Listening to the lyrics of almost all the songs from the Ghanaian hip hop and hiplife recording artist from Tema, Michael Owusu Addo, known by his stage name Sarkodie, one cannot deny the fact that all was not rosy from his beginning.

He always drums it into the minds of his fans that, he went through tough times before getting to where he is today.

According to the one time BET award winner, at the grass roots of his career, organizers of event did not see the need to pay him cash, and instead they paid with t- shirts and toffees.

“I played many shows for many organizers and they always paid me with t-shirts and toffees.”

All this did not stop him from chasing his dream, believing in himself and putting in his best in whatever he finds doing.

“I still held on to the dream though at a point I nearly stopped rapping. I am not sure I would be here if I listened to people’s opinion.”

Sarkodie is often named as one of Africa’s greatest Hip hop artists. MTV ranked him number 6 on their list of the Hottest African MC’s in 2014.

In 2013, Lynx TV ranked him number 1 on their list of the “Top 10 Ghanaian Rappers Of All Time”.

In 2015, AfricaRanking.com ranked him number 3 on their list of the “Top 10 African Rappers Of 2015”. In the same year, Sarkodie was named by The Guardian as one of the top five hip hop acts on the African continent.