Sarkodie

About Sarkodie

When you mention Sarkodie, Ghana and West Africa feel proud that their son represents them on a global scale. He is a man from humble beginnings who made a career out of entertainment. Here is his biography.

He was born on 10 July 1988 in Koforidua and named him Michael Owusu Addo. His life in Koforidua was exciting, and they later moved to Tema, which was equally fascinating as the fourth born in a family of five children. He started his primary school education here, then joined Tema Methodist Day Senior High School. Being artistic, he went to IPMC to study graphic design.

All through, he loved music, and at four years, he could do great with lyrics by other artists in and out of Ghana. This never stopped, and he could trade music for anything by the time he joined college. His only hurdle was convincing his mother that he wanted to do music and not pursue a career in the corporate world.

Sarkodie, in an interview with MacG of Podcast and Chill from South Africa, disclosed that his mother was sceptical about his dream to make songs for a living. She would later agree after long persuasion. Her consent was conditional, though. He had only one year to make recommendable progress with his music. If he failed to convince his mum that singing was working for him within one year, he would drop it without another debate.

Surprisingly, a miracle happened. Sarkodie expresses gratitude to God because it is this same year that he made his breakout hit. His mother never knew that her son was already doing well, even before the year-end. So, it happened that his mum boarded a cab while the driver was listening to a local FM station, and his song was played. The driver, unknowingly, told her that the ‘kid’ was going places given his talent, and it was only then she realised that it was her dear Owusu conquering Ghanaian rap/hip hop genres.

She called him up, gave her his blessings, and her elder sister held his hand, introducing him to the big artists in the industry. He credits his success while starting out to Adom FM-sponsored Kasahare Level rap competition. It is while competing in this competition that he crossed paths with Duncan Williams, his former manager at Duncwills Entertainment. Williams linked him to Hammer, a renowned producer who was then working with The Last Two. In this process, he met Castro and Edem, the latter who he later did two songs within Hammer’s Volta Regime debut album.

The award-winning rapper recorded his debut album Makye after working with Hammer and delivering beyond expectation. Sarkodie enlisted producers Killbeatz and Jayso in the production of the album. Now a big shot, Sarkodie featured big shorts in the game, such as J-Town, Kwaw Kese, and Paedae.

Fans and critics alike gave Makye favourable reviews. A performance at Holy City Gardens served as its main fundraiser. Mayke opened bigger doors for him in 2009 when the American rapper featured him in one of his songs during a live concert in Accra. This gave the Push hitmaker new exposure in the industry, which gave birth to fresh collaborations and his second album Rapperholic. In his sophomore album, he featured EL, Chidynma, Mugeez, Jayso and Obrafour. His "You Go Kill Me" remix in 2013 elevated his status. It peaked top of the charts in Ghana and featured Nigerian Afrobeats king Wizkid alongside EL, Navio and Ice Prince.

Close to a decade later, Sarkodie moved from an upcoming rapper to an underdog controlling the genre. He launched his label Sarckess, met American rapper Akon and did two more hippy albums widely acclaimed in and out of Ghana. In the last decade, the ‘Baby’ singer pushed boundaries to become a force in Ghanaian rap.

Sarkodie Popular Songs
1. Lucky
2. Do You
3. Legend
4. Adonai
5. Push
6. Baby
7. Non Living Thing
8. Painkiller
9. Labadi
10. CCTV
11. Happy Day
12. Saara

Sarkodie EPs & Albums

1. Mayke
2. Rapperholic
3. Sarkology
4. Mary
5. Highest
6. Alpha
7. Black Love
8. No Pressure

You can listen to the past and latest, mp3 and audio songs from Ghana online at Mdundo.com. Additionally, you still can download new music for free.