Born on the 3rd of July 1982 in Accra, Ghana, Kobi moved to england at the tender age of 1. At the age of 7 he relocated with his family to Ghana. During his early years he drew musical inspiration from the likes of Lord of the Underground, Naughty by nature, Snoop Dogg, Dr.Dre & Kris Kross. Till this day he says these groups influenced him with their musical style, image, lyrical content & beats. His other musical influences are Notorius B.I.G, Kanye West & Jay-z.
It was however not until he moved back to the UK that his hunger for musical success and recognition began to receive major fuelling. At the age of 14, he started writing songs to beats he would make by looping the ends of popular hip-hop records - this was the beginning of the inner producer. After teaching himself the art of cutting and sampling on the PC software program Cool Edit, he started making his own beats for the songs he had written by cutting and pasting drum sounds, loops and pasting them all together for a 3 minute instrumental. He continued to make beats and demos in his bedroom during high-school in the hope he would have the opportunity to produce for his hip-hop influences someday. He only started to rap himself because he found it hard to find other young emcee’s in his area to rhyme over his beats.
“I’ve always been a producer first… I only started to rap because no one would rhyme over my beats…”
Music has always been a medium of self expression and a means of escaping some of the harsh realities of life. He always expresses his feelings whether bad or good through his beats and lyrical content and considers his form of hip-hop to be very eclectic, with influences from his multicultural upbringing. For Kobi, making music is his way of
"Escaping some of the harsh realities of life…I’m in my own little world when I’m making a beat…or writing a song.”
Understanding the need and benefits of education and also taking his fathers influence in academics, he continued to succeed in his education and returned to Ghana in 1999 to study Economics at Ghana's prestigious University of Ghana, combining his love for music with his academics – graduating with BA (Honours) degree in Economics. Furthermore, most recently in 2005, he graduated with an MSc in Economic Management & Policy from Glasgow’s Strathclyde University.
It was however not until he moved back to the UK that his hunger for musical success and recognition began to receive major fuelling. At the age of 14, he started writing songs to beats he would make by looping the ends of popular hip-hop records - this was the beginning of the inner producer. After teaching himself the art of cutting and sampling on the PC software program Cool Edit, he started making his own beats for the songs he had written by cutting and pasting drum sounds, loops and pasting them all together for a 3 minute instrumental. He continued to make beats and demos in his bedroom during high-school in the hope he would have the opportunity to produce for his hip-hop influences someday. He only started to rap himself because he found it hard to find other young emcee’s in his area to rhyme over his beats.
“I’ve always been a producer first… I only started to rap because no one would rhyme over my beats…”
Music has always been a medium of self expression and a means of escaping some of the harsh realities of life. He always expresses his feelings whether bad or good through his beats and lyrical content and considers his form of hip-hop to be very eclectic, with influences from his multicultural upbringing. For Kobi, making music is his way of
"Escaping some of the harsh realities of life…I’m in my own little world when I’m making a beat…or writing a song.”
Understanding the need and benefits of education and also taking his fathers influence in academics, he continued to succeed in his education and returned to Ghana in 1999 to study Economics at Ghana's prestigious University of Ghana, combining his love for music with his academics – graduating with BA (Honours) degree in Economics. Furthermore, most recently in 2005, he graduated with an MSc in Economic Management & Policy from Glasgow’s Strathclyde University.
Hip Hop