Kambi, better known by his stage name Killa Kambi, is an African rapper

Rapping

Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...

 and producer, well known for his singles "Running from tha Pahlice", "Hipped Hop Sahved My Fahce" and "Shook Cuuves Vol 2".

Born in Swaziland's capital, Mbabane, Kambi left for Montreal in 1976 to pursue his aspirations as a rapper.

His work has influenced, and been admired by many, including Kanye West

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...

, Eminem

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

, Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco , better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco , is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, Lupe is the CEO of 1st and 15th Entertainment. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his critically acclaimed debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food...

, 50 Cent

50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...

, Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...

 and KRS-One

KRS-One

Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...

. His lyricism has also earned him the respect from rap pioneers such as Rakim

Rakim

William Michael Griffin Jr. , known by his stage names Rakim , Rakim Allah, R.A.K.I.M., and The Master, is an American rapper. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and most skilled emcees of all time. Eric B...

 and A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...

.

Early life

Kambi, which means "helper and protector" in Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

, spent the first years of his life in the McGill Ghetto

McGill Ghetto

The McGill Ghetto is a neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, named after McGill University, situated directly to the east of the university campus. The Ghetto is located in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough of Montreal...

 section of Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. His father Olu Dara

Olu Dara

Olu Dara Jones is an American cornetist, guitarist and singer.-History:...

 was a jazz trumpeter and his mother Fannie Ann Jones was a Postal Service

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 worker. He has one sibling, a brother named Jabari who assumes the alias Jailhouse Jambi. While in Montreal, Kambi would listen to his neighbour's rap records.

Career

Kambi had settled on pursuing a career as a rapper, and as a teenager, he enlisted his best friend and upstairs neighbor Shamit "MC Pankaj" Kumar. Kambi first went by the nickname Kid Kambi before adopting his more commonly known alias of Kambi Kam. Despite the substantial buzz for Kambi in the underground scene, the rapper was rejected by major labels and was not signed to a recording deal. Kambi and Shamit continued to work together, but their partnership was cut short when Shamit was shot in the head and killed by a gunman in Queensbridge on May 23.