Birth name Kgotso Semela Years active 2002 – present Name Ben Sharpa Genres Hip hop music | Occupation(s) rapper Associated acts GroundWorks Role Musical Artist | |
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Born 25 March 1979 (age 44) ( 1979-03-25 ) Origin Jabavu, White City, Soweto, South Africa Albums 4DLS (Fourth Density Light Show) Record labels Jarring Effects, Pioneer Unit Records, Pioneer Unit Similar People Oddateee, K‑the‑i???, Thavius Beck, Capleton Profiles | ||
ben sharpa-statement (feat.konfab)
Kgotso Semela, known by his stage name Ben Sharpa, born 25 March 1979, Soweto, South Africa is a South African underground rapper and music producer.
Contents
Ben sharpa at the boombox sa 22 nov 2014
Biography
Kgotso Semela was born in Jabavu, Soweto, a South African township. His family moved to Chicago when he was still a kid. He became interested in hip hop in March 1985 ; the first album he bought was Criminal Minded, the debut album by Boogie Down Productions. When he was teenager, he then moved back to country of his birth, South African apartheid referendum, 1992.
Ben Sharpa starts his hip hop career in 2002, and his first EP and acclaimed work is published in 2007.
Career
Kgotso Semela chose Ben Sharpa as stage name, because he has "always been sharper".
Early career
He formed a group with Krook'd Tha Warmonga, Snazz, Gemini and Hue Man the called GroundWorks. In 2002 and 2003, the group produces two self-released albums on a label called Con Camp Publishing: GroundWorks Demolition: The MeStory and Pavement Special Vol.1 ; Kgotso Semela uses as a reference to O Captain! My Captain! respectively the names Kaptin and Oh Kaptin, My Kap'n on these albums. No album has been released later by the collective but in a 2008 interview, Kgotso explains GroundWorks is still alive and "it’s not a group, it’s not a band, it’s not a cult or a gang, it’s an ideology and a mentality".
In 2002, Ben Sherpa won a battle freestyle competition organized by MTN, a South African telephone network operator. He then visited London and met Eminem.
In June 2006, Sharpa headlined alongside Wordsworth and Jonzi-D as part of the Tri-Continental Hip Hop Festival, a three cities hip hop tour that was held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Youth Month in South Africa.
2008-2009: The Sharpaganda Theory and B. Sharpa
In 2008, he began a 3 month tour in Europe, in England, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland.
The same year, he released his first album, B. Sharpa. The album was described to blend hip hop and dubstep. Several producers worked on his album, D Planet, DJ Sibot and Hue Man and DJ Milanese. The album contained featurings from Tebs, Archetypes, Konfab and WordsWorth. The themes covered are dark, evoking the police brutality, the government agenda, conspiracies or the teenage pregnancy.
After B.Sharpa
In 2012, he released with Pure Solid the album 4th Density Light Show (4DLS).
Solo career
Collaborations
Songs
Life Games
Hegemony
The Eye Seen
Off The Rails
Into the Black
B To The E
Stormy Minds
Impossible Possible
Callin' It Quits
See the View
It's on You
The End Is Nigh
Oscillate
Advanced Placement
Why
Thought-Changes-Form
No Words
Avant Garde
B Sharpa
Ason of Old
Genocide Awards
Sick 'n Tired
Critical Mass
Check the Evidence
5ive Fingers
Edwin The Hardboiled
Ken Illworth
The Disclosure
Sharpa Dub
Initiate Sequence
Blame Game
Look Up