Part reggae princess, neo-soul star and political hip-hop warrior, Nneka Egbuna was born and raised in Nigeria then moved to Hamburg, Germany at 19 to study anthropology - and kick off her music career. Now 27, about to make her US debut, and release her second album, she's tipped to take over Lauryn Hill's conscious songwriter crown - but, having already entranced UK clubs when Chase and Status remixed her brilliant song Heartbeats, she's already the captivated mainstream with her politically-inclined, spiritually aware pop.
Like a young Erykah Badu, Nneka's already influenced by the legends Fela Kuti and Bob Marley, as well as modern US contemporaries Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Mobb Deep and Ms Hill. Studying and chasing her music dream, she hooked up with DJ Farhot releasing her debut 5 song EP The Uncomfortable Truth in 2005, followed by her full-length Victim Of Truth the same year - in the UK, France and the Netherlands - which the Sunday Times dubbed 'the year's most criminally overlooked album'. Last year she released her second album No Longer at Ease, which takes its name from the book by Chinua Achebe of the same name, and focused on the corruption of the oil industry in her childhood home of the Niger Delta.
Now, touring the US, and with a new compilation of her previous albums available as a 3-CD box set and on Spotify - To And Fro - she's about to go huge. Check out her videos below to see exactly why:
