Ninja (musician)

Ninja performing with The Go! Team.

Nkechi Ka Egenamba^[1][2] (first name pronounced n-kay-chee)^[3] known as Ninja is an English rapper and the female lead vocalist for the British indie band The Go! Team. Doing a mixture of rapping, chanting and singing, Ninja is well known for her energetic stage performances and dancing. In 2005, NME voted Ninja the 15th coolest person in music.^[4]

Early life and education

Born Nkechi Ka Egenamba in 1983,^[1][2] Nkechi is short for Nkechinyere, and means "what God has given" or "gift of God" in Igbo, the language of the Igbo people, an ethnic group in West Africa, numbering in the tens of millions.^[5] Ninja is from London.^[6] Her father is Nigerian and a lawyer,^[7] and her mother is half-Egyptian, half-Nigerian.^[7] Ninja is one of five children and was brought up in a very strict household.^[7] She had been studying at the university before she joined The Go! Team.^[8]

The Go! Team

Ninja became lead singer for the The Go! Team after founder Ian Parton created the first The Go! Team album in the studio. With Ninja, the live band became a "separate entity" to the original studio vision, as the performances became radically different from the recordings, particularly due to Ninja's freestyled vocals contrary to the sampled vocals present on the album.^[9] Parton acknowledged that Ninja had become the "face of the band" in an interview with Erik Leijon in September 2007.^[10]

The Go! Team playing at Berlin Festival in July 2007.

Non-Go! Team efforts

Ninja cowrote and performed on Simian Mobile Disco tracks Its The Beat and Hot Dog from SMD's debut album Attack Decay Sustain Release

Ninja cowrote and performed on the track Time Machine by French band Rinocerose.^[11]

She cowrote and performed on the Cut Chemist track The Audience is Listening.

Discography with The Go! Team

Albums

• Thunder, Lightning, Strike (2004) #48 UK
• Proof of Youth (2007) #21 UK, #142 US, #1 UK Indie
• Rolling Blackouts (2011)

Singles

• "Junior Kickstart" 7", 12" and CD single (2003)
• "The Power Is On" 12" Single (2004)
• "Ladyflash" 7" and CD Single (2004) #68 UK
• "Bottle Rocket" 7" and CD Single (2005) #64 UK
• "Ladyflash" (re-issue) 7" and CD Single (2006) #26 UK
• "Grip Like a Vice" Single (2007) #57 UK
• "Doing It Right" Single (2007) #55 UK, #3 UK Indie

EPs

• Are You Ready for More? (Australian Tour EP) (2005)
• Audio Assault Course (College Radio Sessions) (2006)
• Step and Repeat (8 Track EP) (2006)

Featured on

• Public Service Broadcast #3 (2004) (Compilation album)
• Help: A Day in the Life (2005) (Compilation album)

See also

• Mononymous persons

Citations

1. ^ ^{a b} Time Magazine. "All Systems are Go!" by Hugh Porter. October 13, 2005
2. ^ ^{a b} MTV. "The Go! Team | Lyrics | Huddle Formation" September 13, 2004.
3. ^ The Afrocentric Experience. "African Female Names."
4. ^ The Cambridge Student. "The return of the Go! Team" by Saul Glasman. February 1, 2008.
5. ^ Behind the Name. "Nkechinyere"
6. ^ DCist. "Concert Preview: The Go! Team" by Andrew Wiseman. October 30, 2007
7. ^ ^{a b c} Erie Times News. "Go! Team's Ninja fights to be heard" by Len Righi. November 4, 2007.
8. ^ Highland News. "Go for it!" by Margaret Chrystall. February 28, 2008.
9. ^ "There's an "I" in The Go! Team". 2007-09-14. http://music.aol.ca/article/the-go-team/144/. Retrieved 2007-09-14. 
10. ^ Chart Attack. "The Go! Team Care About The Young Folks" an interview by Erik Leijon. September 28, 2007.
11. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ_ZbVhUyko

External links

• Little Brown Ninja - Ninja's blog
• The Go! Team - official website
• Memphis Industries: The Go! Team - UK label-operated band website
• The Go! Team on Myspace
• The Go! Team - Titanic Fandalism - Unofficial Go! Team Fansite

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