Hipco music is Hip Hop with a Liberian flavor, a combination of Hip Hop beats and raps delivered in Colloqua, a mixture of English and native Liberian tongues. Right now it’s the hottest sound on the African continent and in keeping with the OnStage pledge to bring you the hottest music it’s a sound we’ll be sharing more of in the weeks to come. We started with the best, Takun J, pictured on the right, who is kind of the Jay Z of Hipco, and posted one of his videos “You Meaning Me” in the OnStage Video Showcase a few weeks ago. Then we followed up with “Ghetto Inspiration” by Nasty, a video with a theme that connects Hip Hop storytelling and “My Hood” scene setting. In Ghetto Inspiration it’s the streets of Monrovia but we see a lot of that same theme in DMV videos from Erie Ave to Boog Wonderland to Young Sir and Yung Richie P.
Check out our most recent Hipco entry “Talk It Like Me” by TruStorry. It’s not coincidental at all to us that Hipco should have so much in common with the music coming out of the urban streets of the US. After all, out of the many nations in Africa, Liberia is the one with which we share a preponderance of DNA. Family ties that stretch across the Atlantic may have been lost over the years but a lot of black folk in America have cousins they never knew existed in Liberia. How cool is it when you meet a cousin you’ve never known and discover you have the same outlook, like the same kind of weather, have the same style, and bang the same music? We want to use Hipco to start the reunion. Youtube is full of Hipco videos if you check for them. Guaranteed you’ll find something you like, and also check out a nice mixtape from US based Liberian DJ and producer Chief Boima.
After you’ve gotten the full flavor of Hipco, imagine with us what it would be like if a group of DMV rappers and DJs and producers and Blog writers and videographers took a trip to Monrovia to meet our cousins. What you’d get is a great documentary and an even greater soundtrack! It would be difficult to make it happen, but not impossible. We’ve got a lot of assets and a ton of creative thinking in our town. Might just be a matter of folks contributing ideas, suggesting sources, and keeping the conversation alive. Like they say in radio, "The lines are open..."