Abubakar Ahmed, aka Blakk Rasta, was born on September 2, 1974, in Tamale to devout Ahmadi-Moslem parents. Growing in the slums of Moshie-Zongo and Aboabo, he went through and witnessed a lot of injustice, favoritism, and other social ills; therefore his music and art reflect his experiences and his desire to fight injustice.

Education was a necessity for him since his parents were both educationists. He attended the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Land Economy.

He is also a graduate of the University of Coventry with an Msc in Oil and Gas Management. He also hopes to have a degree or diploma in Law. His studiousness made him a role model for many ghetto youths in the slums.

He topped his class several times. Everyone saw Blakk Rasta as an extraordinary chap with over-endowed academic talent.

Music was the last thing to Blakk Rasta though he enjoyed listening to very popular slow music. He wrote several plays, directed and acted in some of them. He writes novels too and won several writing competitions. Music started to become an option for him when in 1990, Osman Habib Dollar, a ghetto youth told him about Nigerian Reggae superstar-Ras Kimono.

He was immediately captured by the lyrical presentation of the singer; he was even moved to tears over some of the lyrics. He became interested in Rastafarianism and started researching the movement. The results opened him to several mind-blowing experiences, which led him to embrace Rasta, though still a Moslem.

In 1993, he got to opportunity to meet and watch Ras Kimono perform live. He later formed a conscious youth club called The RasTheatre Group in Tamale, which acted in plays, made movies, and performed Ras Kimono's music. Blakk Rasta started trying to write his own lyrics. His first album, Rasta Shrine came out in April 2000, spotting smash hit singles like Afreeka Swit, and Keep on Rockin / I & I Rastas.

In 2003 July, More Fyah was released and the single 'Congo Bongo' was voted as the Best Reggae Song of 2003 by the Ghana Music Award. He followed up with his third album 'Ganja Minister' in 2005.

Blakk Rasta is also a reggae DJ on the radio. He has adjudged the best Reggae DJ in Ghana when he was on Happy 98.9 FM.

He is currently a radio presenter at Zylofon FM.

www.ghanaweb.com