U-N-I
U-N-I is a hip hop duo from Inglewood, California, made up of Y-O (Yonas Semere Michael) and Thurzday (Yannick Koffi). They met in 1999 at St. Bernard High School in Westchester and were first part of a four‑man group called Rap-Ture Kamp. After graduating in 2006, they split and formed U-N-I, a name that stands for U-N-I to the Verse and also suggests being universal and not boxed into one sound.
Y-O moved from Seattle to Inglewood in 1996 and his name means “Soldier” in Ethiopian. Thurzday’s last name, Koffi, means “boy born on Friday” in Akan. The duo are sneaker lovers who turned Wu-Tang Clan’s C.R.E.A.M. into their hit K.R.E.A.M. They released Fried Chicken & Watermelon in 2007, featuring the singles “Beautiful Day” and “Phat Girls.” “Beautiful Day” has well over a million YouTube views, and the group built a large Myspace presence.
U-N-I signed with ICM Agency and opened for many major artists. They were named “Best Breakout LA Artist” at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and appeared in numerous magazines. They hosted MTV’s Sucka Free and gained attention for rhymes about sneakers, video games, and life. In 2008 they released tracks on the Honor Roll Mixtape and remixed “Beautiful Day” with Big Pooh and Evidence. In 2009 they released the mixtape Before There Was Love ahead of their second album A Love Supreme, and UK magazines praised them. They joined Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound in 2009 for “Land of the Kings” and released several videos on MTV networks. They toured with Warren G and others in 2009, and in 2010 released A Love Supreme 2.0 with new tracks and remixes. Critics credited them with reviving the true essence of hip-hop, and Billboard noted they were “born from the ashes of gangsta rap.”
On May 8, 2022, U-N-I released the single “On Mommas,” their first new release as a duo in eleven years.
Discography:
- Fried Chicken & Watermelon (2007)
- Before There Was Love (2009)
- A Love Supreme (2009)
- A Love Supreme 2.0 (2010)
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:06 (CET).