from music production and management.

“We had no idea so we had to go by it and later regretted what we did,” the duo said.

They added that; “we did not have any producer who [could] aid us in our releasing our music as coming out as an artiste is not an easy task. We could not afford to go to the studio, record or do our own video…it was hell.”

AKYEAME

Akyeame is made up of Okyeame Quame (Quame Nsiah Appau) and Okyeame Quophi (Daniel Quophi Amoateng). They are both solo artistes now. Quame was a DJ at Fox FM, 97.9 and Quophi at Luv FM, 99.5 (both in Kumasi) during a hiatus when they concentrated on other careers than music.

Okyeame Quophi is one half of the famous hiplife dynamic duo, Akyeame (with Okyeame Kwame). He is also known as the Track Quilla. His real name is Daniel Quophi Amoateng and was born in Kumasi to Mr. Daniel Quophi Amoateng and the late Mad. Harriet Quayson. He is married to TV star Stacy Amoateng (Music Music fame), and the two have a child while running EMKLAN entertainment.

Kofi Amoateng went to Methodist  Secondary School in Kumasi met Kwame Nsiah Appau in 1990 while studying after-hours at the Kumasi Polytechnic. They started rapping at street battles and anywhere they could show their talent. Okyeame Quophi was a writer and had written a story book called ‘Rings don’t marry’.

They decided to name themselves Akyeame by taking something from the palace. Akyeame means linguists – as rap linguists – they were going to be a link between the king and his people and interpret ideas to the people through music.

Kofi became Okyeame Quophi, and Kwame became Okyeame Kwame. They looked for producers and met Andrew Opoku Amankwah (Easylink) who was a record executive from London. He helped them record Brebre Obaahemaa in 1997. They were produced by Mark Okraku Mantey. The title track became a hit and Akyeame had arrived.

In 1999, they released Nkonsonkonson which had the hit track called Mesan aba featuring Yoggi Doggi and Nana Quame. They went on to record the Nyansapo, Ntoaso and Apam Foforo albums before splitting in 2004.
During their times together, Okyeame Quophi was a radio presenter for Luv FM in Kumasi, a sister station of Accra’s Joy FM. While he was in the US at the turn of the millenium, he studied sound engineering and videography. He eventually left Luv FM to work for a rival station in Kumasi called Fox FM.

They are famous for their hit, Mesan aba, which was the first hiplife song to win a major Ghana music award. They are two of the most respected rappers in Ghana.
They have since come together to say they are not beefing and Okyeame Kofi produced a track on his new album. They had plans of coming out with an album again in late 2008.

Some of their popular songs include Bra yen tina, Adonko, Sankofa, Ene yebeda okyena, Brebre, Sick with love, Obanyansafo, Damirifa due, Di asa, Asa a aba so, All I got, Akuaba (remix with Kojo Antwi), etc.

When okyeame Kwame was asked about the reason behind the split, his part Okyeame Quame sees things differently. ?Akyeame is still around, it’s just that I have recorded a solo album but I am making sure that Akyeame still remains a group?. Actually the whole plan was that we would both release solo albums and come back together again so Akyeame is still very much together and I am making sure it stays that way.”

But he seems to agree with Quophi when he says that they have separate interests. According to him Quophi seems to have a different focus than he does. He doesn’t feel the hunger that I feel for hiplife anymore, he has other interests so his interest for hiplife seems to have waned?.

Since we both have individual interests and he does not seem to be ready for what I have in mind, I also cannot sit still and wait until he is ready. Adding jokingly Quame said, “I will be nearing my mid-life crisis very soon so I have to secure myself before it hits and I cannot sit down and wait forever?.”

Listen exclusively this hip life jam by talented Madina based upcoming artist called Saforo. The song titled ‘Favour Me’ features the most decorated African rapper of all time, Sarkodie and produced by our very own MOG Beatz.

Sarkodie gives opportunity to another young talent and you will love this song. Listen to the beautiful tune below.