Isaac Charles Bortey Borquaye (born 13 June 1989), better known as Guvna B, is a rapper, author, and broadcaster from

Custom House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He has released 10 albums, written two books, produced segments for the BBC, and served as a football pundit for Sky Sports News' ''Good Morning Transfers''. He has also made appearances on television and in schools to discuss topics that affect young people from underprivileged communities.

Biography

Guvna B was born in London, England in June 1989, to Ghanaian parents from

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 ...

. Speaking on his upbringing, he has said: "My upbringing helped me find my faith. The negative things I saw in my society inspired me to do better and inspire people to be the best they can be instead of becoming stereotypical products of a negative environment". He later graduated from

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a Universities in the United Kingdom, university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield ...

studying business and journalism. He has released ten albums and is the recipient of two

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 ...

for Best Gospel Act, three

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 ...

for Best Gospel Act or Artist, and a Gospel Music Award for Best Gospel Artist. He was the first rapper to top the Official Christian and Gospel Charts for his 2013 album ''Odd1Out''. His story was shared with many when he was featured in the 22 March 2013 issue of the music industry magazine ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' in a feature covering the gospel music industry in the UK. In January 2013, Guvna B launched his own urban clothing brand, Allo Mate. ''Unpopular Culture'' was published in 2017 by the

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a United Kingdom, UK-based Christians, Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christians, Christian faith in the Un ...

, and ''Unspoken: Toxic Masculinity and How I Faced the Man Within the Man'' was published by Harper Inspire, an imprint of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, in 2021 after his father's death from cancer. He has presented documentaries on both radio and TV including BBC World Service's ''Gospel Meets Hip-Hop'', and BBC Radio 2's ''Keeping the Peace''. He has appeared as a pundit on Sky Sports News' ''Good Morning Transfers'', and as a guest on ''The Zoe Ball Breakfast'' show on BBC Radio 2. Guvna B has two children, a son and a daughter. He is a fan of

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is a professional football club based in Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their ...

His cousin is the actress and screenwriter

Michaela Coel Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson (born 1987), known professionally as Michaela Coel, is a British actress, writer and television director. She is best known for creating and starring in the E4 television sitcom ''Chewing Gum'' (2015–2017), ...

. Guvna B also appears in many videos of the Korean Englishman and JOLLY Youtube channel as a frequent guest.

Works

Discography

* ''The Narrow Road'' (31 May 2008) * ''Scrapbook ''(1 January 2011) * ''Next Ting 140'' (18 August 2011) * ''Odd1Out'' (26 May 2013) * ''Scrapbook II'' (31 March 2014) * ''Something for the Summer'' (3 August 2014) * ''Secret World'' (20 November 2015) * ''Hands are Made for Working'' (18 May 2018) * ''everywhere + nowhere'' (3 April 2020) * ''The Village is On Fire'' (26 May 2023)

Bibliography

* *

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guvna B Living people Alumni of the University of Hertfordshire English male rappers Grime music artists People from Canning Town Black British male rappers British performers of Christian hip-hop Urban contemporary gospel musicians 1989 births Rappers from the London Borough of Newham English people of Ghanaian descent Writers from the London Borough of Newham