Lowkey

Kareem Dennis (born 23 May 1986), better known by his stage name Lowkey, is a British rapper and activist from London.

He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music business.

The first part of his mixtape series Key to the Game, was released independently in 2003.

Within a year and a half he had released a second and third volume.

Though the first volume largely used music from other artists, the second was mostly original work in conjunction with numerous artists and producers while the third, which had no skits or short songs like a traditional mixtape would, was mostly his own work.

While Lowkey was busying himself with European tours in support of Immortal Technique, Canibus, and Dead Prez, he began to make musical contacts and record his debut album.

Lowkey joined a hip-hop group called Poisonous Poets with which was formed by rapper Reveal and released one self-titled mixtape in 2005.

Poisonous Poets (sometimes known as Double P) the group also consisted of Doc Brown whom Lowkey met at Real Deal records, Reveal, Stylah, Tony D and Therapist.

Lowkey's manager passed on the first two parts of Key to the Game to Jon McClure, frontman of Reverend and The Makers who is also an outspoken political activist.

Wanting to mix popular music with politics, and mix indie rock with hip-hop, the two formed a supergroup, Mongrel, with Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders and ex-bassist Andy Nicholson, Babyshambles bassist Drew McConnell and a revolving set of other musicians.

He would return in 2008, with appearances on BBC Radio and at various festivals and concerts including the BBC Electric Proms, Glastonbury, T In The Park and Oxegen in the buildup to his first solo album Dear Listener, as well as collaborating with other British musicians to form the supergroup Mongrel.

Though stalled by other artistic endeavours, Dear Listener was released in October 2008.

In December he released the compilation album Uncensored, with highlights from the entire Key to the Game series and Dear Listener, digitally through iTunes.

After touring with Immortal Technique the two made a single, "Voices of the Voiceless" which was released in September 2009.

The second single, "Long Live Palestine" (also known as "Tears to Laughter") was digitally released on 9 March 2009.

In December 2009, Lowkey revealed he would release a second part to "Long Live Palestine" featuring Palestinian rap group DAM, Anglo-Palestinian soloist Shadia Mansour, Narcy from Iraq, Iranian artists Hich Kas and Reveal, Syrian-Lebanese performer Eslam Jawaad and African-American Muslim Hasan Salaam.

"Long Live Palestine" was packaged in an EP with Part 1 and the instrumental.

The single received statements of support from Tony Benn and Benjamin Zephiniah.

He released his second solo album, Soundtrack to the Struggle, independently on in 2011.

Soundtrack to the Struggle was released on 16 October 2011.

The album entered the UK Albums Chart on 23 October at number 57, becoming Lowkey's first entry on the national charts.

Soundtrack to the Struggle peaked at number 14 on the UK Download Chart.

On the UK R&B Chart, the album received its highest OCC position, number 6.

In the UK Indie Chart, the album peaked at number 9.

On 17 April 2012, Lowkey put his musical career on hiatus, announcing the news on Facebook.

He said that after months of contemplation, he had decided to "step away from music and concentrate on my studies".

With this, he announced that he would deactivate his Facebook page, which had over 180,000 followers.

After a five-year hiatus, Lowkey released a string of singles between 2016 and 2018 to precede the release of his third album, Soundtrack to the Struggle 2, released in 2019.

Lowkey was born in London to an Iraqi mother and an English father.

From the age of twelve he began to rap, initially imitating American rappers but soon began using his own accent.

He began attending open mic sessions which at the Deal Real record shop on Carnaby Street, Central London.

The first time he went he introduced himself as Lowkey and was told there was already a regular there by that name; the two had a rap battle to decide who would continue to use the alias, Kareem emerged victorious and continued to use the name thereafter.

On 26 July 2016, various sources shared an image on social media relating to Lowkey's return to the music scene with new single "Ahmed".

On 29 July 2016, Lowkey released a video for the single, the subject matter of which revolves around the refugee crisis and Europe's response.

In addition, a seven-day tour across the UK in September 2016 was announced.

On 3 September, his next single "Children of Diaspora" was released.

The track addresses issues of racism and xenophobia, and mentions victims of police brutality in the UK and USA.

In August 2018, Lowkey announced via social media that he would be releasing his single "Ahmed", which features Mai Khalil, on platforms such as Spotify and iTunes on 2 September 2018, stating that this would be his first commercial release since 2011.

He also confirmed that he was in the process of making a second album, titled Soundtrack to the Struggle 2.

Soundtrack to the Struggle 2 was released on 5 April 2019, with UK tour dates scheduled to start less than a week later.