Obrafuor rocks; Kenya confesses in splendid Back in the Day Concert

It was a sumptuous night of music at the Back in the Day Concert with Obrafuor, showing just why his first album “Pae mu ka” is considered the best hiplife album of all time.

The Empire Entertainment organized concert which took place at the Dome was to bring back fond memories of the early days of the hiplife revolution and the ‘soldiers’ led by the executioner did not disappoint.

Over 20 of them turned up on one night, on one stage; some retired others still very active; some bidding goodbye to hiplife and have embraced gospel; others are now into business, but on the night it was all too glaring- the soldiers had been starved for too long and the stage was on fire.

T Blaze started it all with his sumptuous Secretary hit track lacing it with wusisi y3 wo ya, just what patrons needed to start the evening. Blaze’s looks always endeared him to the ladies and in order not to leave his male fans out of the party, he had two silky sexy female dancers who wiggled their flexible waists much to the admiration of the guys.

It was the glorious melodious memories of the 90s brought back in full flight and Eddie Blay’s then and now picture captured in the NFL music video got patrons laughing their bowels out.

Eddie Blay has changed. The bony cheeks and ribs of Blay had given way to fresh muscles. The NFL crew stepped-up on the stage to relive the good old days of Vote for me make i chop president . They nailed it.

Ey)), Joe Frazier came on stage bellowing. Cast in a frame of a boxer with his gloves on, Frazier kept on punching the air, still rapping as he has always done in his hey days. His rhyming freestyle got him the applause he duly deserved.

Ex-Doe came with his “maba” track; Chicago followed with his “wobeko” track evoking memories of the controversial ‘diss’ days of Ghana’s hiplife. The two in a touching sense of unity sang the song that brought both of them into the lime light in the 2000s-daavi- and crowd marveled.

Chicago nearly marred a superb performance when he decided to go beyond his popular tracks and there were few of those. Dogo pushed his luck too far; his hit track ‘Osumafour’ earned him a decent clap and should have ended there but his poor judgement to sing another song, unpopular if I may add, meant the DJ had to step in to save Dogo and the concert from flopping. He walked out of the stage a little less animated than he walked in.

Then the giant performers came-Lord Kenya, VIP, Tic-tac, TH4 Kwagees, Akatakyie, Kontihene and the Executioner himself were magnificent.

The sika ba- singer set it off with prayer and confessions. He sniffed cocaine, had many sexual affairs in his popular days of old but he has been saved and his now for the Lord.

Kenya nearly turned the concert into a church Convention. He was filled with the spirit and with the subtle approval of MC for the night, Azigiza, another spirit filled convert, Kenya preached on. The fans were patient but with some few grumbles. And when the instrumentals of ‘chicky’ were played by the DJ, accompanied by a few dance moves by Kenya, the Dome went haywire.

Kenya confesses I had no doubt in my mind who the best performer on the night was- Obrafuor! The executioner came in not with his usual trumpet sound of Who born you by mistake. It was the sumptuous rhythmic sound of ‘Pae mu ka’ the title of his first album. Obrafuor performed two tracks on that album with Cy Lover who was making a return to the stage after a long break. Patrons rapped along. Jaws went up and down, fingers were up in the air in one gesture or another. Then came Who born you by mistake and the crowd went ballistic, jumping. Obrafuor sang as many as nine tracks, albeit shortened, but crowd wanted more.

They sang along, danced along and were all frenzy but Obrafuor had to leave for others to come.

Tic-tac came and delivered; VIP came united with Friction and nailed it. Kontihene performed masterfully and Slimbuster was fascinating and flawless with his choreography crew.

The night also saw two giants in the industry- Zapp Marlet and Hammah of the Last two fame being awarded for a life time achievement by the organizers.

It was definitely a night to remember because hardly do these men and one woman, Abrewa Nana queue for a performance.

Ghana|Myjoyonline.com| Nathan Gadugah