The transition of Livingstone Etse Satekla ironically is like his records; from demos and small stages to mastered tracks and international platforms.
Stonebwoy as known by many in the Ghanaian and African music scene is a Reggae/Dancehall singer and performer. Founder of his own independent label, Bhim Nation and currently bears the Artiste of the Year title to his success story this year.
Despite his fatal accident experience at an early age of 14 on the Tema Motorway and having a fractured knee, he still “walked” to achieve and live up his music dream.
His story is an inspiration to many disable and young people on the streets.
His performance trade started very early at the Methodist Day Secondary School, same high school that rolled out the fastest rapper, Sarkodie Obidi.
The popular “Kasahare Level’’ hosted by Dr. Duncan on Adom FM was the radio podium that introduced the Bhim Nation founder to the masses. As he appeared on the show with features like Dr. Cryme, Sarkodie, Stay Jay and some Tema based artistes. He battled and won most musicians on the show and that made him popular at that underground level.
Stonebwoy was among the few young artistes at the S24 Studios where Kwick Action was the sound engineer and Head of Production. It was at that studio he met multiple awards winning artiste, Samini.
With time Samini signed him to his Samini Music Label and they together formed the High Grade Family with other acts like Kaakie and the Late Ghetto KB.
Bhim Nation which has become a street slang among his fans and Dancehall followers was birth when he left Samini Music after his “Grade 1” album to manage his independent career. Many will testify that Stonebwoy has worked so hard to attain this height in his career.
He has worked and featured some musicians like Jah Vinci, Gappy Ranks, Patoranking, Sarkodie, JMJ, MixMasta Garzy, Beat Dakay, Tinny, Irene Logan, DJ Black, DJ Juls, and others. His music style has an Afrocentric fusion which he describes as Afro-Dancehall.
It was heartfelt when he received the grand plaque of the night at the Ghana Music Awards. In his acceptance speech he described the support from his fans and following in one phrase “this is love”.
He won Reggae Dancehall Song of the Year, Reggae Dancehall Artiste of the Year and Artiste of the Year at this year’s Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. As part of his celebration he will be hosting a thanksgiving concert dubbed the “Bhim Nation Ultimate” concert which will be held at the Tema Sports Stadium on May 1, 2015 and it’s targeted to draw his fans from Ashaiman, Tema, Spintex and its surroundings.
The concert will have supporting acts like EL, Edem, Joey B and Pappy Kojo, MzVee.
Stonebwoy is GhanaGist’s Star Of The Week.
By Samuel Omane-Mensah Jnr/ GhanaGist.com