Kesi (rapper)

Oliver Kesi Chambuso (born 7 September 1992[2]), known professionally as Kesi (Danish pronunciation: [ˈkʰe̝ːsi]),[3] is a Danish rapper and songwriter.

Kesi
Kesi at Kolding kulturnat (19 July 2009)
Background information
Birth name	Oliver Kesi Chambuso[1]
Also known as	Kesi
Born	(1992-09-07) 7 September 1992 Copenhagen, Denmark
Genres	Hip hop pop
Occupation(s)	Rapper
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	2010–present
Labels	disco:wax Uropa / MXIII Universal Records Denmark

Kesi initially promoted himself through his own YouTube channel within the grime genre,[4] also cooperating with others, notably Kidd and Gilli.[5][6] In addition to his solo career, Kesi was a member of the hip hop group BOC (abbreviation for Bars of Crack or Bombs Over Copenhagen or Bombs Over Centrum), a Nørrebro-based group.[6] Success on the Internet with particularly debut song "Byen Sover" led to a series of concerts and interest from established record labels, meaning that Kesi, at the age of 18, signed with Universal Records in July 2011.[7]

In August 2011, Kesi released his first official single "Slem dreng".[8] This brought in huge media visibility,[9] and an appearance on Danish broadcaster, TV 2 in a special feature[10] Kesi also performed in a series of concerts, including at Roskilde Festival, Copenhagen Distortion and festival Sounds.[11] His follow-up single on Universal was the single "Født I Dag", produced by Benny Jamz from BOC and also the single "Ku godt". His debut album Bomber Over Centrum was released in February 2012,[12] followed by Ung hertug (2013) and Barn af Byen (2015).[13][14]

During the following years, Kesi mostly focused on releasing singles, with "Følelsen", "Ligesom mig", "Kom over", "Su casa" (featuring Gilli), and "X" all topping the Danish charts between 2017 and 2019.[15] After taking a five year break from albums, Kesi released his fourth studio album, BO4L, in 2020.[16]