Nigerian Movie Stars, Ghanaian Hip Hop, and Reality TV

This morning I ran into Jesse again.  Finished my coffee with him and his good friend Ben, who is Ghanaian.   Jesse invited me to join them on their event filled day promoting his new book.  I, of course, said yes.  One should never pass up the opportunity to see a new place in a way you would otherwise not be able to.

A bit about Ben:  Ben is a young guy.  I have trouble figuring out people’s ages here but I am guessing early 20’s.  I did see his passport but come to find out a lot of footballers fake a younger age in their passports as teams want young players.

From what I gathered from chatting with Ben is that he was a bit of a poor, street kid when Jesse first came across him years ago.  Jesse saw the potential there and took him under his wing.  I am assuming this is the time Jesse was living in Ghana. 

I do know that Jesse had such an influence on Ben’s life he took Jesse’s last name in his passport.  That says a lot. 

So, Ben is Jesse’s driver when he comes to town and I do believe that Jesse also stays with Ben some.  After a few errands we stopped to see his good friend that he would be filming a reality TV show with later in the day.  His name is Reggie Rockstone (stage name).  As it turns out he is the Godfather of Hip Life.

 Hip Life is a cross between High Life and Hip Hop.  He absolutely looked the part of a famous hip hopper.  Even his pregnant wife and eight-year-old son look the part of hip hop family. 

We went to a restaurant called Gringo (which is funny as it is a total local place with only Ghanaian food).  We had Banku with a red soup and Tilapia.  Banku is fermented cassava paste.  You pull off a bit of the Banku and dip it in your soup.  Not a huge fan but I have a feeling it grows on you, as everyone here loves it. 

Next stop was a light store in Osu to watch Reggie Rockstone film his reality TV show.  I hung out with Ben and tool advantage of being on the 4^th floor of a building.  I got snap happy with my camera.  Grabbed some pretty good shots.

The next stop was Joy FM; the countrywide radio station.   This place was set up like radio stations in the US back in the day (pre-90’s).  They had the best equipment and stylin’ reception area and the DJs were dressed to the 9’s.  It was very cool.  Wish the US still embraced radio.  

Jesse was doing a radio interview on one of the main rock stations in the Joy FM chain.  The DJ was dressed in a sweet ass suit and tie and sporting killer dreads.  I had seen him earlier standing up DJing and jammin’ out to the tunes he was spinning.  Jesse finally did his eight-minute spot, which I filmed and it went great. 

As we were leaving the studio three tall, light skinned African women dressed like movie stars entered followed by an entourage of photographers.  It turned out to be Nigerian movie stars.  Nigerian is third in line to the film throne right after Hollywood and Bollywood.  Several brushes with fame today that is for sure. 

Finally, we went to Reggie’s nightclub and studio so Jesse could film his bit in the reality TV thing.  Worked out great, as Jesse’s soft publication party will be at the nightclub.  Jesse sent Reggie’s eight-year-old son over to keep me entertained.  I got a good dose of Gangnam Style dance.  Of how small the world has become. 

We got back to Afia at dusk with the grandiose plans of going out again.  In the end the three of us ended up at the beach front bar area.  Ben hung out for a bit and after he left Jesse and I had dinner. 

That lower bar is absolutely divine.  You would never guess you were in a bustling Africa city.