Former Ghana winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie has swapped careers after quitting football at 33 years to become a rapper with his first solo mix tape.
The former Arsenal player, who also represented the Black Stars at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, now goes by the name BLOW.
Owusu-Abeyie told VICE his new name springs out of a lifestyle that blew his earnings as quickly as it came.
He now hopes his songs about how he grew up in Amsterdam, role models and other issues can help young people after giving serious consideration to a music career for a long time.
“Now that I am releasing my first solo mix tape, I want to show the world: this is me. This is what I am doing now,” he said.
“There was no Ronald de Boer type around in our neighbourhood who said ‘With football you have a future’.
“My role models were the money makers of the block. The street men driving around in horrible cars. “That was then the s*** for me, later I grew older and I made other choices.
“I hope to make the people from the neighbourhood proud. First as a footballer and now as an artist.”
Owusu-Abeyie played for Arsenal at the start of a promising career but after failing to tie down a regular spot, developed into something of a journey man, playing in for three other clubs in England and for clubs in Russia, Greece, Spain, Holland and Qatar.
At international level, he represented Ghana at the 2008 and 2010 World Cup after playing for the Netherlands at youth level.
He would now wish his music skills travels as far as his football career did.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana