Kweku Smoke

Kweku Smoke, born Paul Amankwah on 25 November 1997, is a Ghanaian rapper and songwriter from Berekum in the Bono Region. He raps in Twi, English and Pidgin about poverty, hustle and faith, and in 2025 he won three Telecel Ghana Music Awards, including Best Rap Performance and Best Hip Hop Song for "Holy Ghost".

Growing up

Amankwah's family home is Berekum in the Bono Region. He had his basic education at Victory International School, attended Benkum Senior High School and then went to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. While a student he ran a shuttle service for fellow KNUST students.

Freestyles and the Sarkodie co-sign

He started out posting freestyles under the name YRS before settling on Kweku Smoke. The turning point came in 2019, when he met Sarkodie and appeared on "Yedin", which introduced him to a national audience. A run of singles followed in 2020, including "Akata" and "Airhu" with Bosom P-Yung and "Dis Side" with Kofi Mole, and he was nominated for Next Rated Act at the 2020 3Music Awards.

An album every year

Few Ghanaian rappers have released as much as he has since 2022. He put out the EPs We Rage and Big Shmoke in 2022 and Old Compound in 2023, the same year as the albums Playman and He's Just Different. Kweku Jesus arrived on 8 March 2024 and reached number one on iTunes in Ghana; the darker, ten-track Born In Hell followed later that year, along with the EP Eye Red. Walk With Me came in 2025, and No Days Off, a 13-track album with Lasmid, Kwesi Arthur and Dikoo, was released on 4 September 2026. His catalogue is distributed through Africori.

His songs include "Holy Ghost", "Agyekum", "Nkwanehia", "Yedin" and "Akata". The recurring themes are hardship, loyalty, street life and a stubborn belief that he will make it, which is why his fans treat his albums as diaries as much as party records.

Awards and the Revival concerts

"Holy Ghost" carried him through the 26th Telecel Ghana Music Awards in 2025. He was nominated for Artiste of the Year and won Best Rap Performance, Best Hip Hop Song and the hip hop and hiplife artiste award.

On 18 December 2024 he headlined his own concert, The Revival, at the GHUD Park near Accra Mall. The brand has since travelled: a Revival show was billed for Washington, DC, and he brought it home to Berekum on 5 September 2026 as The Homecoming, a free thanksgiving concert for the people of the Bono enclave.