Here’s something that some of the hip hop heads may be interested in. Soundway Records is dropping this highly sought after world hip hop record from Free Youth. “We Can Move” from 1985, is one of the first examples of a Ghanian hip hop record. Influenced by American bands like Shalamar, Kool & The Gang, Sugar Hill Gang, Cameo, and Rick James, the sounds on “We Can Move” are spot on with what was going on in the States at the time. The three members of Free Youth, the brothers Terry “Sir Robot” Bright and Abednego “King Abed” Ayim Bright as well as Lenny “Nii Addy” Dimple were dancers at various parties in Accra. Often joined by other dancers and troupes, including Reggie Rockstone, who would rise in the public eye commercially later, Free Youth would garnish attention as entertainers. They drew so much that producer George Alhassan approached them to put out a release. “We Can Move” would be born out of the sessions they did with Alhassan at Ghana Films studio. Although, like many artists they were promised the moon and the stars and the equivalent in profit, upon sending their masters to the Netherlands, they would not see anything from their efforts. They would go on to fall out with Alhassan. The record would see a release eventually in the Netherlands, but none would make it back to Ghana. Eventually they managed to get their master tapes of that recording session back to Ghana, only to have it dramatically damaged during transport, leaving only few tracks left, which included “We Can Move”. The group eventually broke up, never to play again and would go their separate ways not in the music biz. Soundway has restored and remastered “We Can Move” fully, as well as placing an instrumental cover version by Drymbago from Wales on the B-side. So three and a half decades later, we finally see this record. It’s a burner, completely authentic sounds from the mid ’80’s. Listen to the record below. Order from Soundway after the stream.

Get the record here.

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