"I didn't want to end up dead like my boy, so I turned to music"
How AfroSwing artist KojoFunds rose to fame to get away from the life of gangs and violence.
By Adonelle Sagoe
Introducing…
KojoFunds aka The Golden Boy aka The King of AfroSwing, the 22 year old guy who rose
to fame from the rough streets of Custom House, who had a tough time first
getting into the industry.
I sat down with Kojo
to discuss his life as an upcoming artist; the challenges he’s faced within the
industry; a feud with rivalry and his upcoming projects.
“Custom House was a rough area, I grew up surrounded by gangs and violence. Being involved with that life was tough, I’ve seen so many of my boys get killed, gone [to] pen (jail) and to think that easily could've been me."
Kojo was warned by his family to turn his life around. "I was a typical black boy growing up in East London, didn't take school seriously, left the UK to go to Ghana for 2 years, came back and still nothing changed. I knew I had to change my ways when one of my close boys died involving money."
“At first, music wasn't something I took seriously,” says the 22
year old. “I was
just hanging with my boys one day in the studio and we were all free styling,
they clocked that I had a nice flow and some bars so I jumped on a track and
made my first song ‘Want From Me’”.
Kojo has his own distinct
sound infusing a mixture of genres such as turned his own sound into a new
genre called ‘AfroSwing’. It is something that many people may not be familiar
with, since it’s a fairly new concept, however he sheds a light into how he
came about it.
“AfroSwing is a genre
with the core element being Afrobeats with other genres swinging from genre to
genre, I knew that this is the sound I want to do because I’m half African and
Caribbean but got the British dialect mixing it all together, and they call me
the King because I’m the first to do it”.
“Producers would slam the door in my face, just because of the way I looked. They just wouldn’t take me seriously at all.”
It hasn’t always been a smooth ride for
Kojo, he discusses his challenges within the industry and trying to ‘break out’
in this new genre.
“When I decided to take
music more seriously, it was a challenge getting myself out there, producers
wouldn’t take me seriously, they would shut the door in my face. They just
didn’t understand what I was trying to put out there.”
He’s now working with
producer GA, who produced his breakthrough hit Dun Talkin’ ft. Abra Cadabra. “That’s my guy man! He understood
what I was trying to do, he’s helped me and produced most of my songs,
introduced me to the right people you know.”
"I
have a great fan base, and a very supportive family. Everything I’m doing is a
blessing."
Catch KojoFunds
headlining his first ever show at Electric Brixton on Thursday 5th
April.
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