One name always comes fore when you hear the hard bass drums and horns in a Ghanaian Hip Hop or Hip-Life tune. He is an originator, a pace setter and talent genius who discovers raw talents and makes them superstars with time.
Most A-List rap artiste in Ghana owe their credit to this man behind the Last Two Music Group Record Producer, Edward Nana Poku Osei popularly known as Hammer is our GhanaGist Star of the Week.
Hammer was introduced to the music business by his keyboardist friend, Yaw Opare Anoff aka Way Deep. W-Deep had noticed Hammer as a critic to sound and music in a professional way.
Even with popular world class hit tunes Hammer will still find faults to it. With this great mind, Hammer teamed up with his friend to form the legendary Hip-hop music production group, The Last Two.
The name Last Two simply intended to bring Yaw Opare Anoff and Hammer as the “Last Two” music makers to create a world appreciated and acceptable sound from the shores of Ghana that can put the country and the Ghanaian music industry on the music world map.
Their first break to the music scene was when they produced and worked on their first music act, Obrafour with his maiden album, “Pae Mu Ka”. The album came with a unique sound and attracted a cross section of the Ghanaian music market which eventually became the best and highest selling Hip-life album in the history of Hip-life/Hip-Hop in Ghana.
Way Deep left to the United States of America after the launch of “Pae Mu ka” and left Hammer solely in the helm of affairs.
But Hammer as a visionary and a true passionate music lover with an entrepreneurial spirit managed to launch the careers of other celebrated artiste now after Obrafour. He did it for Tinny, Kwaw Kesse, Sarkodie and Edem.
No wonder these music heads teamed up in 2014 with the tribute song to Hammer “Y3da W’ase”.
He used music to bridge dialects in the Ghanaian society. This strategy touched various segmented regions in the country. From Obrafour’s Akan lyrical voice which was enjoyed largely by the Ashanti’s to Tinny’s Ga in the Greater Accra Region, Kwaw Kesse’s Fante in the Central Region and Edem’s Ewe, the mother tongue of the Volta Region.
The rap talent hunter is now working with Teephlow, a Takoradi base rapper who is newly signed to the Last Two Music Group.
Hammer has three studio compilation albums to his credit which features a host of Ghanaian musicians. In 2003, he produced and launched “The Execution Diary”, a year after we spotted the birth of “Sounds Of Our Time” then in 2006 “The Crusade of the Lost Files” was found on record.
He is currently the national director of Hiplife among other executives at the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA).
Hammer will be described as the Dr. Dre of the Ghanaian music industry and such a personality must be celebrated and honoured with his legacy.
By Samuel Omane-Mensah/GhanaGist.com