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BIOGRAPHY OF FRICTION As a ghetto boy from Africa, many people might have thought that Friction wouldn't come far in his life. How wrong were they. Friction's talent and determination have made him to establish an international music carreer, performing on stages all over the world with his band The Roots Drivers, and accomplishing many other dreams throughout the years. The beginning: Friction is born as Musah Haruna in the most well-known ghetto of Ghana's capital city Accra. In that ghetto, called Mamobi Nima, Friction started to have dreams about becoming a big musician. |
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Friction was planning to set up a music group, so he asked four guys he knew from ghetto battles to join him. He called his group ‘V.I.P', Vision in Progress. Friction managed to have a lot of performances during festivals and in clubs with his group and VIP became more and more popular. Friction's dog Chicago also became an official member of V.I.P. In 1997 the group was discovered by a television-presenter called Blakofi and a radio-presenter Michael Smith, during a performance at a street carnival. Blakofi became their manager and Michael Smith arranged for a contract by the record label ‘Precise Music'.
In 1998 V.I.P. dropped their first album ‘Bibibaao'. They were already famous in Accra, but this album gave them nationwide fame. They became the most popular hiplife-group in Ghana. In 2000 they released their second album ‘Ye de Aba'. This album was even more succesfull than the first one. In that same year, Friction featured in a song ‘Stop AIDS, Love Life', among many other Ghanaian artists. The song was part of a nationwide AIDS awareness campaign.
Letting dreams come true:
Although his group V.I.P. was very successful, Friction felt it was time to develop himself as an individual artist. After the second album he left the group. In 2002 he released his first solo album ‘Big Trouble'. Many people were disappointment when he left V.I.P., but when they hear his solo album, they knew Friction was up to bigger, greater things. He had shows all over West-Africa; in Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso. Friction also started with his own foundation ‘Hipfactory'. With this organization Friction wanted to keep the ghetto youth away from the streets. He organized soccer-tournaments and gave the children the chance to come to a studio to record music together.
Since Friction was young he had plans to build his own studio and to start his own record label. In the years after he dropped his album, he focused on this plan. In 2006 he opened his studio 'Hipfactory Recording Studio' and launched his own record label ‘Hipfactory Records' in Ghana. He also released his second solo album, called 'Auntie Serwaa'. The first single of this album, also called 'Auntie Serwaa'became a big hit.
In that same year, Friction was accepted to the Fontys Rockacademy, a music school in Holland. It was the first time that the school accepted someone from Africa, and for Friction it was a dream come true. Studying at the Rockacademy enabled Friction to professionalize his musical skills and to learn more about the music business. Settled in Holland as a college student, Friction started his own live band, and till this day he is to be seen on a lot of stages and festivals. In 2009, Friction was the support act of the reggae legend I Jah Man Levi. And in March 2014, he performed as the support act of Morgan Heritage.
'Ghetto Blues':
In October 2010, Friction released his 3rd solo-album, called 'Ghetto Blues', an album which contains a perfect mix of urban, reggae and afro beats and collaborations with artists such as the Ghanaian superstar Samini and the Dutch reggae-artist DJ Blackfoot. Friction succesfully released a couple of songs of this album as singles; 'Mijn Alles', 'Wine It'and 'Shake It' (a featuring with Flexclusive).
In 1998 V.I.P. dropped their first album ‘Bibibaao'. They were already famous in Accra, but this album gave them nationwide fame. They became the most popular hiplife-group in Ghana. In 2000 they released their second album ‘Ye de Aba'. This album was even more succesfull than the first one. In that same year, Friction featured in a song ‘Stop AIDS, Love Life', among many other Ghanaian artists. The song was part of a nationwide AIDS awareness campaign.
Letting dreams come true:
Although his group V.I.P. was very successful, Friction felt it was time to develop himself as an individual artist. After the second album he left the group. In 2002 he released his first solo album ‘Big Trouble'. Many people were disappointment when he left V.I.P., but when they hear his solo album, they knew Friction was up to bigger, greater things. He had shows all over West-Africa; in Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso. Friction also started with his own foundation ‘Hipfactory'. With this organization Friction wanted to keep the ghetto youth away from the streets. He organized soccer-tournaments and gave the children the chance to come to a studio to record music together.
Since Friction was young he had plans to build his own studio and to start his own record label. In the years after he dropped his album, he focused on this plan. In 2006 he opened his studio 'Hipfactory Recording Studio' and launched his own record label ‘Hipfactory Records' in Ghana. He also released his second solo album, called 'Auntie Serwaa'. The first single of this album, also called 'Auntie Serwaa'became a big hit.
In that same year, Friction was accepted to the Fontys Rockacademy, a music school in Holland. It was the first time that the school accepted someone from Africa, and for Friction it was a dream come true. Studying at the Rockacademy enabled Friction to professionalize his musical skills and to learn more about the music business. Settled in Holland as a college student, Friction started his own live band, and till this day he is to be seen on a lot of stages and festivals. In 2009, Friction was the support act of the reggae legend I Jah Man Levi. And in March 2014, he performed as the support act of Morgan Heritage.
'Ghetto Blues':
In October 2010, Friction released his 3rd solo-album, called 'Ghetto Blues', an album which contains a perfect mix of urban, reggae and afro beats and collaborations with artists such as the Ghanaian superstar Samini and the Dutch reggae-artist DJ Blackfoot. Friction succesfully released a couple of songs of this album as singles; 'Mijn Alles', 'Wine It'and 'Shake It' (a featuring with Flexclusive).
In 2013 Friction released the reggae-hitsong 'Life is not easy' featuring Guru. This track gained a lot of attention worldwide and is still being played on a lot of radio- and television stations. The track got nominated in three categories at the Ghanaian Bass Awards 2013, for best reggae video, record of the year and best collaboration of the year.
In 2015 Friction released the single 'I Love You' featuring CASiTA, a lovers rock reggae song which is already spreading all over the world; from airplay on BBC Radio till articles about the single on Jamaican and Brazilian music websites.
From 2016 Friction took his carreer to a whole new level, with touring the world non stop with his band The Roots Drivers, from UK's #1 Reggae Festival The One Love Festival and the world famous Notting Hill Carnival, to Canada's African Descent Festival.
In 2019 Friction released the afrobeats single 'Coco' incuding a videoclip with his former VIP-collegue Zeal, and a year after that he released the song plus video of 'Bush Kelele'.
Besides his solo projects, Friction started a collaboration with Skyler Jett, a Grammy winning artist and former leadsinger of The Commodores after Lionel Richie left the group. Friction and Skyler call themselves The Global Messengers, and released the powerful song 'One World' together in 2020.
Friction's most current release is the Afrobeats-song 'Chaa Chaa'.
