NANA KWAKU OKYERE
Ghana, 27
Identified by Bigga Fish
‘Tic Tac’ is originally from Kwamo, a suburb of the Ashanti region in Ghana. He is a vocalist who, in 1997, co-founded the group Natty Strangers, which despite the young age of its artists, became highly popular. Tic Tac’s debut album Philomena hit the streets in 1999, with the singles KKBK and MMAA 4MULA topping the charts in Ghana for several weeks. His later album Masem (My Story) included another big hit, Menkabio, which stayed on the charts for more than 23 consecutive weeks. Throughout his nine year career, Tic Tac has won no less than ten Ghana Music Awards. He has also been involved in campaigns for the UN, raising funds for children as part of the World Food Program.
In 2006, Tic Tac was the headline act of the African Village stage at the Rise Festival, where 80,000 people gathered to take part in the annual celebration. Later that year, Tic Tac was part of the Fifa World Cup Puma Africa Compilation featuring John Legend, Akon and Baaba Maal. The video for Tic Tac’s hit song Kangaroo, taken from his most recent album Accra Connection, was shot by US Director Gil Green. Tic Tac was the first African artist to be the subject of an MTV ‘Making Of’ Video and Kangaroo was #1 on the MTV Base Africa chart for four consecutive weeks. During this year’s CAN 2008 in Ghana, the Kangaroo dance was made a national frenzy by Ghana’s national football team The Blackstars. Tic Tac is currently working on his sixth album, which will be released later this year.
