D-Black

D-Black(rapper)

Identified as an African Hip-Hop Star. He goes by the birth name "Desmond Kwesi Blackmoore" better known in the showbiz circle as D-Black, Ghana's premiere Anglophone hip hop artiste.

Outside of making music, he runs his own marketing / advertising / events firm “Black Avenue Works” that specialize in corporate & social events, product / brand marketing and advertising . There are subsidiary companies of Black Avenue Works that D-Black is director of namely “Black Avenue Muzik”, an independent Record Label and Distribution outlet, Black Avenue Clothing, Livewire Events and “Black Avenue TV”, producers of ‘THE EFGH Show’. D-Black is the official brand ambassador for Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka in Ghana, Brand Ambassador for The Rlg Brand of VIVA phones in the West African Sub Region, and the face of the Black Avenue Clothing Line. With two solo albums under his belt between 2010 and 2013, the rapper has received over 50 award nominations with 12 wins around the African continent. He recently signed a 2 year digital distribution deal with Universal Music, Africa for his next album.

Childhood and Music

Before all of this, D-Black da Ghana Bwouy between December 2008 and July 2009 dropped two major singles off his joint mixtape album ‘Target Practice’ with ex-big brother Africa housemate, Kwaku-T. The self executive produced album which was marketed by D-Black’s “Black Avenue Works” firm boasted the singles “Move” which was nominated in the Best West African Category at the 2009 Channel O Music Awards in South Africa and “Breathe” ft. Jayso which received numerous nods at the Ghana Music Awards, Channel O Music Video Awards, African Music Awards and more. Rapping in only the English dialect fused with pidgin English , before his solo career, the D-Black and Kwaku-t duo were the first and only hip hop artists to be nominated for a Ghana Music Award in it’s eleven year history, rapping in English, with their music Video ‘Breathe’ directed by Gyo of Phamous Philms winning the Best Video of the Year Award 2010 and nominated for Best Hip hop song of the Year D-Black snagged a whooping 27 award nominations between 2009 and 2011. The first at the 2009 Channel O Music Video Awards for Most Gifted West Music Video for ‘Move’, the first music video off the ‘Target Practice’ album. Following this nomination the D-Black & Kwaku-t duo were nominated at the Ghana Music Awards in 2010 for hiphop song of the year and Music Video of the year, winning the award for music video of the year for the video for ‘Breathe’. Soon afterwards the duo were again nominated at the 2010 Channel O Music Video Awards in South Africa, leading the Ghanaian nomination list and attaining the position of the second highest most nominated african at the awards ceremony with nominations for “Most Gifted Hip Hop Video” and “Most Gifted Video of the Year” again for “Breathe”. At this point the duo begun recording solo albums with D-Black releasing his first single ‘Somebody’ ft. Kwabena Kwabena a month after the 2010 Ghana Music Awards. ‘Somebody’ was an instant smash hit in Ghana and soon after, the self directed music video premiered on MTV Base introducing D-Black as a solo artist to the rest of Africa. 2010 was the beginning of a successful career for the young entrepreneur as D-Black snagged two nominations as a solo artist at the 2010 Sound City Music Video Awards in Lagos ,Nigeria for ‘Best Collaboration in a Music Video’ for his “Somebody” song/video and ‘Sound City Freshest Video’ for his “Believe” Music Video as well as winning at the 2010 African Music Awards , U.K for Best African Music Video for “Breathe”. Also grabbing a whooping five nominations at the 4Syte Music Video Awards 2010 in Ghana and winning two of them in the categories of “Best Collaboration” and “Best Storyline” in a Music Video. The man voted by MNet Africa as Africa’s 2nd Best Rapper for 2010 and 6th Most Stylish Male Celebrity for 2010 finally dropped his much awaited debut solo album on the 24th of September 2010 titled ‘Music, Love & Life”. An incredible album launch party in Accra sealed his place as the King of Hip hop in Ghana that year. “Music is the first love of my life and this album is music from the heart, mind and soul,” D-Black says. I believe in African unity and collaborations so this album has a lot of ‘collabo’s’ with artists from around the world. This is only the beginning for me, Ghana and Africa as a whole. This is my first album and i’m amazed at the response i have received so far. My first commercial release was barely 2 years ago and i give all thanks to God up above for bringing me this far said D-Black to the press after the release of his album. On the 24th of September 2010, D-Black da Ghana Bwouy released his debut solo album titled 'Music, Love & Life' off his Black Avenue Muzik label and begin his musical journey into the mainstream music scene in Ghana. The Album’s first single ‘Somebody’ was officially released six months before the album’s release on the 2nd of April 2010. The song “Somebody” made it into the Ghanaian top 10 Charts on 9 Radio stations around the country barely 3 weeks after its’ release. Following the huge success of his first single, D-Black followed up in August with an even bigger record “Get on da dance floor” ft. Dr. Cryme. This club banger true to its title hit the dance floors heavy all around the country and Africa almost immediately. The award winning video for this banger of a tune was released in November 2010 with a follow up remix to the song released in February 2011 where D-Black featured Nigeria’s Ice Prince & Kel, South Africa’s HHP, Efya and Dr. Cryme from Ghana. D-Black featured on this album, Wyclef Jean, Buffalo Souljah (Zimbabwe), 2 Face Idibia (Nigeria), Dr.Cryme, Reggie Rockstone, Sante, X.O, Ayigbe Edem, Tinny, Sarkodie, Kwaku-t, Guru, Iwan, Efya, Samini and Kwabena Kwabena(Ghana) and worked with some of Ghana’s most talented producers including U.S.A based billboard chart topping producer Coptic and also Kwam1, Piesie , Killmatic , Sammi Blacc, M.A. , Bra Kevin, Female producer ; Chantelle Myers , Green Gafacci , E.L, Jounide and Waxi.

Music, Love & Life received six nominations at the 2011 Ghana Music Awards with ‘Get on da dancefloor’ winning the prestigious Hiphop song of the Year award at the 2011 Ghana Music Awards and a few months after D-Black snagged a Best International Artist nomination at the 2011 BET Awards in Los Angeles, a win at the Ghana Gospel Industry Awards for Alternative Gospel Video of the year for ‘Somebody’ and a nod at the 2011 Channel O Music Video Awards in South Africa for Best West African Video for the smash hit ‘Get on da dancefloor’ . Having been appointed United Nations (U.N) Celebrity Ambassador in Ghana for the cause of Environmental degradation, D-Black collaborated with the award winning crooner and BET Award winner 2 face Idibia (Nigeria), and fellow Ghanaian mcee’s J-town and Kwaku-t on

“STOP IT” ; a song delved around the realization of the United Nations Millennium Developmental Goals which incude HIV/AIDS awareness, Poverty and Domestic Violence/Women Empowerment. D-Black saw this song as his message to society, Ghanaians, Africans and the world as a whole. He says “Joint efforts like this make the world a better place to live in”. He was re-appointed in 2011 as United Nations Celebrity Ambassador to fight “Hunger in Africa”. D-Black was featured on the 2010 BET (BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION) HIPHOP AWARDS CYPHER with 6 other Ghanaian rappers; Reggie Rockstone, Sarkodie, Edem, Tinny, Kwaku-t & Baby G. This was the first time in the history of the BETHIPHOP AWARDS, making them the first West African Artists to be featured on the BET CYPHER. This historical feat was directed by BET’S Lilian Blankson and aired on the 16TH of October 2010 on the BET INTERNATIONAL NETWORK all over the world to audiences in the U.K, Ireland, Middle East, Australia and Africa. Other artists that have been featured on the BET CYPHER include Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Fabolous, Ace Hood, Juelz Santana, Common, KRS 1, Ice Cube, Jadakiss, K’Naan and more. The broadcast of this cypher opened doors for the young rapper and expanded his fan base internationally. D-Black has in his career graced / performed on stages with a number of international acts and in numerous cities stemming from The 2010, 2011 Ghana Music Awards, The 2010 Channel O Music Video Awards (South Africa),The 2010 4syte Ghana Music Video Awards, The Busta Rhymes Live in Ghana Concert, The Rick Ross Blowing Money Fast Tour in Ghana,The Jay Z Live in Ghana Concert, The Fat Joe & Omarion Concert in Ghana, The Chris Brown Live in Ghana Concert, Miss Malaika 2010, 2012, The Ghana Rocks Concert 2009, Ghana Rocks Concert 2010, Ghana Rocks Concert 2011, Ghana Rocks Concert 2012. D-Black has performed in Johannesburg, Pretoria & Durban in South Africa, Lagos in Nigeria, in London and Coventry in the United Kingdom, in Los Angeles, Maryland & New York in the United States, all around Ghana in countless cities and more.

2011 saw D-Black making strides internationally making history again as he emerged as the first Ghanaian Hiphop artist to be nominated at the prestigious BET AWARDS for BEST INTERNATIONAL ACT (AFRICA) 2011 with just one album to his credit and was up against artists from Nigeria,South Africa,Benin and Congo namely 2 Face Idibia, D’Banj, Tear Gas, Angelique Kidzo and Fally Ipupa. The Best international Africa category was however won by tie with Nigeria’s D’Banj and 2Face Idibia as recipients.

Before heading out for the BET Awards ceremony following news of his nomination, D-Black embarked on his first ever nationwide hiphop tour dubbed the “The D-Black Yes Boss Tour”. D-Black toured the entire country with his crew selling out venues in 9 cities around Ghana including stadiums, Auditoriums and outdoor parks. Thousands of fans thronged to see D-Black anytime he hit their city on his Yes Boss Tour. The D-Black Yes Boss Tour saw D-Black perform in Tamale, Sunyani, Tema, Bolgatanga, Kumasi, Kwahu, Accra, Cape Coast and Takoradi. He was supported by various Ghanaian artists spread accross the cities from Chase, Ruff n Smooth, J-Town,Sarkodie, Yaa Pono, Trigmatic, Stay Jay, Efya, Dr. Cryme, Bradez and more. This historical tour was organized by his marketing and events firm “Black Avenue Works” and was dubbed as the most successful hip hop nationwide tour ever. The ‘Yes Boss Tour 2’ is slated for 2014.

The finale of D-Black’s tour labelled as his first ever concert, “THE YES BOSS CONCERT” was held in Accra on the 30th of December at The Accra International Conference Centre wrapping up 2011 in style with performances from D-Black da Ghana Bwouy and 22 other acts from Ghana and Nigeria including Darey, Duncan Mighty and Mo Cheddah from the sister country.

Dubbed Ghana’s hardest working entertainer D-Black has signed onto his Black Avenue Muzik Label, producer and D.J ‘DJ Breezy’ and upcoming acts 13 year old heartthrob rapper / actor ‘Young Dapper’, Robby Adams a young rnb artist, new femcee ‘Dein’ as well as sensational singer ‘Ayraaba’ and talented rapper ‘Joey B’. D-Black’s first 3 singles off his highly anticipated sophomore album ‘My Kinda Girl’ featuring fellow Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie, ‘Falling’ featuring Nigeria’s Mo Cheddah and the smash hit single ‘VERA’ made massive rounds on Ghanaian and African radio and television. The azonto club banger ‘VERA’was the Number 1 song on the Ghanaian urban music charts on over 15 Ghanaian radio stations 12 weeks after it’s release and was the most popular song in Ghana through 2012. D-Black released the music video for the fourth single off his album ‘Change Your Life’ ft . E.L which automatically become a club banger and crowd favourite in under 3 months after it’s release. in January 2013. D-Black’s sophomore album was released on the 17th of December 2012 and featured African and American artists on ‘The Revelation’ album, from Nigeria’s Ice Prince, Waje, Mo Cheddah, Muna as well as Congo’s Fally Ipupa, South Africa’s L- Tido, Morocco’s Salah Edin as well as Sheek Louch, Wale , Gudda Gudda, DJ Webstar and more from the United States of America on this album. D-Black’s highly successful ‘THE REVELATION’ album and it’s ‘VERA’ and ‘Falling’ hit singles received a whooping 6 nominations topping the 2013 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards two months after the albums release. ‘Falling’ featuring Nigeria’s Mo Cheddah won the coveted 2012 Channel O Award for Best West African Music Video of the Year Award making him the first Ghanaian hiphop artist / video to win at the 10 year running Channel O Music Video Awards. D-Black also won awards for Song of the Year and Collaboration of the year for his hit track ‘VERA’ at The 2013 Ghana Music Awards, U.K in August 2013. D-Black has performed with some of the world’s greatest acts including Jay Z, Chris Brown, Fat Joe, Akon, Busta Rhymes , Stevie Wonder, Omarion, Lyold and more at concerts in Ghana. D-black has performed in countries including the USA, South Africa, U.K, Nigeria and more. He headlined his first U.K Concert in July 2013 at the O2 Arena at the Afrobeats Music Festival Concert with label mate Joey B, kicked off his U.S.A Tour in September 2013 and the first leg of an European tour in February 2014 in Amsterdam, Holland, Bologna, Italy, London, United Kingdom, Coventry, United Kingdom. D-Black currently has an advertising deal with Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka and for Ghanaian Electronic giants RLG ,VIVA brand of phones. He is also the face of his Black Avenue Clothing label. D-Black is currently in the studio working on his third album scheduled for release in the latter part of 2014. The first single off his upcoming album ‘Personal Person’ was released on the 9th of April 2014 and is currently receiving massive airplay on Ghanaian and African radio. As at July 2014, ‘Personal Person’ by D-Black is currently the number 1 song on the top 10 charts across the country, Ghana

Life and music career

NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS

Years	Award	Song	results
2009	Channel O Music Video Awards for Best West African	Move	Nominated
2010	Ghana Music Awards for Hip-Hop / Hip-life Song of the Year	Breathe	Nominated
2010	Ghana Music Awards for Music Video of the Year	Breathe	Winner
2010	Museke African Music Awards for Music Video of the Year	Breathe	Nominated
2010	African Music Awards, London for Music Video of the Year	Breathe	Winner
2010	Channel O Music Video Awards, South Africa for Best Hip-hop	Breathe	Nominated
2010	Channel O Music Video Awards, South Africa for Best Music Video	Breathe	Nominated
2010	Sound City Music Awards , Nigeria – Best Collaboration	Somebody	Nominated
2010	Sound City Music Awards, Nigeria – Best New Video	Believe	Nominated
2010	4SYTE Music Video Awards – Best Overall Video	Breathe	Nominated
2010	4SYTE Music Video Awards – Best Storyline in a Video	Breathe	Winner
2010	4SYTE Music Video Awards – Best Directed Video	Breathe	Nominated
2010	4SYTE Music Video Awards – Best Collaboration in a Video	Breathe	Winner
2010	4SYTE Music Video Awards – Best Group Video	Breathe	Nominated
2011	Ghana Music Awards – Hip hop/ Hip-life Artist of the Year	None	Nominated
2011	Ghana Music Awards –Hip hop Song of the Year	Get on Da Dancefloor	Winner
2011	Ghana Music Awards – Songwriter of the Year	Somebody	Nominated
2011	Ghana Music Awards – Collaboration of the Year	Somebody	Nominated
2011	Ghana Music Awards –Album of the Year	Music, Love & Life	Nominated
2011	BET Awards – Best International Artist of the Year (Africa)	-	Nominated
2011	Ghana Gospel Industry Awards – Alternate Gospel Song of the year	Somebody	Nominated
2011	Ghana Gospel Industry Awards – Alternate Gospel Video of the year	Somebody	Winner
2011	Channel O Music Video Awards – Best African West	Get on Da Dancefloor	Nominated
2011	4Syte Music Video Awards – Best Photography in a video	Somebody	Nominated
2011	4Syte Music Video Awards – Best Hip-hop Video	Get on da dancefloor	Nominated
2011	4Syte Music Video Awards – Best Collaboration in a video	Somebody	Nominated
2011	Music Video Awards – Best African Act	Get on Da Dancefloor	Nominated
2011	4Syte Music Video Awards- Best Edited Video	Get on Da Dancefloor	Nominated
2011	Ghana Hip-hop Awards- Male Hip-hop Artiste(of the Decade)	-	Nominated
2011	Ghana Hip-hop Awards- The Next Big Thing Award	-	winner
2011	Ghana Hip-hop Awards- Hip-hop album(of the Decade)	-	Nominated
2011	Ghana Hip-hop Awards- Best Collaboration	Breathe	Nominated
2011	Ghana Hip-hop Awards- Hip-hop Artiste of the year	-	winner
2012	Ghana music awards-Hip-hop Song of the year	My Kinda Girl	Nominated
2012	Ghana music awards- Music Video of the year	My Kinda Girl	Nominated
2012	HSH Awards-Most Influential Artiste	-	Winner
2012	Hip-hop World Awards(Best International Artiste)	-	Nominated
2012	Channel O Music Video Awards-Best West Africa video	Falling	Winner
2012	MTN 4SYTE Music Video Awards-Best Collaboration	Falling	Winner
2012	Ghana Music Awards-Album of the Year	The Revelation	Nominated
2013	Ghana Music Awards-Artist of the year	-	Nominated
2013	Ghana Music Awards-Song of the Year	Vera	Nominated
2013	Ghana Music Awards- Hip-life Song of the Year	Vera	Nominated
2013	Ghana Music Awards- Hip-hop Song of the Year	Falling	Nominated
2013	Ghana Music Awards- Hip-hop/Hip-life Artiste of the Year	-	Nominated
2013	Ghana Music Awards UK-Song of the year	Vera	Winner
2013	Ghana Music Awards UK- Collabo of the year	Vera	Winner
2013	Channel O Music Video Awards- Best Africa West	Vera	Nominated