From Hip-Hop to Grime, and its acquaintance UK Garage.
Hailing from Hull, the newly crowned City of Culture, where he is the pioneer of the alternative urban scene, Chiedu Oraka was inspired by his older sister’s battered hand-me-down CD's, which included the likes of 2pac All Eyez on Me, Mase’s Harlem World and the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill; it's safe to say Chiedu's musical beginnings were somewhat different to the other kids living down the street. These 90’s icons are just some of the artists that have given him the ingredients to express himself in so many walks of life. Chiedu is not an artist that is defined by a BPM or a genre of music; he is the musician that thrives on giving the listeners a different emotion and experience every time they hear him.
Tirelessly working at his craft, Chiedu has been lucky enough to support some of the UK's leading Hip-Hop and Grime MCs such as Akala, Wretch 32, Lunar C, Mikill Pane, Mo Stack, Stormzy, KRS One, Jaykae and Paigey Cakey.
In 2017, Chiedu has enjoyed his most productive year to date. The first single entitled ‘Flex’ was a huge success with it racking over 100k streams on Spotify alone and was featured on Spotify’s grime shut down playlist which is the biggest grime playlist in the world. Flex was also played on Radio 6 by Tom Robinson and has been spun several times by Joe Walker on Reprezent Radio one of London’s leading digital urban radio stations. Chiedu second release, NHE was played by Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1, again on BBC Radio 6 by Tom Robinson and playlisted as the BBC Introducing track of the week on BBC Radio 1 Xtra.
Chiedu is relentless in his efforts to become not just the top boy for the North of England in Grime music, but one of the main figureheads in the country period when it comes to MCing and artistry. It’s his mission to take his authentic Hull sound to places that most people deem unachievable. Another highlight of 2017, Chiedu performed at the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend in his home city of Hull on the BBC Introducing stage. A performance which was very well received.
Later in the summer, Chiedu showed his diversity as an artist, making an impromptu collaboration appearance with one of Punks most exciting bands, LIFE at Leeds Festival, which was then repeated in his local city of Hull at Humber Street Sesh. In October, Chiedu was heavily involved at the BBC Contains Strong Language Spoken Word Festival, where he performed for Ian Mcmillian on his BBC Radio 3 show, 'the verb' and at BBC's Radio 1Xtra’s words first, which celebrates the lyricism of UK music.
In the same month, Chiedu was selected by music publisher Sentric to perform at this year’s BBC Amplify at the ExCel in London an event which was hosted by BBC Introducing in celebration of their 10th Birthday.
Chiedu ended the year with the release of his widely anticipated EP 21st kid. The EP includes the tracks Flex, N.H.E, 21st kid, Rampant, Wont get along and a raw and personal interlude from Chiedu’s mother entitled 21st Mum. The 21st Kid EP has been well received so far with coverage from magazines such DIY, GUAP and BritznBeatz.
