Early life
Kafain Hope Yong (born March 17, 2000), known professionally as TheboyKAF, is a cameroonian born rapper and songwriter. From an early age, one of Kaf's natural gifts was his drawing abilities which he was pretty good at. In class six, around the age of 11, for his Common Entrance(CE) practical examination in Saint John Primary School Bamenda, he opted for a piece of artwork which was a drawing of the cameroon map on a sheet of paper, on which he used raw beans and gum to design, sticking each bean one by one neatly close to eachother on a trail of gum carefully applied on the outlines of the drawn map, creating a unique artistic piece that permitted him to successfully pass his practical assessment of the exams.
Like most kids in Cameroon growing up, heavily influenced by the football culture, Kaf also developed a temporal interest in football, playing with classmates after school, and also in his neighborhood but this desire quickly faded. However, heavily encouraged by his parents, he continued with his passion for drawing. The family later on moved to the capital city Yaounde to the biyemassi neighborhood precisely at carrefour Obili, where he attended his secondary school at "English High School Yaounde". To foster his drawing skills, during the holidays, his father made him join a friend of his who owned a screen printing and painting shop not far from home, where he spent most of his time honing his drawing skill and also began learning how to paint, his father made sure to provide him with the basic paraphernalia needed. Among his classmates, he was arguably the best when it came to handling the pencil on white paper in his early secondary school days. Extracurricular activities like "Club Activities" which held every Friday afternoon at the end of regular classes on campus contributed in keeping his interest in drawing alive. So far, music was not yet a thing for Kaf, but with the global influence of HipHop and Rap culture it was not uncommon to have cable television broadcast Music Videos, documentaries, and other north american related programs, playing a part in raising his interest for rap music along with other things.
Early Music Beginnings
By the class of form four at about 15 years of age, Kaf had a tchoronko(local slang term for telephone), given to him by his mother, which he used to download and play songs of his favorite artists, writing down the lyrics in his book so he can practice and rap along, this was how he developed his songwriting and rapping abilities earlier on. This helped him learn how to write songs and considerably improved his speech and eloquence. This was how he distracted himself at home after school at the time.
Later on in secondary school, his interest in drawing started to wane. In the first year of his sixth form, after successfully obtaining his (GCE) O-Level Exams and now in High school, he had lost the connection with his artist child and wasn’t any longer in sync with that part of him. It was around this period that his interest in rap music soared. It was also around this time that he gained interest in basketball, playing for the very first time, along with some friends from school at a local basketball court in the biyemassi neighborhood called "ecole de source". That day, Kaf and his classmates were ridiculed by the more experienced and trained basketballers who were frequent to that court. This incident acted as a catalyst in fueling his desire to improve his basketball skills which made him develop love for the game. With his attention being split, his performance in school during this period took a nosedive. Among his Lower sixth classmates Kaf had a friend called Leke Fabrice, nicknamed Breezy, who was passionate about music and loved making beats. With the help of Breezy, Kaf recorded his first ever audio track in Breezy's father’s compound where they had a local printing and photocopying shop. The setup was nothing close to a professional music studio, far from that, it was just a local mic (the type used for gaming) which Breezy connected to the computer that was used for printing at the shop, in which he had downloaded a cracked version of fl studio, and a set of headphones Lord knows where Breezy got all this from LOL, but it got the job done.
This track was never uploaded to any streaming platform, but the feedback from his friends who listened to the track was encouraging, but music still wasn’t his main focus at this point, playing professional basketball was the ideal he sought after.
Family Life and Background
Kaf is the first son of a family of seven, having three junior brothers, one elder sister and both parents, he grew up in relatively poor living conditions. The family struggled to make ends meet and was barely getting by. His father was a philosophy teacher who ran a part-time business selling house hold textiles in the market, Kaf along with his junior brother (popularly known as Big Smok) occasionally joined their father in the market to help him sell and make some extra cash for their needs, his mother did not work a job but was into some low scale businesses. The family's financial situation deteriorated over time making it difficult to consistently pay their rents, leading to them getting evicted for rent arrears. This impelled the family to move mid school term back to Bamenda. This situation negatively impacted Kaf’s academic and social life. Kaf's father had to stay in Yaounde because of his Job and the nature of his business.
