• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
Monday, May 19, 2025
  • Login
Go WhereItzAt
  • Latest Issue
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Gaming
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Sports
    Congratulations to Nickie E. Robinson Recognized as a Hero Behind the Culture

    Congratulations to Nickie E. Robinson Recognized as a Hero Behind the Culture

    The ball is back in Jamaica’s Appeals Court as UK Privy Council quashes dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s conviction

    The ball is back in Jamaica’s Appeals Court as UK Privy Council quashes dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s conviction

    Kennedy Center to Present The 25th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to Kevin Hart

    HBO Original Documentary GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT Debuts January 8

    Trending Tags

      • Gaming
      • Movie
      • Music
      • Sports
    • Celebrity
    • Lifestyle
    • Art & Culture
      J.E.S.A. NY Hosts Their 13th Annual Fundraising & Awards Event

      J.E.S.A. NY Hosts Their 13th Annual Fundraising & Awards Event

      Welcome to the Brunch With Sherls Experience 

      Welcome to the Brunch With Sherls Experience 

      The Weekly Pull-Up

      The Weekly Pull-Up

      Are You Going To Jerk Festival In NYC This Year?

      Are You Going To Jerk Festival In NYC This Year?

      Spirit of the Caribbean

      Spirit of the Caribbean

      BLACK PANTHER: A Review

      BLACK PANTHER: A Review

    • Business
    • Publisher’s Vibe
    • B.I.G. Awards
    • Advertise With Us
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Latest Issue
    • Entertainment
      • All
      • Gaming
      • Movie
      • Music
      • Sports
      Congratulations to Nickie E. Robinson Recognized as a Hero Behind the Culture

      Congratulations to Nickie E. Robinson Recognized as a Hero Behind the Culture

      The ball is back in Jamaica’s Appeals Court as UK Privy Council quashes dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s conviction

      The ball is back in Jamaica’s Appeals Court as UK Privy Council quashes dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s conviction

      Kennedy Center to Present The 25th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to Kevin Hart

      HBO Original Documentary GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT Debuts January 8

      Trending Tags

        • Gaming
        • Movie
        • Music
        • Sports
      • Celebrity
      • Lifestyle
      • Art & Culture
        J.E.S.A. NY Hosts Their 13th Annual Fundraising & Awards Event

        J.E.S.A. NY Hosts Their 13th Annual Fundraising & Awards Event

        Welcome to the Brunch With Sherls Experience 

        Welcome to the Brunch With Sherls Experience 

        The Weekly Pull-Up

        The Weekly Pull-Up

        Are You Going To Jerk Festival In NYC This Year?

        Are You Going To Jerk Festival In NYC This Year?

        Spirit of the Caribbean

        Spirit of the Caribbean

        BLACK PANTHER: A Review

        BLACK PANTHER: A Review

      • Business
      • Publisher’s Vibe
      • B.I.G. Awards
      • Advertise With Us
      No Result
      View All Result
      Go WhereItzAt
      No Result
      View All Result
      Home Art & Culture

      How the Black Star Line Festival and hip-hop could further accelerate more dynamic Pan-Africanism

      WhereItzAt Staff by WhereItzAt Staff
      01/28/2023
      in Art & Culture
      0 0
      0
      How the Black Star Line Festival and hip-hop could further accelerate more dynamic Pan-Africanism

      Chance The Rapper & Vic Mensa

      0
      SHARES
      13
      VIEWS
      Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

      Marcus Garvey’s “Back to Africa” rallying call is once again inspiring the re-emergence of another Pan-Africanist cultural movement

       This story by Njeri Wangari originally appeared on GlobalVoices.org

      An artist spraying graffitti on a wall paying homage to Hip hop artists and the artform. Image credit: Garry Knight. Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

      At the start of this year, two American hip-hop artists, Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa, held the inaugural edition of the Black Star Line Festival in Ghana’s capital Accra. 

      In 1919, Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey founded the Black Star Line shipping and passenger company. Designed as a vehicle to promote Black economic empowerment and the return of people of African descent living in the Caribbean and America, his “Back to Africa” rallying call is once again inspiring the re-emergence of another Pan-Africanist cultural movement. This time, not by Pan-Africanist intellectuals or politicians, but by hip-hop artists in Africa and the diaspora.

      The week-long festival featured events, panels, and a free concert. On Jan. 6, 52,000 fans thronged the historic Black Star Square, a symbolic site used annually for Ghana’s Independence Day parade. The lineup included Chance himself, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, T-Pain, Jeremih, Sarkodie, Tobe Nwigwe, Asakaa Boys, M.anifest, and fellow Chicago-born hip-hop artist Vic Mensa. Also in attendance was American stand-up comedian and actor Dave Chapelle.

      The festival was not just paying homage to Garvey by christening itself in the name of his shipping company. It was embodying his teachings and fulfilling his legacy of unifying African people by beckoning U.S. artists to Africa and sowing the seeds of a cultural exchange that will result in Black empowerment.

      Speaking to Newsweek on why the free festival was seeking to unite artists across the diaspora and to promote the region and its talent, Mensa — a Chicago native who was born to a Ghanaian father and a white American mother — spoke of how Africa is often snubbed by major artists as they tour major cities and stage live shows.

      “One of the principal reasons for the neglect is an internalized superiority complex that has ‘othered’ Africa, even if those artists have African roots themselves.”

      Africa’s influence on modern music is undeniable. From major global artists adopting African influences in their music (more recently with Afrobeats), fashion, and style to them using dance moves such as the South African gwara gwara for their concerts and music videos. Some have come under heavy attack for their extractive nature which, as Mensa noted to Newsweek, is no more different than what colonial powers did to Africa, “ransacking it of its natural resources and cultural riches.”

