Ohene is an American hip-hop and jazz multi-instrumentalist, record producer and founder/co-owner of Soul Model Recordings, LLC.

Early life and career

Kawann "Ohene" Shockley was born and raised in the

North Philadelphia North Philadelphia, nicknamed North Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is immediately north of Center City. Though the full extent of the region is somewhat vague, "North Philadelphia" is regarded as everything north of either ...

section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He later moved with his aunt and uncle to

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, the capital of the Republic of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, West Africa, where he spent his teenage years. He recorded his first demo tape at the age of 13, which led to his first television appearance in 1997 on ''Smash T.V.'', a national television show in Ghana. A year later, Ohene made his first major concert appearance at The Vibrant Street Carnival in Accra, with approximately 50,000 in attendance. 1998 also brought his first professional production, a Native Funk Lords track entitled "Amfuo", which received frequent airplay in Ghana.

2000 - 2004: Return to Philadelphia

Ohene returned to Philadelphia in the United States, where he established the

Christian hip hop Christian hip hop (originally gospel rap, also known as Christian rap, gospel hip hop or holy hip hop) is a subgenre of contemporary Christian music and hip hop music. It emerged from urban contemporary music and Christian media in the United S ...

group "Exit-Us". From 2002 - 2004, he taught a course entitled "The Art of Rap: How to Emcee" at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

through the Pan African Studies Community Education Program. While teaching at Temple University, Ohene wrote his first full-length album, ''The Rapademics'', which was released in November 2004 and rereleased in January 2006. The majority of ''The Rapademics'' tracks produced by DJ DN3, with a few cuts produced by Mr. Throwdown, Greg Soundz, Jee-Eye-Zee, and Ohene himself. On this album, Ohene introduced the concept of "neo cubism," in part inspired by Picasso's

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

, in which

stereo panning Panning is the distribution of an audio signal (either monaural or stereophonic pairs) into a new stereo or multi-channel sound field determined by a pan control setting. A typical physical recording console has a pan control for each incoming so ...

creates alternate endings to the story. ''The Rapademics'' also fuses classical music with hip-hop and is the first hip-hop album to use the Waltz

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

3/4 (nearly all hip-hop songs are in 4/4 time signature). In addition to Temple University, Ohene has lectured at

Rowan University Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford and medical and academic campuses in Camden. It was founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a site donated by 107 residents. ...

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

, and

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

. He is referenced in songwriter and author Cynthia Bigg's "The Poetic Cries of the Impoverished", which was published in 2009. Ohene also met rap artist

Christopher "Play" Martin Christopher Martin (born July 10, 1962) is an American rapper and actor, who is the latter half of the late 1980s/early 1990s hip-hop/comedy duo Kid 'n Play. Career Martin's stage name, Play, is derived from his original MC name, Playboy, which h ...

of the rap duo

Kid 'n Play Kid 'n Play is an American hip-hop duo from New York City that was most popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo was composed of Christopher Reid ("Kid") and Christopher Martin ("Play") working alongside their DJ, Mark "DJ Wiz" Eas ...

. Martin still aids him as a career consultant since their initial meeting in 2004.

2006: ''Inner City Soul''

Leaving Temple University to focus solely on music, Ohene released his second album, ''Inner City Soul'' in July 2006. This time, Ohene handled most of the production himself (with one contribution each from ''Rapademics'' producers Mr. Throwdown and DJ DN3). ''Inner City Soul'' represented a shift from his first album, mixing

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

and rap, with the lyrical focus being more spiritual and political. Surpassing the critical acclaim of ''The Rapademics'', ''Inner City Soul'' was touted as one of 2007's best albums by Hip Hop Linguistics. In 2006 he met musician and producer

Dexter Wansel Dexter Gilman Wansel (born August 22, 1950) is an American R&B/jazz fusion singer, arranger, musician, composer, conductor, synthesist and A&R director. Early life Dexter Wansel began as an errand boy backstage at the Uptown Theater in Philade ...

as well as R & B/Soul singer-songwriter William Hart of the Philadelphia singing group

The Delfonics The Delfonics were an American R&B/soul vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Delfonics were most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include "La-La (Means I Love You)", "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This ...

. Both of these musicians currently serve as mentors and advisers for Ohene.

2007: ''Mysterion 7'', ''Nina Simone by...Ohene''

Ohene released the themed EP ''Mysterion 7'' on July 7, 2007. It was available for seven days, selling for $7.07, containing seven songs (the last of which ended at the seventh minute), and explored the

numerology Numerology (also known as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in ...

of the number

seven 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...

. 2007 also saw Ohene's third full-length studio album, ''Nina Simone by ... Ohene''. A tribute to the works and life of

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

, written and produced solely by Ohene, each song represents a hip-hop reimagination of a Nina Simone's originals with slight variations in subject matter. The album ends with the track "Nina Simone By O (Bio)," an audio biography of Simone, including her discography. After being urged to review ''Mysterion 7'' and ''Nina Simone by ... Ohene'' by his students,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

professor and social commentator Dr.

Cornel West Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society and ...

referred to Ohene's work as "genius."

2008 - 2010: Between Releases

In 2008, Ohene returned to Ghana, West Africa to showcase his talents as part of the Bob Marley 61st Anniversary Birthday Show. He also released the instrumental jazz album ''Without Words'', which led to an introduction to legendary producer

James Mtume James Forman (January 3, 1946January 9, 2022), known professionally as Mtume or James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality. He came to prominence as a jazz musician, working ...

