Abrantee Boateng is a radio and television presenter, club DJ and events promoter. He is known professionally as DJ Abrantee, the pioneer of the

Afrobeats Afrobeats, not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing, is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Ghana, Nigeria, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010s. Afrobeats is less of a st ...

movement who branded and launched the world's first ever "Afrobeats" show on UK radio on 11 April 2011. Abrantee is also one of the best known voices of urban radio station

Capital Xtra Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Global. It broadcasts on 96.9 and 107.1 FM in Greater London, and nationally on DAB, Global Player and television platforms. It specialises in hip ho ...

in the United Kingdom.

Early life

Born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan languages, a language group within the wider Central Tano languages *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan *Central Tano language ...

parents, Abrantee Boateng grew up there until the family moved to

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

when he was seven years old. He attended Stratford School in

Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross. The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. ...

. His interest in music was ignited during his teenage years by a cousin who had a sound system and introduced Boateng to his record collection and took him along to various events to experience DJing. He spent three years shadowing his cousin around clubs and venues in London. Following his cousin's decision to leave the music business, Abrantee inherited his record collection. In the early 1990s, he joined a group of DJs called 90% who were promoting events in London. Boateng is proud of being able to speak the

Twi language Twi (; ) is the common name of the Akan literary language of Asante and Akuapem. Effectively, it is a synonym for 'Akan' that is not used by the Fante people. It is not a linguistic grouping, but more of a common name used by inland Akans a ...

, predominantly used in Akan territories within Ghana.

Radio career

Abrantee Boateng, also known professionally as DJ Abrantee, started his radio career in 2005 working the night shift at

Choice FM Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Global. It broadcasts on 96.9 and 107.1 FM in Greater London, and nationally on DAB, Global Player and television platforms. It specialises in hip ho ...

and filling in for absentees whilst continuing his work as a DJ on the club circuit. The following year, Boateng was asked to present ''Saturday's Choice'', a show that aired once a month on a Saturday. In 2007, the success of ''Saturday's Choice'' led to a permanent position at Choice FM to host the new ''Morning Riser'' show between 3:00 am and 6:00 am from Monday to Friday. He then moved to another time slot in March 2010 to present the station's weekday evening show from 8:00 pm to 12:00 am. The evening show consisted of tracks from Choice FM's playlist but also included interviews with high-profile artists:

Diddy Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

, Usher,

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), known professionally as Dizzee Rascal, is a British rapper and MC. He is often credited as a pioneer of British hip hop and grime music and was ranked by ''Complex'' as one of the greatest British ...

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling gir ...

Big Boi Antwan André Patton (born February 1, 1975), known professionally as Big Boi, is an American rapper and record producer. Born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Atlanta, he was one half of the Southern hip-hop duo Outkast along with rapper ...

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Labrinth signed as a recording artist with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Music in 2010, ini ...

Kelis Kelis Rogers (; born August 21, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and chef. She attended Manhattan, New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she played saxophone and was selected for the Girls Ch ...

Taio Cruz Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere (born 23 April 1980), known professionally as Jacob Taio Cruz ( ), is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Cruz was discovered in the mid-2000s by American record producer Tricky Stewart, joinin ...

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), known professionally as Flo Rida ( ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 debut and breakout single "Low (Flo Rida song), Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the ...

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among others. In April 2011, Choice FM announced that Abrantee would become the new presenter of its drivetime show between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm from Monday to Friday (the Friday show was replaced). It was also announced that Abrantee would start hosting a new programme entirely dedicated to

from 12:00 am to 2:00 am every Saturday, entitled ''Afrobeats with Abrantee'' which launched on 16 April 2011 after years of pitching the concept to station bosses. The show was one of the most tweeted about topics on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, which resulted in Choice FM trending for the first time on the social networking site. ''Afrobeats with Abrantee'' is presently broadcasts between 11:00 pm and 1:00 am every Saturday on Capital XTRA. Abrantee launched The Afrobeats Chart in 2013 and added news anchor Toolz to his news segment. On 12 August 2017, Abrantee suffered a stroke at home. On 18 January 2018, Capital XTRA announced the new weekend line-up. In this, it revealed that Abrantee would be "taking a break", with new presenter Afro B covering his show until his return.

