Michael Elliot Kwabena Okyere Darko popularly known as Obrafour, other names include Rap Executioner and Rap Sofo (born 1976) is a

Ghanaian 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 Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

hiplife Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style that fuses Ghanaian culture and hip hop. Recorded predominantly in the Ghanaian Akan language, hiplife is rapidly gaining popularity in the 2010s throughout West Africa and abroad, especially in the United K ...

musician and rapper. Obrafour has a unique style of

Twi Twi () is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 17-18 million speakers in total, includ ...

rapping and storytelling. His popular and hit debut album "''Pae mu ka''", for which he won 3 awards during the 2000 edition of

Ghana Music Awards The Ghana Music Awards, currently known as the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music awards event in Ghana established in 1999 by a local event organizer and planner company known as CharterHouse to origi ...

is arguably one of the best selling albums in Ghana. In May 2019, Obrafour celebrated the 20th anniversary of the "''Pae mu ka''" album.

Early life

Obrafour was born in

Obo Kwahu Obo Kwahu is a town in the Eastern Region of Ghana. It is believed that the people of Obo first made settlement at Oboobo which is near Kwahu Bepong today. They moved from "Oboobo" to a near site which was named "Obo" from "Oboobo". The present Ob ...

to a chorister mother by name Mrs. Gladys Agyapomaa and Mr. Kwaku Okyere Darko. He wanted to become a lawyer which failed after his mother's death. This was in 1995 after one term at

St. Peter's Boys Senior High School St. Peter's Senior High School, or PERSCO, is a Roman Catholic boys' senior high school in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The school was established in 1957 by the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD). The school is located in the town of Nkwat ...

when as he was preparing for his

A levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

. He had his basic education at New Star Preparatory School and proceeded to Abetifi Secondary before getting into St. Peter's Boys Senior High School. At a very young age, he would perform with his mother in church and has celebrated the role of motherhood throughout his career.

Music career

His musical influence came from his mother. While in high school, he put together a

quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

that sang gospel songs. Later on Quincy a friend of Obrafour's who could rap, introduced him to the art. He attended auditions and performance sessions and met Hammer who was then an amateur beat maker. Hammer facilitated a deal between Obrafour and Abraham Ohene Djan (OM Studios) and in the latter part of 1999, Pae Mu Ka, his debut album was released. On November 9, 2019, he commemorated the 20th anniversary of the album at the 'Pae Mu Ka' concert at the Accra Intentional Conference Centre.

Discography

* ''Pae Mu Ka'' (1999) * ''Asem Sebe'' (2001) * ''Tofa (2006)'' * ''Asem Beba Dabi'' * ''Heavy (2006)'' * ''Nte Tee Pa'' (2003) * ''Yaanom'' * ''Maame'' * ''Kwame Nkrumah'' * ''Kasiebo'' * ''Still Strong''(2018) * ''Love Anthem''(2018) * ''Adom Bi''(2019)

Awards and nominations

Ghana Music Awards

!Ref , - , rowspan="3", 2000 , Himself , Rapper of the Year , , rowspan="3", , - , Himself , New Artiste of the Year , , - , "Pae mu ka" , Hiplife song of the Year ,

Ghana Music Awards UK

!Ref , - , 2004 , "Ntete Pa" , Album of the Year , ,

References

Living people Ghanaian rappers 1976 births {{Ghana-bio-stub