emPawa Africa (pronounced emPower Africa), headquartered in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, is an African talent incubation enterprise, known for nurturing and supporting up-and-coming artistes. It offers mentorship to 100 African artistes yearly, with a $3,000 (dollars) grant. emPawa is headed by

Mr Eazi Oluwatosin Ajibade (born 19 July 1991), better known by his stage name Mr Eazi, is a Nigerian-born, Ghana-based singer. He is a pioneer of Banku music, a fusion of sound he describes as a mixture of Ghanaian highlife and Nigerian chord progressio ...

as Founder/CEO, and houses a

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

, and licensing division, with a streaming service
emPawa Music

History

emPawaa Africa was founded in November 2018 and began operation in 2019 as a talent incubation initiative to nurture and support up-and-coming artists in Africa. The company is headed by its founder

. In its first edition, entries were submitted via Instagram and Twitter, with a recorded video (30 seconds or 1 minute), posted with the hashtag (#emPawa100). Total entries recorded in 2019, was over 30 thousand,

tells

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

. After which, 100 artists are selected from various African countries, to join the program, through their entries submitted. At the second round, 10 artists from the 100, where selected for a 3-week masterclass in South Africa with the mentors. emPawaa masterclass, is a masterclass funded by PawaPlay, a division of emPawa.

Partnerships

YouTube

In 2019,

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

partnered with emPawa, which will provide support to 10 emerging Nigerian artists, build their careers and increase their fan base. The partnership, according to

, "This partnership with YouTube is very exciting because it will take emPawa and its artists to the next level," he said.

African Music Fund

On 30 July 2020,

launched African Music Fund in partnership with emPawa Africa, to finance established and up-and-coming creatives of Africa.

Kobalt Music Group

On 3 September 2020,

, announced the exclusive partnership between emPawa and

Kobalt Music Group Kobalt Music Group is an independent Performing rights, rights management and music publishing company. Founded in 2000 by CEO Willard Ahdritz, Kobalt acts primarily as an administrative publishing company, not owning any copyrights. Also offer ...

, which will include publishing administration, creative services and sync for all of emPawa’s catalogue and future works.

Artistes

Artistes who have released music on emPawa Africa: *

Joeboy Joseph Akinwale (born 21 May 1997), known professionally as Joeboy, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Mr Eazi of the record label emPawa Africa discovered him in 2017. His musical genres are Afro-pop and R&B. He was born in Lagos State, Nigeri ...

* E Kelly *Fave *

Lady Donli Zainab Elizabeth Donli, known as Lady Donli, is a Nigerian musician. She is an alternative R&B, hip hop, alternative jazz and Afrobeat singer and songwriter. Biography Lady Donli was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She is the youngest of six childr ...

* Majeeed *Ruth Ronnie *Minz *

DJ AB Haruna Abdullahi (born 30 December 1993), known professionally as DJ AB, is a Nigerian rapper, music producer, songwriter and performing artist. Early life DJ AB was born in Kaduna State, Nigeria where he obtained his JSCE and SSCE from Feder ...

* Nandy * Whoisakin *Solana * Killertunes *

DJ Neptune Imohiosen Patrick (born, 26 September 1990) professionally known as DJ Neptune, is a Nigerian Disc Jockey and Record Producer. He is from a family of four which includes his three elder sisters and him. Discography *''Greatness'' (2018) *''Gre ...

DJ Aroma Collins Tetteh Nartey, known professionally as DJ Aroma, is a Ghanaian disc jockey. He is the official DJ for the annual Detty Rave music festival in Ghana. He was listed among the top ten DJs in Africa in 2019. He was awarded the DJ of the Yea ...

*Blaq Jerzee *Jizzle *Kola Williams *Sishii *

Camidoh Raphael Camidoh Kofi Attachie (born 21 January 1994) known by the stage name Camidoh is a Ghanaian Afropop, R&B and Afrobeats songwriter and musician. Early life and education Camidoh was born in Aflao in the Volta Region of Ghana and raised ...

*Xenia Manasseh *

Major League DJz Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicator ...

* King Promise *

Major Lazer Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. It originates from Kingston, Jamaica, and was founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after t ...

GoodGirl LA Euphamiarunyi Ekunah, better known as GoodGirl LA, is a Nigerian singer nominated for the best collaboration for The Headies award with Vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vect ...

*George Kalukusha *Nemo *Union5 *Sunmisola *Zarion Uti *Runda * Bosom P Yung *Towela *

BOJ The is the central bank of Japan. Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was fou ...

Bella Alubo Bella Alubo (born Mabel Alubo, 9 August 1993) is a Nigerian musician, alternative R&B, hip hop singer and songwriter, formerly signed under Tinny Entertainment alongside Ycee. Early life Alubo hails from Benue State, Nigeria, was born and raised ...

Peruzzi The Peruzzi were bankers of Florence, among the leading families of the city in the 14th century, before the rise to prominence of the Medici. Their modest antecedents stretched back to the mid 11th century, according to the family's genealogist ...

GuiltyBeatz Ronald Banful (born January 17, 1990), known professionally as GuiltyBeatz, is a Ghanaian DJ and record producer. Born in Palermo, Italy, GuiltyBeatz first gained prominence as a music producer after his production on "Bad girl" by Jesse Jagz ft. W ...

*Lil Frosh * Töme *

Fik Fameica Walukagga Shafik (born 10 January 1996), is a Ugandan rapper better known by his stage name Fik Fameica a.k.a. Fresh Bwoy. His debut came in 2015 with "Pistol" under the Black Man Town music label, led by a Ugandan music icon Geosteady. His later ...

*Thando Skwatsha *

NSG (group) NSG is a British afroswing collective from East London. The group consists of Kruddz, OGD, Papii Abz, Dope, Mxjib, and Mojo. They released two mixtapes, ''Grown Up'' and ''Roots'', the latter includes their most successful single "Options" featu ...

References

{{reflist Nigerian record labels Entertainment companies established in 2018 Record label distributors Record labels established in 2018 Companies based in Lagos