Christened Michael Elliot Kwabena Okyere Darko, Ghanaian Hiplife legend Obrafuor dreamed of becoming a renowned lawyer just like his grandfather but that dream was cut short after the death of his mother.
After the passing of his mother whom he depended on, he had his education truncated not knowing this was a blessing in disguise.
“Man proposes but God disposes and we don’t get things the way we like them,” he shared with Happy 98.9 FM’s host of the ‘Ayekoo After Drive’ show, DJ Advicer.
Obrafuor who decided to keep an Afro hairstyle from then on had to leave his family home because his hair do was not in line with the beliefs of his family.
“I grew my hair into an afro and I couldn’t comb it because it was too painful. My hair started turning to rasta but my family didn’t want me doing that. So I left home and that is how I met my friend Quincy and learnt how to rap,” he stated.
The celebrated musician had on several occassions seen his friend Quincy receive gifts and food from people because of his rapping ability.
And as he (Obrafuor) was now on his own after leaving home, his survival instincts kicked in.
“I went into rap because Quincy could get into any corner or party, perform and get food. I had left home then and when I saw Quincy receiving gifts and food for rapping I decided to do same.”
Taking the step to survive, Obrafuor approached Quincy and asked the latter to teach him to rap but former could not afford the fee charged by Quincy.
“I was getting around GHC 1.60 as monthly allowance from my family abroad and Quincy wanted me to pay him GHC 2 every fortnight and I knew I couldn’t afford it,” he recounted.
With the determination to do rap, Obrafuor picked up some few tricks to the genre by hiding beneath Quincy’s window whenever he taught ‘students’ who could afford his fee to rap.
After secretly listening in on Quincy’s classes for sometime, Obrafuor tried some rap verses on his own. He did so well on his first performance and impressed Quincy so much that, the two and some others formed a music clique.
Obrafuor who went on to produce the ‘Pae Mu Ka’ album, released in 1999, which has been adjudged by many as one of the greatest hiplife albums in the country has never looked back.
By: Joel Sanco
