Kofi and Kojo Ansah: Canberra's home-grown poetic talent

Older brother Kojo Ansah (aka Citizen Kay) will be up front, soaking up the beats and watching thousands of music lovers enjoy lyrics he heard early on in the creative process in his brother's bedroom in Banks.

"It's his year," Kojo said.

"I've been telling everyone who'll listen."

Kofi, 18, hasn't even released an album yet. He gained some exposure last year through Triple J's Unearthed High (a competition aimed at boosting musical exposure for high school students) but The Laneway crew definitely see a star materialising. Kofi will grace the stage just hours before international headliners Tame Impala and Nick Murphy (aka Chet Faker).

It will be the ultimate start to what Kofi is hoping will be his defining year.

"I've just finished making my debut EP, CARDRIVE, so that will come out this year," he said.

"I'll start working with a label and then just do as many shows as I can to try and get my name out there."

Laneway Festival is a long way from the stage of Transit Bar, where Kofi rapped his first gig in 2012. He and Kojo had collaborated on a song - unsurprisingly titled Ansah Brothers - and the siblings performed together for a small Canberra crowd as part of a Citizen Kay gig. Kofi was only 14 at the time, but with a full beard, "a voice deeper than Barry White's", and gobsmacking poetic talent, no-one noticed.

Pushing his little brother on stage at such a young age is just one way Kojo, 23, has had an impact on the evolution of Kofi as a hip-hop artist. In the comfort of their Banks home, the brothers explore their individual rapping styles and share previews of their solo work exclusively with each other for review.

"I've got a new album coming out too and only two people have heard it - my sound engineer and Kofi," Kojo said.

"My own management hasn't even heard it!"

The brothers started life in Ghana - where "rhythm is just all around you" - and immigrated with parents Elliott and Doris to Australia in 2000. They retained their Ghanaian names - Kojo means "male born on Monday" while Kofi means "male born on Friday" - and happily shared a set of bunk beds at a townhouse in Woden on their arrival.

"To give his sons a better life" was the reason Elliott chose to leave west Africa.

"When people think about coming to another country for new opportunities they always think a doctor or a lawyer but dad was more about enjoyment and being free to be yourself - that's what equates to a better life for him," Kojo said.

"In Ghana, everyone's parents are forcing them into anything that makes money.

"But for dad, if we had the opportunity to make a living off something that we love this much in whatever way, he's backed that from the start.

"From 13, when I first started getting into music, he pushed me to do more of it.

"I started playing guitar and then he was like 'if you want to do music, get some sort of background in it' - so he was the one who really got me to go to CIT to do sound production, and now I'm more into the behind-the-scenes, producing and doing studio stuff as well.

"Dad's just always been in our corner."

Kofi's phenomenal talent as a writer was born from hours spent laying on his bed studying lyrics - from Jimi Hendrix right through to Kendrick Lamar.

"He's a real scholar with that stuff - I remember when Kendrick's To Pimp a Butterfly came out in 2015, I walked past his room and all the lights were off and he had his headphones on and a pen and notepad," Kojo said.

"He was actually studying it lyric for lyric and I've never been like that - I'll read the lyrics but he's like 'what does this mean?', 'how do these lyrics compare to the last album?'

"It shows in his writing. I've always said he's got the upper hand on me with his metaphors and the little hidden messages underneath his lyrics."

Kojo started out playing guitar and thought life was all about strumming and listening to Meatloaf and Rage Against the Machine. He never dreamed he would become a hip-hop artist.

"Man, the Chilli Peppers - they were my first ever CD," he said.

"In Year 6, someone got it for me as a birthday present and I remember I was like 'what a terrible birthday present!'

"And then when I played the CD it was all that was played in our house for like six months straight.

"I didn't get into hip-hop until a lot later, just because the people I hung out with were so anti hip-hop.

"Even today - I don't know that much about the hip-hop world to be honest - it's just this is how things evolved and happened."

While Kojo prefers to stay behind the scenes, mixing beats and vocals, Kofi is definitely more the "man up front". Despite their fast-rising stars, both brothers reckon they love Canberra and won't be leaving anytime soon.

"Canberra's a very underrated place, honestly - it's very easy to create here," Kofi said.

"There's a creative underground in Canberra that not a lot of people know about - it's got a really balance about it, and it's just a good place in general.

"If you want to go to a thrash metal concert, you can go. And if you want to go the next day to an old school hip-hop concert you can go to the other end of the city and find it."

Kojo loves Canberra for its phenomenal music talent.

"For me with my solo stuff, I have such a lean toward getting musicians involved.

"And I realised that there are a whole bunch of really really talented musicians here - home grown.

"My new album has a lot of Canberra-based session musicians and singers on it, and it was incredibly easy to find them."

In the "downtime" from their solo projects this year, the siblings are hoping to squeeze in some time on collaborative project Ansah Brothers. They create music together "without pressure" and release it for free as a way for people to discover them as individual hip-hop artists.

"The inspiration for Ansah Brothers comes from each other - trying to better than each other," Kofi laughed.

"But our bond as brothers - you know, it's chill. It's easy."