Vision In Progress (VIP) is currently made up of Abdul Hamidu Ibrahim (Lazzy) Emmanuel Promzy Ababio (Promzy) and Joseph Nana Ofori (Prodigal) but initially also included Bone & Friction. Their initial involvement with music started way back in the early 90s, at Nima a suburb of Accra. As a group they easily embodied the greatness and perseverance that reflected a tough, unforgiving and ambitious Ghetto life. They met to see “who is who” in rap competitions.
When the Netherlands Royal couples, His Royal Highness Willem Alexander and Princess Mixima visited Ghana, VIP innovatively composed a song entitled “Friends” for the august occasion also referred to as “Lasting Impact” which took VIP for a live musical performance in Denhaag, Netherlands.
VIP was nominated for the Ghana Music Awards 2002 as the Hip-Life Rap Music Group of the Year. Many people have marvelled at their performance on stage and the most current is the fantastic and unprecedented one they did at the National Theatre during the Ghana Music Awards Night. They also toured the nation with great Osibisa band.
Swimming in fame, they have won several awards such as “Artiste of the Year”, “Song of the Year”, “Hiplife Artiste of the Year”, “Hiplife Song of the Year” and “Hiplife Album of the Year” all in 2004 “Ghana Music Awards”. Their hit song “Ahomka Womu” also won the “Best Music Video Directing”, which went to Felix Dakat. Having however grabbed the prestigious “Artiste of the Year Award”, Lazzy, Promzy and Prodigal, making up the VIP crew represented the nation Ghana at the “2004 Kora Awards” in South Africa which they really made Ghana so proud, and performed alongside with Malian renowned musician Salifu Keita, among others. That same year 2004, VIP represented Ghana as ambassadors in Greece, Athens as part of the fundraising activities for the 2004 Olympics Games.
VIP were also among a few selected Hip-Life artistes that performed alongside the maestro and Grammy Awards winner, Shaggy of Jamaica, when they later toured Ghana for the Christmas 2003 festivities. The two days concerts took place at the Accra International Conference Centre on January 1st, 2004, and at the nation’s Wembley, “Ohene Djan Sports Stadium” on 2nd January 2004, which pulled one of the biggest crowds ever seen in the nation’s entertainment history. VIP, Goodies and Hostess Ambassador Juli Endee in a radio interview in Monrovia, Liberia. VIP were flown by United Nations chartered flight to Liberia and Sierra Leone where they participated in the “Peace and Reconciliation Concerts” organised by the United Nations and Liberian Government.
A “Thank you” concerts were also organised by United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone February, 2005. The Group again flew to South Africa to win another Award as the “Best Group in Africa” in March, 2005 (Channel O Music Video Award).
VIP together with all the artistes under Goodies Music Production Label at the forefront in “Fighting Hiv/Aids Through Music” the crusade launched by Goodies Foundation and Goodies Music Production in Collaboration with Ghana AIDS Commission, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) organised a forum to educate all musicians about the HIV/AIDS pandemic so that they can disseminate the message to the people. They actively participated in the numerous seminars, rallies, concerts, and charitable initiatives by Goodies Music Production, Goodies Foundation and West Africa AIDS Foundation, as well as those organised by many other organisations like Vintage Vision Limited.
Their last album, My Love was released in 2007 and it featured collaborations with Tony Tetuila and 2 Face of Nigeria, and Awadi from Senegal. Internationally, VIP has performed in the United Kingdom, Amsterdam, Denhaag, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and South Africa. They are currently working on new material.
2018)
VVIP , formerly known as VIP (Vision In Progress) is a Ghanaian Hiplife music group maade up of Zeal, formerly known as Lazzy (Abdul Hamid Ibrahim), Prodigal (Joseph Nana Ofori) and Reggie Rockstone (Reginald Ossei) from Nima a suburb in Accra, Ghana[1][2]
Formation
The founder of this group is actually Friction (Musah Haruna) who formed this group with a friend of his who later had to leave the group for the U.S. to finish his education. So Friction proposed the idea to four people (Promzy, Lazzy, Prodigal, Bone-later left the group) and before they knew it, the five of them were performing at ghetto parties, clubs, street festivals etc.
