Nana (rapper)

Name	Nana
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Nana Kwame Abrokwa
Born	October 05, 1968 Accra, Ghana
Origin	Germany
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper
Years active	1996–present
Label	Motor Music GMBH Darkman Records

Nana Kwame Abrokwa (born in 5 October 1968 in Accra, Ghana) is a German rapper and DJ, performing under the pseudonyms Nana or Darkman / Nana. Nana is not an actual first name, but a Ghanaian title of nobility. His most important achievement came in the second half of the 1990s, when his style was characterized as "euro-rap" and his lyrics focused on the relationship with God, with his family, or on topics like racism and Holocaust.

Biography

Nana arrived in Hamburg with his mother and his brothers at the age of 10. At the beginning of the 90's, his debut consists of DJ-ing in hip-hop clubs. he also co-produces and raps in some songs of DJ David Fascher ("Here We Go", "Make The Crowd Go Wild"), under the alias MC Africa True.

In 1995 he joins as a rapper the Eurodance project Darkness, which was produced by Bülent Aris and Toni Cottura. The song "In My Dreams" becomes a club hit, but Nana didn't feel very comfortable with the style Darkness adopted and the group separates. However, his current scene name, Darkman, originates from this time.

In 1996 Aris and Cottura founded the Black Music label Booya Music, which Nana joined as the first artist. The first single, "Darkman" reached the top 10 of Germany's official single-chart by Media Control. The following single, "Lonely", became the most successful euro-rap song, being No. 1 for several weeks. The album, Nana, released in 1997, is more on the mainstream, US style of rapping. It features numerous other members of the Booya Family, such as Jan van der Toorn and Alex Prince.

The second album, Father, was released in May 1998 and contains rather slow pieces with very personal lyrics. The songs "Too Much Heaven" and "War" were also featured on the tribute albums Love The Bee Gees and Hands on Motown.

At the end of 1999, Nana's released the single "I Wanna Fly", which flopped, due to a decrease in euro-rap's popularity and the growing importance of hip-hop played in German. Nevertheless Nana still recorded two further albums with Booya Music, which were not released due to legal problems.

At the beginning of 2001 Nana released the German-language song Du wirst sehen, a gesture which was not appreciated by international fans. The single flopped, and the planned bilingual album Global Playa was canceled at the request of the record company.

After a long break, in the summer of 2004, Nana finally released the album All Doors In Flight No. 7, featuring Jan van der Toorn and Manuell, on his own label, Darkman Records. The album was distributed exclusively over the Internet, through Nana's website.

As of 2005, Nana is purportedly featured on a tape compilation of an underground DJ, Essenz Finezt .

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable" ! width="28" rowspan="2"| Year ! width="100" rowspan="2"| Title ! colspan="3"| Chart Positions ! width="150" rowspan="2"| Certifications |- ! width="86"| AUT ! width="86"| GER ! width="86"| SWI |- | 1997 |align="center"| Nana |align="center"| 22 |align="center"| 4 |align="center"| 6 |GER: Gold 250.000 SWI: Gold 15.000 |- | 1998 |align="center"| Father |align="center"| 17 |align="center"| 4 |align="center"| 8 | |- | 2004 |align="center"| All Doors in Flight No. 7 |align="center"| – |align="center"| – |align="center"| – | |- | 2008 |align="center"| 12 Y.O. |align="center"| – |align="center"| – |align="center"| – | |- | 2010 |align="center"| Stand Up |align="center"| – |align="center"| – |align="center"| – | |- |}

Compilations

2002: The Best

Singles

{| class="wikitable" ! width="28" rowspan="2"| Year ! width="100" rowspan="2"| Title ! colspan="5"| Chart Positions ! width="150" rowspan="2"| Certifications ! width="187" rowspan="2"| Album |- ! width="86"| AUT ! width="86"| NET ! width="86"| GER ! width="86"| NOR ! width="86"| SWI |- | 1996/97 |align="center"| Darkman |align="center"| - |align="center"| 71 |align="center"| 9 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 20 | | Nana |- | 1997 |align="center"| Lonely |align="center"| 2 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 1 |align="center"| 3 |align="center"| 1 |GER: Platinum 500.000 | Nana |- | 1997 |align="center"| Let It Rain |align="center"| 22 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 12 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 48 | | Nana |- | 1997 |align="center"| He's Comin' |align="center"| 14 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 4 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 11 |GER: Gold 250.000 | Nana |- | 1997 |align="center"| Bible In My Hand (with U.B.F) |align="center"| - |align="center"| - |align="center"| 54 |align="center"| - |align="center"| - | | Non Album Track |- | 1997/98 |align="center"| Too Much Heaven |align="center"| 6 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 2 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 7 |GER: Gold 250.000 | Father |- | 1998 |align="center"| Remember The Time |align="center"| 10 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 6 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 10 |GER: Gold 250.000 | Father |- | 1998 |align="center"| Dreams |align="center"| - |align="center"| - |align="center"| 18 |align="center"| - |align="center"| - | | Father |- | 1999 |align="center"| I Wanna Fly (Like An Eagle) |align="center"| - |align="center"| - |align="center"| 84 |align="center"| - |align="center"| - | | Non Album Track |- |}

Further songs that did not chart:

*Du Wirst Sehen - 14.04.2001

Butterfly/Ride With Me - 12.07.2004

Ride With Me - 26.02.2005

My Get Away - 2008

Awards

1997: Comet Award for "Best German debut"

1998: ECHO for "Most successful German debut"

1998: ECHO for "Most successful German artist"

1998: Comet Award for "Best German act"

External links

Official website

T-Music pages on Nana

Notes

Category:1968 births Category:German rappers Category:Ghanaian rappers Category:Living people