Kwasi Esono Danquah III ( ; born 14 September 1986), known by the stage name Tinchy Stryder, is a Ghanaian-British rapper, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and investor. Stryder has released three solo studio albums, Star in the Hood (2007), Catch 22 (2009), and Third Strike (2010). Stryder's business ventures include the clothing line Star in the Hood, the Cloud 9 X Goji headphone and audio equipment range in collaboration with Goji Electronics. Early life and education Stryder was born Kwasi Danquah in Accra, Ghana in 1986. Stryder has lived in England, United Kingdom since 1995. In Bow, London, he attended St Bonaventure's Catholic School in nearby Forest Gate, Newham; He gained a B.A. (Hons) in Digital arts, Moving image and Animation at the University of East London. He began making music in 1997, aged 11, and started in business almost immediately after completing his A-levels in 2006. Music career Stryder's recordings date back to 1998. He appeared in 2000 on pirate radio along with Dizzee Rascal and Wiley, and was part of grime collective and record production team Ruff Sqwad from 2001. His pseudonym Tinchy Stryder derives from the video game Strider and from the nickname given to him "Tinchy": his height at 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m). In 2002, the grime group Roll Deep was founded by Wiley, and included Stryder and Dizzee Rascal. They were making music that was a derivative of garage. For a while, there was not even a name for it. The name "grime" was the one that stuck. While performing with Roll Deep, Stryder performed some songs including "U Were Always" in 2002, which was released years later on Roll Deep's compilation album Street Anthems in 2009. He also performed on Roll Deep's 2004 mixtape, Creeper Vol. 2. 2006–08: Star in the Hood The debut album by Stryder, Star in the Hood, was released on 13 August 2007 on Takeover. The album spawned two main singles, "Breakaway", which was released on 9 April 2007 and "Something About Your Smile", was released on 6 August 2007. Bonus track "Mainstream Money" was also released as an underground single in November 2007. In 2008, Stryder released his debut extended play, Cloud 9 The EP, which was released on 31 March, also on Takeover. This was succeeded by him and grime record producer Maniac collaborating on the album, Tinchy Stryder vs. Maniac, which was released on 24 November