Friction’s dog, Chicago, was also an official member of the group. You could hear the dog growling at the end of their tracks from the late 1990s. Eventually Chicago died. [3]
Albums
In 1997, VIP presented at a street carnival. It was then that a Ghanaian television-presenter, Blakofe (aka Akua Manfo) and a radio-presenter called Michael Smith discovered the group. Blakofe became their manager, and Michael Smith gave them a contract by the name, Precise Music. In 1998, they released their first album, Bibi Baa O , they were famous all over Accra. They became the most popular Hiplife group in Ghana. In 2000, they released their second album, Ye De Aba , which was more successful than their first album. After the second album, Friction felt that it was his time to work as an individual artist and quit the group. The group now had three members (Promzy, Prodigal and Lazzy) and released a third album in 2001 called Lumbe Lumbe Lumbe with the smashing hit “Daben na Odo Beba”. However the hip life group conquered the Ghana music charts with their 2003 album
Ahomka Womu ; their single also named “Ahomka Womu” was number one on the Ghanaian charts for over 20 weeks. VIP won five awards at the Ghana Music Awards from the hit single and the group gained international exposure after this success. [4] Since then, the group has been touring worldwide. They are now among the most famous artists in Ghana. Promzy then later left the group to work as a solo artist but according to him he says he did not break out of the group [5][6][7]
Following the exit of Promzy, Reggie Rockstone , the godfather of Ghanaian rap who back in the mid 90’s christened the new genre Hiplife , joined the group. The new group’s name metamorphosed in VVIP and they have since produced smash singles like “Selfie”, “Skolom” and “Dogoyaro”.
Documentary
VIP have launched their 110-minute documentary, Home Grown:Hiplife in Ghana; produced and directed by the American independent filmmaker, Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi. Some artists present at the launching were Reggie Rockstone, Hashim, Tinny, Sidney, Tic Tac , Mzbel, Rab Bakari, Faze of Nigeria and other artists from Africa and the Caribbean. And to celebrate the release of Home Grown, BDNP (Boogie Down Nima Productions) is set to travel a worldwide release tour of the film in several countries including Brazil, UK, India, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, Italy, Norway, Jamaica, and the United States [8] .
Awards
‹ The template below ( Awards table ) is being considered for merging. See templates for discussion to help reach a consensus. ›
Year Nominee / work Award Result
1997 vip Best Album Cover – African Hip Hop.Com(Europe) Won
2004 vip Hip-life Song Of The Year – Ahomka Wo Mu (Ghana Music Awards) Won
2004 vip Hip-life Album Of The Year – Ahomka Wo Mu (Ghana Music Awards) Won
2004 vip Song Of The Year – Ahomka Wo Mu (Ghana Music Awards) Won
2004 vip 2004- Artiste Of The Year (Ghana Music Awards) Won
2004 vip Hip-life Artiste Of The Year (Ghana Music Awards) Won
2004 vip 2004- Best album of the year – Ghana Music Awards (UK) Won
2005 vip Best African Group -Channel O (South Africa) Won
2005 vip Most Popular Artiste of the Year (Nigeria Music Awards) Won
2005 vip – Youth Excellency Awards (Ghana) Won
2006 vip Achievement Award for community service (Ghana) Won
2010 vip Best group video -4syte Music Awards (Ghana) Won
2010 vip Best hiplife video -4syte Music Awards (Ghana) Won
2010 vip Artiste of the year at the City People Awards (Nigeria) Won
2011 vip 2011-Best hiplife Artiste of the year – Ghana Music Awards [9] Won
2012 vvip Best choreography of the year 4syte Music Awards (Ghana) [10] Won
2014 vvip Best choreography of the year 4syte Music Awards (Ghana) [11] Won
2014 VVIP Best collaboration choreography of the year 4syte Music Awards (Ghana) [11] Won
2014 vvip Best collaboration choreography of the year Ghana Music Awards (Ghana) Won
2015 vvip Best group of the year (Ghana Music Awards) [12] Won
2015 vvip Best group of year (GEA) Won
2016 vvip Best group of the year (AFRIMA – All Africa Music Awards) [13] Won
2016 vvip Best group video of the year (AFRIMA – All Africa Music Awards) [13] Won
Notable Concerts
2003- “Hip-Life Explosion” Tour (London, Amsterdam, Sweden, Denhaag) [14]
2004- Back Stars (GH National Football team) Fundraiser show for the OlympicGames in Athens (Greece)
2004- “Peace and Reconciliation Concerts” organized by the United Nations and Liberian Government. [15]
2005- “Thank you” concerts were also organized by United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone
2006- “Hip-Life Invasion” Tour (The USA from New York to Los Angeles) [16]
2008-present Home Grown Hiplife Documentary Tour World
