Obrafour is a Ghanaian musician and rapper known for his contributions to the development of hiplife music in Ghana. His real name is Michael Kwabena Okyere Darko, and he was born on November 1, 1976, in Kumasi, Ghana.
Obrafour started his music career in the late 1990s and gained widespread recognition in 1999 with his debut album “Pae Mu Ka,” which is considered a classic in Ghanaian music. He has released several other albums, including “Asem Sebe,” “Nteteɛ Pa,” “Heavy,” and “Obrafoɔ.”
Obrafour’s music often addresses social issues such as poverty, corruption, and social inequality. He is also known for his use of the Twi language in his lyrics, which has helped to promote the language and culture of Ghana.
Obrafour has won several awards for his music, including the Best Hiplife Album at the Ghana Music Awards in 2000, 2003, and 2006. He has also received numerous nominations for other awards such as the MTV Africa Music Awards and the Channel O Music Video Awards.
In addition to his music career, Obrafour has also been involved in various philanthropic activities, including the establishment of the Michael Kwabena Okyere Darko (MKOD) Foundation to support education and healthcare in Ghana.
There’s no way you can list the top 5 Ghanaian rappers of all time without including the “Rap Pastor” Obrafour in your list.
Kwabena Okyere Darko alias Obrafour was born in 1978 in Kwawu, in the eastern area of Ghana. He spent his early years at Kwawu before moving to Accra with his parents when he was five years old.
He is sometimes referred to as Ghana’s finest rapper of all time.
Obrafour Early Life
Obo Kwahu is where Obrafour was born. Gladys Agyapomaa, an Adventist church chorister and Kwaku Okyere Darko, his father, are his parents.
The African rap maestro had both his basic and JHS education at New Star Preparatory School and after passing the BECE with distinction, he gained admission to Abetifi Secondary School before enrolling at St. Peter’s Boys Senior High School.
According to Obrafour himself, he had always dreamt of becoming a lawyer when he was a child to be a lawyer but his aspirations were quashed when his mother unexpectedly died in 1995.
Obrafour Early career life
Obrafour first established a quartet when he was in high school, and they sang Gospel back then, but after his mother’s shocking death, he stopped going to church because according to him, he as very displeased with God for taking the life of his mother at such a young age.
Before becoming the Obrafour that we all know today he looked up to Reggie Rockstone, the Grandpapa of the Hiplife Genre. Obrafour has once confessed that Reggie‘s “Maka a Maka” album was hit inspired him to do rap music known back then as Kasahari.
In the early 90’s, he had also realized the emergence of top artists like Ex Doe, Chicago, Akyeame, and Lord Kenya, etc. so he decided to join them.
All the aforementioned rap acts were doing the same thing so decided to set himself apart from the pioneers by developing his own style. He had a few hiccups and difficulties as he began attending many auditions and performances until he met Edward Nana Poku Osei aka Hammer.
Obrafour Main music career life (I999 – )
Veteran Ghanaian music producer professionally known as Hammer is the backbone behind Obrafour’s career success which has spanned for more than two decades.
Quincy, a rapping friend of Obrafour’s, introduced him to the genre. During tryouts and performance sessions, Obrafour met Hammer, an amateur beat maker who helped him (Obrafour) get a deal with OM Studios’ Abraham Ohene Djan.
Fast forward, he dropped his debut album dubbed ‘PAE MU KA” which became a mega-hit with classic songs such as (Kwame Nkrumah, Agoro no aso, Yaanom, Aden etc)
Following the success of his debut album, Obrafour dropped another outstanding album titled “Asem Sebe” in 2001.
‘Who born you by mistake’, ‘Asem sebe’ and ‘Twe wo ho’ all on the ‘Asem Sebe” album enjoyed massive radio airplay.
In 2002, he did a remix of his iconic ‘Maame” song with Yogi Dogi and Tic Tac.
His Time Out for Adhesion (TOFA) album was released in 2003.
Oye Ohene, Adefoode, and Ebehyehyew were all chart-topping songs. Mensesa Da, Akok Onini, Hini Me, and Oyonko were the main songs on the album that received high applauds from Ghanaians.
‘NteteE Pa,’ his fourth album, was released in late 2003 and featured a lot of remixes from the TOFA album. The main track, Nya Ntete Pa, was released in conjunction with his attempt to join Ghana’s vice president in combating indiscipline in the country.
Ntete Pa was named album of the year at the Ghana Music Awards in the United Kingdom in 2004.
After launching his own record label in 2004, Obrafour dropped another blockbuster music project dubbed “Execution diary).
As his own boss after 2004, Obrafour dropped 6 more projects to solidify his dominance in Ghana’s music industry.
Obrafour Performances
Obrafour has a unique style of Twi rapping and storytelling hence patrons flood events he gets billed to perform.
In 2019, Obrafour was billed to perform at EL’s bar concert. In 2015, he also performed at 30 Minitz Sallahfest and VVIP’s Salahfest.
In 2017, Ghana rap sofo thrilled patrons at Fancy Gadam’s album launch at Tamale Sports Stadium.
In 2019, his ‘Pae Mu Ka” at 20 concert that was held at Accra International Conference Centre to celebrate 20 years of impacting his generation with good lyrics was all marked with an energetic performance.
In 2008, he toured Europe with some selected hiplife artistes such as Sariki, 2Ras and a few others.
Obrafour Discography
Obrafour has released at least 12 albums to date, including Pae Mu Ka, which is regarded one of Ghana’s best-selling albums.
They are as follows:
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)
Obrafur has over 200 hit singles and has also featured on over 100 songs.
Obrafour Awards and Nominatios
Obrafour won three awards at the Ghana Music Awards in 2000. In 2004, his “Netea Pa” album won Album of the year at the VGMAs.
Obrafour has received over 45 nominations and won about 18 out of them
Obrafour Wife and Children
Obarfour is a married man with 3 children. There are few details about his wife and kids since they have chosen to stay away from the eyes of the public.
Obrafour Networth, Cars and houses
Obrafour is dazzlingly wealthy, he has sold over 1 million records worldwide and it is believed that he’s with close to 3 million dollars.
The award-winning rapper owns a fleet of cars including a Mercedes, a Toyota and other saloon cars. Obrafour also has 5 houses scattered across the country.
Obrafour Networth
Obrafour is dazzlingly wealthy, he has sold over 1 million records worldwide and it is believed that he’s with close to 3 million dollars.
Social Media Presence
Facebook – Obrafour
Twitter – @Obrafour
Instagram – Iamobrafour