Sharpa is a founder member of the legendary crews, GroundWorks and Audio Visual. Recognized as a veteran in Hip Hop, he uses the art as a medium of expression in the areas of social awareness, creativity and street life in general.  

Ben has also travelled and toured in London, sharing the stage with artists such as Immortal Technique (June 2005), Jonzi-D (June 2003), Black Thought (August 2001), Mr. Len and Gene Grae (May 2001). In 2007 Ben performed at the ‘BBC Introduces’ stage at Glastonbury, the largest music festival in the world. Locally, he has had the opportunity to tour all over the country, spreading his positive Hip Hop message to youth and elders alike.

In 2003, he won a nation-wide freestyle battle competition sponsored by a local cellular network (MTN). This not only gave him notoriety and country-wide exposure, but also won him an opportunity to go to London and meet Eminem during the artist’s Anger Management tour. In June-July 2005, he was involved in the Flight 5065 Vertikal Cipher, a historic event hosted by Café Direct and established as a run-up to the Live-8 concert in the UK.

In June 2006, Sharpa headlined alongside Wordsworth (US) and Jonzi-D (UK) as part of the Tri-Continental Hip Hop Fest - a historical 3-city hip hop tour that was held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Youth Month in South Africa. He is also a founding member of the performance crew for the annual Hip-Hop Connected lyrical theatre event held at Artscape Theatre in Cape Town every September (Heritage Month).

Ben enjoys listening to music, making beats, exercise, partying, building computers and smoking ism. In 2002, he became partner with 2 other well-known Johannesburg artists Krookd the War Monger and AK-1 - in an independent publishing company called Concentration Camp Publishing (now known as Con Camp). The entity has done reasonably well, working with over 20 mcs and producers and having released 2 albums (GroundWorks Demolition: The MeStory and Concentration Camps Pavement Special vol.1). Both of these albums were produced by Ben, with Demolition: The MeStory having been co-produced by Gemini.

After hooking up with Pioneer Unit in 2006, Ben completed the groundbreaking ‘B. Sharpa’ album that will certainly have far-reaching and long-lasting effects on South African underground Hip Hop, and the country’s music industry as a whole. Look out world SHARPAGANDA is on the loose!

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