Meet Michael Dapaah: Amplifying Positive Messages Through His Production Company Dapaah Ent.

Media representation, telling positive stories, and highlighting success goes a long way towards changing the narrative that surrounds certain groups in society. We have seen many groups marginalized through a negative, often incorrect narrative pushed through various media platforms. An example of a community that has come into focus over the last year was the black community globally with many media outlets realizing they need to portray this community more positively and not play on subconscious biases that exist. One comedian, rapper, and actor who is lending his talents, network, and resources to help contribute further authentic, positive content is Michael Dapaah, founder of Dapaah International Group ltd & production company Dapaah Ent. 

Early Beginnings

Dapaah’s first interaction with the creative arts was at school, growing up in South Africa at 7 years of age where he played Mowgli in a school remake of the Disney classic Jungle Book. This involved singing, dancing, and acting and sparked a long-term interest in performing “you would go to bed singing and dancing to gospel music” he recalls being told by his parents. However, as much as he was encouraged by his parents and loved performing he knew from a young age that there needed to be a focus on academics. Following on from his Dad who he cites as “a great inspiration” he pursued sciences in college but did not pass his first year. It was clear to him that the passion just wasn’t there “I remember a friend going to drama class and I used to always wish I was in the same lesson” he recalls and this reflection led him to question what he wanted to do. 

Inspired by the film Kidulthood, one of the first films to depict some of the issues young people in inner city London face, and its now well-known director Noel Clarke who was from a similar background to Dapaah he started training at the National Youth Theatre alongside continuing his studies. He quickly realized in addition to performing he naturally took to writing and wrote his first script which ended up at over 90 pages, it didn’t go anywhere but proved to be a great education in writing. Balancing school and his creative side was difficult but Dapaah ensured he would make his parents proud by finishing university. However once finishing he knew it was time to focus on his passion as he wanted “a full life where I can best contribute the gifts I think I have” he says. 

After university, he continued pursuing his passion whilst working in a Vodafone store as a sales assistant. His first attempt at a sketch show filmed by a friend was unsuccessful however he was not deterred and decided to create a second show that would be called #SWIL (Somewhere In London). Whilst writing the script for #SWIL Dapaah realized he had some confidence issues with public speaking and used this time to also work on this, speaking at schools and doing comedy. After the script was completed he was introduced to film director Marv Brown. They worked together and the videos they released online through youtube and other social media platforms started to accumulate views. They got their first major milestone with a comedy video that ended up accumulating over 1 million views. After season one he was approached by major broadcast partners but declined offers around the series because they weren’t right and decided to create and release Season 2 independently to ensure that the creativity wasn’t hindered and that the series could break boundaries and always reach an international audience. 

The next major milestone in Dapaah’s career came in 2017 when he went on BBC 1xtra radio show and featured on a now-infamous episode of ‘Fire In The Booth’ playing one of his characters ‘Big Shaq’. This was a landmark moment as the video went viral and catapulted him into the consciousness of the mainstream which led to several opportunities such as a record deal and releasing a multi-platinum selling song that peaked at No.3 in the U.K. charts and has over 350 million views on Youtube. Since then Dapaah has taken on several projects with brands, created more shows, and continues to build the following “not everything I’ve done has worked but my faith ensures I keep moving forward” he says. 

Launching Dapaah Ent.

More recently Dapaah has started his own production company – led by managers Knacai Ceres-McLeod & Fola Adeyemi – Dapaah Ent., which aims to help share and nurture upcoming talent across a variety of industries. The first project they are working on is called “We Need To Talk” and launched in December 2020. The show was inspired by Black History Month and brings together Dapaah’s friends and people who have inspired him to have important and meaningful conversations that wouldn’t normally take place in the public domain “I am tired of seeing constant negativity and I wanted to create something uplifting where we could all celebrate each other with the public”. The first episode featured the likes of footballer Rio Ferdinand, fellow comedian Mo Gilligan, model Eva Apio and DJ Julie Adenuga. Future episodes will include people from all walks of life including journalists, musicians, businesspeople, and more. 

Dapaah’s rise has been relatively swift and unexpected at the time but his work ethic and belief in himself powered by his faith has propelled him to maintain his success, because of these reasons I’m sure we will be hearing a lot more about his work, his team, and Dapaah Ent. 

This article is part of a series featuring underrepresented people making a difference. You can keep up to date with new releases or contact me on Twitter – @TommyASC91.


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