Outside radio

Besides his radio career, Abrantee Boateng is also a club DJ, an event promoter and entrepreneur. He is the main protagonists of the

scene in the United Kingdom and beyond and has hosted various events across the world. In July 2011, he launched ''Afrobeats Sundays''. A weekly event held at the Proud 2 club at

The O2 The O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, Town square, piazzas, ...

''Afrobeats Sundays'' in October 2011 celebrated the first year of the first Afrobeats UK club tour, visiting more than 12 cities around the UK and Ireland. The Afrobeats UK Movement would run for a number of years, with homegrown talent such as Vibe Squad, Mista Silva,

May7ven May Odegbami , known professionally as May7ven, is a Nigerian-born singer, songwriter, dancer, producer, actress, model and entrepreneur. Early life and education May7ven was born in Ibadan, Nigeria to Nigerian footballer Chief Segun Odegba ...

, Skob, kwamz & Flava, plus many more. In December 2011, Abrantee released his first Afrobeats mixtape ''Afrobeats Mix Volume One'' under Record Label Skata Records, Published and Facilitated by DLA PR which featured a collection of Afrobeats artists and songs interspersed with vocal contributions from Lethal bizzle, Tinchy Stryder,

Bashy Ashley Thomas (born 4 February 1985), also known by the stage name Bashy, is a British actor and rapper. Early life Thomas was born in Hammersmith, West London. His mother is of Jamaican heritage and his father is of Dominican heritage. He att ...

and others. This led to DJ Abrantee being included in two broad sheet pieces on Afrobeats, the first one in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

in January 2012 and the second one in the

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

in February 2012. Both articles highlighted his role in the resurgence of the music genre in the United Kingdom. It drew the interest of The Guardian once again in July 2012 when Abrantee brought Afrobeats to an unlikely venue and hosted ''Afrobeats at Somerset House'' with appearances from Olu Maintain, Atumpan, May7ven, Vibe Squad, dance troupes and many more. In January 2013, he went one step further producing a follow-up compilation album entitled ''Afrobeats Ultimate Collection'' Released under Choice FM. In addition to his commitment to Afrobeats, Abrantee Boateng is also one of the founders of the annual Afrobeats Music Festival official Ghana Independence Celebration in London. The first event took place in March 2000 at the Rex Theatre in Stratford, where 3000 attendees gathered to celebrate the independence of Ghana from the United Kingdom. The festival moved to a bigger venue, the

IndigO2 The O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars, resta ...

at The O2, in 2011, and is held annually in March at the venue. The last celebration took place at the Coronet in March 2017 and was hosted by Abrantee with performances by Atumpan,

Kojo Funds Errol Kojo Bellot, known professionally as Kojo Funds ( ; born 30 March 1995), is an English singer, rapper and songwriter. His music blends West African and Caribbean sounds with road rap, dancehall and pop. Kojo Funds featured on Yxng Bane ...

, Kwamz & Flava and many more. In 2014, Abrantee debuted Afrobeats at

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

, performing on the Silver Hayes Stage on the Sunday evening, and followed this set soon after with an appearance at the Essex Music Festival alongside Jhene Aiko and

Wizkid Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (born 16 July 1990), better known as Wizkid, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Born in the Ojuelegba suburb of Surulere, Lagos, Wizkid is a voice in the emerging Afrobeats movement. His music is a blend of Afrobea ...

. In 2015, Abrantee joined Fame Music as a head judge for the ''Afrobeats: Search for a Star'' TV show, created by his partner

Ice Prince Panshak Henry Zamani (born 30 October 1986), better known as Ice Prince Zamani or just Ice Prince, is a Nigerian rapper, singer and songwriter. He rose to fame after releasing "Oleku (Ice Prince song), Oleku", one of Nigeria's most remixed son ...

and

Mix Master Garzy Benjamin Mensah Garzy, professionally known as Mix Master Garzy, is a Ghanaian record producer, sound engineer, disc jockey and singer. His major productions include "Pull Up" by Stonebwoy, "My Baby" by Stay Jay ft. R2Bees, "Boom boom tag" by M ...

to discover and develop some of the best unsigned Afrobeats acts from all of Africa. Abrantee is also the co-founder of the Annual Afrobeats Music Awards, launched in 2015, which has awarded Afrobeats artists Sarkodie, Maleekberry, JJC Skillz and African entertainment entrepreneur and DJ Abass Tijani in 2016. The award ceremony scheduled for November 2017 was rescheduled following Abrantee's absence due to illness. On 5 December 2021, Abrantee made his first public TV appearance since recovering from a stroke when he presented The Best African Act at the

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

2021 at the Coventry Arena.

