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M.anifest
Kwame Ametepee Tsikata (born 20 November 1982), known professionally as M.anifest, is a Ghanaian musician, rapper and record producer.
He won Best Rapper and Hip-Hop song of the year at the 2017 Ghana Music Awards. He has worked with Damon Albarn, Flea, Tony Allen, Erykah Badu, and is featured on five songs on the Rocket Juice and The Moon album. He is the grandson of one of Africa's foremost ethnomusicologists and composers J. H. Kwabena Nketia. In 2012, The Strand on BBC Radio tipped him as one of four acts to look out for in 2012. In 2015 M.anifest's single "Someway bi" earned him a third-place honour in the International Songwriters Competition (ISC). In the same year, The Guardian named M.anifest as "the foremost rapper on the continent.". M.anifest currently divides his lifetime between Madina in Ghana and Minneapolis in the United States.
M.anifest is the son of Ghanaian lawyer and academician Tsatsu Tsikata and Rev. Dr. Priscilla Naana Nketia, a lawyer and pastor. His maternal grandfather J. H. Kwabena Nketia was a composer, professor and ethnomusicologist. M.anifest emigrated to the United States in 2001 to attend Macalester College in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, where he graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.
M.anifest went to high school at SOS-Hermann Gmeiner International College in Tema. He was the entertainment prefect of his school known as Amet Tsikata. He has had artist residencies and given lectures in St. Lawrence University and the University of Ghana, and spoken to several classes in Hamline University, (his Alma mater) Macalester College, Penumbra Theater's Summer Arts Institute and Ashesi University.
In his time in the Twin Cities, M.anifest learned the nitty-gritty bits of becoming an independent musician. He lent his voice to a Pepsi jingle that played nationally on U.S radio, which earned him royalties to produce and release his first solo album, Manifestations, in 2007. That album earned him the "Songwriter of the Year" honors in the City Pages as well as top five albums of the year recognition in the Star Tribune. In 2009 he released a free album, The Birds and the Beats, to raise awareness and funds for the work of a non-profit, Young Entrepreneurs Africa.
In 2010, M.anifest linked up with Africa Express and toured France and Spain with them. He caught the attention of Africa Express co-founder Damon Albarn, who thereafter invited M.anifest to be a collaborator on Rocket Juice & the Moon the following year. In September 2012, M.anifest joined the Africa Express train touring the United Kingdom. He wrote for The Huffington Post about these experiences.
In September 2011, he released his sophomore album Immigrant Chronicles: Coming to America, which included the singles "Suffer", "Asa" and "Blue (Chale What Dey Happen)". It marked a decade of his life in the United States, and the beginning of his transition back to Ghana. In 2012, M.anifest began making major inroads in Africa, performing on the Big Brother Africa stage as well at the Channel O Music Video Awards in South Africa. The video for his single "Makaa Maka" also got him nominated for Most Gifted Hip-Hop Video at the 2012 Channel O Music Awards and won him Best Hip-Hop Video at the locally-held 4Syte Music Video Awards.
M.anifest produced and co-wrote an independence mini Hip-Hopera for Channel O and also performed a piece, at the first-ever Ghana Music Week, detailing the history of Ghanaian music. M.anifest is the co-founder of Giant Steps, an interactive conference for entrepreneurial creatives and creative entrepreneurs. He is also included in the feature-length documentary We Rock Long Distance by filmmaker Justin Schell.
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M.anifest
Kwame Ametepee Tsikata (born 20 November 1982), known professionally as M.anifest, is a Ghanaian musician, rapper and record producer.
He won Best Rapper and Hip-Hop song of the year at the 2017 Ghana Music Awards. He has worked with Damon Albarn, Flea, Tony Allen, Erykah Badu, and is featured on five songs on the Rocket Juice and The Moon album. He is the grandson of one of Africa's foremost ethnomusicologists and composers J. H. Kwabena Nketia. In 2012, The Strand on BBC Radio tipped him as one of four acts to look out for in 2012. In 2015 M.anifest's single "Someway bi" earned him a third-place honour in the International Songwriters Competition (ISC). In the same year, The Guardian named M.anifest as "the foremost rapper on the continent.". M.anifest currently divides his lifetime between Madina in Ghana and Minneapolis in the United States.
M.anifest is the son of Ghanaian lawyer and academician Tsatsu Tsikata and Rev. Dr. Priscilla Naana Nketia, a lawyer and pastor. His maternal grandfather J. H. Kwabena Nketia was a composer, professor and ethnomusicologist. M.anifest emigrated to the United States in 2001 to attend Macalester College in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, where he graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.
M.anifest went to high school at SOS-Hermann Gmeiner International College in Tema. He was the entertainment prefect of his school known as Amet Tsikata. He has had artist residencies and given lectures in St. Lawrence University and the University of Ghana, and spoken to several classes in Hamline University, (his Alma mater) Macalester College, Penumbra Theater's Summer Arts Institute and Ashesi University.
In his time in the Twin Cities, M.anifest learned the nitty-gritty bits of becoming an independent musician. He lent his voice to a Pepsi jingle that played nationally on U.S radio, which earned him royalties to produce and release his first solo album, Manifestations, in 2007. That album earned him the "Songwriter of the Year" honors in the City Pages as well as top five albums of the year recognition in the Star Tribune. In 2009 he released a free album, The Birds and the Beats, to raise awareness and funds for the work of a non-profit, Young Entrepreneurs Africa.
In 2010, M.anifest linked up with Africa Express and toured France and Spain with them. He caught the attention of Africa Express co-founder Damon Albarn, who thereafter invited M.anifest to be a collaborator on Rocket Juice & the Moon the following year. In September 2012, M.anifest joined the Africa Express train touring the United Kingdom. He wrote for The Huffington Post about these experiences.
In September 2011, he released his sophomore album Immigrant Chronicles: Coming to America, which included the singles "Suffer", "Asa" and "Blue (Chale What Dey Happen)". It marked a decade of his life in the United States, and the beginning of his transition back to Ghana. In 2012, M.anifest began making major inroads in Africa, performing on the Big Brother Africa stage as well at the Channel O Music Video Awards in South Africa. The video for his single "Makaa Maka" also got him nominated for Most Gifted Hip-Hop Video at the 2012 Channel O Music Awards and won him Best Hip-Hop Video at the locally-held 4Syte Music Video Awards.
M.anifest produced and co-wrote an independence mini Hip-Hopera for Channel O and also performed a piece, at the first-ever Ghana Music Week, detailing the history of Ghanaian music. M.anifest is the co-founder of Giant Steps, an interactive conference for entrepreneurial creatives and creative entrepreneurs. He is also included in the feature-length documentary We Rock Long Distance by filmmaker Justin Schell.