Meet C-Real "MC Africa" Ghana Rep

His real name is Cyril Alex Gockel, Stage name C-REAL, you may not know him (at least, not yet) but he happens to be holding Ghana Shoulder high right now in terms of Rap. He came out No 1 during the Emcee Africa In Ghana, that means,

he is taking over from J Town to go represent the country during this year's continental Search for the Best and most versatile Emcee on the soils of Africa. We caught up with him and bugged him with a couple of questions, and got to know quite a lot about him, he is a graduate of st. Peter's high school and University of Ghana, a regular office guy with a rather odd hobby, took him some hours to prepare and win Emcee Africa in Ghana,…… read on; discover the world of C- real, first thing we think you should know is how long he's been rapping (since a lot of people are not familiar with his name )

Pinnaclegh.com :SO,HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN RAPPING.?

C- Real: For starters, am a poet, then a rapper.' I've been writing poetry, rap and general literature for 10 years now. I still write from time to time, I have this blog that features most of my work, the truth is, my rhyming abilities generate from my interest in my writing.

Pinnaclegh.com :WHO WOULD YOU CALL YOUR GREATEST INFLUENCE IN RAP?

C- Real: I spent my youth listening to Ini Kamoze, Das Efx, KRS-1 and the likes...real HIPHOP!

As you might have realized from most of my tracks, am a pure hip hop fan, I love real hip hop, my greatest influences in rap come from B.I.G, Elzhi, Black thought, Mos Def, Jay-z, Canibus, MethodMan, , Eminem, Nas and Busta Rhymes,.. It would be hard to name just one person

In the hiphop industry however, I bow down to only BIG PUN!!! and we all know where he is....lol

Pinnaclegh.com :HAVE YOU IN ANY POINT IN LIFE BEEN PART OF A GROUP/ BAND??

C- Real: Yeah!!, the earlier times when I started rapping, me and a friend (Tendayi ) formed a group, we used to call ourselves NT (an acronym for Nipa Tumtum), it's Twi which when translated meant Black Man. We really didn't make any Major appearances though, We rather grew together in skill, wit and expression. As time went by our skill grew iller and iller. Now I doubt there's anyone that can take us down. lol

Pinnaclegh.com :OKAY, TELL US A BIT ABOUT CHANNEL O's EMCEE AFRICA?? HOW LONG DID U HAVE TO PREPARE A CONTEST LIKE THAT?

C- Real: (laughs)…. U know?? My Emcee Africa Story is kinda funny, I heard about it on Tuesday and I was like I wanna try this out, So on Thursday, I left work for Tantra Nite club, auditioned, Made it to the first ten, then the first Five,… LOL. That was it…….the rest is history as they say.

Pinnaclegh.com :WOW!!!, I KNOW RAPPERS WHO SPENT A WHOLE YEAR PREPARING FOR IT,ALL IT TOOK YOU WAS LIKE A DAY TO WIN IT?

C- Real: (Laughs some more..) Yeah, some people present had other opinions on the organization of the contest,I agree, but I say (not because I won), RULES were set, you play by them, You'd sure win, all I had to was play according to the SET rules.

Pinnaclegh.com : WHO WAS YOUR MAIN OPPONENT IN THE GHANAIAN CONTEST?

C- Real: I think, the question should be , WHO WERE MY MAIN OPPONENTS? There were four people (including myself), who I think could've won, Myself, Padlock, Chymny and Rocky. I am not saying the others were not good enough, Everyone in the Top Ten had a great chance of winning but on my list, if I was taken out, any of the other Kats I just mentioned could've won.. But then again, We all know what happened, Right??? Lol

Pinnaclegh.com :CONGRATULATIONS!!
YOU ARE GHANA'S REPPRESENTATIN TO THE 2009 CHANNEL 'O' SPRITE EMCEE AFRICA, HAS THAT CHANGED YOU IN ANYWAY?

C- Real: Urrrrrmmm.. Not necessarily, Not me, but some people around me, who didn't know about My SECRET RAP LIFE ..lol. All the attention it comes with, you get some people loving you and some haters as well, A couple of Radio interviews here and there, and Yeah, am Now a co – Host on the Brown Berry Show on Choice 102.3 FM. It keeps getting interesting, Now, am beginning to wonder what it would be like, if I actually win Africa's top Spot as EMCEE AFRICA.

Pinnaclegh.com :TAKING ABOUT THAT? HOW'S THE PREPARATION FOR THE AFRICA'S TOP EMCEE GOING LIKE??

C- Real: Am a freestylist, I drive around with lots of beats playing whiles I rap and rhyme about any and everything I see, I've been involved in cypher sessions with other rappers, ON THE SPOT rap delivery on the Brown Berry Show, some people call in and text asking me to free style for them. It's in interesting..u know??, but on the whole, am keeping my cool and being myself as I keep my eyes on the top spot in the ultimate contest.

Pinnaclegh.com : TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR WORK AND ANY PROJECTS YOU'RE WORKING ON

C- Real: I've been working with my cousin, Joseph Deo-Silas and friends; Kofi Boachie-Ansah and Amartey Amarqwei for the past 4 years. I'm also currently working on a number of tracks and Mixtapes with my very good friends Dj Juls, The BeatMENACE, Delli-B, Bedi and Ja'lil. We run a Creative Multimedia studio called CREATIVE3RST (CREATIVE THIRST) in OSU as well as a Professional Sound Engineering Studio called MIXDOWN STUDIOS. We're into adverting, multimedia production, animation and web design. We are NOT an adverting agency……but we do advertisements for clients.

Pinnaclegh.com : GOOD HAVING ON YOU ON pinnaclegh.com, GOT ANY LAST WORDS??

C- Real: Am going out there to represent our country and show the whole world, what we got, I'll need the support of everyone, however possible, when the time comes, I hear it's in the first week in July, I still haven't been told the exact venue, but I believe it's either Botswana or South Africa. Whichever it is, I promise ya'll, am going out there to make us all proud, and I'll need your support to make that happen. Thanks to you for the opportunity.

Keep visiting this page for current developments on C - REAL's trip to the EMCEE AFRICA '09.. you can however register on this site and become part of Ghana's first music chatroom.. bye for now ...

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