Okechukwu Edwards Ukeje, better known as Mr Raw, is a Nigerian rapper and songwriter who was born and raised in Enugu. A native of Abia State, he previously went by the stage name Dat Nigga Raw and is a pioneer of Igbo rap.

Early life

Born and raised in Enugu, he gained prominence during the early 2000s rapping in the

Igbo language Igbo ( , ; Standard Igbo: ''Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò'' ) is the principal native language cluster of the Igbo people, an ethnicity in the Southeastern part of Nigeria. Igbo languages are spoken by a total of 31 million people. The number of Igbo ...

and Pidgin English.

Career

Raw's debut studio album, ''Right & Wrong'', was released on 7 August 2005. A second album ''Everything Remains Raw'' followed in 2007. His third studio album ''End of Discussion'' was released in October 2010. The album yielded the hit song "O! Chukwu" whose music video won Best Afro Hip Hop Video at the NMVA Awards that year. In 2010, Raw announced that he would change his name from "Dat Nigga Raw" (an acronym of "Dat Nigerian Guy Anakpo Raw" which means "that Nigerian guy called Raw") to "Mr. Raw", stating that the negative connotations associated to the word "

nigga ''Nigga'' (), also known as "''the N-word''", is a colloquial term in African-American Vernacular English that is considered as a vulgar word in most contexts of its use. It began as a dialect form of the word ''nigger'', an ethnic slur agai ...

" resulted in his name being censored abroad and prevented people from purchasing his music online. Raw has collaborated with numerous other musical artists including

Flavour N'abania Chinedu Okoli (born 23 November 1983), better known by his stage name Flavour N'abania or simply Flavour, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. He began his musical career as a drummer for a local church. Flavour is popularly known across Africa ...

, Duncan Mighty, Phyno, Illbliss, 2Face, M-Josh, Hype MC, BosaLin and Slowdog.

Personal life

Ukeje is married, but has cited that he prefers to keep his family life private. In August 2021, he and his driver were hospitalised due to a car accident.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Right and Wrung'' (2005) *''Everything Remains Raw'' (2007) *''End of Discussion'' (2010) *''The Greatest'' (2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mr Raw Living people Igbo rappers Rappers from Enugu Nigerian male rappers 21st-century Nigerian rappers 21st-century Nigerian male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)