Kay-Ara: Phoenix Arising

In 2010, a young artist with the moniker Kay-Ara released a tape called Still Underground mixtape that gained him considerable underground attention. This mixtape went on to influence the other upcoming rappers at that time including Ko-jo Cue, Pappy Kojo, Ghetto Reps and a host of others. The taped spawned two underground successes “Latecomer” and “Traffic light” the latter, caused a rift between Kay-Ara and Bra Kevin Beats because Bra Kevin Beats had used the instrumental to record a song called “3 headed Beast” without informing Kay-Ara. After the success of Still Underground mixtape, Kay-Ara became affiliated to Pidgen Music a label that houses Lady Jay, Wanlov The Kubolor, M3nsa, King Ayisoba and at the time Yaa Pono. He ended up collaborating with Wanlov The Kubolor, M3nsa, Lady Jay and Yaa Pono and going on the Nsemkua Tour with Yaa Pono in the first quarter of 2011.

In 2011, Kay-Ara won a contest organized by Metro TV’s Jon Germain called Kings and Queens of the Underground and he was seen several times on the set of Allo Tigo. A video (latecomer) was shot for him for winning the contest and he recorded a song with Appietus. In the summer of 2011, Kay-Ara recorded a song called “Me Dough” which featured Yaa Pono and Lil Shaker of then Skillions record. The song is his biggest hit yet. The song was played a number of times on BBC Radio as well as made it onto the top 100 songs of 2011 by National Public Radio USA being on the same chart as Rihanna, Beyonce and other international stars.

In 2012, after the release of his mixtape The Reality Show season 1 Kay-Ara took a hiatus from music. In 2013, he announced his retirement from the game. Whether it was because of academic pursuit in Koforidua Technical University or a new found faith no one knows.

However, in the final quarter of 2015 he announced his return back into the game. Since then he has released a number of tracks and two videos, the first being The Accra City Hustle which was endorsed by Hammer of The Last Two, a man who made acts such as Kwaw Kesse, Sarkodie, Edem, Obrafuor, Dogo, Teephlow and a host of others successful in the music business.

In April 2017, Kay-Ara was featured on a track entitled Shy by Wanlov The Kubolor featuring Joey B. This happens to be the third time he’s been on a song with Joey B and Wanlov.

Kay-Ara plans to release more videos and songs this year. To solidify his presence in the game. His collaborations so far range from Joey B, Kojo Cue, Wanlov, M3nsa, Pappy Kojo, Dex Kwasi and a couple of other upcoming artists.

Kay-Ara is known for his provocative lyrics, and ability to bend words to his will, as well as his non-conformist attitude towards society. His music is heavily Afrocentric but he fails to limit himself to one genre of music.

He calls himself a neo-nomad alternative artist that is responsible for making music, sound creatively beautiful.

Watch his latest video making waves :