​Karoli Naa uses influence of Ghana to bring fresh sound to Canadian hip-hop scene

 
 
MONTREAL, QUEBEC – There’s one simple goal that Karoli Naa wants to accomplish with her music: help her fans have fun.
 
“The overall factor of my music is fun,” said the Canadian hip-hop artist who comes to North America by way of the African country of Ghana. “Music should be all about fun and feeling it. When people hear my songs, I want them to like what they hear and connect to it. I want them to live in and feel what it is that I feel when I’m pouring myself into the lyrics. I want to empower the ladies and I want everybody to enjoy it.”
 
Her newest single, “Ultimate Queen,” fulfills all of those things and more by providing an anthem for women of all walks of life – the “queens,” if you will. She said she wrote the song with the intention of passing along a positive vibe and message for any girls out there. The lyrics within the song talk about being confident and standing your ground and staying true to who you are, even in the most challenging of times.
“It’s a song about making your name and letting people know who you are,” she said. “It’s a song about being a confident and strong woman. It’s upbeat – more of a club or trap kind of song. You can definitely dance to it. Clubs will love it.”
 
As an artist whose roots come from Ghana, she said she knows her sound and her style will stand out from the crowd of other hip-hop artists. She points to her sound, voice, tone and style as all versatile and different because of the influence of Africa.
 
“Coming from far away, I adapted to what I heard over hear and grew into it and love it,” she said. “But you can feel the different flavor and strength in my voice. It’s a good energy, and I see that people like to gravitate toward me easily. I think people can see it and recognize that difference right away.”
 
She said she remembers loving to sing and dance from a very young age while living in Ghana. When her parents moved the family to Canada to help their children have a brighter future, she said she gravitated to more of the musical legends – such as Bob Marley, Tupac and Jay-Z. By age 13 she was ready to pursue music professionally, and literally woke up one morning and started writing her first song. When she eventually went into the studio to record that song, she was hooked and hasn’t stopped making music since.
 
In 2015 she was ranked as one of the most influential artists in Canadian Hip Pop and won the best rap single of the year at the 2015 Canadian Hip Pop Awards. Prior to that, she released her first mixtape, “Explicit World,” which included the singles “Dolly,” “In My Spaceship” and “Love Karoli Naa,” which got quite a bit of airplay throughout 2014. She’s been featured on the cover of Ambiance Magazine Montreal, has been featured on multiple mixtapes from other collaborating artists, and has even shown up in a handful of music videos.
 
She has some music videos of her own that fans can check out on her YouTube page. Fans can also follower her @DaRealKaroliNaa on Twitter, @official_karoli_naa on Ingstagram, or @OfficialKarloliNaa on Facebook for more about upcoming music releases or live performances.