His eldest sister Devon Levi, was best friends with reggae queen Marcia Griffiths and close friends with the ‘Crown Prince of reggae’ Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs and Errol Dunkley. His mother, who once shared a tenement yard with the legendary Ken Boothe, was blessed with an amazing voice and his stepdad collected and sold vinyl records. He was fascinated by the Rastas singing freedom songs of Africa. His first musical impression, when still in diapers on Greenwich Street, was overhearing the incessant drumming and chanting from a nearby Rastafari camp. Bob Marley & the Wailers, Alton Ellis and Delroy Wilson to name a few, all grew up there. Kwame Ultimate is a Trench Town boy! All real Reggae fans know that this impoverished area of west Kingston is the absolute diamond mine of Jamaican music. Affinity with words made journalism his initial goal and though he later trained as a lawyer (words again!), the music proved too irresistible. He read the ‘Complete Works of Shakespeare’ and Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ aged 11 and remembers composing poems and love songs to impress girls in primary school. A voracious reader from age 3, Kwame is enthralled by language and has been writing from those tender years. The self-styled “da Alkebulan poet” who likens himself to the ancient Alkebulan griots, was given the name Kwame on his first visit to Ghana. UK based Jamaican, independent Reggae Dancehall artiste Kwame Ultimate (aka Ultimate Warrior, aka General Ultimate), is a peerless lyricist and songwriter.
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