emPawa, a new initiative by Mr Eazi, will help discover new music talents in Africa, the singer has said. The artist who only released his mixtape, Lagos To London less than two weeks ago, said he wanted to give young artists a platform to launch their careers.
“With my new initiative, ‘emPawa’ – I want to discover independent, emerging and talented artistes. I want to provide them with the resources and exposure to launch their own careers.”
Mr Eazi said this during the launch of the emPawa initiative in Lagos recently. The initiative is a collaborative effort between Mr Eazi’s label, Banku Music and betting outfit, BetPawa.
The artist stated that he had been helping African musicians before now. However, he decided to do it on a major scale after seeing the impact of such sponsorship.
He explained that he was further encouraged after getting a shoutout from one of the beneficiaries on social media.
“I have been quietly funding music videos by some artistes in Africa,” Mr Eazi said.
“I have funded about six videos in the last two years. One of the artistes that have benefitted from my sponsorship was nominated for this year’s BET Awards in the United States. He is a rapper known as Kwesi Arthur.”
Paying Good Forwards
Mr Eazi noted that he was once a beneficiary of such aids during the early stage of his career. The artist recalled that one of his friends once paid for his music video.
“A friend of mine, who knew I was doing music in the university, sponsored my first music video. It was a birthday gift from him. He also funded my dance video, which cost him less than $1,000.
In addition, he argued that it was unlikely he would have made it this far if not for gesture like that.
“Also, when I wanted to shoot my second music video, Skin tight, I didn’t have to pay a lot of money. Everything I paid for was subsidised. That video made me the star that I am today. If those people didn’t sponsor the videos, I probably would not have been discovered.”