The birth name of Hiplife musician – Castro
– is Theophilus Tagoe . He was born in 1982
to Mrs Lydia Tagoe and Mr Coffie . Castro
spent his early years and some part of his
adulthood in Tarkoradi where he hails from .
Castro started his musical career at a very
tender age due to his love for music . He
later moved from Tarkoradi to Accra to
concentrate on his music career since Accra
is thought to be where a musician can easily
make a break - through.
Professionally , Castro joined mainstream
music in 2003 when he released his debut
album ‘ Sradenam ’ . Sradenam became an
instant hit in Ghana . Its popularity and the
lyrics that made up the song drove
musicians like Tripple M to record cover
versions of it .
In an era where music business was not
lucrative and difficult for musicians to
remain consistent, Castro was able to
maintain that uniformity and came out with
his second studio album – ‘ Toffee ’. Much
need not to be talked about ‘ Sradenam ’ and
‘Toffe ’ . The impact and the noise these two
albums generated was felt everywhere in
the country . Among the many musicians at
that time , Castro stood out from the crowd
because of his silky voice and his singing
prowess.
We cannot list the number of featured
tracks Castro has to his credit simply
because they are uncountable . He worked
with musicians such as 4 ×4, Tinny, Sarkodie ,
Abrewa Nana, Mzbel , Pope Skinny, Buk Bak,
Dasebre Dwamena, just to mention a few.
The history of Hiplife cannot be written
without making reference to somebody like
Castro . He contributed much to this genre
that is putting food on the tables of several
young guys and girls today .
Castro later moved from being a solo artiste
and formed a group with Shiloh and Screw
Face. With these three great musicians
coming together to form a trio , they named
their group Cashface – Castro (Ca ) , Shiloh
(sh ) , Screw Face ( face) . Many hit tracks like
‘Omega ’ was churned out from this group
until the group was later dissolved where
Castro went on with his solo projects just as
he had started at the beginning of his
career .
Many are the engineers Castro worked with .
Castro ’ s music journey cannot be complete
without mentioning engineers like Jay Q of
Q - Lex Production , Kaywa of Groove Zone
studios, Hammer of the Last Two Music
Group, Appietus of Creative Records, 2 Toff
of Nature Works Entertainment and a whole
lot .
Unlike many musicians who started this
same journey with Castro but couldn ’ t
survive the test of time, Castro remained on
top of his game . Hiplife has undergone
several changes , yet, he was able to stand
the test of time.
In the era of Gyama Hiplife through to
Crunk and then to Azonto , he failed not to
prove his worth . Castro performed on
several music platforms including Ghana
Music Awards and Ghana Meets Naija. He
had many awards to his credit. Castro was
recently nominated in the 2014 VGMAs , in
categories like Artiste of the Year , Vodafone
Song of the Year, Highlife Song of the Year,
Highlife Artiste of the Year , and Best
Collaboration of the Year .
His latest collaborations include Adonai
remix (Sarkodie ft Castro ), Personal Person
(D Black ft Castro ) , Ma Yentena ( Dada Hafco
ft Castro ) Odo Bekumi ( Funny Face ft Castro
& Samira ) Odo Pa (Castro ft Asamoah Gyan
& Kofi Kinaata ) .
As part of his dreams , Castro looked
forward to a day when he would be
superannuated as a musician and become a
music producer . This , according to him,
would enable him help young talented
underground musicians .
It is very sad that today, Castro De
Destroyer, known back in the days as
Ghana’ s 50 Cent is no more.
we send out our
deepest condolence …
His musical legacy can never be forgotten —
and his impact will always be remembered
