Latest Comeups, The Kofi Edition
Written by Spencer Rioux
Who is Kofi?
Kofi born Daenan Gyimah is a rapper, singer, producer, and songwriter from Scarborough, Ontario. At 25 years old he has put out 2 EPs and 2 albums on Spotify and enough singles to fill another of each. With this kind of track vault, it’s safe to say he has something for everyone. Kofi’s Spotify is soaring at 209,000 monthly listeners with his most viewed song ‘Came Up‘ hovering just under the 6 million listen mark. Over his 5 year career in rap, Kofi collected features from some of North’s best talents like Pressa, Jayy Brown, Duvy, Ching, and Tre West.
Why Should I Know Kofi?
Kofi is the definition of consistency. With a clear understanding of track production and lyric writing, he developed a plan to launch his music to as many people as possible. He understood the business behind the music industry and learned that marketing and consistency are the keys to being successful.
Over the span of 2019-2020, Kofi dropped 19 singles and a 6-track EP in rapid-fire style releases dropping 1 track a month to up to dropping 4 tracks a month. This approach of unpredictability to the general public but in reality staying on track with his plan helps keep the listeners on their toes never knowing when Kofi will drop his next hit. It isn’t just his marketing erudition that makes Kofi it’s his style and ability to make great R&B-styled songs and flip the rapper switch with vivid and quick spit bars about his city and journey.
He comes off as a storyteller in his Toronto set tracks ‘401 & Kingston‘, ‘Scarborough‘, and the title track of his debut album, ‘100 Dark Nights.’
Our Recommendations!
My Top 3 Songs I Would Recommend You To Check Out:
Spotify:
– Space Cadet
– Came Up
– Twenty One
Learn More About Kofi!
Born and raised in Toronto’s east side city of Scarborough, he comes from a Ghanaian bloodline. Growing up, music was a big part of his life stating Akon and Sam Cook as his favorites. Kofi‘s appreciation for different genres is deep with his music catalog consisting of soul, reggae, country, classical, rock, and rap just to name a few. With this type of musical background so young in his life, he quickly picked up writing music and lyrics. He learned piano at a young age and would even write musical scores for his school band. Kofi grew up as a shy kid and found his escape in life through music and sports, specifically, volleyball.
He played volleyball in high school and joined the Canadian men’s junior national volleyball team. At a height of 6ft 8in he was a huge asset to the team which made him stand out to scouts. During a tournament, he was recruited to join the UCLA volleyball team with a four-year scholarship that would see him trade his timbs for sandals in Los Angeles.
During his time in LA, he played the sport he loved at the well-established university from 2017-2020 as a middle blocker, but he was still certain about pursuing music. Off the court, Kofi focused on meeting connections in the music industry and growing his track skill even producing for Booggz.
In the first year of his LA dorming he began working on tracks and developing his sound before constructing his first track ‘Zombie‘ featuring Tre West. This was just the first push of the avalanche of music that would soon follow. In 2018 he dropped 3 singles, with a feature from Pressa on ‘Out the Way‘, and a 4 track debut EP called ‘Tripolar‘, an honest take on his pride for his city and the love and loss of the women he’s come across on his journey. The transition between ‘Nobody‘ and ‘But You‘ is a perfect way to close out a mastered debut EP and sounds so good on every listen.
After an incredibly consistent first year, he hit the new year running with his break-out hit, ‘Came Up‘. The determination of his first year’s work brought the streams and centered them on ‘Came Up‘. His time put in during his run before this track paid off as Kofi can effortlessly switch from singer to rapper within the same breath and is always an easy recommendation. The song touches on the comparisons of his Toronto upbringing, coming from nothing to his location drop in LA and being surrounded by the lavish customs of the west coast.
But no matter how far he would travel he was a Toronto boy at heart shouting out his family and friends and how the celebration was around the corner. Little did he know he was right, the track was a hit and the streams came pouring in. Over the four-year span since the release of Came Up, it garnered just under 6 million listens and still hold the top spot of his discography.
