Seydou Koné is a reggae artist from the Ivory Coast who operates under the moniker Alpha Blondy. An iconic figure in West Africa, he developed his reggae sound while attending Columbia University in the US, where he met Rastafarians and was exposed to Jamaican music for the first time. Artists such as Burning Spear inspired him to write his own music, and when he eventually returned to the Ivory Coast, he adopted the name Alpha Blondy and released his first solo album Jah Glory, in 1982. Pegged a the Bob Marley of Africa, he was soon began to earn attention in several European countries, prompting him to move to Paris in 1984 to record his second album, Cocody Rock. After making his first trip to Jamaica, where he played with Marley's backup group The Wailers, Alpha Blondy returned home incredibly inspired and released his most politically charged album, Apartheid is Nazism, in 1985. With overarching themes of tolerance and peace, particularly in the Middle East, Alpha Blondy continued to expand his reach across the world with his steady releases throughout the 2010s, including his 2011 album, Vision.
