Amir Obé

1990–2012: Early life and career beginnings

Amir Obé was born in Brooklyn, New York City, then moved to Detroit, Michigan at a young age. His mother is Polish and a music teacher and his father is African-American and was a principal. Obé's father listened to Michael Jackson growing up and was heavily influenced by Pharrell Williams and Kanye West. Obé played football in the street and rode his bike. During high school, he kept going back and forth from New York City to visit his sister. Obé played basketball in high school. He played one and two, point guard and short guard. He also played AAU, but in high school he was best offensive player in junior year and senior year.

When Obé was 16 or 17, he bought a computer mic and made song called, "Step Your Swag Up", which was his first. His parents didn't know he made music because he did it privately, but basketball was his main priority at the time. After high school, Obé started pursuing a music career and moved back to Brooklyn. Obé was first known as an artist when he went by the name of Phreshy Duzit on Myspace. He had about 100,000 fans and every week he kept releasing new freestyles and started seeing attention and getting messages from record labels. He eventually got signed to Atlantic Records. When Obé was 18, he made a friendship with PartyNextDoor on Twitter, who at the time went by "Jahron B". At that time, he was always songwriting and producing, so he'd always send him beats.

Obé released his debut EP, Brave New World on April 15, 2011 on Atlantic Records. The EP was entirely produced by NYLZ. Soon after, Obé left the label to revamp his style and described the record deal as "bullshit". On August 27, 2012, he released his debut mixtape, The New Religion on his own independent record label Neighborhood PHCK$ and After Platinum Records. It has guest appearances from Cory Gunz, Jon Connor, and Los and includes production from NYLZ, Daniel Worthy, Rich Flyer, and Obé himself. He revealed he got signed to After Platinum by releasing the mixtape.

2014–present: Rise to fame and collaborations

Obè changed his name to Amir Obé in 2014 when he released the mixtape, Detrooklyn. The mixtape was released on After Platinum Records and included production from NYLZ, Vinylz, and Daniel Worthy. "I started feeling like both these places were the same place, so it was an imaginative project talking about my upbringing and my philosophies as an early teen 'till where I'm at now", says Obé. In the fall of 2014, Oliver El-Khatib (Drake's manager and co-founder of OVO Sound) spoke to Obè and told him Drake is a fan of Detrooklyn. Because of that, Obè sent him music and got positive feedback.

In February 2015, Obè co-produced, "Star67" for Drake, which appeared on If You're Reading This It's Too Late. Soon after, there was a rumor being passed around that Obé signed to OVO Sound, but he confirmed it wasn't true. Obé opened for PartyNextDoor on tour and the two collaborated on multiple songs. Obé released his second EP, Happening in the Grey Area on December 11, 2015. The album contains guest appearances from PartyNextDoor and Eli Sostre and includes production from NYLZ, The Mekanics, Daniel Worthy, Wondagurl, OZ and more. On March 11, 2016, Obé released his third EP, Won't Find Love in the Hills on Neighborhood PHCK$ and Empire Distribution. It has production from NYLZ, OZ, Eli Sostre, The Mekanics, STWO, and Ashton Mills.

On December 1, 2016, Amir Obe announced his signing to Def Jam Records.