Likelihood the Rapper & Vic Mensa to Carry Free Music Pageant to Ghana – Billboard

When Chance the Rapper visited West Africa earlier this yr, he initially thought his journey with fellow Chicago hip-hop artist Vic Mensa could be simply one other trip getaway.

As a substitute, the Grammy winner linked with Mensa’s father’s household in Ghana and different natives from the Motherland on a deeper stage. He noticed Ghana’s stunning ocean shoreline and waterfalls, engulfed himself within the musical tradition and artwork scene and discovered extra concerning the nation’s wealthy historical past of being the primary sub-Saharan African nation to free itself from colonialism.

After a pair extra journeys to Ghana, Likelihood determined to create a free live performance sequence and visible arts present so others may expertise the nation’s vibrant tradition identical to he did. Throughout the summer time, Likelihood and Mensa introduced eight college students from Chicago to Ghana to study extra about Africa.

“I felt so free in Ghana. .. and I need others to really feel the identical means,” stated Likelihood, who together with Mensa will host the inaugural Black Star Line competition in Accra, Ghana, in 2023. The weeklong competition will function occasions, panel discussions and a free live performance on Jan. 6 with performances by Likelihood, Mensa, Erykah Badu, T-Ache, Jeremih, Sarkodie, Tobe Nwigwe, Asakaa Boys and M.anifest.

The occasion can be held in Accra’s Black Star Sq., a monument to the political freedom that was received by Ghanaians in 1957. The competition’s title was impressed by civil rights chief Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line, which was based in 1919 and operated by Black individuals who helped hyperlink global delivery and tourism alternatives between America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Garvey impressed Likelihood’s music video “ YAH Know, ” that includes King Promise, and his upcoming album “Star Line Gallery,” which is predicted for launch subsequent yr. He’s already launched a couple of different new music movies — similar to “ Child of God,” “ A Bar About a Bar ” and “ The Highs & Lows ” with Joey Bada$$ — wherein he calls “album artwork” to focus on in style artists in Africa.

Likelihood stated Naila Opiangah ’s artwork piece for “Little one of God” can be on show on the competition. He stated his new “songs are candid realities of Black life.”

“Artists have superb graphics and album covers and single artworks which are made by nice artists day by day that’s launched,” he stated. “However the one time you get to see it’s on this little inch-by-one inch depiction of it. These items are painted by world class artists. The flexibility to go see these items and work together with them in actual life type of provides individuals’s understanding of the music.”

By way of his competition, Likelihood says he needs to bridge the hole between Black individuals overseas and Africa.

“I believe that particularly the story of the founder’s independence is one thing that each one black individuals ought to know,” he stated “There are not any free sub-Saharan African nations till 1957. I believe they need to know concerning the revolutionary leaders on the continent and overseas. I believe that if we had this connectedness and this interplay, individuals will even have an opportunity to see this.”

Initially, it was powerful gaining commitments from big-name music artists to journey and carry out in West Africa. With few sponsors, a lot of the bills to fund the free live performance have been out-of-pocket.

However Likelihood’s group discovered a strategy to make the journey extra reasonably priced for vacationers by a partnership with United Airways, which is providing low cost fares to Ghana for a yr.

It’s taken quite a lot of work to prepare the occasion in such a short while, however Likelihood believes this competition may stay on efficiently for the subsequent 50 years. Sooner or later, he needs to host the competition in different nations, similar to Jamaica and Haiti.

However for now, Likelihood’s focus has been on attracting extra individuals to Ghana, a spot he can envision his household dwelling after his daughters head to school.

“I want I may stay there proper now,” stated the rapper, who has lived in Chicago his entire life. “I need individuals to see the convergence and similarities in all of those Black lives.”