Ghanaian musician Black Sherif has disclosed that his latest album Iron Boy was inspired by legendary highlife artiste Amakye Dede, whom he later discovered to be a long-time family friend.

Speaking on Hitz FM’s Daybreak Hitz on Tuesday morning, the award-winning artiste said the song was born out of a visit to Amakye Dede’s home, where he paid homage to the music icon. 

He recounted that the meeting revealed a surprising family connection that stretched back generations.

“There were layers to the decisions making Iron Boy. I went to Nana Amakye Dede’s house and I realised he was my grandfather, the real iron boy. It wasn’t intentional. I went to pay homage and realised he was a family friend from generations ago. That was the first layer; homage,” he told hosts Kwame Dadzie and Doreen Avio.

Black Sherif, also known as Blacko, added that although Amakye Dede does not feature on the Iron Boyrecord, he had considered including him.

“To be honest I did think about putting the Amakye Dede on the song but it just didn’t manifest in bringing the thing up,” he explained.

Iron Boy, released in April 3, 2025, has quickly become one of the most streamed Ghanaian songs of the year.

On Spotify, the album debuted at number 6 on the UK Top Debuted Albums chart and achieved the highest first-day streaming record for a Ghanaian album, amassing 2 million streams. It is also the most streamed Ghanaian album of 2025, racking up over 103.3 million streams.

On Apple Music, Iron Boy spent 158 days as the number one album on the Apple Music Ghana Top Albums chart. Five tracks from the album have reached the top spot on the Apple Music Ghana Top 100 in 2025. Sacrifice dominated the Apple Music Top 100 Chart for 23 consecutive weeks.

On Audiomack, Black Sherif crossed 1 billion career streams, cementing his position as the most streamed Ghanaian artiste on the platform.

The success of Iron Boy follows Black Sherif’s consistent rise as one of Ghana’s most influential young artistes, known for blending storytelling, street poetry, and deeply personal experiences in his music.