Kobi Onyame is a Ghanaian-born UK hip-hop artist and producer, born in Accra in 1982 and raised between Ghana and England. He moves to England at the age of one, then relocates with his family to Ghana at the age of seven before later returning to the UK.

Early life and musical development

He starts writing songs at 14, initially rapping over beats made by looping the endings of hip-hop records. He teaches himself sampling and editing on Cool Edit, then begins making his own instrumentals by cutting and pasting drum sounds and loops into short tracks. During high school, he continues making beats and demos in his bedroom with the aim of producing for the hip-hop artists he admires.

He describes himself as a producer first and only begins rapping because he cannot find other young MCs locally to perform over his beats.

Influences and style

His early influences include Lords of the Underground, Naughty by Nature, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Kris Kross. He also cites The Notorious B.I.G., Kanye West and Jay-Z as important influences. He describes his hip-hop as eclectic, shaped by his multicultural upbringing, and uses music as a way of expressing personal experience and escaping difficult realities.

Education

In 1999 he returns to Ghana to study Economics at the University of Ghana, where he earns a BA in Economics. He later completes an MSc in Economic Management and Policy at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow in 2005.