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Members
1 Male
Origin
London, UK
Genre
Hip-Hop
Style
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Mood
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Born
1 MaleOrigin
London, UKGenre
Hip-HopStyle
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Mood
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Born
2012
Active
2012 to Present...
Cutout
Alternate Name
Yungun
Most Loved Tracks4 users
Essa - The World Belongs To You4 users
Essa - Nothing To Say
Music Video LinksArtist Biography
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It's not your typical rap sheet. Born in a leafy North London suburb, educated at England's most prestigious boarding school and qualified as a city lawyer. But somewhere along the way, Essa became a key figure in what many call the "golden era" of UK hip-hop. With most of his contemporaries exploring rugged street commentary, Essa’s refreshingly honest take on the genre came as a breath of fresh air: shameless party joints; cryptic love songs; bilingual “Spanglish” wordplay and soul-searching escapism. With dues paid in full, he rose through the ranks (under former name Yungun) to reach a worldwide audience, winning praise from the likes of Nas and Mark Ronson, sharing stages and microphones with Guru, Wu-Tang, De La Soul, Pharoahe Monch and Slum Village.
All of this whilst pursuing a career as a high-flying city lawyer – he dropped his first album "The Essance" at law school, his second "Grown Man Business" (a collaborative effort with his long-time DJ, the award-winning Mr. Thing) whilst training at the UK's top media law firm.
Straddling two worlds became something of a forté, a theme examined on his long-awaited return, "The Misadventures of a Middle Man". The album tackles mixed-race identity and social stereotypes, exploring African, Latin, soul and electronic music influences. Essa neatly sums up the spirit of the album on lead track The Middle Man:
"When you stand in the middle there's a hell of a view, and all I want to do is share it with you, I swear that it's true …
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