Mr Eazi means well for the Nigerian music industry and its abundant talents. The singer has been pulling strings with corporates just to create an enabling environment for talents on a continental scale. Now, the singer has the attention of global powerhouse Google.
Google has initiated a campaign to support young Nigerian music artists on its platform, YouTube. The global powerhouse announced the initiative at the Google for Nigeria event in Lagos today.
The initiative is in partnership with the emPawa Africa incubator programme fronted by Mr Eazi.
YouTube will work with a number of local partners to pull off the initiative as part of Google’s long-term commitment to supporting emerging talents in Nigeria.
The first phase of the project sees Mr Eazi (emPawa Africa) and YouTube teaming up to help 10 emerging Nigerian music artists to improve their craft and grow their fanbase.
Mr Eazi reacts:
However, Mr Eazi said he created emPawa to help new artists reach their potential in music making.
“emPawa is an initiative I created with one simple mission: Helping new artists reach their full potential musically by equipping them with the knowledge and funding to do so.
“It’s something I wish someone had created when I first started making music. Sometimes, all it takes is that one person to believe in you.
“This partnership with YouTube is very exciting as it will take emPawa and its artists to a whole new level.”
The superstar added that:
“We’ve already achieved great success with our own resources. So there’s no telling how far these artists will go with the backing of such a global company.”
Mentoring, video shoots and recording are some of the benefits the artists will gain from the new initiative.
In addition, the Global Head of Music, YouTube, Lyor Cohen has said the platform is proud to be associated with African artists.
“It’s critical to develop the next generation of talent. There is so much talent exploding out of Nigeria and the African continent right now. Africa is setting the tempo all around the globe,” Lyor Cohen said.
“We’re incredibly proud that YouTube has been a mainline for African artists to connect all over the world . And by supporting one of the leading African trailblazers like Mr Eazi and his emPawa initiative, we’re excited to see how these artists supercharge their careers and grow their fanbase on YouTube.”