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Rufaro Samanga
Jun. 14, 2019 10:07AM EST
Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

The Toronto Raptors' NBA Win Was a Two-Fold Historic Moment for Masai Ujiri

Not only was it the team's first ever championship win, the Nigerian-Kenyan General Manager is the first African to lead a basketball team to NBA championship victory.

Last night, the Toronto Raptors went in hard and emerged victorious over the Golden State Warriors with a score of 4-2 in the best of seven NBA Finals. Now, while everybody is talking about how the team finally managed to get rid of Drake's dreaded courtside "curse", the Raptors' taking home the championship (historic in itself) is also a historic moment for the Canadian team's General Manager, Masai Ujiri.

The Nigerian-Kenyan former basketball player, named the 2012-2013 NBA Executive of the Year, is now the first African General Manager to ever take home an NBA championship.

Ujiri is smiling from ear-to-ear after his team dethroned the Golden State Warriors to become the NBA champions. If that weren't enough, Ujiri has been approached by the Washington Wizards who want him as their President of Basketball Operations according to the Bleacher Report. "

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, he reported that:

"Wizards owner Ted Leonsis is expected to reach out to Toronto ownership soon to request formal permission to meet with Ujiri and offer a staggering financial package that would include running the Wizards' basketball operations and, perhaps, taking on a larger leadership role in the Monumental Sports and Entertainment company that oversees the Wizards and NHL's Capitals."

It's no surprise that the Wizards would do pretty much anything at this point to get Ujiri in their camp. The team hasn't won an NBA championship since the 1977/1978 season. They'll certainly need all the help they can get and if anyone can expertly take on that mammoth task, it's definitely Ujiri.

nba masai ujiri nigeria sports
Music

Listen to Solo’s New Single ‘Promises’ Featuring Kwesta

Solo and Kwesta connect on 'Promises.'

Solo and Kwesta share a bouncy kwaito beat on "Promises." Kwesta's at home over an instrumental of this kind. It's, however, a shift on Solo's side, who hasn't been known for new age kwaito. The rapper adapts his delivery accordingly, using fewer words than you'd normally expect in his verse.

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News
"85 to Africa" album art.

Listen to Jidenna's New Album, '85 to Africa'

Plus watch the music video for his latest single "Worth the Weight" featuring Seun Kuti.

It's been two years since Jidenna dropped his debut album, The Chief, today, the artist shares his latest studio album 85 to Africa.

In the lead-up to the album's release, the artist dropped the singles "Tribe," "Sufi Woman" "Sou Sou," and "Zodi" featuring fellow Nigerian artist Mr Eazi. He also held several listening parties across the US ahead of its release, and from what we can tell from videos that have been circulating on social media—they've been a really great time for both Jidenna and his fans.

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Audio

Mr Eazi & Simi Drop the New Single and Video For 'Doyin'

A head-nodding Afro-R&B track produced by Killertunes.

Mr Eazi seems to be in unstoppable work mode right now as he's been popping up in big singles and collaborations all over the place this summer, as well as continuing his emPawa Africa initiative.

For his latest single, "Doyin," Eazi connects with Nigerian singer Simi for a head-nodding Afro-RnB track. The new song, which is built on woozy synthesizers and mid-tempo beat work, was produced by Killertunes. Eazi and Simi trade verses in the addictive single, which comes paired with a new music video directed by Manuel Concha.

Read: The Music Business of Mr Eazi

"Doyin" is the first song released through emPawa Distribution, a digital music aggregator focused solely on distributing African music, which Eazi announced after the success of emPawa Africa. Speaking of the initiative, emPawa Africa is now reopened to submissions that will help fund the music videos of 30 up-and-coming artists and offer mentorship from big name artists.

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Music

Listen to Rick Jade (Bontle Modiselle and Priddy Ugly)’s Album ‘D.N.A (Da New Africa)’

Rick Jade release their debut album.

Bontle Modiselle and Priddy Ugly, collectively known as Rick Jade, aren't half-stepping. Today, the couple released their debut album D.N.A (Da New Africa).

D.N.A consists of 10 songs that dabble in pop, trap and even kwaito. Guest features on D.N.A include Forcalistic, KLY and some members of the collective Frsh Citizen, which Bontle and Priddy are part of.

In his previous projects, Priddy Ugly had some moments of showing emotion and sharing intimate details of his life. But on D.N.A, he explores that side of himself further.

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