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Mohammed Ismail Sherif Kweku Frimpong professionally known by his stage name Black Sherif is one of those rising afrobeats artists whose music is exploding all over the world as a result of its uniqueness.
The 20-year-old Ghanaian Afrobeats star is one “who will bring trouble if we do not care”, notes Ansah, a culture curator and member of an indie Ghanaian collective.
Black Sherif’s explosion had been heralded since the release of his “First Sermon” freestyle in May 2021. It came like a raging storm and became the anthem that has enveloped Accra and arenas around the world.
“I feel like I am touching on spots that people used to not touch and I am being as raw and real as I can be,” Black Sherif was quoted as saying by Ifeoluwa Falola.
Born and raised in the trenches of Konongo, a suburb three hours away from the capital Accra said that in his song he is being the voice of that boy outside who is struggling to make it in life.
“I am from there, I am from the Zongo (ghetto)”.
The year 2022 ushered Black Sherif often referred to as Blacko to a resounding ascendance with the release in March of his most successful single yet, “Kwaku The Traveler”.
“Kwaku The Traveler” was a state of mind and felt like the sound was fresh, and we made the song in twenty minutes. ”
Kwaku The Traveler rose to become the most shared song in the world, amassing well over a million unique videos on TikTok and peaking at the number two spot on the UK Afrobeats Singles Chart.
Kwaku The Traveler The lyrics, “Of course, I fucked up. Who never fuck up? Hands in the air, any hands?” was an incessant feature across social media.
“The first eight lines, I knew this song was going to go off. Like a month before the song was going to come out, I was telling Joker, my producer, that this song will go hard.”
Since the success of “Kwaku The Traveler”, Black Sherif has collaborated with Arrdee, Tory Lanez, and Smallgod.
DJ Khaled describes his song as the “Music that touches your soul”. Early this year the DJ went wild on Black Sherif’s ‘Kwaku The Traveller’.
Since then the Grammy award-winning record producer says that he is “officially a member of the ‘sad boys’ family and a proud Black Sherif fan”.
The DJ posted a Black Sherif video on his 29 million following Instagram page and shared a video of himself jamming ‘Kwaku The Traveller’ by the Ghanaian artist.
“I think it’s the truth and rawness in the music,” said DJ Khaled of Black Sherif’s cross-cultural appeal.
Black Sherif told Ifeoluwa Falola, a journalist at GRM Daily that the reason why his music strikes a piercing chord amongst fans of different ages and across different nationalities is that it comes from love.
“There is one universal language, love.”
Black Sherif notes that “Anything you do with love, people everywhere will connect to it”.
“I put my life into my music and the people connect to the love and pain in it” explains the young music maestro rapper, singer, and songwriter.
With over two hundred million streams across digital streaming platforms and a plethora of co-signs, Black Sherif’s forthcoming debut album scheduled for release sometime this year is certainly going to expose the global music community.