, who now serves as Ohene's manager and mentor. That same year, Ohene began working on a new album, to be executively produced by Mtume, that promised another reinvention of Ohene's production and songwriting. This highly anticipated album will feature such greats as Tawatha Agee (lead singer of the legendary R & B group "Mtume") and Miles Davis' lone protégé trumpeter Wallace Roney. In 2009, a life-threatening car accident while on the way to meet Mtume at

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

in New York delayed the album's release. While continuing to work on his own music, Ohene also served as the main producer for jazz legend Jimmy Heath's Big Band/Hip Hop Fusion album. Heath mentions Ohene in his book "I Walked With Giants: The Autobiography of Jimmy Heath", which was released in 2010. From 2008 to 2009, Ohene toured with Jazz/gospel harpist Jeff Majors in promotion of the compilation album ''Sacred Eight''. Ohene produced and wrote "Trying Times" for the album, which peaked at 15 on the Billboard Gospel Charts. Ohene performed "Trying Times" on TV One's "The Gospel of Music with Jeff Majors."

2011 - Present: ''I Am Ohene''

In 2011, Ohene released his fourth solo album, ''I Am Ohene'', self-produced with all live and synthesized instruments (no samples) played by Ohene himself, featuring time signature changes and distinct movements on each track. That same year, he also released the

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

album ''The House That O Built'' under his new moniker O'hene Savànt. In 2012, O'hene surprised fans with the unscheduled release of a twelve track EP, ''The Unknown.''Ohene: The Unknown
/ref> He announce via Facebook that his self-titled fifth studio solo album is due out early 2013 with planned features by Big Daddy Kane and Meshell Ndegeocello.

Discography

* 2004, 2006 - ''The Rapademics'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2006 - ''Inner City Soul'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2007 - ''Mysterion 7'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2007 - ''Nina Simone by ... Ohene'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2008 - ''Without Words'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2011 - ''I Am Ohene'' (Soul Model Recordings, LLC) * 2011 - ''The House That O Built'' (Soul Model Recordings, LLC) * 2011 - ''Rapsploitation Mixtape'' (Soul Model Recordings, LLC) * 2012 - ''Illuminated'' (Soul Model Recordings, LLC) * 2012 - ''The Unknown'' (Soul Model Recordings, LLC) * 2014 - ''Os The Great & Powerful'' (Soul Model Recordings, LLC) * 2014 - ''Pisces'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2014 - ''The Jimmy Lee Watson Tapes'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2015 - ''Raptones'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2015 - ''O'hene Savánt (pronounced "Oh-Hen-Knee")'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2016 - ''1st Millennial'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2016 - ''A Lack of Convention'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2016 - ''Piano Werkz'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2018 - ''B/aQ Majik 1'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2018 - ''B/aQ Majik 2'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2018 - ''Savánt Syndrome'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2018 - ''AFOIE'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2020 - ''Eyekonoklazm: The Final Chapter'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2020 - ''OStalgia'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2020 - ''Art Rap'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2020 - ''O'Savant'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2020 - ''Sky Tears: Lo-fi by O'hene Savant'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2020 - ''Rappestry Moonlight'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia) * 2020 - ''Mynor Adjustments'' (Ohene Savant Multimedia)
Featured: * 2005 - "Bang, Bang" on ''Guerrillas in the Mixx, Vol. 1'' (Backbone Records) * 2005 - "Childhood Development" & "Martyr" on ''The Chancellor'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2006 - "Art of War" on ''The Call'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2007 - "Gnosis" & "Faculty Meeting" on ''Legend of ... The Chancellor'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2008 - "Fly (Remix)" on ''The 8th Day'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2008 - "Gods Among Men" on ''American Scholar'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2009 - "Trying Times" on ''Sacred Eight'' (Music One) * 2010 - "To Whom Much Is Given" on ''Back and Forth'' (Koyto Mixtapes) * 2011 - "Kick" on ''San Diego'' (Suxxess Records) * 2012 - "Small" on ''Knowing'' (Suxxess Records) * 2012 - "Superficial Girl" on ''Fail Mixtape'' (AllHipHop.com)
Production Credits: * 2004 - "Waltz in 'O' Minor" on ''The Rapademics'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2005 - "Fallen Part Two," "Double Meaning" & "Random Thoughts" on ''The Chancellor'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2006 - "On The Grind (Mama Told Me)" & "I Still Care" on ''The Call'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2006 - All Tracks except "Kennedy" & "We The People" ''Inner City Soul'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2007 - "Gnosis," "Fallen (Suicide)," "Faculty Meeting," "Double Meaning" & "Conclusion?" on ''Legend of ... The Chancellor'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2007 - "18-18," "Humble Resistance," & "Born Again" on ''Mysterion 7'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2007 - All Tracks ''Nina Simone by ... Ohene'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2007 - "More to Give" on ''Crime & Consequences'' (Cross Movement Records) * 2008 - "Playoff Beard" and "I Know U Heard" on ''American Scholar'' (RAHM Nation Recordings, LLC) * 2009 - "Trying Times" on ''Sacred Eight'' (Music One) * 2010 - "David's Song," "I Could Have Been," "Sufficient," "Script Hop," "Live It Up," & "Lord I Remember" on ''St. Fallible'' (Soul Model Records, LLC) *2011 - All Tracks ''I Am Ohene'' (Soul Model Recordings, LLC) *2011 - All Tracks ''The House That O Built'' (Soul Model Recordings, LLC) *2012 - "2Pac is #DEAD," "Savantism," "In the Light," "Choice," "Purpose," and "Unknown Outro" on ''The Unknown'' (Soul Model Recordings, LLC)

References

External links

Ohene's HomepageOhene's MySpace Page
*{{Cite web , url=http://www.hiphoplinguistics.com/reviews/albums/2007/06/ohene-inner-city-soul , title=Ohene "Inner City Soul" Album Review , publisher=Hip Hop Linguistics.com , date=June 12, 2007 American hip hop musicians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Rappers from Philadelphia 21st-century American rappers