Source: Courtesy of Black Star Line Festival / Black Star Line Festival
Vic Mensa and Chance the Rapper announced the first annual Black Star Line Festival in Ghana. The festival will feature the two rappers as well as Erykah Badu, T-Pain, Tobe Nwigwe and more. Read more about the mission and how they plan to unite artists throughout the Diaspora.
The two Chicago rappers are co-organizing the first ever Black Star Line Festival, which will take place on Jan. 6, 2023, in Accra’s historic Black Star Square to celebrate Pan-Africanism, building bridges between Black people and artists of the Diaspora with The Continent.
Vic Mensa is releasing his second studio album early next year on Roc Nation ahead of the festival. The rapper’s upcoming album features production from Grammy award-winning Nigerian producer Bongo ByTheWay. He is also set to star in the African/American drama, which films in South Africa early next year and will be produced by legendary costume designer Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther, Coming 2 America). The film follows the rise of South Africa’s hip-hop scene, which takes place during the post-apartheid renaissance period.
Vic discusses the origins of his and Chance’s Black Star Line Festival in Ghana.
“I just started mentally formulating an idea for an event to bring Black artists to perform and tie it in with some educational experiences for them to understand the culture and just put it on ice in my mind,” Vic said. “Then, when we got to Ghana last year, I started chopping it up with some of the guys about it and thinking about how Chance would be perfect to help make this a reality, but I had no clue he was going to come to Ghana.”
He goes on to discuss what an enormous feat it is that these two Chicago natives came together to make something like this happen.
“It’s like, we’re not C3 or Live Nation,” Vic adds. “We’re two kids from Chicago with a dream to make some amazing shit happen.”
They announced the official Black Star Line Festival lineup. The free concert will feature performances from Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, Erykah Badu, T-Pain, Jeremih, Sarkodie, Tobe Nwigwe, Asakaa Boys and M.anifest.
In the days leading up to the concert, Black Star Line Festival will also host a week-long series of events and panels at cultural centers throughout Accra, starting the first week of January. The free gatherings will provide opportunities for education, enrichment and cultural diffusion.
The former Chi-town classmates, Vic Mensa and Chance the Rapper, reunited musically on the quiet but quick “Wraith” as well as the clever and funny “A Bar About a Bar” and can be heard on Ghanaian artist King Promise’s latest single “Run To You.”
A bit of history about where the festival will take place:
The historic Black Star Square is a monument to the political freedom that was fought for and won by Ghanaians in 1957. Ghana was the first Sub-Saharan African country to free itself from colonialism under the leadership of its first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah –– many nations on the continent soon followed. Dr. Nkrumah was inspired by Jamaican-Born revolutionary Marcus Garvey, who believed in a free Africa and a global connection between the people of the continent and Black people globally. When Dr. Nkrumah developed Ghana’s flag and principles, he insisted that these principles were key to the forward mobility of its people.
Where’d they get the name Black Star Line Festival:
The Black Star Line Festival title’s origins were inspired by civil rights leader Marcus Garvey’s iconic Black Star Line. Founded in 1919 and operated by Black people, the line would link America, the Caribbean, and Africa, to global shipping and tourism opportunities. The Black Star Line was a symbol of pride, not only for Africans but also for Black people in all ports of call. After nearly 40 years, the Ghanaian government launched their fleet with the same name, in homage to Garvey, and even added a black star to the country’s new flag.
Visit the website for more information on Black Star Line Festival, debuting in Accra, Ghana Jan. 6, 2023.
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