I was bullied for my ‘Kwaku,’ ‘Frimpong’ names; I’ve glorified them today – Black Sherif

Ghanaian artiste Black Sherif has revealed why he keeps mentioning ‘Kwaku’, ‘Frimpong’ and ‘Kwaku Killa (KK)’ in his music.

“You see now I use Kwaku, KK, a lot. I used to get bullied for it,” he said in his near-hoarse voice on a Spotify RADAR Africa interview, posted on YouTube on December 14, 2022.

“At the time, I was Sherif Frimpong Ismail,” he kept pulling his beard, and smiled as he made the recollection.

Explaining why he was bullied for his preferred name, he quoted what his bullies would say: “How are you, a Muslim, calling yourself Frimpong?”

He noted that because of the mockery, “I didn’t like the Frimpong name, even though that’s my father’s name.”

After High School, however, he came to the realisation that the name is: “My identity.”

“Due to that history, I have always felt I have to do something, I have a debt to pay, pay my dues, so that name would be mentioned and honoured,” he revealed his resolve. “This is why I never front Sherif Muhammed Ismail a lot.”

“I [rather] front Kwaku Frimpong,” he stressed looking his Spotify host in the eye. “That [name] is my actual identity.”

Currently the fastest-rising Ghanaian music act, he also said it was a surprise to him when he first noticed that subconcsiously, his go-to name when he makes music is Kwaku Frimpong.

“About eight weeks, I wrote a lot of songs and in about 80 per cent of them, I found myself saying ‘Kwaku’ a lot,” he said in wonder as though it was a fresh realisation.

The breakthrough song for the Konongo-born rapper, ‘Second Sermon’, which later saw a remix featuring Nigeria’s Burna Boy, birthed the catchphrase: “Kwaku Frimpong will cause trouble.” In the song, the young adult bemoans engagement in actitivies his family, especially his mother, would not be proud of, all in pursuit of a better life in Ghana’s capital Accra.

“Now that the whole world is chanting ‘Kwaku Frimpong’,” the seriel hitmaker says he has noticed he has “paid” the name its due respect.