The massive performance by Shatta Wale at the MTN Pulse Concert at the Accra Sports Stadium cannot be ignored and the exposition on Stonebwoy’s knee surgery necessitated by a so-called fan’s imitation of how he looks sums up an entertainment scene with a whole lot to talk about. Take it or leave it, once again Elephant Man has proved that either he does not respect Ghanaians or he does not just want to perform in Ghana. Elephant Man did not show up for the MTN Pulse Concert.
I could go on and on with some of the happenings on the entertainment scene but let me now focus my attention on Celebrations with Ebenezer Narh Affum and for this week’s edition, I celebrate R2Bees; Refuse To Be Broke.
R2Bees is a Ghanaian hip hop and hiplife duo from Tema made up of Rashid Mugeez and Faisal Hakeem (Paedae). Rashid Mugeez and Faisal Hakeem were both born and raised in Tema, east of the country’s capital city – Accra in Ghana, West Africa. Paedae is the CEO and leader of the group, whilst Mugeez is the lead vocalist. The two cousins, who have been together their whole life, lived in the same house and also attended the same primary, junior and secondary school in Tema.
Beginning their career early, they started off representing their school in rap competitions as well as inter school music contests. This led them to participating in popular radio competition Kasahare, which they won most of them and also performed at most shows; gaining them more buzz under their stage name at that time – Camp Yard. R2Bees often sing and rap in native language Twi and Pidgin.
R2bees is one of the top purveyors of Ghanaian hip hop sub genre hiplife which mixes rap with sounds of highlife (African pop music) and reggae. In 2012, R2Bees was featured in Forbes’ list of Top 13 African Celebrities to watch in 2013. R2Bees have had the privilege of performing on the same stage with international musicians such as American R&B singers Mario and J Holiday.
R2Bees released its first single titled ”Yawa Girl” in August 2008 and soon the duo became a household name as the single became an instant hit receiving massive airplay and great reviews all over the country. The two gentlemen also released ‘I DEY MAD” which also became successful on the music scene. For several weeks, the song topped most of the Radio Music Charts in the country. The music career of the two gentlemen was taken a notch higher when they featured one of Nigeria’s biggest stars, Wande Coal on their track titled ” Kiss your hand”; their third single.
Subsequently, they released the 17-track album Da Revolution which had hits like ‘Yawa Girl’, I dey Mad’, ‘T.E.M.A’, ‘Kiss Your Hand’ with new ‘Radio’ and others. ‘One more Chance’ and ‘Africa’ with production from Killbeatz (Joseph Addison) as well as guest appearances from Wande Coal, Sarkodie, Samini, Kwaw Kese, Wande Coal, Samini and a host of others made Da Revolution a massive album worth having and listening to .
In March, 2013, R2Bees released its second studio album, the ‘Refuse To Be Broke – Da Revolution II’, at the Silver Lounge at the Accra Mall. This album had 19 solid songs such as ‘Ajeii’, ‘Life (Walaahi)’, ‘Odo’ and ‘Bayla Trap’. The album had also guest appearances from Wizkid, Sherifa Gunu, Davido, Tinchy Stryder and Voicemail .The album’s production was handled by KillBeatz who produced or co-produced all the tracks on it. After the successful release of the album, R2Bees have released other singles: “Lobi”,”Gboza” and etc. The highlife influenced song’s (Lobi) video was released on 25 September 2014.
The single received massive air play since it`s release. R2Bees was nominated in the 2013 edition of the Nigeria Entertainment Awards in the Western African Artiste or Group of the Year category and for the same awards, R2Bees was nominated in the African Artiste of the Year (Non-Nigerian) category in 2014. R2Bees was also nominated in the Best African Artiste category for The Headies in both 2013 and 2014.
R2Bees’ song ”Kiss Your Hand’ won the awards Afro Pop Song of the Year and Collaboration of the Year at the Ghana Music Awards in 2011. R2Bees also got nominated in the Hip Hop /Hiplife artiste of the Year categoMAHAMAry. The year 2013 was quite a successful year for R2Bees as they got several nominations and awards. R2Bees won the awards Artiste of the Year, Hip Hop / Hiplife artiste of the Year and Group of the Year at the 2013 Ghana Music Awards.R2Bees’ ”Slow Down” won the award for Best Collaboration of the Year and ”Life” also won the Vodafone Song of the Year award.”Odo” also won the Highlife Song of the Year at the 2013 Ghana Music Awards.”Bayla trap” was also nominated in the Hiplife/Hip HOP Song of the Year. Mugeez was nominated in the Song Writer of the Year and then the Male Vocal Performance category.
In the 2014 edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Award, R2Bees were nominated in the Hiplife/ Hip Hop Artiste of the Year and Artist of the year categories and they won the award for Group of the Year. At the 2015 edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, R2Bees got nominations in the Group of the Year, Highlife Song of the Year and Afro Pop Song of the Year categories.
For this year’s edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, R2Bees’ Gboza is in contention for the Afro Pop Song of the Year award against the likes of Only by Fuse ODG, Edem’s Nyedzilo, MzVee’s Abofra, Adina’s Coastal Vibes and EL’s Mi Naa Bo Po. Pae Dae, a member of the R2Bees duo has been nominated in the Hiplife/Hip Hop Artiste of the Year alongside Pappy Kojo, Sarkodie, VVIP, Guru and EL.
R2Bees’ song Concert Party comes up against Adina’s Coastal Vibes, MzVee’s Abofra, Sarkodie’s Bra, Yaa Yaa’s Dumb Drum, Rocky Dawuni’s Shine Light and M.anifest’s Forget Dem for the Record of the Year. Makoma from R2Bees is also nominated in the Highlife Song of The Year category alongside Aka Blay’s Take Away feat. Cabum, Becca’s Hwe, Bisa Kdei’s Mansa, Obrafour’s Pimpinaa feat. Bisa Kdei, Kofi Kinaata’s Susuka and Ofori Amponsah’s Alewa feat. Sarkodie. Mugeez is also nominated in the Best Male Vocal Performance category and Pae Dae in the Best Rapper of the Year category.R2Bees is also nominated in the Best Group of the Year category.
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