“When all hope was lost in African dancehall music, it took
only one musical super hero "Batman" now known as Samini to save the
face of African dancehall”.
At age 14, Samini began his music career by singing in a
Church choir for a period of time until in 1999 when he collaborated with a hip
life/high life artists (KK Fosu) and became a professional musician in that
year. St Margaret Mary Senior High School is where he completed his high school
education and took on music as a career option.
Samini originally hails from WA, the capital of Upper West;
he speaks Hausa, Twi, GA, English and other local dialects. The rhythmical
mixture of dancehall, reggae, hip life and hip hop is his genre of music. He
sells his style of music to the rest of the world in a well classified brand as
“ African Dancehall “ and he’s currently acknowledged as the African Dancehall
King.
He released his debut album “Dankwansere” in 2004 with top
hit tracks like Linda and Gyae Shi. He has toured Canada, UK, Holland, Germany
and Italy with his African Dancehall Music. He was recognized internationally
when he was nominated and won the best African Music Act at the MOBO Awards in
the United Kingdom in September 2006, an annual awards ceremony that was
established in 1996 by Kanya King MBE and Andy Ruffell in the United Kingdom to
recognize and give grace to any artists of any ethnicity or nationality
performing black music. Music of Black Origin is the full meaning of MOBO.
Samini at the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards - Best Live Performer
His
second album dubbed “Samini” won him
three major awards at the 2007 Ghana Music Awards and also won the Best African
Artist award at the Hip Hop Awards in Nigeria in February 2008 and released his
third album “Dagaati” also in 2008 to
grace his achievements. Samini has been privileged to share the stage alongside
Akon, Damien Marley, Bennie Man, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Jay-z , Kevin Little
, Shaggy ,Sean Paul , Wayne Wonder , Culture and Steel Pulse and he
collaborated with Steel Pulse and Etana from Jamaica. He released his fourth album”CEO”
IN 2010. He organized a mind blowing major concert in 2011 which landed
Jamaica’s hit maker “Mavado” in Ghana; he again remixed the event in 2012 with
another show stopper “Demarco” performing for the first time in Ghana. Samini has
collaborated with various artists from different tribes of land far and near to
make exclusive hit banging tracks.
Samini
was nominated for Best African Act in 2006 at the MTV Europe Music Awards but
lost the awards to a South African afro fusion band called Freshlyground from
Cape Town. In 2008, he was again nominated for Best Live Performer at the MTV
African Music Awards but again saw the award go to another South African duo
“Jozi”, who emerged as winners for the Best Live Performer category. Samini
currently has a hot single dubbed “Body Flame” which features Ghana’s rising
female dancehall Queen “Kaakie” from Samini music camp. Kaakie is currently the
hottest dancehall female artist in Ghana and drives in the fast lane of the
fast dancehall cars with Samini.
The likes of a promising dancehall star “Stonebwoy” also
tapped into the musical wisdom of Samini and is now said to be the next African
dancehall King in the near future. He lives in Dansoman and nicknamed the place
“Dansterdam” due to the uniqueness of the place. He has 3 kids from 2 different
baby mamas.
Albums
· Dankwansere, 2004
· Samini, 2007
· Dagaati, 2008
· CEO, 2010
Awards
· 2006 MOBO Awards – Best African Act
· 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards – Best Live Performer
Nomination
· 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards – Best African Act
· 2008 MTV Africa Music Awards – Best Live Performer
· Dankwansere, 2004
· Samini, 2007
· Dagaati, 2008
· CEO, 2010
Awards
· 2006 MOBO Awards – Best African Act
· 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards – Best Live Performer
Nomination
· 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards – Best African Act
· 2008 MTV Africa Music Awards – Best Live Performer
