FULL NAME: Osman El-Alawa Jnr
HOMETOWN: Accra
RESIDENCE: Dansoman
SKILL SET: Rapper
Genre: Hip-hop/Rap
BORN: 13/12/94
YEARS ACTIVE: 2016- till date
Label: Independent
ASSOCIATED ACTS: Arrow, Cina Soul, BiQo, King Joey, Ko-Jo Cue
INSTRUMENTS: Piano, guitar
ORIGIN STORY
Osman was born in Accra to Osman Bayo El-Alawa and Fusenat Taiye Raheen El- Alawa. He attended Little Flower and Alpha Beta for his Nursery and Primary education and continued to Achimota High School for his Secondary Education. He after gained admission into the University of Ghana, Legon for his Tertiary education. He always found himself in trouble throughout his schooling life due to his inability to conform to rules which restricted his freedom or didn’t make sense to him. Very opinionated which made his parents think he should pursue law when he grew up, little did they know music was rather his calling and the opinionated persona reflects in his songwriting and content allowing him to express himself freely through music. First notable performance ever as a child was in Alpha Beta for a TV variety Show where he performed ‘African Queen’ by Tuface. He always had been a lover of music from his childhood getting access to hip-hop/R&B music from his uncle who used to burn DVDs of music videos and songs, TV (channel O, MTV etc) and the internet. In JHS, He and another rapper friend named Capone (later Crizmoe) who used to influence other guys in their class into making music which mostly was never recorded. Everyone just did their verses and came to spit them the next day in school.
Later on, he started recording demo songs in a studio at Dansoman once in a while with some classmates who were good as well. A friend/classmate of his (Whizzle) started a little studio in his room at home where Sizz started working at for a while. In Achimota School, he was revered as a great rapper, the best amongst his peers especially in his 1st year but later on he became less involved with rap because of the seeming downturn of his grades at a point, nonchalance due to the feeling of the lack of real competition and also because he was almost always in trouble and had more on his hands than he could handle. Fast forward 2014, He started working on his first ever project to be called ‘The Come Up’ which was almost done but never came out due to certain issues
CAREER:
2016 – He dropped ‘Baako’ ft. BiQo in February and the official video too.
He also dropped ‘Labadi Forever’ ft King Joey in August
And ‘Show You More’, a sample of Daasebre Gyamenah’s ‘Wo Koda Kae’ in October
Opened at the 3rd edition of the BAR concert (BAR III) organised by prominent Ghanaian rapper EL
2017 – Put out the video for Show you More due to massive reviews
Announced his debut project ‘The Whole Truth’
Dropped ‘Longest Round’ as the first Single off the project and the song immediately gained him more listeners and fans off the internet
Performed at more concerts including We Speed 1&2
Dropped 2nd single off The Whole Truth, ‘Show Up’ which also gained great reviews
December, Performed at the maiden Afrochella Festival
2018 – Feb, 9th dropped debut project, “The Whole Truth” gaining massive attention due to its authenticity, diverse nature and unorthodox vibes and managed to make Top 20 on the iTunes album charts upon release.
ART SOUL – what fuels your art.
- INFLUENCES
- 90s/2000s R&B- Isley Brothers, Usher, Tyrese, R.kelly, Craig David, Sisqo, Joe
- Hip-hop- Nas, Jay Z, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Drake, Wale, Bas, J.Cole
- Others- Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, The Weeknd, Tuface Idibia, M.I etc
- MUSICAL STYLE: He is known for his smooth voice and flow, delivering very intricate bars alongside soothing crooning. Also known for his iconic highlife samples like in “Never Told” and “Show You More” and for his multifaceted way of merging various genres/styles into hip-hop.
- Mostly draws heavily on his personal life
DISCOGRAPHY
2016- Baako ft.BiQo
Labadi Forever ft. King Joey
2017- Longest Round
. Show Up
2018- The Whole Truth (Album)
VIDEOGRAPHY
2016- Baako featuring BiQo (Caleb D)
2017- Show You More (Andy Madjitey)
2017- Shaker & Ko-Jo cue – Pen & Paper / Up & Awake (Esianyo Kumordzi)
TOURS
Opened together with BiQo for Worlasi at a few stops of his Outerlane Accra city Tour
TRIVIA: Favourite things. (Favourite colour, food, clothing style, movies, etc.)
Fav Colour: Anything that matches the mood
Fav food: Beef
Fav clothing Style: Swaggy/eccentric/Antique
Fav Movies: The tourist, Law abiding citizen, Harry Potter Movie series etc
TV shows- Supernatural, The 100, Big Bang Theory, Suits, Reign, Da Vinci’s Demons, Power
If you have a story you want to share with Kuulpeeps and the world, please do hit us up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or on WhatsApp (0500-002686)
