Root Eye - Zapp Mallet Coined The Name Hiplife, Not Reggie Rockstone

• Root Eye

Reggae/dancehall artise and host of TV3’s Music Music, Root Eye, has dabbled in the hiplife controversy by saying that the name hiplife was coined by legendary music producer, Zapp Mallet and not Reggie Rockstone.

This debate has been ongoing for several years but has taken prominence in recent times. Reggie Rockstone has always been credited with creating the hiplife genre but several industry players who were present in the formative stages of the genre have disputed that fact.

• Zapp Mallet

The latest was Reggie’s cousin, Barima Sidney who virtually called Reggie a liar for stating that he created the genre. According to him, Reggie can be credited with releasing the first local rap album but not the genre hiplife.

The newest person to add his voice to the debate is Root Eye, a pioneer of the genre who was there during the formative stages of the genre and was on a couple of Reggie’s albums.

According to Root Eye who was Speaking on First Digital TV’s entertainment talk show, Cold-facts, renowned sound engineer Zapp Mallet was the one who named the genre, HIP-LIFE and not Reggie.

He said Zapp came up with the name during an argument over a name for the genre at the Combine House of Music (CHM) Studio at Mataheko in Accra to which they all agreed in the presence of Reggie.

He further asked Reggie to show appreciation to all the artistes who were doing their thing before he came and who in one way or the other, helped to make his first album a success.

    “We can only say Reggie Rockstone was the first artiste to release a hip-life album but before his coming in 1994, there were other artistes like Kwaku Tutu, Abeiku Rebeiro, Kwame Fakye, Nananom, Talking Drum, Notorious For Life(NFL) that later became Native Funk Club. Reggie must mention all these names anytime he speaks about the genre and not paint the picture that he singularly made the brand what it is today,” he concluded.