Charity

Abrantee Boateng has been involved with various charities and fundraising events across the United Kingdom including the

African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) is an independent UK charity for people with leukaemia and other life-threatening disorders. The ACLT aims to raise awareness on stem cell, blood and organ donation in the UK, with a particular focus on ...

. In June 2009, he participated in the ''Daniel De Gale 10K Marrow Thon'' and ran to raise money for the ACLT. He has also hosted a number of their events. In June 2013, Boateng was part of the group of footballers and entertainers who travelled to

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

for

Michael Essien Michael Kojo Essien (born 3 December 1982) is a Ghanaian Association football, football coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach at Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland. During his prime he was regarded as on ...

's Game of Hope in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

for a charity football match and a charity event. On 17 April 2017, Abrantee supported and played at the Celebrity Charity Basketball Tournament to raise awareness and funds for the ACLT charity and Sickle Cell alongside Terrol Lewis, GuvnaB and other UK Entertainers. In April 2018, Abrantee with his partner May7ven established the Abrantee Boateng Foundation (ABF Trust) dedicated to raising awareness, eliminating stigma, and raising funds to support survivors of stroke and their families. The overall objective of the Abrantee Boateng Foundation is to support families going through the life-threatening illness by offering emotional and practical support with rehabilitation in

neurophysiotherapy Neurophysiotherapy, or neurological physiotherapy, is a branch of physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or res ...

, psychological therapy,

cognitive behavioral therapy Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on challenging and chang ...

(CBT), speech and language therapy, specialist advanced equipment, treatment and medical project consultation that are over and above what the National Health Service provides.

Awards and nominations

* Won : ''Best Entertainer of the Year'' at the Ghana Music Awards (2006) * Won : ''Best DJ'' at the

BEFFTA Awards The Black Entertainment, Film, Fashion, Television, Arts and Sports Awards (commonly abbreviated as BEFFTA) are an awards ceremony aimed at honouring the best entertainment, showbiz, leadership and sports personalities from the black and ethnic ...

(2009) * Nominated : ''Best DJ'' at the African Music Awards (2009) * Nominated : ''Best DJ'' at the BEFFTA Awards (2010) * Won : ''Best DJ'' at the African Music Awards (2010) * Nominated : ''Radio Personality of the Year'' at the BEFFTA Awards (2011) * Won : ''Honorary Excellence Award'' at the BEFFTA Awards (2012) * Nominated : ''Best DJ'' at the

Urban Music Awards The Urban Music Awards (UMA) are a hip-hop, R&B, dance, and soul music awards ceremony that was launched in the UK by Jordan Kensington in 2003 and is now held in multiple countries. The US version of the award ceremony, the Urban Music Awar ...

(2012) * Nominated : ''Best Radio Show'' at the Urban Music Awards (2012) * Nominated : ''Best Radio Show'' at the Urban Music Awards (2013) * Winner : ''Best Radio Personality'' at the BEFFTA (2014) * Nominee : ''Best Radio DJ'' at the Urban Music Awards (2014) * Special Recognition Award : ''Outstanding Contribution to the Growth and Development of African Music'' at the African Pride Awards (2018)

Discography

* ''Bring Me To Africa Mix Tape'' by Sway (2010) * ''Afrobeats Mix Volume One Mix Tape'' by DJ Abrantee (2011) * ''Afrobeats Ultimate Collection'' by DJ Abrantee (2013) * ''Afrobeats The Definitive Collection'' by DJ Abrantee (2014)

Film and television

* ''

Footballers' Wives ''Footballers' Wives'' is a British television drama about fictional Premier League football club Earls Park F.C., its players and their wives. It was broadcast on ITV from 2002 to 2006. The show initially focuses on three very different coupl ...

'' as Extra (2007) * ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' as Extra (2008) * ''DJ Takeover MTV Base UK'' as Host (2008) * ''Shit Happens'' as Best Friend (2009) * ''The DJ Abrantee Show'' as himself (2010) * ''The Abrantee Show'' as himself (2014) * ''The Invisible Men'' as himself (2015)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boateng, Abrantee 1981 births Living people Black British radio presenters Black British television personalities DJs from London English people of Ghanaian descent English radio presenters Mass media people from London People of Akan descent Television personalities from the London Borough of Croydon