Crisis and School Dropout (2015-2016)
Unwantedly now back in Bamenda due to the family's financial crises, Kaf still had to follow on and complete his high school education, he was enrolled in Progressive Comprehensive High School Bamenda for his final high school year. Struggling to adapt and rebuild his social life, in a new environment with his main objective the A-Levels, things got worst as the Anglophone crises broke out that same year, it was late october 2016. Schools were stopped because of the crisis and Kaf couldn’t obtain his A-Level that year unfortunately. He spent the remainder of the academic year pursuing his recently found passion in basketball, practicing and playing in various courts around the town, notably at parcours vita where he joined a basketball academy. That year went down the drain, Kaf then moved back to Yaounde and lived with his father.
Now back in Yaounde, after loosing a whole academic year due to the Anglophone Crises in Bamenda, he was enrolled in Mario Academic College Mendong by his father to obtain his A-Level and complete high school, but at this point, as a result of all the unfortunate turn of events that occurred in his life, Kaf was out of kilter academically, finding it difficult to integrate and focus in school which led to him dropping out, spending his time mostly on the basketball court training.
Basketball Dreams and tragic End (2016-2017)
To give himself a better shot at attaining his Hoop-dreams, Kaf joined a local basketball team in Yaounde(AS KEEP the Dream basketball club), where he trained and participated in some regional and national tournaments, like:
-Ligue de Basketball du Centre (U18), and.
-The Cameroonian Basketball Cup (U18).
On October 25, 2017, Kaf's basketball team qualified for the finals of the annual U-18 "Camerronian Basketball Cup", which took place at the Yaounde multipurpose sports complex. In the locker room few minutes before the game commenced, Kaf was unjustly swapped by the assistant coach without explanation although his name was already confirmed on the official roster sheet and approved by the referee. Kaf's spot was given to a player who wasn’t supposed to be on the roster, this favoritism was supposedly because of a friendly relationship the assistant coach had with the players father. He officially played the game using Kaf’s name and jersey number. Without any one to stick up for Kaf and contest this injustice, Kaf had to sit in the bleachers and watch someone else on his spot using his name.
This unfair treatment was never justified and played a key role in deterring Kaf from the pursuit of his Hoop dreams, you can hear him make reference to this in his song "young & Ambitious". However, never loosing belief in himself, determined and more driven than ever before, this incident led him to the exploration of his other God given potential in music, giving birth to theboyKAF we all now enjoy listening to.
Street Life and the music grind (2018-2019)
Having dropped out of school and now in the streets, young and ambitious with nothing but raw dreams, no money, with the odds stacked against him, Kaf had to find means of getting paid so he can pay for studio sessions and work on his music. He regularly recorded freestyle videos with his phone and uploaded to his instagram page, showcasing his rapping abilities with the view of gaining exposure and growing an audience while trying to hustle and get money for studio time. He worked for sometime at Gates solution center Rond-Point express Yaoundé (an electronic repair and gadget sales shop), where he learnt some minor computer maintenance skills. He did other short-term jobs like working as a salesman for food stands at trade fair’s like YA-FE.
TheboyKAF was the username Kaf used on his instagram account way before doing music, "KAF" which are the first 3 letters of his first name "Kafain", to which he added "theboy" to the beginning, forming "theboyKAF". He continued with this as his official stage name when he decided to take music serious. He hustled and was once in a while able to afford some bread for studio time, recording some of the songs he wrote which helped him polish and refine his flow and delivery. In 2020, he dropped a song about the anglophone crisis entitled "End the Crisis", to help shed light on the situation in the Northwest and Southwest regions that was aggravating, with horrendous and inhuman crimes been committed but the government was not making sufficient efforts to solve the issue.
