K-Denk
Artist, Musician, and Actor in South Sudan
K-DENK (Koang Deng Kuon Kong) is a South Sudanese hip-hop artist and humanitarian. Separated from his family by war as a child, he was raised in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Northern Kenya. It was as a refugee that K-Denk started singing as part of his church choir and fell in love with the stage. In 2010, K-Denk rose to stardom in East Africa representing South Sudan as a contestant on the hit reality TV show Tusker Project Fame.
K-Denk went on to headline the My Referendum, My Freedom campaign, to raise awareness for South Sudan’s historic independence referendum. In 2011, he was invited by Kenyan artists to join the Kenyans for Kenya campaign, to provide relief to drought victims in Kenya. That same year, K-Denk won Hip Hop Artist of the Year and Best Hip Hop Collaboration of the Year at the East African Kisima Music Awards. Soon after, K-Denk returned to South Sudan to establish his record label, Wangdunkon Empire, in order to develop other young South Sudanese artists.
On 15 December 2013, K-Denk was in Juba when civil war once again returned to South Sudan. After experiencing the devastation of war first hand, and the senseless loss of young life, K-Denk returned to Kenya to resume his music career, singing mainly in Nuer, as a response to the trauma he felt within his community.
K-Denk has since released songs such as Ou Kene Guut (The World Hasn’t Ended) and Guola Ni Wida Piny (Bending My Head Down). His lyrics touch on love, politics, and the abuse of power by South Sudan’s leaders. He also founded the Ou Ce Jiek Leadership Gathering in 2016, to bring together displaced South Sudanese youth in Kenya, many of whom had previously taken up arms and suffer from severe trauma. That same year, K-Denk went on an inspirational Christmas tour to refugee camps in Northern Uganda and Kenya, sponsored by UNHCR.
In 2017, K-Denk released his third full-length studio album, William Deng, dedicated to his father who died fighting for South Sudan’s independence when he was just six years old. The album is dedicated to all of South Sudan’s fallen heroes who have given their lives for a more free and prosperous South Sudan.
K-Denk has big plans for 2018, including launching his new leadership platform, Wang Naath
(Eyes of the People), and continuing to make conscious music to uplift the spirit of his people.