Date Published: 06/19/09

Afrihhop holds in Nigeria

The Entertainment industry in Africa is about to step into the next level as the search for the authentic king of hip-hop music in Africa begins.

Afrihhop a brainchild of Ikenga Entertainment and partners is scheduled to take place in Lagos Nigeria before the end of the year.

According to Ikenga Entertainment, the live music concert will feature the best and established hip-hop artistes from African countries who have become international brands.

The objectives of Afrihhop is to cement the cultural and bilateral relationship between Africa and its youths, promote the music, arts and culture of the African countries, act as avenue for social and cultural exchange, act as an avenue to determine the true and authentic Hip-hop icon of Africa, act as a window of opportunities for Africa hip hop artistes.

The first edition of Afrihhop will feature Nigeria and Ghana , representing West Africa , Kenya representing East Africa and South Africa .

Ten top A-grade artistes from each country will be shortlisted based on their current form, popularity, personality, album sales as well as audience acceptability for the round of voting through sms and e voting’s in their various countries.

The three artistes with the highest votes will qualify to represent their various countries in Afrihhop.

The artistes will perform at a live concert to a live audience of over five hundred million people across Africa and the globe through satellite that will determine the authentic winner through sms and e voting based on their performance on stage. The artiste with the highest vote from the world audience will automatically be the crowned the authentic African hip-hop King or Queen for 2009.

According to the organizers, ordinarily all over the world, record sales, concerts attendance, endorsement portfolios are used to measure artistes’ popularity. But this is not tenable in Africa due to the fact that, authentic record sales data are not available. Piracy is very high; awards selection process is flawed, disputed and not empirically proven. There is also the element of bias on the part of Award organizers is high, hence the need for Africans to make their choice.

Meanwhile, organizing committees for Afrihhop is presently been set up in Kenya , Ghana , Nigeria and South Africa .

Sponsorship and broadcast rights is been finalized for what will yearly become the biggest musical event in Africa .

Afrihhop 2010 edition is expected to have sub regional competitions before the finals and will involve over twenty African countries.

Hip-Hop music has changed dramatically what was considered to be violent and intimidating form of music. It has become the mainstream or the default musical setting of the culture. As a result rap is now used to sell everything from fast food to cars, brand marketing and used to gain access to youth in danger.

Hip-hop has gone beyond being just about music, but has actually become a brand, a lifestyle and an urban culture that almost everybody aspires to be associated with – even big corporate organizations. It is on this note that inevitably the rapper is now more than a musician but has become an entrepreneur that utilizes his or her craft to sell global brands of big corporations.

Hip-hop artistes are trendsetters; where they lead others follow. They can revitalize a luxury brand by making it seem youthful and individualistic.

Russell Simmons, founder of DefJam records, used his experience of marketing hip-hop to launch Phat Farm, which by 2003 had sales in excess of $260 million. Russell’s company, Simmons Lathan Media Group with access to 45.3 million consumers worldwide presently spends $18.6 billion annually on hip-hop media and merchandise.
Forbes magazine puts the value of hip-hop, as a music and lifestyle industry, around the world at over $100 billions yearly.

In Nigeria , major brands in the telecom, food and beverages, financial institutions and the likes have used hip-hop music and artistes to leverage their products and services