Kofi received the deserved praise for ‘Came Up‘, but it only stoked the fire. Instead of celebrating his victory, Kofi stayed on his grind with an 11-track year where he wasn’t afraid to try new things. Fast-paced tracks like ‘Not Like You‘ featuring Zo, (AKA Lonzo Ball) and ‘For That‘ with heavy beats that you can’t help but bop to. ‘Bad Habit‘ was a stand-out song for me with an acoustic and a simple drum beat that comes off as a Jamaican feel and works so well.
He never strayed far from his track recipe of strong bars followed by him signing his hooks which never failed. This is what would carry his music to the hands of Redbull Records. After 15 singles and 1 EP released to Spotify, his talent was finally recognized and he would sign with the Redbull Record Label at the end of 2019.
Now with a label and an established name in the rap scene, Kofi started working on a bigger project between the releases of his singles, a second EP titled, ‘Story of My Life‘. A 5 track EP telling stories on getting through the struggle of poverty by selling beats to make money while getting past failed relationships. The central topic that Kofi displays on four out of the five tracks is, “right girl, wrong time” whether it be their own demons or their differences in culture when talking to the women of LA. How he had to let go of the relationships but still carry the burden of keeping a small part of those connections.
Kofi continued this storytelling approach, shedding insight on his past on ‘Scarbrough‘ and ‘Twenty One‘ speaking on the vicious streets of Toronto firsthand. Being held up for his phone and the sounds of senseless violence in the form of gunshots ringing off in the night. The vividness comes from the truth and the pain in these firsthand experiences that he translates to the mic.
He would go on to share more tales about Toronto on the lead track of his debut album, ‘100 Dark Nights‘. It’s full of heart about hustling through cold and dark nights dreaming about getting out of his cockroach-infested living space.
Out of all his previous features and collabs I hold the second track of the album, ‘Space Cadet‘ featuring Duvy as one of his best. He and Duvy talk about spending big over on Rodeo with lots of bars about the north intertwined. The rest of the album is filled with more tracks showcasing Kofi’s talent of singing and rapping using well-written and elegant bars with a perfect blend of piano backing most of the tracks.
2 months after the release of ‘100 Dark Nights‘, Kofi would put out a deluxe version of the album that included gems like ‘Papi‘, ‘Pass Me The Blunt‘, ‘2 Da Door‘ featuring Tdu, and ‘What If I Told You‘.
After releasing his debut album, Kofi would go right back to the studio to start crafting his second album, ‘Why Not?‘ Following up to the release of the album, Kofi would drop two songs from the album early, ‘Haunt Me‘ featuring 2KBABY and ‘On Me‘ to start building the hype for the release. The album is beautifully composed with soft beats and Kofi’s vocals that carry on to ‘Two Two’s‘ and ‘Shut Down‘ before being hit with a beat that sparks the head nodding on ‘In Here‘ featuring Noodah05.
Kofi made a sequel to his second EP called, ‘Story of My Life 2‘ on the album looking back on his life through dark nights and fake friends and how all the dice rolling and risk paid off in the end. He shows his love for both acoustic and electric guitars on the two closing tracks ‘DJ‘ and ‘That’s Why‘ and together they riff off each other beautifully.
Follow Kofi!
Kofi is an artist where it’s hard to find a bad quality in his craft. He can sing, produce, rap, write, and when he brings it all together we get unbelievable music. Outside of the music, he’s a loyal Toronto kid that hopes to spark change in his city with regard to violence.
He strongly believes in the power and talents that are present in his city and how if only they as artists would focus on their music and make positive progressions, Toronto would have a leading chance of strongarming the industry. I believe Kofi is the uniting front to get Toronto into the mainstream because he really does believe in his city and believes there is so much great music still undiscovered by the masses.
We’re still waiting for Kofi‘s first drop of 2023 but in the meantime, stream his newest released songs, ‘Uninvited‘ and ‘I’m Yours‘ on Spotify at Kofi. I highly recommend listening to his Red Bull Records Live Sessions to get a chance to see his music come to life with a band behind him
Find Kofi and Much More Talent In Our Official “Northern Comeups” Playlist!
