A self proclaimed global citizen, Kobby Graham has been spouting his critical knowledge of music and other knick-knacks in his blog Kobby Graham for a second. Currently living in Ghana, this Afropolitan DJ, lecturer and writer gives great insight on the cultural changes taking place in Ghana as well as using his DJ-ing knowledge to school us on what’s up and coming with African music. He is our AfriPOP! Socialite this week!

 Real Name: Kobina Graham        Web Name: Kobby (or Kobi) Graham

Where you are from/live: I come from a matrilineal family, so I’m from where my mother is from: Koforidua, capital of [Ghana's] Eastern region. It isn’t a particularly wealthy city, but we don’t let that stop us from being the proud people that we are. I live in Ghana’s capital: Accra. I was raised between London & Cape Coast though, so I’m one of those annoying people who uses words like ‘global citizen’. Sorry.

Places to find you online: Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr… I’m on Facebook, but I’m not particularly active there anymore. The less said about Google+, the better…

Best known for: Blogging / DJing like eclecticism depended on it / editing DUST Magazine / lecturing at Ashesi University College / possible narcolepsy / hats…

When and how you entered the social media game: I started out in Myspace back when I was studying undergraduate law. It enabled me to directly contact some of my favourite musicians, which was a very cool thing for a DJ to be able to do back then.

When I moved back home to Ghana in 2005, I got into Hi5 and later Facebook, mainly as a means of keeping in touch with friends and family elsewhere in the world. Twitter only became interesting to me when more Ghanaians joined in.

Around the same time, I also started my first blog: ‘Wherever I Lay My Hat’. I deleted it after failing to regularly update it (foolish, I know), and started another one before switching from Blogger to WordPress.

What you mostly tend to use it for: I use social media to inform and to be informed, really. I come from a background of supporting people, events and ideas that are often not supported by the mainstream (especially when it comes to music).

The things I like are not spoon-fed to me by mainstream media, so I have to look for them myself and help to promote them when I find them. Social media provides a great way to create your own loop.

How it has helped you grow your brand: I’ve never really thought of my online presence as a brand. Not until recently anyway. There’s something about the way in which social media can be synchronized; it gives a semblance of direction and dots connected that sometimes spills into reality. The process of exploring your thoughts and interests and expressing them online inherently means doing so under the glare of a very big public eye.

I’m just ‘doing me’ though. It’s very important to be yourself, especially online. In the virtual world, Africans have the opportunity to be anonymous (or to tap into crowds) and express themselves more honestly than in the real world, where society pressures us to tow a more conservative line.

Your message: I like to explore new African culture and the power of African youth to rebel and change things, especially in this digital age.

Youth are in the majority here. Yet we are blocked from accessing social, political, economic and cultural power. We are given vague macroeconomic promises of better education and more jobs, but we are educated to merely follow orders. The jobs never come. “Wait until you are older and wiser.” However, older and wiser goes hand in hand with (relative) comfort. You no longer have an urgent need for change by then. You lose the creativity that such urgency fosters.

Things remain the same.

Our world has changed. We must too. While according respect to tradition, it is important that we explore, document and shape the Africa we live in today, an Africa in which authority figures no longer control the spread of knowledge and information. With a little bit of creativity, social media allows us to access such information and harness it to bypass some of the obstacles that prevented our parents from effecting change.  We have a responsibility to take advantage of that.

If you could have one person follow you on twitter it would be: ?uestlove of The Roots. ?uestlove is so much more than a musician: he is this creative giant at the centre of several seminal creative hubs. I have an immense respect for his artistry and his sharing of the information he gathers while traversing both the mainstream and underground.

If you could have one person join twitter it would be: I know it’s cliché (because I’m Ghanaian), but if Nkrumah lived in the age of Twitter and Facebook, the revolution would be ridiculous.

Who every African be following right now: The Ofamfa People, Accra[DOT]Alt, Adventures From the Bedrooms of African Women, Museke, Warsan Shire, Ashesi Library, Shakara Music, ThisIsAfrica, Golden Baobab, AWDF, Ms Afropolitan, African Leadership Academy, Ghanablogging, Global Voices, African Digital Art, anything Azonto related… and of course, DUSTAccra.

The role of social media in the “Africa” conversation: It allows us to insert our voices where other people would otherwise speak for us. It allows for an honesty that the reality of social pressure often suppresses out here. It allows the youth to voice their opinions and create action. It is urgent. It connects and facilitates strength in numbers.

African progressives can sometimes suppress themselves by assuming that their progressive ideas will not find support or will incur the displeasure of wider society.  Social media creates safe spaces in which to explore such ideas and gather support… and momentum.

Who is benefitting most from the rise of Africans on social media sites? Honestly, I think it is young middle Africa. Oh… & Sakawa. You can’t forget the Sakawa Boys.

Follow Kobby on twitter

AfriPOP! socialite is a weekly  feature that introduces you to the internet’s socially prominent Africans. Not backed by a brand or organization, these are individuals who have used the internet to connect with fellow Africans to spread and discuss fresh ideas and thoughts on all this Africa. There words are their message, their personality is their brand — the AfriPOP! socialite