Obibini has never won a music award, and he wants Ghana to know how that feels. “I have had two nominations but I just feel like it is a way they just want to tap me on the back,” the rapper said on Hitz FM last October, before adding a line that travelled faster than the complaint: “I am the Shakespeare of this thing.”
It was classic Obibini: confident, quotable and a little defiant. In nine years in the spotlight he has signed to one of the most talked-about labels in Ghanaian history, watched it collapse around him, refused to leave, started one of the loudest rap beefs of 2021 and kept releasing music through all of it. In 2026 alone he has put out five singles, the latest of which, “Blue Film”, landed in June.
So who is Obibini, where does the name come from, and why does his story keep pulling people back? Here are seven things to know.
1. Obibini’s name is an acronym
In Twi, obibini means a black person, and most listeners assume that is the whole story. It is only half of it. The rapper has turned the word into an acronym: Obviously Black Is Beautiful, Infinite & Naturally Inspiring.
Behind the name is Kwaku Boafo, whose full name is given as David Kwaku Effum Boafo. He comes from Effiduase, in the Sekyere East district of the Ashanti Region, and he is an old student of Adisadel College in Cape Coast. He grew up on Reggie Rockstone and Obrafour at home and Outkast and Busta Rhymes from abroad, and he describes what he does as “Rhythmic Afrikan Poetry”.
2. He spent more than a decade underground
Obibini was rapping long before most people heard of him. At Adisadel he formed a group called the Ill Deadly Ministers, or IDM, and after school he worked the underground circuit. By his own account he spent more than ten years there, struggling to find the right management.
The wait did nothing to dent his confidence. In August 2017, barely two months after his big break, he told Graphic Showbiz he was ready to battle Sarkodie, M.anifest and E.L. “I am not bluffing but I know I am the best rapper,” he said. “My style is unique and those who know rap can testify that Obibini is one of a kind.”
3. Zylofon made him, then fell apart
That break came in June 2017, when Zylofon Media signed him. The label belonged to Nana Appiah Mensah, better known as NAM1, the chief executive of the gold dealership Menzgold, and it spent big. Obibini has said that within three months of signing he was performing at the Ghana Music Awards UK.
The singles came quickly. “The Statement” arrived in July 2017, followed by “Lemme Know” with A.I. and, in 2018, “Ahye Me” with KiDi, still one of his best-loved records. “Mind Ya Biz” with Kwesi Arthur followed in early 2019.
Then Menzgold collapsed, and the money and machinery behind Zylofon went with it. “When the [unfortunate] things were happening, I was so ready and poised for action,” he told Okay FM in 2025. “It made me sit back and rewrite my stories.”
4. He is the one who stayed
One by one, Zylofon’s acts left. Obibini did not. By 2022 he was almost the only artist still tied to the label, and when Graphic Showbiz asked him why, he did not dress it up. “You can use the word loyalty and I still believe it is one of the greatest record labels even now,” he said. “It is more like passion than anything else.”
He has never turned on NAM1 either. “Zylofon is my dear family. Shouts to NAM1,” he said in 2025, adding that the two still speak “once in a while”. In a business where artists routinely fall out with former bosses in public, that loyalty is a large part of why fans root for him.
He made an album in that period, too. Diagrams, released in August 2019, features Sarkodie and Frydai on “Balenciagas”, Feli Nuna on “Too Bad” and Kweysi Swat on “The Psalmist”. One track is called “M7”, the same shorthand NAM1 would use two years later.
5. The Amerado beef was his loudest moment
In August 2021 Amerado, Kweku Flick and Yaw Tog appeared on Tim Westwood’s show in the UK, and Amerado used his freestyle to take a shot at Obibini. It was a mistake, at least in Obibini’s telling. He answered with “Deceased”. Amerado came back with “The Throne”. Obibini replied again with “Carcass”, and Ghanaian rap Twitter had its summer storyline.
NAM1 could not resist joining in. “Heard my son is busy pitpatting, punning & peeing on a peasant’s poodle carcass in a puddle,” he tweeted, before asking: “M7 are u ready for a big concert?”
Obibini, meanwhile, rejected the idea that the feud had revived his career. “Anyone who says Amerado resurrected my career does not know what he is talking about,” he told Graphic Showbiz. “He released one song and I have released three so far. Tell me who is winning.” On Hitz FM he went further: “I feel he has regretted his actions and he sees I’m the one benefiting.”
The twist that fans love to point out is that the two had shared songs before it all started. Both appear on the 2019 remix of Edem’s “Kporda”, and in May 2020 they were featured together on Kweysi Swat’s “Onyonko”, alongside Opanka.
6. “Yardie” brought Stonebwoy on board
The beef was not the only thing Obibini had going in 2021. In April he released “Yardie”, and by July a remix had arrived with Stonebwoy and the singer Akiyana. NAM1 used the same run of tweets to tell fans to “Get the #YardieRemix loud & on replay.” When Graphic Showbiz profiled him the following year, it named “Yardie”, “Carcass” and “Deceased” as his hits.
7. Obibini is still waiting for his flowers
For all the noise, the trophy cabinet is empty. Obibini has been nominated twice for Best Rap Performance at the Ghana Music Awards and lost both times. Speaking on Daybreak Hitz in October 2025, he called it an insult and described the industry as fake, hinting that people work against him behind the scenes.
He has not slowed down. Since that interview he has released “Have You Ever” with Chymny Crane and GaisieBoi, then a 2026 run of “Scary Deity”, “Hustle 101”, “The Bozay Story”, “Nebula” with Ko-Jo Cue and “Blue Film”. He also turns up regularly on other people’s records, often with Lyrical Joe, who joined him on “Ready” in 2024 and on the “BM Cypher” with Strongman in 2025.
“The music is my talent so I have to keep going,” he said last year. Whether or not an award ever follows, few Ghanaian rappers have a story quite like his.
Play Obibini’s songs on AfroYard
Every Obibini single, feature and the full Diagrams tracklist is now on AfroYard, from “The Statement” and “Ahye Me” to “Deceased”, “Carcass” and his 2026 releases. Visit Obibini’s artist page for his biography, songs and videos.
