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WarChild
Genre: Hip-Hop, R&B

WarChild

<iLAYER src="bio_sm.php?musician_description=Umaru Tejan Kabba aka WARCHILD, new recording artist on ACM Records, born May 1982 in Koidu town, Sierra Leone, West Africa, youngest of 16 children. WARCHILDs parents traveled excessivly necessitating his relocation to the one woman who was everything to him, his grandmother. When he was 12 she passed away. Again having to relocate to his uncle's house, WARCHILD felt uncomfortable in this new environment. Treating him like a slave he needed to remove himself because he was persecuted for his ‘brains' compared to the cousins, which shared the home. 'I would consider myself a type of poet musician. When I lived with my grandma I listened to loads of Bob Marley, since this was her favorite English artist. As time went by I found myself listening to 2pac, Wyclef, Michael Bolton, Phil Collins and many other storyteller types. When I was around 14-15 years rapping became my pastime and I was allowed to enter school carnivals with my newfound form of expression. I would mostly sing in mixed Krio/English. Singing was not really my strength, since I had all these bottled up feelings, I just couldn't get it out..Too scared I think....' While WARCHILD experienced his struggles, the country around him was seeing many new economical changes and problems. A ‘rebel war' broke out and the troops with their soldiers began attacking all the villages. An election was called, while the present governor of that period refused to take part. That's when everything got out of hand. The military and the rebels joined together and over threw the governor Momoh. His country became a rebel country with no rules or security, only 'gun power'. The United Nations called for a Democratic election and that's when one of his uncles Ahmed Tijan Kabba stepped in to try and restore peace. He became the president, but the rebels would not stop killing for diamonds. They controlled all from Freetown to the villages and made their way to his families land of Bonoya and Kabala. They killed most of his family and amputated the hands of the few they found left. They told them to 'now go and see if they can vote for Kabba.' 'Kabba was the best president our country ever had and he gave up everything including his own pension for peace, but they labeled him a bad person. When I was 16 years old the troops entered Freetown and over threw my uncle and the Kabba regime. It was about 2:00 am when all we saw was smoke rising from the houses all around. They were burning them down and the noise of bomb explosions were heading towards our house. They were now taking over our city, killing everyone who was in sight and burning everything around them, from resident's homes and commercial buildings. My uncle, the president, hopped on a plane but left us behind because we were miles apart from each other and he couldn't come back for us.' 'The rest of my family had to find a way to survive. The rebels were just killing any Kabba or S.L.P.P family in their way. So with no choice but to take matters into my own hands I grabbed a weapon to protect my nephews and my sisters so we could make it out of the war alive. Since my family was in the military for years, from the USA to Africa, the Navy, the Army, and the Air force, I was taught certainly how to use weapons.' 'Having no outlet but music as a salvation I internalized everything going on around me and continued singing and rapping. I met up with the worlds best musicians and discovered they were blind. Ironically and quite by coincidence they were originally from Sierra Leone too. I also met with more Guinee underground artists and in the year 2000 I flew to the US as a refugee.' 'I moved to New Jersey in my families' house with my mother, brothers, uncle, and other family members. I was still writing and looking for a recording studio. Then I moved to Lowell, MA in 2002 where I got a straight job and I met Sure Fire and started recording. It was more rapping and singing where ever I could.. I released an underground mix tape with Sure Fire music studio. I did a couple of shows at UMASS Lowell's VPAC and other local clubs around Lowell. I performed in Worcester and Sturbridge.' 'In 2004 the law started messing with me just because I am a black male. In this area there is racism, and police brutality. In 2006 I was caught with possession of a gun and my wife was pregnant with my first child. It was a very dramatic time in my life.' 'Damn' I was going to jail for a year or two and didn't know who was going to take care of my family. As luck would have it I beat that case. But shortly after I lost my one and only best friends Jose Perez who was like a brother I never had. I felt lost and alone in the world.' 'I stopped music and just focused on what I was going to do. How would I stay inspired...I had no choice because the desire was burning me up from the inside and all the horrific stories of my life demanded me to deliver the message.'"></iLAYER>

Discography:

Hot Summer Jams

Roll Call

Roots/Ask Why (Maxi-Single)

Stand Tall

Stand Tall / Free (Single)

Videos:

Stand Tall-Live @ International Reggae Festival