The 68th Annual Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena wasn’t just another night of handing out gold gramophones. It felt like a definitive shift in the hierarchy of music. While the industry spent years debating if hip-hop and R&B were getting their due in the “Big Four” categories, 2026 was the year the artists stopped asking for permission and took over the room.
By January 2026, the global conversation around African music had shifted from discovery to a rigorous focus on preservation and justice. For the African American community and the African diaspora, they are cultural documents that bridge a gap created by years of systemic exclusion in the music industry.
Afro Nation festival in Portugal, Culture Dance Clash (CDC) festival, the Africa Oyé festival and a host of other festivals with a lineup of artists like Wizkid, Tyla, Angelique Kidjo, Asake, Awilo Longomba amongst other stars, the year 2026 looks to be gearing up to bring the very best of black music, art, culture and entertainment on to Europe’s biggest stage.
The WeLovEya Festival 2025 is set to make history in Cotonou this December with a rare joint headlining appearance by Afrobeats titans Davido and Wizkid. With over 50,000 fans expected at Place de l’Amazone, this guide covers everything from last-minute tickets and travel logistics to the confirmed lineup for the year’s biggest cultural event.
Lift Every Voice and Sing, otherwise known as the Black national anthem, has been a flashpoint of conflict, drawing threats and fueling conspiracy theories since it was first used by the NFL in 2020 for pre-season opening games, following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
When Fela Anikulapo Kuti walked the earth, he did so like a man possessed. Not by spirits though the Shrine knew its fair share of ritual but by a vision. Afrobeat was protest, pageantry, and prophecy all in one: 12-minute sermons with horns, funk, pidgin English, and takedowns of military dictators, colonial puppeteers, and capitalist saboteurs.
With more than 13 billion Spotify plays and a startling 550% increase between 2017 and 2025, Afrobeats has established itself…
In recording these artists, we celebrate the African American cultural heritage in jazz, highlighting how each pioneer combined personal life with musical creativity. Their stories, grounded in community, adversity, and sheer creativity, echo well beyond the bandstand, informing larger conversations on identity, survival, and artistic autonomy.
Source: Whitney Houston – Wikipedia I Decided Long Ago Never to Walk In Anyone’s Shadow; If I Fail, or if…
Kendrick Lamar will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans at 6:30pm ET on February 9, 2025, marking his second appearance on the coveted stage.
