A new era was born in late 1998 when a young producer known as Hammer of The Last Two emerged with original beats plus precision rap artistes. Hammer, born Edward Nana Poku Osei, managed to fuse hip-hop grooves with local tempo and sweet melody, which caught the attention of both the elite and masses instantly. Known for his heavy drums and lead trumpets, Hammer had an originality that elevated hiplife to greater heights, inspiring and influencing a whole generation of producers including Richie, Ball J, Kill Beats, Jayso, EL, and others. In addition, some of the biggest artistes in hiplife today were in Hammer of The Last Two's line-up, among them Kwaw Kesse, Ayigbe Edem, odeshi, Obrafour, Tinny, Sarkodie, Koo Wiase. Other Ghanaian rappers – Lord Kenya, Obour, V.I.P, The Native Funk Lords (rapping mainly in pidgin English), Castro and MzBel – continued the trend and hiplife is now one of the most popular forms of music in West Africa.