Sarkodie is a Ghanaian rapper, singer-songwriter and founding father of the Sarkcess music label. He’s typically thought of the best Ghanaian rapper of all time.

Sarkodie began rapping as a child and was an ‘underground’ rapper for a very long time, preventing for an opportunity to hit the limelight. His tongue-twisting raps and unimaginable move garnered the eye of legendary Ghanaian producer Hammer of the Final Two, who introduced him to the limelight within the late 2000s.

Born Michael Owusu Addo, Sarkodie is married with two kids. He’s a BET award winner and one of the awarded Ghanaian musicians of all time, alongside self-proclaimed dancehall king, Shatta Wale.

Background

Sarkodie was born on July 10, 1985. He hails from Juaso, within the Ashanti Area, however grew up within the Japanese Regional capital, Koforidua. His household later relocated to Tema. Sarkodie was the fourth youngster out of 5.

Schooling & Profession Beginnings

Sarkodie attended Tema Methodist Day Senior Excessive Faculty. He proceeded to the tech-focused IPMC School, graduating with a level in Graphic design.

Sarkodie was a rapper/singer all through highschool and spent a whole lot of time within the studio, in response to a former trainer. “We knew he was going to do music as a result of anytime he was executed with college, he went to the studio,” former trainer William Okantah mentioned.

Within the early 2000s, Sarkodie fought laborious to make his dream a actuality. Unable to interrupt by means of, he entered a number of rap competitions to boost his profile, together with the long-running Kasahare Stage on Adom Fm, hosted by one Dr Duncan (actual identify Duncan Williams). Kasahare Stage was a battle rap competitors pitting rappers in opposition to one another to showcase their lyrical prowess. Sarkodie shortly turned a fan favorite on the present, routinely ‘murdering’ different rappers on the mic. He later revealed his hardest battle was in opposition to fellow Tema-based rapper cum AMG Enterprise label boss, Criss Waddle.

After his exploits on Kasahare Stage, Sarkodie got here to the eye of arguably Ghana’s premier rap producer, Edwin Nana Poku Osei, popularly referred to as Hammer of the Final Two, who signed each him and Ewe language rapper Edem to file offers. Hammer was engaged on Edem’s maiden album on the time and roped Sarkodie into showing on two tracks on the file. Sarkodie’s double-time supply on the one ‘You Dey Craze’ stole the headlines and at last gained him mainstream consideration to match his expertise.

Albums

After blowing up as a consequence of his look on Hammer’s tracks, Sarkodie parted methods with the producer, as he felt the previous was too engaged with selling Edem’s profession. He proceeded to signal a file cope with Duncwills Leisure, the label of his former mentor and Kasahare Stage host, Dr Duncan.

Sarkodie went forward to launch his maiden album, ‘Makye’ (2009), that includes main hits resembling Push, Child (feat. Mugeez of R2Bees) and Borga (feat. Jay So).

His second album, ‘Rapperholic’, was launched in 2012 and once more featured large hits, together with Nyame Ehyira (feat. Castro), I’m In Love with You (feat. Efya) and You Go Kill Me (feat. EL). Rapperholic, typically thought of Sarkodie’s magnum opus, earned Ghana her first ever BET award, as Sarkodie gained the Finest Worldwide Act (Africa) award on the 2012 BET Awards. It additionally spawned his annual Christmas live performance, Rapperholic.

Sarkodie’s third album, Sarkology, was launched in 2014. Sarkology had a extra worldwide really feel, that includes artists together with Fuse ODG, Davido, Tiwa Savage, 2Face Idibia, Burna Boy, and extra, in addition to frequent collaborators Efya, Mugees and others. His subsequent album, Mary, was named after his grandmother. Sarkodie went into overdrive in 2017, releasing Sarkodie Vol. 1, Sarkodie Vol. 2, and Highest.

Sarkodie launched his maiden Prolonged play (EP) in 2019’s Alpha SZN, which contained six tracks. Black Love, a full-length album, adopted earlier than he launched No Strain in 2021. JAMZ (2022) and The Championship (2024) are Sarkodie’s newest choices, with the latter being a six-track mixtape.

Companies

Sarkodie based his personal file label, Sarkcess Music, in 2014. He additionally has his personal Sark Assortment clothes line.

Controversies

Sarkodie had a large feud with fellow Ghanaian rapper M.anifest in 2016, charming your complete nation. The meat spawned singles resembling ‘Bossy’, ‘GodMC’, and ‘Kanta’. Opinion is split on who gained the meat, with social media typically siding with M.anifest over Sarkodie, regardless of the latter’s a lot bigger fanbase. One other artist he had a beef with was Shatta Wale, who inexplicably began attacking Sarkodie publicly in 2018, prompting him to fireplace again in a single titled ‘My Recommendation’.

Actress Yvonne Nelson sparked a large controversy with Sarkodie when she revealed in her memoir, ‘I Am Not Yvonne Nelson’ (2023), that she acquired pregnant for Sarkodie earlier than both discovered fame and that he pressured her to have an abortion then failed to show as much as assist her. An offended Sarkodie fired again at her in a diss observe titled ‘Strive Me’, wherein he accused her of being promiscuous and twisting the info surrounding what occurred.

Household

Sarkodie married Tracy, popularly referred to as Tracy Sarkcess, in Tema, the place they each grew up, in 2018. They’ve two kids, Adalyn Owusu Addo and Michael Nana Yaw Owusu Addo Junior.

Awards

Sarkodie has gained over 120 awards in his profession. He’s essentially the most awarded Ghanaian artist within the historical past of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA), with 30 wins. Sarkodie can be tied with Stonebwoy as the one two-time winners of the awards’ Artist of the 12 months Class (he gained in 2010 and 2012), which is taken into account the best honour in all of Ghanaian music.

Moreover, Sarkodie has gained 20 4Syte Music Video awards, 14 3Music Awards, is a three-time winner at Nigeria’s Headies, a two-time winner on the BET Awards and a one-time winner on the BET Hip Hop Awards, amongst many others.

Other than his awards, Sarkodie often ranks very excessive on the checklist of finest Ghanaian rappers of all time. In 2024, Ghana’s largest newspaper, the Day by day Graphic, named him the best Ghanaian rapper of all time.