Okyeame Kwame has expressed his dissatisfaction with the growing influence of American culture in Ghana’s music industry, which he has labelled as ‘Californianism‘.

Speaking in an interview, the former member of the group Akyeame highlighted the global spread of American culture through movies, music, and music videos, particularly through hip-hop music and pop culture.

He emphasized that this dominance has made it easier for Ghanaians and other African countries to integrate their art into the American system for visibility, rather than into the African system, a phenomenon that he finds deeply concerning.

“The media has been engulfed by Californianism… Californianism is the Americanization of global cultures. American cultures have spread worldwide due to their beautiful movies, music, and music videos.

“They have used hip-hop music and pop culture to dominate the world’s pop culture. Because of this, it’s easier to integrate your art into the American system for visibility than into the African system.

He underscored the challenge of discovering platforms that acknowledge music in traditional Ghanaian genres such as Hiplife or Highlife, as opposed to the more globally accepted genres like Hip-hop and Reggae.

“For instance, when you release an album, you can distribute it on iTunes, Spotify, or Apple Music… but you won’t find a category for Hiplife or Highlife. However, you will find categories for Hip-hop and Reggae, but not for the Ghanaian sound.

“I’m not assigning blame, but as an artist like myself who wants visibility, you can create a hip-hop channel and use existing channels for distribution and visibility,” he added.

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