Winner of the Hiplife Album of the Year at the Ghana Music Award 2001, Best Ghanaian Rap Music Award at the Anansekrom Festival in Canada 2000, as well as a string of nominations elswhere, Lord Kenya appears set to reap more accolades.
Lord Kenya was specially invited to the tourism paradise Sun City, South Africa, to perform at the Face of Africa 2001 after party where he stunned his mostly youth audience with rap music Ghana style.
Curiously, Lord Kenya was not born a lord, he earned it. He was born Abraham Philip Akpor Kojo Kenya to an Nzema father from Senzire and an Asante mother from Fumesua on September 19, 1978 in Kumasi.
He had his primary education at the Central International School and his Secondary education at the Anglican Secondary School after which he did his sixth form at the Mpraeso Secondary School.
The rap sensation became acquainted with music right from birth. However, Lord Kenya’s desire to become a professional really began to burn at the age of 17, just after he completed high school at Kumasi Anglican Secondary School, where he was called “Babylonian” because of his insatiable energy which later made high the school’s 400m and 110m hurdles champion.
At the onset, Kenya experienced some hindrances from his parents when he decided to take music as a carer. His parents had wanted him to become a lawyer instead of a musician. On his father’s birthday party Kenya was able to convince his parents about his chosen profession when he took the microphone and started bursting some rhymes, which kept the audience on their feet all through the night.
Realising the heat in the young man, his father decided to give Kenya a helping hand which led to the recording of Kenya’s first single Car N’aba, recorded at Kampsite in 1998.
He joined Slip Music in the same year and released his debut album Sika Card which instantly became one of the nations hits due to its musical appeal as well as the depth of the lyrics.
His fame actually spread like wildfire when he featured on Daasebre Gyamenah’s title track Kokooko which became an instant hit because of its fantastic blend of rap and hiplife music.
Many an audience have marvelled at Kenya’s performance on stage and especially at some of the nation’s great events like, Osibisa’s Farewell Show, the grand finale of Miss Lux Universe at the International Conference Centre, Ghana Music Awards Night and even alongside great African stars like Rex Omar at the Stratford Rex, Tottenham Tempo, London, just to mention a few.
The rap Lord has three albums to his credit. These are Sika, Sika Baa and Yeesom Sika which is currently topping the charts in Ghana. Lord Kenya was nominated as the Artist of the Year while the title track of his second album Sika Baa also nominated as Rap Music of the Year at the first Ghana Music Awards.
Lord Kenya’s best food is rice and stew while light blue is his best colour. In his spare time, he likes to listen to music and also observe nature.