M.anifest

Kwame Ametepee Tsikata He has worked with Damon Albarn, Flea, Tony Allen, Erykah Badu, and is featured on five songs on the Rocket Juice and The Moon album. He is the grandson of one of Africa's foremost ethnomusicologists and composers J. H. Kwabena Nketia. In 2012, The Strand on BBC Radio tipped him as one of four acts to look out for in 2012. In 2015 M.anifest's single "Someway bi" earned him a third-place honour in the International Songwriters Competition (ISC). In the same year, The Guardian named M.anifest as "the foremost rapper on the continent.". M.anifest currently divides his lifetime between Madina in Ghana and Minneapolis in the United States.

Personal life and education

M.anifest is the son of Ghanaian lawyer and academician Tsatsu Tsikata and Rev. Dr. Priscilla Naana Nketia, a lawyer and pastor. His maternal grandfather J. H. Kwabena Nketia was a composer, professor and ethnomusicologist. M.anifest emigrated to the United States in 2001 to attend Macalester College in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, where he graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.

M.anifest went to high school at SOS-Hermann Gmeiner International College in Tema. He was the entertainment prefect of his school known as Amet Tsikata. He has had artist residencies and given lectures in St. Lawrence University and the University of Ghana, and spoken to several classes in Hamline University, (his Alma mater) Macalester College, Penumbra Theater's Summer Arts Institute and Ashesi University.

Career In his time in the Twin Cities, M.anifest learned the nitty-gritty bits of becoming an independent musician. He lent his voice to a Pepsi jingle that played nationally on U.S radio, which earned him royalties to produce and release his first solo album, Manifestations, in 2007. That album earned him the "Songwriter of the Year" honors in the City Pages In 2009 he released a free album, The Birds and the Beats, to raise awareness and funds for the work of a non-profit, Young Entrepreneurs Africa.

In 2010, M.anifest linked up with Africa Express and toured France and Spain with them. He caught the attention of Africa Express co-founder Damon Albarn, who thereafter invited M.anifest to be a collaborator on Rocket Juice & the Moon the following year. He wrote for The Huffington Post about these experiences.

In September 2011, he released his sophomore album Immigrant Chronicles: Coming to America, which included the singles "Suffer", "Asa" and "Blue (Chale What Dey Happen)". It marked a decade of his life in the United States, and the beginning of his transition back to Ghana. In 2012, M.anifest began making major inroads in Africa, performing on the Big Brother Africa stage as well at the Channel O Music Video Awards in South Africa. The video for his single "Makaa Maka" also got him nominated for Most Gifted Hip-Hop Video at the 2012 Channel O Music Awards and won him Best Hip-Hop Video at the locally-held 4Syte Music Video Awards.

M.anifest produced and co-wrote an independence mini Hip-Hopera for Channel O and also performed a piece, at the first-ever Ghana Music Week, detailing the history of Ghanaian music. M.anifest is the co-founder of Giant Steps, an interactive conference for entrepreneurial creatives and creative entrepreneurs. He is also included in the feature-length documentary We Rock Long Distance by filmmaker Justin Schell.

On 30 June 2016, M.anifest released a diss track to fellow rapper Sarkodie titled "god MC". Sarkodie replied within two days with a diss track of his own called "Kanta", which was a Panda cover. M.anifest's god MC went on to win Hip Hop Song of the year in the Ghana Music Award the following year. Two years later on 24 December 2018, the two officially squashed their beef with Sarkodie performing at M.anifest's yearly Manifestivies concert in Accra. On 18 June 2020, the two cemented their friendship with Sarkodie featuring M.anifest on his politically conscious track, Brown Paper Bag. The song was met with mixed reaction, with popular music critic, Gabriel Myers Hansen, bemoaning its lack of dance rhythm.

"Bereft of hooks, the instrumentation of the song is crafted with chords that fend off dance; instead inducing a frightful, contemplative atmosphere complete with doomy humming and the blast of gunshots. Insofar as this facilitates the discussion it hosts, it is fit for purpose. After all, this is not a forum for the fainthearted."

Awards Songwriter of the Year (2008) - City Pages Minnesota Emerging composer Award (MECA) (2010) - American Composers Forum Best Hip-Hop Video - 4syte Music Video Awards Hip-Hop Song of the Year (2013) - Ghana Music Awards Best Rapper of the year (2013) - Ghana Music Award Best Special Effects Video (2016) - 4syte Music Video Awards Best Individual Style (2016) - Glitz Style Awards Hip-Hop song of the year (2017) - Ghana Music Awards Best Rapper of the Year (2017)- Ghana Music Awards Midem Best Artist (2017)- International Midem Awards, France Best artiste in African Hip Hop award (AFRIMA 2018) Known to his fans as the Greatest Rapper of All Time

Discography

Albums

Manifestations (2007) The Birds and the Beats (Free Mixtape, 2009) Immigrant Chronicles: Coming to America (2011) Apae: the price of free EP (2013) Nowhere Cool (2016) The Gamble EP (2019) Madina to the Universe (2021) Madina to the Universe: The E.P.Ilogue (2022) NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES (2025)

Singles

"Babylon Breakdown" (2007) "Gentleman" (2007) "Coming to America" (2011) "Suffer" (2011) "Asa" feat. Efya (2012) "Makaa Maka" (2012) "Blue (Chale What Dey Happen)" (2012) "Ebei" (2013) "Mind Games" (2013) "Someway Bi" (2013) "Jigah" feat. HHP (2014) "No Shortcut to Heaven" feat. Obrafour (2014) "W'ani Aba" (feat. Bisa Kdei) "Forget Dem" (2015) "god MC" (2016) "100%" (2016) "Sugar" feat Brymo (2016) "Do My Own" feat bigBen (2017) "Me ne woa" feat King Promise (2017) "Azumah Nelson Flow" (2017) Be my woman feat M.I Casa (2017) "Don’t Follow Me" feat. Bayku & Yaa Pono (2018) "Okay" feat. Worlasi Feels feat Kwesi Arthur Rapper 101 Big Mad feat. Simi "Rapper 101 (Prod. by MikeMillzOnEm)" (2019) "No Long Talk (Prod. by MikeMillzOnEm)" (2020)

Features "Camp Mulla" feat. M.anifest - All in (2013) "E.L." feat. M.anifest - Hallelujah (2013) "Lyricalwaanzam" feat. M.anifest - For sheygey reasons (2013) "Bodi" feat. M.anifest & Team Dharma - Hercules (2013) "Kindness" feat. M.anifest - 8th Wonder (2014) "Proverb" feat. M.anifest - Proverb's Manifest (2014) "Dee Moneey" feat. M.anifest, Ice Prince, Paedae(R2bees), JTown, Reminisce - Finish Line (Remix) (2014) "Sedem" feat. M.anifest - Falling in Love(2014) "Obrafour" ft. M.anifest - Odasani (2014) "Sarkodie" ft. M.anifest - Brown Paper Bag (2020) "A-Reece" ft. M.anifest - West Africa Time (2023) "A-Reece" ft. M.anifest - Champions (2023) "Streets is Calling" (feat. M.anifest and Moonchild Sanelley) (2024)

Collaborations A.R.M (Budo, Krudid, M.anifest) ft Brother Ali - Heaven Only Knows (2009) S&M (Sarah White & M.anifest) - Losing My Religion (2010) A.R.M (Budo, Krudid, M.anifest) - Two Africans and a Jew EP (2011) Burna Boy ft M.anifest - Another Story (African Giant, 2019 )