Friday, May 30, 2008
Hip Hop is African: Recent film chronicles rise of Ghanaian Hip-Life group V.I.P. (Vision in Progress)
Everyone who is at all down recognizes that Hip Hop is the lingua franca of global youth culture. What's also cool is that the form continues to morph by syncretically merging with indigenous styles - as in the rise of the Ghanaian style Hip-Life - a combination of Hip Hop and High Life epitomized by the group V.I.P. To get a more in-depth look at this musical and cultural phenomenon - on going since the mid 90's - check out the recent documentary by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi, HOMEGROWN: HipLife in Ghana. The film chronicles the rise of V.I.P.(Vision in Progress) and their first international tour. The film was screened this month (May 2008) at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD) in San Francisco.
Links
To learn more check out Ghana
Music.com
V.I.P on YouTube: Here
