Like the musical blend of highlife that came before it, the “hiplife” anthems coming out of Ghana represent a sound that’s both global and local—the production comes straight from the playbook of hip-hop and dancehall, but many of the rhythms and raps have their roots in West Africa. Though highlife musician Gyedu-Blay Ambolley dropped the first proto-rap track in Ghana in the early ‘70s, hiplife properly blossomed and achieved acclaim across the African continent in the ’90s and 2000s as pioneers like VIP and Reggie Rockstone perfected a distillation of rattling electronic drums, Jamaican-style toasts, and breezy hooks. Sarkodie took hiplife international when he made the Azonto dance go viral in 2012 while rapping in his effortless mix of English and Twi. Meanwhile the clubs in Accra rumble with hit-makers like Medikal, known for his brooding intensity and trap flows.