Mohammed Ismail Sharrif, professionally known as Black Sherif, formerly Blacko, is a Ghanaian singer and rapper. At 21 years old, he is the youngest singer to win Artist of the Year at the 2023 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. In October 2022, his breakthrough album ‘The Villain I Never Was’ cemented him as a rising talent to watch. This debut showcased an eclectic fusion of drill, Afrobeats, reggae, and hip-hop. This was followed by critical acclaim, as well as collaborations with Jamaican artist Popcaan and Nigerian artist Burna Boy. His other performances include the Black Star Line Festival in Accra, Ghana.
Sherif’s first sold out show in New York City took place at Palladium Times Square in May 2023 where around 20 acts took the stage. From Nigeria and Ghana to Liberia and New York City, the diaspora united on and off stage to celebrate this artist’s momentous career occasion. After much anticipation from the audience and hard work rocking the stage from the rest of the performers, Sherif rocked on stage with a performance of ‘Kwaku the Traveller’, a number from his debut album.
Outside or even alongside music, Sherif’s stance on politics in Ghana is that despite everyone suffering from the effects of inflation, the masses support a young artist such as himself. He has been dearly embraced for his talent in his home country so it is easier to take the rest of the world by storm.
Reaching this level of optimism requires battling some demons. On stage, he adopts the persona of a troublemaker who jumps around the stage in a frenzy. When most of the world was introduced to Sherif, they associated him with three words ‘villain,’ ‘kwaku,’ and ‘traveller’ hence the first song he performed on the New York stage.
Recently, big artists from the Western World such as Drake, Beyoncé, and Ed Sheeran have adopted Afrobeats in their music much to the attention of everyone privy to their music. According to Sherif, this is an irresistible genre so its appeal to to artists outside of where it originated is not shocking.
Sherif appreciates the communities artist build as they build their careers. In his experience he’s seen artists getting help from their community to create cover art, sew costumes, and put together some instrumentals in order to make the dream a reality.
