Hiplife Survived On Passion, Not Money—Tic Tac

The introduction of the Hiplife movement and its growth in the 90s and early 2000s in Ghana was fueled by something more than money.

According Tic Tac, one of the pioneering artists who took the genre global, the movement survived mainly on the passion of the artists and their promoters to grow and become that lucrative business it is today.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show with Bernard Avle in the build up to Decemba 2 Remember, powered by Citi 97.3 FM and Airtel, he shared his story and that of the art Ghanaians and the world have grown to love so much.

“I was in secondary school when I started music. It started somewhere in class 6 and in 1996 I got into mainstream. I went professional in 1999/2000 when I graduated from Secondary School. Abraham Ohene Gyan gave me a chance to go professional. I had done gigs with Azigizah and Slim Buster before that though. I had a group called Naty Strangers, we were three and later we became four,” he explained.

According to him, music wasn’t his first choice career. Instead, he wanted to be a lawyer because he wanted to express himself.

“I always wanted to be a lawyer but along the line I became a musician. It was another way I thought I could express myself and my parents supported me. I used to tell my Dad I wanted to rehearse with the fish band in my neighborhood. The fish band gave me a chance and I flew on that chance. My parents were very supportive. They made me know that as long as I was going to be a good boy, I could pursue my passion of music,” he revealed.

Asked what was the driving force behind the Hiplife movement that employs so many people now, he explained that the passion to succeed was huge and that got the results we see today.

“When we started music we were not making money but we survived on our passion. We started from when there was nothing and now that there is something, we should make use of all that we have. Back in the days, I realized Ghanaian music was just staying put in Ghana so I decided to break boundaries and I featured Meiway and Tony Tetuila and it worked. We did cross marketing in the various countries to ensure we push Ghanaian music further and it also worked. The passion was just there and it was big,’ he said.

He assured fans that he’ll live up to expectation at this year’s Decemba 2 Rememba concert.

“This year’s D2R will be my second time. The first time was crazy. I did a live band thing and it was huge and I want to do more. I’ve got my band and my DJ, we combine to astound audiences and we are combining to deliver fireworks at #D2R2013.”