King Lagazee: My life is a Reggae/Dancehall book, I will defend Sound System Culture till my last breath

“Everything around me revolves around Reggae & Dancehall, I will defend Sound System Culture till my last breath” – King Lagazee

Ghanaian Reggae/Dancehall Presenters & Selectors (DJs) — when it comes to highlighting and celebrating Reggae/Dancehall & Sound Clash Culture in Ghana, the on-air personalities, mobile jocks and online promoters who push the ‘twin genre’ are arguably the least celebrated.

Just like medics who are frontline-workers saving lives of patients in hospitals and health sanatoriums, Reggae/Dancehall Presenters and Jocks in this country (Ghana) have laid their lives down for artistes in this genre to make sure they are heard. Most Ghanaian mainstream Reggae/Dancehall musicians have had their breakthrough and or sustainability the most through the hands of these ‘workers’ behind the scenes who push and promote their content.

On this journey of highlighting and documenting these ‘unsung heroes’ of Ghana’s Reggae/Dancehall fraternity, our maiden spotlight is none other than Hitz 103.9fm’s authoritative Presenter/Selector, King Lagazee.

The name “Isaac Ago Tetteh Monney” when mentioned on any media platform in Ghana perhaps would have millions in wonderland as to who exactly is called by that. Interestingly, that’s the full name of the baritone Reggae/Dancehall Presenter — King Lagazee.

I was honoured to engage King Lagazee over the weekend to exhume some in-depth the public hasn’t heard before. His story and journey is quite an interesting one.

Who is King Lagazee?

To open conversations I asked Isaac Ago Tetteh Monney, popularly known as King Lagazee to tell me in not more than 5 sentences who he was. Here’s the witty but offensively bold answer I got from him;

“King Lagazee is a Radio and TV personality, a sound owner (Lagazee Sound International) and also a Farmer. I’m a down to earth and God-fearing person but I get mean when necessary. I am a 100% ‘reggaematical’ person who is fronting Sound System Culture in Ghana.”

The fashionable Presenter is known to be a very go-easy fellow and an openly nervy persona. His knowledge about the Reggae/Dancehall culture is quite plausible, and his research into archives for interviews leaves one awed each time, the artistes he interviews even become more awed as to how he gets to scoop certain information about them.

Early Life

I dug into his early life to find out how his undiluted passion for Reggae/Dancehall sprouted.

According to King Lagazee, “at age 9 I was exposed to some JVC Cassettes with sound clash on it by one Steve from the UK and I fell in love with Reggae music and I got addicted to it from there. It just didn’t stop there, I began asking questions periodically about sound system set ups and how to play the songs etc.”

The probe went deeper and got more interesting when he narrated one witty incident that happened. “I remember one hot afternoon after school I came home and there was no food at home and I found Culture Livity cassette on my Dad’s shelf and I slot it into the tape, after listening to the whole album, it was a ‘born again‘ into a new world, and then the likes of Super Cat, Shabba Ranks, NinjaMan, etc also stepped in and my love reggae just shot up.“

The Move Into Radio

“Yaad Settingz” undoubtedly the most vibrant Ghanaian Reggae/Dancehall magazine on radio at the moment. Not to discredit other ‘respectable’ Reggae/Dancehall radio shows but “Yaad Settingz” on Hitz 103.9fm has proved itself as the lead show and arguably too, the most listened at the moment.

At age 21 in 2002, he found himself on Sunrise FM in Koforidua. “My voice was heard on my own radio Reggae show – Ital Riddims on Sunrise FM but before then, I used to select for BushMan on Radio Z (also in Koforidua) after the owner discovered me as a talented youth in an argument with my peers in our area in Koforidua Atekyem. We were arguing about Yellow Man and he was shocked with our reasoning at that age, so he decided to try me on air and I didn’t disappoint his call to task” – King Lagazee explained.

Sound System Culture

Before radio, King Lagazee used to follow Ghanaian Sound Systems (locally known as “Spinners”). This would help him hone the craft and later become a lead face of the Sound System Culture in Ghana.

“We used to pack sound (PA) systems on trucks and travel into the countryside playing for funerals and parties. I was like the number one MC that you can’t go without. Basically reggae music was played in every section I play,” he added.

“I can tell you on authority that Steve Allen from UK introduced me into all these, showing me some dances with Bass Odyssey performing with Squingy as the MC; it was mind blowing and I fell for it, matter of fact, I wanted to become Squingy at that moment at this was in the late 1990s,” – King Lagazee.

