This week has been a great week for the culture, Nigerians, Africans, and Afrobeats music, although there are a few wrinkles. Let’s get into it.
Recording Academy’s New Voting Members: Congratulations to the Recording Academy’s 2022 new voting and professional (non-voting) members. At least 30 of those who have accepted The Academy’s invitations are Africans, and half of them are members of the AML community. A special shout out to the leadership and legal team(s) at the Recording Academy, a few who are also members of the AML community. It has been beautiful to watch, interact and see the shift occur in recognizing the importance of representation of diverse voices, including that of Africa’s music stakeholders.
Ukonwa Ojo Exit Amazon Prime/Studios: This week, Amazon announced the abrupt exit of Nigerian American Ukonwa Ojo from the company. Ojo was Amazon Studio and Prime Video’s Chief Marketing Officer and had barely been there for two years. The tone of the press statement was interesting to me, especially the following part, “I want every member of the marketing organization to be assured that you are valued and appreciated. I’m aware how demanding your jobs are and how hard you are working. I know too that transitions can be unsettling, and I ask for your patience as we work through this period…” I believe all eyes are on Ojo to see what her next move will be.
Tems Wins BET’s Best International Act: It was great to see Tems win this award and even greater to see her receive her award on BET’s stage. I also loved seeing the Nigerian men who stood by her on stage. They have been instrumental in contributing to getting our culture and music onto the global map. I see you, Wale (who is a member of the AML community).
12 years ago, my publication, Ladybrille, was the only African-owned U.S. publication to cover the first-ever BET Awards for the above category. A year after covering that event, both behind the scenes and publicly, I drew the line in the sand that BET must respect our artists and allow them access on stage to receive their awards. The BET executives I was on a first-name basis with were unhappy about my stance and let me know. However, I was unperturbed and stayed consistent and relentless in demanding that we must be respected. I wrote articles, publicly called the network out, and a few others joined. The sentiment was that we should be grateful but soon, the fans joined in consistently calling BET out, then the artists joined in taking a stance, Wizkid being one of the more prominent ones. Fast forward to the last few years, Burna, Davido and now Tems have won and received their awards on stage; this year, Fireboy DML performed on stage. Progress.
Ed Sheeran Wembley Stadium Concert: I really dig Ed Sheeran’s authenticity. It reminds me of what Wizkid did for Chris Brown in his 02 Arena concert. It was good, just recently, to see Ed perform ‘Peru’ with Fireboy, and hear his new song with Burna, which he also brought Burna on stage to perform in front of 90,000 people.
Chika Uwazie and Eche Emole’s Afropolitan: Congrats to this duo who are members of the AML community. They have partnered to bring Web3 and NFTs to the African Diaspora and have already set up their DAO. In 2016, Eche founded Afropolitan as an events company based out of San Francisco. This year, Chika and Eche have relaunched the brand as co-founders and raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding to create a digital nation for the African Diaspora. Kudos to them.
Funke Akindele v. JJC Split : It is quite unfortunate to hear about the breakup of two creatively intelligent people, Nollywood filmmaker Funke Akindele and musician/filmmaker JJC. These two were already powerhouses on their own, and together a force to be reckoned with. However, I get it. Relationships are hard and it takes a lot of hard work to ensure each person can come to the table wholesome so the union can truly be whole. Most people come to marriages/relationships deeply broken and looking to be saved.
On the business side, one of the allegations floating around by JJC’s son/Funke’s stepson is that Funke allegedly accused his father of stealing from her. I addressed this in the Tiwa Savage nasty breakup from Teebillz, and P-Square’s breakup, among others. You must be very careful when you work with your family. Formalize agreements, put your family on payroll, pay them their worth and if they do not meet expectations, fire them. If you are co-founders, set expectations and boundary lines and observe all formalities relevant to your roles as shareholders, board members, and executives of the business. Avoid the deep and bitter pain that often comes when you give a pass to friends/family. But often most people believe it can’t happen to them until they are sitting across the table from a lawyer l either wanting to sue or having been sued by their loved ones for a business relationship gone very wrong.
I think this split may be headed for a nasty breakup unless these two, given they have gone through prior divorces, have the maturity to seek counseling and be intentional about an amicable and fair split of business assets, among other things.
Rockson Igelige: Congratulations to Rockson Igelige who just won an award against MTN and others, on his client Pupayannis’ behalf. The judge ordered MTN to remove an infringing song from its platform and provide an accounting within three months and pay 20 million naira to Pupayannis for copyright infringement, among other things. You can read the case here.
Filmmakers Akin Omotosho, Ayo Shonaiya and Obi Asika: All three of these men are telling Nigerian and African stories. Akin directed the story of Giannis Antetokounmpo and his brothers titled ‘Rise’ on Disney+, Ayo Shonaiya produced and directed the documentary titled ‘Afrobeats, The Backstory’ now on Netflix, and Obi Asika’s ‘Journey of the Beats’ is now on Showmax. It is awesome to see us telling our stories and documenting them quite well. We are just getting started. There are too many stories to be told from diverse voices including women.
-Ms. Uduak