He also did a couple of covers and videos which he dropped on his YouTube channel. Kaf acquired some basic music video editing skills watching YouTube tutorials which enabled him to edit his own music videos at the time, thereby saving the cost of hiring a professional music video director which he could not afford back then.
2019-2020
Now reunited with his junior brother who joined him back in Yaounde from Bamenda, they were able to join forces, gaining autonomy, with their smart and astute handling of the resources available to them in their immediate environment, having as objective to become the maximum version of themselves, according to their source(GOD);
-What you want to become might be extravagant, but,
-It will never be more extravagant than what God your creator, designed you to become.
So knowing what you were born to become according to your source's plan for your life is more important, than what you dream of becoming according to your own will and desire, you must conform with the manufacturer's operational manual of a product to obtain maximum productivity . Only the manufacturer of a product knows exactly the purpose of his creation. This ideology and mindset is what Kaf lives by, and which lead to the birth of the "Becomers Filiation", 2 brothers working together to become their full and maximum potential.
"You must know God your source, if you want to experience a satisfying abundant life"(quote from Maximizing your potential by Dr. Myles Munroe).
Official Entrance into the Music Scene (2020-2022)
Kaf dropped his official debut single entitled "Francis Ngannou" in May 21, 2021. This track received positive global feedback, trending locally in the streets among the youth, generating some buzz on TikTok with over 600+ videos made using the sound. The incredible motivational story of the man Francis Ngannou inspired Kaf to write this song. This single is one of the most streamed songs in theboyKAFs music catalog. This song was used by Francis Ngannou himself during his entrance for the official weighing in and face off against Tyson Fury.
That same year the next month on the 15th of June 2021, following the release of his first official single, Kaf released his debut Ep entitled "True2Myself", an 8-track project about 23-minutes long, showcasing a mix of drill and melodic rap styles. As the name of the Ep "True2Myself" implies, this project is a through dive into the depths of Kaf’s dreams and realities as a young man coming from nothing with untamable dreams. This project was recorded in Buea and in Yaounde, but predominantly in Buea, with Jayon OTB producing most of the tracks except for track 4, which was recorded and produced in Yaounde by OJI MIX MASTER.
From then on, Kaf consistently dropped music videos and other singles on his YouTube channel, performing in shows and small youth events here and there which helped him build a community both off/online. Following the success of his hit single Francis Ngannou, and the audience's exhilarating reaction to the other drill tracks on the Ep, Kaf decided to double down on the genre, releasing other Drill records like spacejet , which solidified his stand as one of the dominant figures in the genre which was globally becoming widespread.
Collaborations and Features
He collaborated on tracks like WATS CRACKING featuring Kranzy and Uncle London, and Les Lions ont gagne on which he was featured by Uncle London and Drako. At the time, Kaf was back and forth between the city of Yaounde and Douala for shows, and for the recording and video shoots of some of these collaborative projects, which led him to take the decision of relocating to douala where he thought he would be exposed to more opportunities.
Relocating to Douala 2023-present
In search of greener pastures, Kaf moved to Douala February 2023. As the economic capital and largest city in the country, It is known for its intense, 24-hour commercial activity, lively nightlife, and bustling, high density atmosphere and is referenced as "the city that never sleeps". Things here move really fast, making it favorable for young and ambitious, vision driven artists like Kaf. He made some good new contacts with other artists like Bigg Hush, with whom he collaborated extensively on projects like Risky Mission , Number one, and Badman, along with some others. These collaborations garnered for them a following that was unprecedented helping them grow in popularity and status.
In 2024, he dropped the single PAIN4GAINS, and dropped a mixtape of 10 tracks entitled "BECOME", available on all streaming platforms.
What's next for Kaf?, follow him for more to not miss out on what the Becomer has been cooking for us, MB04D2ILL...
