Phil Chard 6/23/16 Phil Chard 6/23/16

Something Special Happened At The Barclays Center

by Phil Chard

Something incredible happened last night in Brooklyn, New York. I truly feel that decades from now what I witnessed with the One Africa Music Festival will be described as a watershed moment in the global takeover that African pop music is about to embark on.

Though it was not the first all African Music event to be held in America (recently we had the All Access Ghana that was held in Washington DC and Sarkodie impressive Apollo Theatre concert) but this was different for a number of reasons. Firstly, according to reports tickets for the event sold so well that the organisers had to create extra seating to accommodate the demand. According to NotJustOk founder Ovie Ofugara who attended the event, he estimated that about 15,000 people were in attendance. From the images that I received from attendees and what I saw via the livestream provided by Tidal I wouldn't argue those numbers.

Estimated crowd attendance for #OneAfricaMusicFest currently set at 15,000. 13,000 tickets sold, 2,000 complimentary. Game-changer.

— Övie (@OvieO) July 23, 2016

The second impressive feat was this event was promoted without a major sponsor. Not one! As Banky W expressed when he called Paul Okoye (not the P Square guy, the CEO of Upfront & Personal Management and Consultancy). That was a brave and bold decision from Mr Okoye. Having facilitated a number of deals and endorsements on the behalf of several notable Nigerian celebrities and events, access to potential sponsors would not have been a difficult task for him.

The only major strategic partnership that the evet seemed to line up was their streaming partnership with Tidal which is how I was able to view the event. By streaming the concert the One Africa Music Festival became one of the first truly global event in African music. The combination of the artists involved performing in in America, coupled with their streaming partner is something completely new to the continent.

Despite its title, the line up for the “One Africa” concert was very Nigerian centred, featuring Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Davido, Flavour, Seun Kuti, Don Jazzy, Timaya, Ayo Jay, Sound Sultan, and Praiz all from Nigeria. Stonebwoy and Efya from Ghana while Diamond Platnumz represented Tanzania. There were the Nigerian American artists Jidenna and Wale on the bill but Wale did not perform for unclear reasons. Essentially this was the Nigerians and friends concert.

The performances and coordination of the event were stellar, outside of a few sound issues that I picked up on the stream. However some of these issues went relatively unnoticed by the attendees that I spoke to who all attested to the incredible energy and atmosphere in the crowd.

The standout performers were Tiwa Savage who gave a masterful live set as she rolled through her hits looking incredibly ravishing and polished before closing out her set by throwing up the Roc to confirm her signing to Jay Z's Roc Nation. Wizkid who was the final act of the night displayed his incredible stage presence as he teased and entertained the crowd while engaging them in between songs. All this was achieved despite not having the support of his full band who could not make the event for unknown reasons. In a high energy moment Wizkid also brought out producer Swizz Beats before they ran through a medley of the Ruff Ryder beat maker’s hits. Throughout his performance Wizzy kept saying that he had too many hits and eventually that proved to be very true as he was forced to skip his last song of the night, ironically it was Final due to time constraints.

Seun Kuti delivered a powerful rendition of his father's 12 minute song Zombies assisted by the full Egypt 80 band. Diamond Platnumz delivered another impressive live set and showed the Barclays Center crowd why he is one of East Africa's most popular artists, all this despite the fact that his trousers kept falling. Jidenna showed off his Nigerian side in a way I have not seen before. Appearing on set with spirit masquerade costume that danced behind him he broke out into dance and impersonations of his father as he kept the crowd hyped, performing songs like Classic Man and his new song Chief Don't Run.

Timaya delivered a high energy set on his own before being joined by Soca star Machel Montano as they performed a number of high energy songs before announcing that a joint album was in the works.

Ultimately all the artists on the bill are some of the best performers in the continent so the quality of their sets remained high as Banky W who played the dual role of host and performer did a stellar job to keep the audience engaged. The only real disappoints were Davido who, despite having a solid repertoire of hit songs once again failed to translate that to the stage as he lip synced most of his set (again). Ayo Jay came out to perform his hit Your Number which was the only song in his performance yet somehow he ran out of breath a number of times.

