Nana Abrokwa
Nana Kwame Abrokwa (born October 5, 1968 in Accra , Ghana ), known by his stage name Nana (this is not his first name; " Nana " is a worship name of the Ghanaian Akan peoples ) or the stage name Darkman Nana , is a German Rapper and DJ . He became known in the second half of the 1990s . His lyrics mostly revolve around his relationships with God and his family, but also deal with topics like racism and the Holocaust .
Life
Born in Ghana, he moved to Hamburg- Teilshoop with his mother and siblings at the age of twelve .
After graduating from school, Nana was initially active as a DJ in hip-hop clubs and in the early 90s worked as a rapper and co-producer on some songs by DJ David Fascher ( Here We Go , Make The Crowd Go Wild ), back then under the Pseudonym MC Africa True .
In 1990, an act of violence by Nana Abrokwa caused a sensation: the then 22-year-old stormed a Turkish woman with a baseball bat and hit her. The doctors later diagnosed a double fracture. A second Turk who wanted to defend the woman suffered multiple broken arms. When the Ghanaian attacked a third victim, the baseball bat splintered. Nana Kwame Abrokwa fled, leaving the injured people behind. Despite the final judgment, the offender never had to go to prison for this act, because he successfully applied for clemency and always pointed out his favorable social prognosis due to his musical activities. A conviction of three and a half years imprisonment for serious robbery remained without consequences for this reason and was not carried out.
Career
In 1995, True joined the Eurodance project Darkness as a rapper , which was produced by Bülent Aris and Toni Cottura . The song In My Dreams became a club hit; However, since NANA could not identify with this style of music, the group separated again. His current artist alias DARKMAN , however, dates from this time.
In 1996, Aris and Cottura the black music - label Booya Music , joined the first artist NANA. The first single DARKMAN immediately made it into the top ten of the German sales charts; the successor Lonely became the most successful song of the Eurorap era and stayed at number 1 for several weeks. The album NANA , released in 1997, moved stylistically between mainstream rap and US hip hop; numerous other members of the Booya family such as Jan van der Toorn and Alex Prince could be heard as guests.
The second album Father was released in May 1998 and contained rather slow pieces with very personal lyrics. The young producer Neco Tiglioglu was brought on board , who shortly thereafter received his first gold record. At the same time, NANA recorded the songs Too Much Heaven and War for the tribute albums We Love The Bee Gees and Hands On Motown .
Nana's single I Wanna Fly , released in late 1999, flopped after the public had lost interest in Eurorap and instead turned to German-language hip-hop music . Nonetheless, NANA recorded two more albums with Booya Music, which were no longer released due to legal problems (the other producers and artists involved had since left the label).
At the beginning of 2001, NANA released the German-language song You will see , which was received rather critically by the international fan base. This single was also a commercial flop, and work on the planned bilingual album Global Playa was stopped at the urging of the record company.
In the summer of 2004, NANA was finally able to release the CD All Doors In Flight No. on its label Darkman Records, which has since been founded. 7 issue. The album was created in collaboration with Jan van der Toorn and Manuell and was initially only sold by mail order via NANA's website. A release by Sony BMG was later announced, but for unknown reasons it did not take place. In 2005 NANA was on a compilation by the underground DJ “Dj Desk” on the “Essenz Finezt Pt. II Mixtape ”.
At the third RTL Promiboxen , NANA won against the actor Willi Herren . In 2007 he wrote music for a commercial.
In 2008 NANA released a new album, 12 YO, which contains new tracks and arrangements of his greatest hits.
In 2011 Nana appeared as a guest rapper in the song Jesus Loves Me , which can be heard on the album Liebe, Sex und Twilight Zone by the German-speaking rapper Kaas .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
|||
| 1997 | Nana |
DE4th  (45 weeks)DE |
AT22 (16 weeks) AT |
CH6th (39 weeks)CH |
First published: May 19, 1997
Sales: + 375,000; PL:  platinum
|
| 1998 | Father |
DE4 (16 weeks) DE |
AT17 (10 weeks) AT |
CH8 (13 weeks) CH |
First published: May 18, 1998
|
More albums
- 2004: All Doors in Flight No. 7th
- 2008: 12 YO
- 2010: Stand Up!
- 2017: #BetweenLuciferAndGod
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
|||
| 1996 | Darkman Nana |
DE9 (17 weeks) DE |
- |
CH20 (11 weeks) CH |
First published: December 6, 1996
|
| 1997 | Lonely Nana |
DE1 (20 weeks)DE |
AT2 (12 weeks) AT |
CH1 (18 weeks) CH |
First published: April 7, 1997
Sales: + 500,000 |
| Let It Rain Nana |
DE12 (11 weeks) DE |
AT22 (10 weeks) AT |
CH48 (2 weeks) CH |
First published: July 7, 1997
|
|
| He's comin ' nana |
DE4th (17 weeks)DE |
AT14 (12 weeks) AT |
CH11 (13 weeks) CH |
First published: September 1, 1997
Sales: + 250,000 |
|
|
Too Much Heaven Father |
DE2 (16 weeks)DE |
AT6 (12 weeks) AT |
CH7 (12 weeks) CH |
First published: December 1, 1997
Sales: + 250,000 |
|
| 1998 | Remember the Time Father |
DE6th (13 weeks)DE |
AT10 (12 weeks) AT |
CH10 (11 weeks) CH |
First published: April 6, 1998
Sales: + 250,000 |
| Dreams Father |
DE18 (9 weeks) DE |
- | - |
First published: August 1998
|
|
| 1999 | I Wanna Fly (Like an Eagle) |
DE84 (1 week) DE |
- | - |
First published: November 1999
|
More singles
- 1998: Father
- 2001: you will see
- 2017: Go Away
Awards
- 1997: Comet as best national newcomer
- 1998: RSH Gold
- 1998: Echo as the most successful national newcomer
- 1998: Echo as the most successful national artist
- 1998: Comet as best national act
Movie
- Fernes Land Pa-isch (Direction: Rainer Simon , 1993/94); Supporting role as Le Pain
Individual evidence
- ↑ JUSTICE SCANDAL - The hypocrite ; Article from FOCUS No. 14, 1998
- ↑ Euro-Rap.com: New Nana Track on a Mixtape !! November 29, 2005
- ↑ Youtube.com: NANA - Maxi King '07 Commercial ( posted there by Nana)
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT CH
- ↑ Awards for music sales: DE CH PL
- ↑ RSH Gold Award 1998
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Abrokwa, Nana |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Darkman Nana (stage name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German rapper and DJ |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th October 1968 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Accra , Ghana |