African Roots Rock Reggae artist, Black Prophet says his real name breaks his heart because it is a “slave” name.
Black Prophet was named Kenneth Wilberforce Zonto Bossman at birth but the musician says the name breaks his heart because it has no connection with his Ghanaian roots.
Speaking on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM, the musician told Andy Dosty that he went through the process of changing his name from that of a slave to a native one.
According to Black Prophet who claims to have grown up on the streets, he loves finds satisfaction in returning to his roots and culture.
I have a slave name. My real name is Kenneth Wilberforce Zonto Bossman. It’s a slave name and it breaks my heart that I am called such, he said.
One thing about all these documentations is that it’s not easy to change your name once they’ve entered. My name Zonto is a traditional name in ‘Frafra’ meaning natural hair and I was born on Sunday so you can call me Kwesi or Tete. I am a Ghanaian. [SIC]
Narrating how he got the stage name, Black Prophet, he said it emanated from the popular book, “My Book of Bible Stories.”
According to him, he realised everything in the Christian book portrayed the colour black as evil whereas white was made godly.
Not being able to fathom that he decided to call himself the Black Prophet in an attempt to change the perspective of the “white men”.
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He explained:
People used to call me home culture. I am troublesome and I like things from my roots because I come from the streets and I look at things differently – from roaches to riches.
One day, I was reading My Book of Bible Stories in an uncompleted building. Everything in the book that was white was good and black was evil. There had to be something else so I took the name Black Prophet to show them I am a Black man and a prophet.
If you have a business and you don’t have license, they call it black market. If you ride a train without a ticket, they call it black riding … When they used to sell the slaves at the time, they call it black Friday.
I realized that everything that is black is evil and everything white is godly. I wanted to challenge the perception behind that idea.
They forced English on us. We should remember where we come from and focus on ours. We should claim what we have and make it our own and appreciate what comes from us, he said.
Black Prophet took it down to the Ghanaian highlife musician insisting that we change the name from highlife to “Yedi3” meaning “Ours”.
We call it highlife, its ours so why don’t we call it ‘Yedi3’ to call claim our rights. What was the name of Jamestown before Mr James came around. They say Black sheep, why is everything bad black, he told Andy Dosty.
Watch the video above.