REAL NAME: Michael Owusu Addo
STAGE NAME: Sarkodie
SARKIDIE NET WORTH: $ 7 Million
DATE OF BIRTH AND AGE: July 10th, 1988 [30 Years old]
PLACE OF BIRTH: Tema, Ghana
STATE OF ORIGIN:
PARENTS: Mother’s name is Maame Aggrey
GENRE: Rapper, Hip hop, hiplife
RECORD LABEL: Duncwills Entertainment, Sarkcess Music

SYNOPSIS

Michael Owusu Addo better known by his stage name Sarkodie, is a Ghanaian hip hop and hiplife recording artist and entrepreneur from Tema, Ghana. Sarkodie is the first Ghanaian musician to ever win BET Award for Best International Act: Africa category in year 2012. He was also nominated in the same category at the 2014 BET Awards. The top Ghanaian rapper was ranked the 19th most Influential Ghanaian by e.TV Ghana in 2015. He is also considered as one of the best and leading music artists in Ghana.

Sarkodie is widely considered one of the major proponents of the Azonto genre and dance. He is named as one of Africa’s greatest hip hop artists . MTV Base ranked him 6th on its list of the Hottest African MC’s in 2014. On the list of “Top 10 Ghanaian Rappers of All Time” by Lynx TV, Sarkodie was ranked 1st . In 2015, AfricaRanking.com ranked him 3rd on its list of the “Top 10 African Rappers of 2015”. He was also listed as one of the top five hip hop acts in African by The Guardian in 2015. The already known facts about the Ghanaian hip hop star and entrepreneur are lesser known facts as there are still many things yet to be unwrapped . This Sarkodie Biography brings you everything that is worthy of note . Continue reading..

Early Life, Background ,Growing Up And Education

Sarkodie was born Michael Owusu Addo and was raised in Tema, Ghana by his mother Maame Aggrey. Michael Owusu Addo a.k.a Sarkodie was born into the family of five where he is the fourth child. Most people doesn’t really know him as Michael Owusu Addo because his stage name seems to have swallowed it up . He officially started his rapping career in the year 1992 at the age of four. He became very famous during his high school days in Achimota Preparatory School even when he changed to Tema Methodist Day Senior High School, he was still very famous for his outstanding talent in music.

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After completing his basic education at Tema Methodist Day Senior High School, Sarkodie proceeded to IPMC where he obtained a degree in Graphic Designing. His real date of birth has been skeptical, many is of the opinion that Sark was born on the 10th of July 1988. However, Sark has on several occasions said that what the public claim about his age is wrong wrong. The rapper had always dismissed question pertaining his actual age, saying it is one of the things he has decided to keep to himself. Maybe he has a cogent reason for keeping his real age private.

Sarkodie: Music Career

Sarkodie began his instrumental career as an underground rapper. He made his breakthrough in Ghana music through his clever, quick and freestyle rapping which he does in a native language (Twi). His professional music career started through off-hand rap show on Adom 106.3 FM named ‘Kasahare Level’ hosted by Duncan Williams. He met his manager Duncan Williams of Duncwills Entertainment through rap battles. He was introduced to Hammer of The Last Two, an established record producer after meeting with Edem and Castro. Hammer decided to feature Sarkodie on two songs off the Volta Regime album after being impressed with his rap flows. Following this music experience, Sark released his debut album “Makye”. The biggest hit in the album was “Baby”, featuring Mugeez of the duo R2Bees. It became a hit instantly and it cemented his name in the Ghanaian music industry as well as earned him an household name.

Sarkodie participated in a rap competition, Kasahare Level, he later signed a recording deal with JM Entertainment. His first album titled Makye was released his 2009 with production from Killbeatz and Jayso and guest appearances from Kwaw Kese, J-Town, Sway and Paedae of R2Bees. The album was a success following the positive review it got from music critics and the album was launched at the Accra Mall; in addition, a follow-up concert was held at Holy City Gardens in Accra.

Fast forward to 2012, Sarkodie released his second studio album titled “Rapperholic” which also received positive reviews from music critics. Some of the musicians featured on the album include Efya, Chidynma, Mugeez of R2Bees, Obrafour, Jayso, EL and others. He later embarked on nationwide tour to promote the album. The Rapperholic album earned Sarkodie his first BET nomination and subsequent pocketed the award. He was also featured on the BET Hip Hop Awards cypher alongside Talib Kweli, Jean Grae and Ab-Soul. Needless to assert, Sarkodie was the only African act featured on the cypher.

Sarkodie revisited his 2011 hit track “You Go Kill Me” and remixed it , the song later peaked at number 1 on various charts in Ghana. The remix features Wizkid, Ice Prince, Navio and EL. A concert was organised on December 21, 2013 to launch the Sarkology album, which was released the following year January 2, 2014. The album launch went down at the Accra Sports Stadium and it features guest appearances from Ghanaian and Nigerian finest musicians including Fuse ODG, Banky W, 2 Face Idibia, AKA, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Joey B and Efya, among others. Soon after, Sarkodie released the official remix for “Adonai”. It became an instant hit across Africa, and it peaked at BBC’s Capital Xtra Top 35 Afrobeats Songs.

