Kweku Smoke

There is something deliberate about the way Kweku Smoke operates. Born Paul Amankwah in Kumasi on 25 November 1997, he grew up in a house where music was not a hobby. His father played guitar, his mother sang, and the atmosphere was less domestic than it was rehearsal. By the time he enrolled at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the direction was already decided; the degree was a courtesy, the booth was the destination.

He raps in Twi, Pidgin and English interchangeably, shifting between them mid-verse the way a Kumasi street conversation does. His production leans on hip-hop frameworks padded with Afrobeats warmth and drill edges, a sound that feels exactly like where he is from. In 2019, a studio session with Sarkodie produced Yedin, and overnight the city had a new name to follow. The years between that track and his next major statement were spent quietly stacking: singles, collaborations, a reputation built on precision rather than noise.

In March 2024, Kweku Jesus arrived, going straight to number one on iTunes in Ghana and settling any debate about where he sits in the conversation. He followed it the same year with Born in Hell, a deliberately smaller and more exposed record: fewer features, more interior, the kind of project an artist makes when they stop explaining themselves and start documenting.