R2Bees

R2Bees are still at it. More than a decade after they first broke through, Faisal Hakeem (Omar Sterling) and Rashid Mugeez remain one of Ghanaian music's most reliable duos, a two-man operation that treats rapping and singing as a single trade. They are signed to Wizkid's Starboy Worldwide and work with AK24 Entertainment for live bookings. The 2026 numbers tell the story: over 100 million career streams and a Tamale homecoming concert that pulled in more than 20,000 people.

Their sound sits where hiplife meets Afrobeats, built on Twi-language storytelling and hooks that travel. Fans come for the back-and-forth between the cousins, a chemistry that has only gotten looser with time. They are not a group that chases trends. They release when they have something to say, and the audience has stayed with them through every era. [edit]

Long before the BET nomination, R2Bees were two cousins making noise in Tema. Faisal Hakeem and Rashid Mugeez grew up in the same family orbit, and by the late 2000s they were writing and recording together, blending the highlife and hiplife they heard at home with the hip hop coming out of the US. There was no audition, no training camp. They learned by doing, cutting tracks in local studios and testing them on the Tema scene.

The duo's early singles, including "It's Alright" in March 2013, established their formula: sharp verses traded between the two, sung hooks that stuck, and production that felt local without sounding small. The BET Awards nomination that same year came as a shock to many outside Ghana, but not to anyone who had been watching the grind. It was the first time a Ghanaian hip hop act had reached that stage.

Three years later, in May 2016, Wizkid signed them to Starboy Worldwide alongside Efya and Mr Eazi. The deal opened doors across Nigeria and the wider continent. By the time Site 15 arrived in March 2019, R2Bees had moved from local hopefuls to elder statesmen, a transition they made look easy. [edit]

Start with the language. R2Bees move between Twi and English mid-verse, a habit that keeps their music rooted in Ghana even when the beats lean international. Early records were built on classic hiplife and gumbé rhythms, the kind of production that puts the vocal front and center. The writing was dense, full of local slang and references that rewarded close listening.

After the Starboy signing, the sound opened up. Afrobeats crept into the tempos and the mixing got cleaner, but the duo never lost the conversational quality that makes their best songs feel like a chat between friends. Site 15 balanced both impulses, pairing modern production with stories that could only come from Tema. Recent singles like "Two Two" and "Awurade Aye" show they can still pivot without losing their footing. [edit]

The 2013 BET nomination did more than put R2Bees on a red carpet. It showed a generation of Ghanaian rappers that the door could open. Before that, hiplife was largely a domestic conversation. After it, young artists in Accra and Kumasi started aiming for Lagos, London, and New York.

Their collaborations with Wizkid and Sarkodie helped stitch Ghanaian hiplife into the broader Afrobeats story, a connection that now feels obvious but was not guaranteed in the early 2010s. They also brought a certain fashion sensibility to the scene, mixing streetwear with traditional prints in a way that caught on with younger fans. The music addresses daily life and social pressure without preaching, and that honesty is part of why they have lasted. [edit]

R2Bees fans do not have an official name or a lightstick, and that suits the duo fine. The audience is spread across Ghana and the diaspora, and it shows up loudest at homecoming shows. The Tamale concert in October 2026 became a gathering point, with over 20,000 people filling the venue and social media lighting up for days afterward.

Online, fans trade favorite verses and push new singles hard on release day. The comment sections under videos like "Slow Down" and "Yawa" function as a kind of archive, full of people recalling where they were when they first heard a particular track. It is a low-key fandom, but a loyal one. [edit]

Faisal Hakeem records as Omar Sterling, a name he uses for solo work and features. Rashid Mugeez is simply Mugeez. The two are cousins, not brothers, a distinction fans have been clarifying for years. Their 2016 signing to Starboy Worldwide came alongside Efya and Mr Eazi, making it one of the biggest label moves in Ghanaian music that year. And in 2026, they crossed 100 million streams, a milestone that few Ghanaian acts had reached at the time. [edit]