As to how he has been able to launch himself impeccably from the analogue days into today’s digital ways of keeping up on iar and off air activity, King Lagazee says “the secret is constant learning and keeping close contacts with all my artistes who are more or less my ‘friends’. In this business if you don’t have information you can’t give information, so from the old school days to the new school era we are in now, I try my best to keep the balance with more reading and researching plus keeping close gap between myself and the artistes and their respective Management Team folks.”

Though King Lagazee runs his radio show once a week, it feels as if he does multiple runs for it; because even off air, he keeps the energy, drive and update across audience, courtesy social media platforms.

King Lagazee is an internet savvy fellow who gives critical attention to his social media pages. He’s carved for himself a cult following both online and offline – he has been able to effortlessly deliver as an MC for dozens of Reggae/Dancehall gigs as well as headline MC for respective Artiste concerts – like Stonebwoy’s “Ashaiman To Da World Concert” (2017) where he remarkably was able to calm down a highly agitating crowd who were flinging stones, bottles and ‘mini weapons’ of all kinds on stage after one of the stage hands miscommunicated something derogatory to them (the crowd), AND again he was able to handle Samini’s annual concert “Saminifest” 2018 on the Oxford Street, Osu in December that year.

Work on Television

King Lagazee is a face of Reggae/Dancehall on TV as well. i questioned him about his journey in television pushing the same agenda and below was the response I got from the ‘Reggaematical Professor’.

“Well, in 2011 Maxwell Amankwa Owusu-Twum now lives in the USA – Pennsylvania, he introduced me to Multi TV – Hitz TV’s, Ken Ashigbey the then Channel Manager; he asked me to bring a pilot programme detailing the synopsis of my show. To cut a long story short, when I was ready with it, he had left Hitz TV to Graphic Communications Group so I have to go and face Mr. Ricky Anokye, who accepted to work with and the whole action began from there. I went to Ricky Anokye with a show named ‘Root Diet’ but later changed to ‘Dub Legend’. I left Hitz TV to Capital TV with the same Mr. Ricky Anokye to host a new Reggae show name ‘Natural Mystic’ in 2014 and then 2016 I moved with Ricky Anokye Again to ‘Care TV’ where everything changed again and I hosted another show named ‘Colours Of Black’. After 7 months later, I think, Ricky Anokye resigned and I decided to hold on and do my own TV show. A lot of stations have been asking to working with me but they do not meet the standards I set for them, hence I concentrate on my radio show until better deal comes.”

On Agriculture

The Radio and TV Personality is one passionate farmer who has always championed that initiative and motivating the youths to engage in farming in their younger years. He now has his own fish farm called “Lagazee Farms”, where he is the CEO of a budding tilapia farming business.

Farming he says “has been part of me since I was born. I left farming for radio but in 2007, aside my reggae show on Rite FM I was tasked to host an Agricultural show called ‘Kuapa Ye’, it was there my zeal for Farming became 100% potent. I got in touch with the Akosombo Fish Farmers Association and then I started learning about fish farming and the rest is history. I can tell you for a fact that the fish farming is a lucrative business but is capital intensive business. So far so good, we can’t complain we moving forward!

What’s the future of Sound System Culture in Ghana?

“With Sound System Culture in Ghana, it is still at a very slow pace and our artistes need to learn more about it and grow it. We started enforcing this culture with a full force in 2015 when I got the call to come play on Hitz 103.9 FM. A lot of artistes who don’t even have an idea of what a ‘dubplate’ was now know, just that a lot of them are not creative enough when it comes to cutting dubplates that is why selectors must learn how to write how their dubplates need to be done so it makes it easier for artistes to work. We have had Sound System Culture seminars and clashes in Ghana but there’s more to be done.

Elorm Beenie asks the BIG QUESTION. Between Radio & TV which would you pick?

His Response: Yow!!! I will go for Radio any day anytime because that’s my first love. I love Radio because I feel free to run my show, unlike TV where you have director who will be controlling you left right and centre and some of these director of my TV Show didn’t understand what I was doing and they were only interested in what time the show was going to close more than contributing when am doing presentations.

Awards, Nominations & Recognitions:

Ghana DJ Awards (Best Reggae Dancehall DJ Of The Year)
2015 – Nominee
2016 – Winner
2017 – Winner
2018 – Winner
2019 – Nominee

Ghana Dj Awards (Record Promoter Of The Year)
2018 – Nominee

RTP Awards Africa (Best Reggae Radio DJ Of The Year)

2016 – Nominee
2017 – Nominee
2018 – Nominee
2019 – Nominee

Young Dada Cup Clash Champion – 2018 (Winner)
Reggae Fest Award (Best Reggae Dancehall MC) – 2013
Bass Awards Committee Member – 2013 till date.

(Story: Elorm Beenie)

HERE ARE SOME MORE PHOTOS OF KING LAGAZEE: