HIP-HOP LEGEND Nas calls her “amazing” and “an incredible artist.”. The Sunday Times hailed her and said her debut album was “as good as The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” And now award-winning Nigerian singer-songwriter Nneka is here.
BORN AND RAISED in Warri Delta State of Nigeria, Nneka spent her childhood and early adult life growing up in the oil city of Nigeria.Originally from Anambra state Nneka is Igbo. Nneka Lucia Egbuna means in igbo “mother is supreme.
NNEKA in her early twenties first went to Germany to explore a different life and to discover her german roots ,she eventually stayed to pursue a degree in Anthropology/Archaeology at Hamburg University. It was during her student years that Nneka honed her craft as a singer-songwriter.“I financed my studies in Germany by playing gigs on the underground scene,” says Nneka. “I’ve always written from a very young age. I used to just write down my thoughts and experiences and lots of prayers.”
Her politically charged lyrics swiftly established her as one of Africa’s most powerful voices. Nneka’s lyrics examine a myriad of social issues, including maternal love, love for the divine creator, worldly “heartbreak” and the quest for justice. Working tirelessly over the last decade, Nneka has released 5 previous albums – Victim of Truth, concrete jungle in the US, No Longer At Ease and Soul Is Heavy as well as an EP called my fairy tales. Her single Heartbeat [2009] scored her a UK Top 20 hit and spun a feature by Nas and was also sampled by Rita Ora for her #1 UK hit R.I.P. Hip hop Artist Drake also sampled her for the original of the RIP song.
Nneka continues to perform and electrify audiences across the globe with the likes of The Roots, Burna boy, Tuface idibia, Groundation,Seun kuti, Erykah Badu, Gnarls Barkley, Nas and Damian Marley. She won a MOBO for Best African Act in 2009 and recorded a tribute song called Viva Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and has appeared on The David Letterman Show and BET’s 106 & Park. In 2014 Nneka joined the empowerment panel on ‘Nigerian Idol’ Season 4.In 2016 she joined the group of women called Les Amazones de l’Afrique where she came together with other african female artists with the likes of Kandia Kouyaté, Angélique Kidjo, Mamani Keita, Rokia Koné, Mariam Doumbia, Mariam Koné to raise their voices concerning issues of domestic violence, female genital mutilation and sexual abuse.
Nneka also keeps touring various countries of the world spreading the message of love and peace amongst all people regardless of their heritage
Nneka’s passionate sense of social consciousness also led her to co-found a charity called The Rope Foundation, in 2012, with Sierra Leonean Ahmed Nyeie [aka Genda]. The Rope Foundation serves as a platform for young men and women to express themselves through art. Their most recent workshop focused on working with sexually abused women at the WAGA [War Affected Girls & Adults] Foundation, in the Bo Town region of Sierra Leone. “The Rope Foundation works to give a platform to help people express themselves and their issues in society,” says Nneka, who also serves as the Arts Ambassador for the African Women Development Fund [AWDF] in Ghana.she has participated in various charitable events supporting the youths in Nigeria and neighbouring countries. In 2020 Nneka launched a new instagram page displaying her Artwork pieces.she continues to inspire the world also through these artworks, as she has found painting and drawing as another means to express “the heart of the matter of being on earth as she says.
