Michael Owusu Addo (born July 10, 1985), known by his stage name Sarkodie, is a Ghanaian hip hop recording artist and entrepreneur from Tema. He won Best International Act: Africa at the BET Awards in 2012 and was nominated for the same award at the BET Awards in 2014. In 2015, Sarkodie was voted the 19th most important Ghanaian by e.tv Ghana.

He is a major promoter of the Azonto dance and genre. Sarkodie is regarded as one of Africa’s most important hip hop artists. In 2014 he was sixth on MTV Base’s list of “Hottest African MCs”. In 2013, he was chosen number one on Lynx TV’s list of the “Top 10 Ghanaian Rappers of All Time”. In 2015, AfricaRanking.com ranked him third on their list of the “Top 10 African Rappers of 2015”. In 2015, he was named by The Guardian as one of the five biggest hip-hop acts on the African continent.

Sarkodie was born and raised in Tema, Ghana, the fourth of five children born to his mother Maame Aggrey. Sarkodie started rapping as a child and rapped his way through his academics. He was a product of Tema Methodist Senior High School. He is a graduate in graphic design from IPMC. Sarkodie began his career as an underground rapper. He was in Kasahare Level, a big rap competition on Adom FM. He met his former manager Duncan Williams of Duncwills Entertainment through rap battles.

He also met musicians Edem and Castro who introduced him to established record producer Hammer of The Last Two. Following his rap patterns, Hammer then added Sarkodie to two tracks from the Volta Regime album. After this exposure, Sarkodie recorded his debut album Makye. Sarkodie’s first single, “Baby,” featuring Mugeez of the R2Bees, was an instant hit and propelled Sarkodie into the mainstream of Ghanaian music. After competing against artists from the popular rap competition Kasahare Level, Sarkodie secured a record deal with JM Entertainment. His debut album, Makye, was released in 2009, with production by Killbeatz and Jayso and guest appearances from Kwaw Kese, J-Town, Sway and Paedae of R2Bees.

The CD was warmly appreciated by critics and fans alike. It was launched in Accra Mall with another concert at Accra’s Holy City Gardens. Sarkodie’s singles “Push” and “Baby” respectively placed ninth and thirteenth on Joy Fm’s Top 50 songs of 2009. In 2011, Sarkodie released the lead songs “Good Bye,” “One Time For Your Mind,” “You Go Kill Me,” “Living Legend,” and “Onyame Nhyira” off his album Rapperholic. The song, “You Go Kill Me”, featuring EL, was received well in Ghana. The video had cameo appearances by Sulley Muntari, Castro, Deborah Owusu-Bonsu, X.O Senovoe, DJ Mensah and Funny Face. Sarkodie dropped his Rapperholic album in 2012, which got outstanding reviews from reviewers.

The album also has cameos by Efya, Chidynma, Mugeez of R2Bees, Obrafour, Jayso, EL and others. Sarkodie took to the road for a statewide tour to promote the record. Sarkodie’s first BET nomination and eventual winner was Rapperholic. Sarkodie was also featured on the BET Hip Hop Awards cypher alongside Talib Kweli, Jean Grae and Ab-Soul. He was the sole African artiste on the cypher.

On October 30, 2013, Sarkodie dropped the official remix of his 2011 smash song “You Go Kill Me,” which topped many Ghanaian charts. Some of the artists that contributed to the remix are Wizkid, Ice Prince, Navio and EL. On December 21, 2013, a concert was staged for the launch of the album Sarkology on January 2, 2014. The tournament took place at the Accra Sports stadium. The album has cameos from fuse ODG, AKA, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Banky W, 2 Face Idibia, Joey B, Efya and more. After the release of the album Sarkology, Sarkodie released the official remix for “Adonai”. The remix quickly became a hit in Africa, and made the BBC’s Capital Xtra Top 35 Afrobeats Songs list.

In 2014, he started his own record label, Sarkcess Music. He also premiered the videos for the “Adonai” remix and “Special Someone” both featuring Castro and AKA as part of the launch. The label also released Sarkodie’s tracks “Megye Wo Girl,” “Love Rocks,” “Chingum” and “Whine Fi Me.”