Kendrick Lamar lights up East Africa

 American rapper Kendrick Lamar. (Courtesy)

The last time Kendrick Lamar visited Africa was in 2013 for a monumental trip to South Africa. This inspired his highly acclaimed second major studio album To Pimp A Butterfly.

Ten years later, he arrives at the peak of his powers, 17 Grammy Awards deep, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and as one of the most ethereal and successful artistes of this generation. 

As part of the Global Citizen initiative Move Afrika, KDOT as he is known, in conjunction with his imprint PG Lang is on a mission to bring international standard concerts to Africa through Move Afrika, and this will scale up Africa on many fronts including; empower the entertainment industry, create equity, and be a vehicle for social change and financial inclusion.

“What a good way of ending the year! With music, with energy, with optimism,” President Kagame said as he welcomed Compton standout Kendrick Lamar to the stage. 

Kendrick juiced up the 8,000 concert attendees at the BK Arena with his hit songs from the hypnotic Swimming Pools to the robust N95 to the social justice anthem Alright and many more for 70 minutes before leaving the stage in smoke.

The performance saw 70 cultural dancers employed, most from disenfranchised areas of Rwanda, with some from the Sherrie Silver Foundation even joining the King Kunta lyricist on stage to dramatise his show.  

Inaugurally, Move Afrika will take place for the next five years boosting infrastructure, employment, and general social and climate causes to acclimate Africa as a state-of-the-art destination. 

The show will later be part of a special broadcast in early 2024, according to show organisers.

“Only a few places can hold world-class concerts in Africa. We are trying to build the dream here and make Africa, more so East Africa, a tourable place. The first of these models was with Oktobafest, and soon with MOUs and various developments among governments. A lot of investment will go into venues, as well as policies in ensuring visa-free travel across Africa, and things of that nature can enable Africa to be an entertainment powerhouse” Marek Fuchs said on The Mic Cheque podcast. 

On to South Africa where Kendrick headlined Day 2 of the highly anticipated Hey Neighbor Festival in PTA, this was an even more breathtaking display of his virtuoso as he wowed the thousands in attendance. 

Also featured were Kenya’s Sauti Sol who performed what is now termed as their “last dance foreal” performance, having shared the stage with this year's breakout star and their label peer, Tyla and Nasty C. 

They played a joyous 45-minute set to the excited crowd as they straddled through their continental smashes as openers of Day 1.

“Sauti Sol is one of the biggest music brands in East Africa, so having them here means a lot. It was a joy to see them on the main stage,” said Zablon Mwakitele. 

A success metric in the live performance business according to Dale Deruig, Managing Director of Steyn Entertainment, the mother company to Rocking The Daisies Festival is having major sponsors with huge spend.

“A lot of people were wondering if Burna Boy cancelled our event this year and if having Hey Neighbor means the death of ours, and I said no. We need more festivals. We need that culture, and not cancellations because that tarnishes our country’s name. We can never have huge acts like Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, or Taylor Swift if there are no major brand sponsors on the line-up. If an event doesn’t have that, that’s a red flag,” he said.