J.Derobie doesn\u2019t have much to say about his childhood: \u201cI grew up in Nungua [a coastal town located in the East of Accra]. It was normal, average Ghanaian. Life was normal. Everything was normal\u201d. But music quickly disrupted the young Derick\u2019s life: \u201cI heard a woman singing in my house and I loved the way she sang\u201d, he remembers. \u201cI started looking into music and I started singing. And whenever I used to sing, people were like \u201coh you sing really well!\u201d In Nungua, the young man was at the crossroads of multiple musical cultures and listened to everything young Ghanaians listen to: afrobeats, highlife, hiplife\u2026 \u201cand Dancehall when I started high school\u201d, he adds. Mixing all these influences, he released two afrobeats songs, a dancehall track and freestyle demo of the yet to be recorded,\u201cPoverty\u201d. The freestyle caught the attention of Mr Eazi\u2019s newly formed talent incubator emPawa Africa and chose him to be part of the initiative\u2019s inaugural artist call out emPawa 100. The original track, released in January 2019 via emPawa, stands today with over 3 million streams and had a strong impact on the Ghanaian public. The young singer gained international exposure, professional management, thousands of followers and a remix alongside Jamaican superstar Popcaan; the icing on the cake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n