From playing beats with wooden desks to global stardom: Black Sherif shares his inspirational story

Mohammed Ismail Sharrif, better known as Black Sherif, has disclosed that back in Senior High School, he used to play beat for his friends during musical battles on a wooden desk. In his second year at the Kumasi Academy Senior High School, he developed a love for music after some friends encouraged him to sing after hearing the songs he had written. Speaking on BBC's 'This Is Africa' podcast he mentioned that he knew from the onset that music was his breakthrough. "It was in year two in High School. We used to do this rap competition at evening preps with the boys. I used to play the beat for them on the desk. They will be rapping, dissing each other...so one time, I dropped like four lines. They told me that this is hard and right from there, I knew something could happen," he said. The 20-year-old rapper released his maiden album 'The Villain I Never Was' on October 6. Already, the album has topped charts in Ghana and performed better on global charts. It debuted on UK's Top 10 album, according to Spotify Chart. The award-winning rapper explained that his stage name Black Sherif means 'Nobel African'. "Black Sherif is my stage name, more like a nickname. I got it in High School. My real name is Mohammed Ismail Sharrif, when I realized that I wanted to go with music, I needed a stage name, something heavy but I didn't want to switch my whole name. Sherif is Nobel and Black is my identity. So, Nobel African." He added: "I am Kwaku Frimpong, that is my spirit name because I am a Wednesday born and I am an Asante, my father is an Asante." Watch our latest programmes below: OPD/KPE