      Chance The Rapper & Vic Mensa

      Mensa and Chance hope the festival can stop that. According to them, the festival was the first step in fostering cultural exchange between American and African hip-hop artists with the aim of providing opportunities for education, enrichment, and cultural diffusion. They hope this can have a snowball effect not just with hip-hop artists doing concerts in Ghana but with so many other artists adding Africa to their touring roster and collaborating with their counterparts.

      Modern hip-hop is embodying a new and dynamic Pan-Africanism

      Since emerging from the streets of the Bronx in New York in the 1970s, hip-hop has risen to become a powerful force that has partly shaped Black identity worldwide. Its culture has remained rooted in African musical and social traditions through the years. Even with what it has recently become in America — a heavily commodified commercial venture — artists elsewhere, especially in the African continent, have learned to use this powerful art form to speak truth to power.

      In her article, “Contemporary hip hop embodies a dynamic Pan-Africanism,” Msia Kibona Clark, Associate Professor at Howard University and the author of “Hip-Hop in Africa: Prophets of the City and Dustyfoot Philosophers,” argues that “in its manifestations, the music genre has proven, to be a powerful vehicle for spreading and shaping Pan-Africanism.”

      She also notes that, even as hip-hop’s Pan-African voice has grown, so has its aspirations from what most of the founding fathers of African states such as Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, and Julius Nyerere had: A socialist United States of Africa. Instead, this new Pan-African movement is a “transnationalization of African communities and identities” rooted in collaboration. Hip-hop has become an important catalyst in this new Pan-Africanism.

      Clark concludes that, for us to understand what is going on in this new Pan-Africanism, we need to pay attention to the clues in not just African music but also in hip-hop.

      For Mensa, who will be starring in an African/American series on the rise of South Africa’s hip-hop scene in the country’s post-apartheid renaissance, he told Newsweek he hopes they can run the festival across Africa.

      This will no doubt further catalyze other significant collaborations between hip-hop artists across Africa and in the diaspora.

      WhereItzAt Staff

      WhereItzAt Staff

      • Trending
      • Comments
      • Latest
      100 Famous Short Men Everyone Can Look Up To

      100 Famous Short Men Everyone Can Look Up To

      02/11/2021
      8 Wealthiest and Most Influential People From Jamaica

      8 Wealthiest and Most Influential People From Jamaica

      02/11/2021
      Sherman’s 50th Birthday

      Sherman’s 50th Birthday

      02/11/2021
      Donovan Wilson, Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations U.S.A., Inc (UJAA) President is a 2023 B.I.G. Awards Honoree

      Naala Royale-Holder, Dunn’s River Lounge Owner is a 2023 B.I.G. Awards Honoree

      11/20/2023
      Melanated AI: A New Marketplace Celebrating AI Artists and Creators of Color

      Melanated AI: A New Marketplace Celebrating AI Artists and Creators of Color

      44
      New York City Releases 2021 Overdose Data Showing Unprecedented Overdose Levels

      New York City Releases 2021 Overdose Data Showing Unprecedented Overdose Levels

      37
      UJAA’s Commitment to Provide Devices for Students Continues

      UJAA’s Commitment to Provide Devices for Students Continues

      37
      5 Tips To Make Your Money Work For You All 2023

      5 Tips To Make Your Money Work For You All 2023

      36
      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      03/30/2025
      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      03/28/2025
      Publisher’s Vibe: A Legacy of Mental Anguish – They’re Driving Us Crazy!

      Publisher’s Vibe – Life Imitating Art – The Trump Show 2.0!

      03/28/2025
      Modern Black Girl: Tiffany James’ Mission to Empower Women Through Investing

      The Art of Representation: Nicola Vassell’s Mission to Transform the Industry

      03/28/2025

      Recent News

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      03/30/2025
      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      03/28/2025
      Publisher’s Vibe: A Legacy of Mental Anguish – They’re Driving Us Crazy!

      Publisher’s Vibe – Life Imitating Art – The Trump Show 2.0!

      03/28/2025
      Modern Black Girl: Tiffany James’ Mission to Empower Women Through Investing

      The Art of Representation: Nicola Vassell’s Mission to Transform the Industry

      03/28/2025
      Go WhereItzAt

      At WhereItzAt our purpose is to help people discover the unique voices, narratives, personal experiences, and perspectives of the Caribbean-American and Urban Culture along with great local businesses like restaurants, bars, dentists, hairstylists, mechanics, and more. Time to Explore!

      For Inquiries Call: (516) 690-9060

      Follow Us

      Resources

      • The Magazine
      • Articles
      • Latest Issue
      • Entertainment
      • Celebrity
      • Lifestyle
      • Art & Culture
      • Business
      • Publisher’s Vibe
      • B.I.G. Awards
      • Advertise With Us

      Recent News

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      03/30/2025
      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      03/28/2025
      • About
      • Advertise
      • Contact us
      • Privacy Policy

      © 2021 Copyright WhereItzAt Media Group Inc. All Rights Reserved.

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Latest Issue
      • Entertainment
        • Gaming
        • Movie
        • Music
        • Sports
      • Celebrity
      • Lifestyle
      • Art & Culture
      • Business
      • Publisher’s Vibe
      • B.I.G. Awards
      • Advertise With Us

      © 2021 Copyright WhereItzAt Media Group Inc. All Rights Reserved.

      Welcome Back!

      Login to your account below

      Forgotten Password?

      Retrieve your password

      Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

      Log In

      Add New Playlist

      Are you sure want to unlock this post?
      Unlock left : 0
      Are you sure want to cancel subscription?