Mubarik Gyenne-Adams (born December 18, 1991) known professionally as Emay, is a Canadian rapper from

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

Early life

Mubarik Gyenne-Adams (preferred name Mubarik Gyenne-Bayere) was born in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

on December 18, 1991, the son of a couple who had immigrated to Canada from

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 ...

. He and his four sisters were raised in the tradition of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

by his single mother. The family regularly moved between shelters throughout

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, living in

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

briefly before settling in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

Career

The stage name Emay comes from Mubarik Adams's initials written as a

phonogram Phonogram may refer to: * A sound recording – see Geneva Phonograms Convention * ''Phonogram'' (comics), a comic book by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie * Phonogram (linguistics), a grapheme which represents a phoneme or a combination of phon ...

. Emay began his musical career in 2008 releasing mixtapes and collaborations. In 2012, Emay released his debut album entitled ''Adam''. His first extended play, entitled ''Into It'', was released later that year. In 2014 he released his second extended play, which was entitled ''Sinner, Song-writer''. In 2017, Emay released his first music video for the track "Bakkah: The History of Humankind". The song includes samples of

Bizzy Bone Bryon Anthony McCane II (born September 12, 1976),Whitburn, Joel (2008) ''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–2006'', Record Research, , p. 97 better known by his stage name Bizzy Bone, is an American rapper, singer and the youngest member o ...

and

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

’s "

Famous Blue Raincoat "Famous Blue Raincoat" is a song by Leonard Cohen. It is the sixth track on his third album, '' Songs of Love and Hate'', released in 1971. The song is written in the form of a letter (many of the lines are written in amphibrachs). The lyric tell ...

". Emay released his sophomore album entitled ''Ilah'' in 2017. "Israfil 'Angels Trumpet'" was the first track from the album to be released as a single.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Adam'' (2012) * ''Ilah'' (2017)

Mixtapes

* ''A.D.D. (Altered Dynamic Dimensions)'' (2008) * ''Emay, Karen O, and the Kids'' (2010) *Rock. Paper. Scissors. (2010) * ''Mind Altering Dynamics'' (2011) * ''Mind Altering Dynamics (Instrumentals)'' (2011) * ''Incorruptible'' (2011)

Extended plays

*''Sounds Like'' (2010) *''Into It'' (2012) * ''Sinner, Song-Writer'' (2014)

Singles

*"Child (Refugee)" (2009) *"Ze Drums" (2010) *"Worried Shoes" (2010) *"Breaking" (2010) *"Israfil 'Angels Trumpet'" (2016) *"Yesu" (2017) *"Paystyle" (2018) *"Republic of New Afrika" (2020) *"Sns." (2024)

Guest appearances

* M+A – "Takes Me Back (M+A Remix)" from ''M+A Remixes.yes'' (2012) * M+A – "When" from ''These Days'' (2013) * M+A – "When" from ''When'' (2014) * Mother Tareka – "Blow" from ''Imagine Something Different'' (2015) * Klune – "Cinnamon" from ''Klune'' (2015) * Quadrafonics – "Kissing the Gun" from ''Assemble'' (2016)

Compilation appearances

* "Fresh Prince 2019 – Hjemmesnekk" from ''Fresh Prince 2019 – Hjemmesnekk'' (2019) * "Because Winter (feat. Lowell Boland)" from ''URBNET: Underground Hip-Hop Volume 7'' (2011)

References

External links

Official Website
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

Emay
discography at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emay Living people 21st-century Black Canadian musicians 21st-century Canadian rappers 21st-century Canadian male musicians Alternative hip-hop musicians Indie rappers Canadian male rappers Downtempo musicians Underground rappers Musicians from Montreal Canadian people of Ghanaian descent 1991 births