Following the successful year in his music career , Sarkodie launched his own record label, “Sarkcess Music”, in 2014. While he launching the album, he also used the opportunity to premiered the video for “Adonai” remix and “Special Someone”, both of which features Castro and AKA. He also went ahead to release other banging hits like “Megye Wo Girl”, “Love Rocks”, “Chingum”, and “Whine Fi Me” under his new record label.

In June 2014, Sarkodie collaborated with Mi Casa, Lola Rae, Davido, Diamond Platnumz and Tiwa Savage on a song for DSTV’s Africa Rising campaign, which was designed to inspire Africans to partake in community-based social investment projects. The following up music video for the highly rated song was released on June 24, 2014, shot and directed by South African production house Callback Dream. They song was also performed by the aforementioned artists at the Africa Rising launch ceremony in Mauritius.

On December 30, 2015, Sarkodie released his fourth album titled “Mary”. According to the fast rapper, the highly anticipated album was named after his late grandmother who died in 2012 and was released on September 12, 2015. “Mewu” was released On July 10, 2015 as the lead single off the album. Over 4,000 copies of the album was sold on the first day of its release.

Sarkodie released his fifth studio album, “Highest” on September 8, 2017. The condensed album contained 19 songs, including 3 interludes and a bonus track. Highest album was released in collaboration with Sarkcess Music and Dice Recordings, and features guest appearances from Jesse Jagz, Moelogo, Flavour, Korede Bello, Victoria Kimani and Big Narstie. Most of the tracks was produced by Jayso, with additional production from Masterkraft, TSpize, Ced Solo, Nova and Guilty Beatz.

Sarkodie remains one of the most famous and followed African musicians on social media. He secured a spot on the list of the Most Influential Musicians on Social Media for the year 2015. The following year which is 2016, Sarkodie became the first Ghanaian musician to hit one million followers on Instagram. He also won the Best Subscribed YouTube Channel Award in Ghana same year.

Sarkodie is also well known for his humanitarian work. He launched Sarkodie Foundation on July 13, 2013, a foundation that is focus on supporting underprivileged and less fortunate children. He also donate items worth thousands of Ghana cedis to the Royal Seed Home Orphanage in Kasoa. On December 25, 2014, The Sarkodie Foundation embarked on a “feeddakids” campaign in Tema, where they provided thousands of kids with eight sacks of rice, yogurt and beverage cans. “A wise man once said , if you want to make children happy just give them ice cream” , i think that is what Sarkodie did. Ghanaian teen rapper Awal has confessed to benefiting fromm Sarkodie’s philanthropy.

Aside music, Sarkodie is also a business man . He is the owner of “Sark by Yas” clothing line, which was launched on April 27, 2013. The clothing line has accessories for men, women and children. His income comes from different angles including his endorsement deal with Samsung Electronics. He was officially unveiled as the Brand Ambassador for Samsung Electronics in the year 2012 and it happened at the University of Ghana, Legon. As part of the event, Samsung unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Pocket and Chief Hero Phones that had customized wallpapers of Sarkodie and his signature; users had the opportunity to download exclusive tracks of Sarkodie.

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In 2013, he signed an endorsement deal with FanMilk Ghana. He is currently in partnership with Tigo Telecommunications Ghana, a brand that sponsored the 2013 Rapperholic tour. Sarkodie also launched the Obidi Chief headphones.

The Ghanaian hip hop star has been severally accused of being a member of the secret society known as ‘Illuminati‘ as a result of some suggestive display of their signs and symbols in his music video. The rumours started in December 2011 when he released the video of his song ‘Saa Okodie No’ which allegedly had some satanic symbols and connotations. Another example happened during his performance at the Apollo Theatre in New York where he used slides reflecting the “all seeing eye” symbol of the popular group. However, there is no authentic evidence that the singer is really a member of the secret society.

Awards And Nominations

2010 Ghana Music Awards:

• Artist of the year, Discovery of the year,
• Hip hop/hiplife artist of the year,
• Best Rapper of the year and Album of the Year (Makye).
• Best Collaboration of the Year for “Lay Away” (feat. Sway from UK) at the Sound City Music
• Video Awards (Nigeria)
• Best Editing Video at 4syte TV Music Video Awards

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• In 2011, he won the Best Hip-Hop Video,
• Best Editing Video,
• Best Collaborating Video at the 4syte TV Music Video Awards.
• In 2012, the rapper was honoured with Artiste of the Year,
• Most Popular Song of the year (U Go Kill Me),
• Best Rapper of The Year at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.
• BET Awards Best International Act – Africa,
• Headies Awards African Artiste of the Year,
• Award for Achievement in Music at the National Youth Achievers Award,
• 4syte TV Music Video Awards Best Hip-Life Video
• 4syte TV Music Video Awards Best directed music video,
• Most popular video,
• Best hip-hop video,
• Best story line video,
• Caribbean American African Nations Music Awards Best West African Act.
• Ghana Music Awards Hip-life/Hip-hop Artist of the year,
• Best Rapper of the year, Album of the year,
• Hip hop song of the year,
• African Muzik Awards Magazine’s Best Rap Act,
• 4syte TV Music Video Awards Best Hip-Life Video and Most Influential Artiste,
• MTV Africa Music Awards Best Hip-Hop,
• Independent Music Awards Rap/ Hip-Hop Song of the Year,
• The Headies African Artiste of the Year, and
• Ben TV Awards African Artiste of the Year.

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