Video

Video: Mr Eazi On How He's Helping Young African Artists Grow

In 'Moments With: Mr Eazi,' the buzzing Nigerian star tells us about Banku music, being a serial entrepreneur, and how he's been pushing young African artists through his emPawa initiative.

Mr Eazi stopped by our offices in New York City during a packed round of promo around his new emPawa platform.

The Nigerian star sat down with OkayAfrica and spoke in-depth about his early days, how his friends all pooled money to help him get started, how his famous 'hat' look came about, the blend of Ghanaian & Nigerian sounds that make up Banku music and more recent things like collaboration with J Balvin and Bad Bunny.

Watch our Moments With video with Mr Eazi below.

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Asa 'Lucid' cover.

The 14 Songs You Need to Hear This Week

Featuring Asa, Patoranking x Busiswa, $pacely, Vagabon, Shane Eagle and more.

Every week, we highlight the cream of the crop in music through our Best Music of the Week column.

Here's our round up of the best tracks and music videos that came across our desks, which you can also check out in our Songs You Need to Hear This Week playlists on Spotify and Apple Music.

Follow our SONGS YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS WEEK playlist on Spotify here and Apple Music here.

Check out all of OkayAfrica's new playlists on Spotify and Apple Music.

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Culture
Image courtesy of Birthright AFRICA.

Birthright AFRICA Wants to Connect Young Black People to Their Cultural Legacy With Trips to Africa

We speak with one of the program's creators about its mission, growth and why connecting Africans in the diaspora to their heritage matters.

Birthright AFRICA is a program dedicated to helping black people outside of the continent reconnect with their African roots. The project, founded and helmed by Walla Elsheikh and Diallo Shabazz wants participants to have transformative, immersive experiences that connect young black people to their heritage and history. Last year, Birthright AFRICA helped send a group of college students on a pilot trip to Ghana, and the results are what Elsheikh describes as "life changing."

Next, the creators want to expand Birthright AFRICA to make it a globally recognized experience available to black people across the diaspora. We spoke with one of its creators, Sudanese-American educator Walla Elsheikh about the program's mission, its growth, the power of reconciliation, and how others can get involved in ensuring that people of African ancestry throughout the globe finally receive their birthright.

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Film
Still from film 'Angelica.'

These 9 Films Prove Caribbean Cinema Is On the Rise

A recap of nine standout films hailing from the Caribbean featured at this year's Pan-African Film Festival.

Islanders made their mark on films from all geographic regions at the 2018 Pan-African Film Festival. This festival's selections captured the evolution of language, spiritual practices, food and art of a people whose descendants were forcefully removed from the African continent. Caribbean tales bridged the waters that lie between the African continent and the Americas. The story of the transatlantic holocaust of enslavement that began in the mid-15th century and brought some Africans to the Caribbean region echoes in the voices of the present-day inhabitants. The region's soca music moved festival goers at the opening night's party as well as in the final night's screening. As usual, you could count on the Caribbean artists to deliver both education and entertainment.

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