In summation this was an incredible moment for African Music and the artists involved. Though it was heavily focused on Nigeria and its stars the successes of this night will reverberate across the continent as African stars continue their infiltration of American and European markets. The fact that this event occurred without sponsorship is a true sign of how far the demand for African Pop Music has grown in the diaspora. No longer a genre consumed solely by expatriates it is now reaching new audiences who are more than willing to pay to enjoy the culture. Mr Okoye who clearly has balls made of reinforced steel gambled on himself and the music and won in a big way. The success that was this night was not only limited to the attendees but everyone who streamed it live and saw first hand just how far African Music has gone. This left no doubts that African artists are now ready to expand beyond the continent and the world is ready to receive them.

We have spoken before of how labels are now scrambling to get into Africa, well it seems first world fans are also scrambling to consume the culture and we all saw it take place at the Barclays Centre last night.

Phil Chard 6/15/16 Phil Chard 6/15/16

The New Scamble For Africa

In 2015, renowned audit behemoth: PwC, in one of its futuring exercises confirmed one of the suspicions of music industry practitioners by predicting that proceeds of entertainment and media will gross $8.5 billion US dollars in Nigeria by 2019, of which music is a major part.

Chris Brown is not a small fry in today’s musical reckoning, a highly successful, albeit controversial pop star known the world over. So when he chooses a Nigerian Afro-Pop act like Wizkid as his sidekick on his on-going World Tour, he may be falling in line with the new thinking in the industry.

Ice Prince & Jay Z. Image Courtesy of Ice Prince's Instagram

In Africa, Nigeria’s huge population makes it an easy ground for the sampling of different sorts and in most cases, if it sails there, it will have a high likelihood of flying elsewhere on a continent that is now grossed over 1 billion people. By implication, Africa’s next big commercial export will be calibrated in musical notes and we are witnessing the early days of a new scramble for these new artistic resources.

After winning a Grammy in the Best World Music Category earlier this year, Benenoise Angelique Kidjo said: "I want to dedicate this Grammy to all the traditional musicians in Africa, in my country, to all the young generation,”. Now based in New York, Kidjo has had a front-row seat to witness the growth and newfound love for African music in the first world. Late last year Kidjo also collaborated with Nigeria’s Omawunmi, signifying her willingness to collaborate with the rising tide of Africa’s new crop of artists.

The global music business has responded well to the beats from the black continent too with Sony expanding its operations across Africa particularly in the West and Roc Nation’s newfound interest in African acts being the biggest bellwethers of the new trend. As for the former, the business model for Africa has been evolving over the past five years. First, it was Sony Music Africa (an SPV to run their interest in Africa) that has engaged talents. But now, the parent brand Sony BMG has waded in with two offices in quick succession. Some of the artistes that have courted their interest included D’banj (Nigeria), Xtatic (Kenya), Davido (Nigeria), and Alikiba (Tanzania).

RocNation on the other hand still seems to be dipping their toes in the pool, with no deals being signed as yet but there is strong evidence to suggest that they are keenly interested in entering the African market. Jay Z has already had meetings with Ice Prince, Don Jazzy and Tiwa Savage. Last year he sent his cousin and business partner Briant Briggs and Jay Electronica on a talent scouting trip to Africa. South Africa’s Nasty_C has also claimed that the Roc has expressed interest in him and contacted him personally last month.

It’s a new age for African artists, especially for talents that have been able to fuse the right contemporary elements into their sounds. Even without the support of major labels or structured industry artists are now money-generating brands within their own rights. Nigerian Davido gawked on his Snapchat that his Pepsi deal was worth 100 million Naira (~$500,000 USD). Cassper Nyovest bragged that he grossed over 1 million Rand in show revenue last year and is rumoured to have signed a deal with MTN worth 7 figures.

Back to Chris Brown’s “One Hell of a Tour” in Amsterdam last weekend, he performed a yet to be released collaboration with the Nigerian titled “African Bad Girl”. From the title to the beat and stage act, it was obvious the world is ready to be entertained by everything the continent has to offer.

As acts like Wale, Swizz Beatz, and Drake have now shown, the tide is shifting. Gone are the days when African artists had to travel abroad with large sums of cash in hand hoping to convince international acts to collaborate with them. The world has begun to take notice and respect the talents of Africa, and they are now more willing to collaborate on mutually beneficial musical offerings.

The biggest challenge, however, is for the industry to be strong enough to trap down most of the proceeds for the benefit of the continent and the artists themselves.

Phil Chard 6/15/16 Phil Chard 6/15/16

The New Scramble For Africa

by Phil Chard

Chris Brown is not a small fry in today’s musical reckoning, a highly successful, albeit controversial pop star known the world over. So when he chooses a Nigerian Afro Pop act like Wizkid as his sidekick on his on-going World Tour, he may be falling in line with the new thinking in the industry.

In Africa, Nigeria’s huge population makes it an easy ground for sampling of different sorts and in most cases, if it sails there, it will have a high likelihood of flying elsewhere on a continent that is now grossed over 1 billion people. By implication, Africa’s next big commercial export will be calibrated in musical notes and we are witnessing the early days of a new scramble for these new artistic resources.

After winning a Grammy in the Best World Music Category earlier this year, Benenoise Angelique Kidjo said "I want to dedicate this Grammy to all the traditional musicians in Africa, in my country, to all the young generation,”. Now based in New York, Kidjo has had a front row seat to witness the growth and new found love for African music in the first world. Late last year Kidjo also collaborated with Nigeria’s Omawunmi, signifying her willingness to collaborate with the rising tide of Africa’s new crop of artists.

Global music business has responded well to the beats from the black continent too with Sony expanding its operations across Africa particularly in in the West and Roc Nation’s new found interest in African acts being the biggest bellwethers of the new trend. As for the former, the business model for Africa has been evolving over the past five years. First it was Sony Music Africa (an SPV to run their interest in Africa) that has engaged talents. But now, the parent brand Sony BMG has waded in with two offices in quick succession. Some of the artistes that have courted their interest included D’banj (Nigeria), Xtatic (Kenya), Davido (Nigeria), and Alikiba (Tanzania).

It’s a new age for African artists, especially for talents that have been able to fuse the right contemporary elements into their sounds. Even without the support of major labels or a structured industry artists are now money generating brands within their own rights. Nigerian Davido gawked on his snapchat that his Pepsi deal was worth 100 million Naira (~$500,000 USD). Cassper Nyovest bragged that he grossed over 1 million Rand in show revenue last year and is rumoured to have signed a deal with MTN worth 7 figures.

@THEREALSWIZZZ vibing to @RealBlackCoffee | there are levels to this life thing yo pic.twitter.com/pBpjP1U9qJ

— Phlynt Phlossy™ (@PhilChard) April 22, 2016

The biggest challenge however is for the industry to be strong enough to trap down most of the proceeds for the benefit of the continent and the artists themselves.

Guest User 6/8/16 Guest User 6/8/16

DJ Spinall – Package (Official Video) Featuring Davido & DelB

by Phil Chard

DJ Spinall aka The Cap just dropped the video for the Del B & Davido assisted song Package. If my initial thoughts on the Ndvdual Pictures directed video could be summarised in a meme it would be McKayla Maroney at the Olympics. In 2016 a video that relies so heavily on overused tropes and techniques won’t cut it. It is not like I am being unfair, this after all is the same DJ that gave us this video.

Download Package here

The video for Package is not bad , it’s just “meh” from a DJ who has built his brand and persona as someone who would rather be caught dead being ordinary. Last week DJ Spinall was looking to a Ferrari or Lambo in Lagos. I really wish he had found it so the video had more visual appeal than objectified black women and obligatory alcohol placements. At some point after you’ve seen a voluptuous video vixen in leather, you have really seen them all.

Phil Chard 6/1/16 Phil Chard 6/1/16

Falz- Bahd Baddo Baddest Official Video featuring Olamide & Davido

by Mayuyuka

This is a star-studded Nigerian lineup... and the visuals for this smash collaboration don't disappoint. Coming off Falz sophomore album, Stories That Touch, this track and accompanying video has all the ingredients for a viral success. With the feature of Davido and Olamide, there's already been major anticipation for this offering.

Now the response to the Unlimited L.A directed video has the potential to grab a large share of our attention for the coming weeks. The musician's ascent to the foremost of the mainstream Nigerian entertainment industry from his social media beginning has been something to behold. Now he can spread his wings even wider with his upcoming tour of the United Kingdom in June, where he promises to impress, with support from Moelogo and Studio Magic amongst others.