When the parade sergeant major barks, "chest out, chest out"on parade at the Independence Square, it is not only about showing a manliness, or womanliness by standing tall straight and erect, it is also about the bling, that shining medal of honour pinned on the chest for a heroic deed or extra ordinary achievement.
Did not corporal Opee get one for saving his master from choking while the later was tossing sizable mini balls of fufu inadequately lubricated with meatless palm soup down his throat. You see, his master failed to follow the rules of fufu swallowing which dictates, roll the fufu in your fingers then press the thumb in the middle to form a mini pot hole with which you scoop the soup for added lubrication before tossing it.
Did not corporal Opee get one for saving his master from choking while the later was tossing sizable mini balls of fufu inadequately lubricated with meatless palm soup down his throat. You see, his master failed to follow the rules of fufu swallowing which dictates, roll the fufu in your fingers then press the thumb in the middle to form a mini pot hole with which you scoop the soup for added lubrication before tossing it.
President Kuffuor got a new bling, big deal. He has worked hard enough and what better way to show for it than a bling bling befitting the president of Ghana, a bling nation formerly known by that famous bling name, the Gold Coast.
While soldiers chest out their bling, Hip Hop artists, Lil Jon and Flavor Flav, say "yeaah; boyee". These hip hop artists have mouthful of bling. Diamond grills for Lil Jon and Gold teeth for Flavor Flav. Who can ever forget Flavor Flav with his big watch dangling on his chest. He was in Accra with the group Public Enemy in the 80's to perform. Those were the good old fledging days of the hip hop culture, black American culture.
It Is A Black Way Of Life
Hip hop culture is the tale of black people in America trying to establish their way of life as mainstream. There is talk about this culture rising up from the neighbourhoods in Brooklyn New York and Compton Los Angeles etc. It is a right and wrong assertion depending on which side of the Atlantic you reside or how many times you have crisscrossed the Atlantic between the two hip hop lands. Hip hop is about poetry, rhyming, way of dressing, walking and talking, storytelling, singing, and attitude. It is a black African way of life. Talk about gyrate, who can gyrate better than the Takai or Borborbor dancer. In doubt, visit an inner city American neighbourhood and the familiarity gets to you. Familiar faces and expressions, people talking loud and trashy, the people from Ga Mashie and James Town area living near the sea will recoil in surprise but feel at home and join in the fray; kue, ka fee buulu
Want to know the origins of rap, blues or rhymes, listen to nyonkrom, go to a storytelling time at Anasekrom, listen to Gyedu Blay Amboulley and the Ta’di people do the Simigwa. Who can rhyme better than the former state linguist, Okyeame Akuffo and his son who can spew out more than 200 words in a minute. Who shows more attitude than an Adowa dancer with a proud facial expression and movement; or a king dancing in his palanquin extending his arms and back to his chest saying in sign language that, everything around here belongs To me. You want to see a way of dressing, wait till the Kundum, Aboakyir or Damba festivals and witness our kings and queens decked out in colourful tradional wear; and the best display of bling bling in gold ever on this planet. Heavy gold triangles, chains and necklaces; rings and crowns, all real. Proper real even if the against people say the real gold ornaments were locked up in a chop box buried deep in a hole under the king’s bed.
Bling Bling Is Not All About Showing Off
Get the picture now? Bling-bling, the ostentatious show of wealth and jewellery as defined by Webster dictionary runs in our gene pool, it is a black thang. Other races might indulge in it but we put an attitude to it and we show it off like no other race and being part of hip hop, it originated from Africa. It is in the president’s blood. Say it for real, ewor ne mogya mu how for do. An African American would buy a car for a thousand dollars but the bling installed on the car, shinny spinning alloy wheels, and front grills alone could be more than triple the car’s value. And guess what, he lives in the Housing Projects, heavily subsidized by government. Low cost houses we used to call them in Ghana. Remember when then Finance Minister, Kwesi Botchway used to put local contractors in place when they cried foul for not getting enough contracts like their foreign counterparts. Apparently Ghana man gets one contract, makes small money and orders the latest bling car instead of reinvesting in his company. See, it is in the blood, mogya mu
Still, bling bling is not all about just showing off, it is a source and show of power. Ghana, the land of gold has a presidential gold sword, and every president has to wield the sword with one hand on D day. On the day of inauguration, should the gold state sword, the ultimate symbol of bling power fall from the brand new president‘s hand, saayooo. How could you wield power over these bling loving people of Ghana without wielding the symbol of power? The presidential candidates, all sporting grey hairs better stick to their vitamin regiments or start taking some, then hit the gym to work out once or twice a week to pump those muscles that aspire to become presidential muscles. Remember the last time the state sword appeared to have been held with an unsteady hand, there was a comeback. Luckily this bling nation has outgrown comebacks but we will never outgrow bling bling.
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