Afro Nation debuted in Detroit over the weekend with a roster of Afrobeats, hip-hop and R&B artists. The two-day event featured Burna Boy, Masego, Ari Lennox, Latto, Coi Leray, Dej Loaf and others. The Detroit festival is the second US date following Afro Nation Miami which took place in May. Artists performed at the historic Brewster-Douglass location which is the site of the former housing project where Diana Ross grew up. Launched in 2019, Afro Nation is a global celebration of the Afrobeats genre and Black music from the diaspora. Nigerian entrepreneurs Obi Asika, and Smade founded the festival in association with BBC 1 Xtra. 

Burna Boy headlined on Saturday and Afrobeats legend Davido closed the festival on Sunday. The successful event will be returning to the United States in 2024 and fans can signup at USA.afronation.com. 

 

Ladies First: A Story Of Women In Hip-Hop is a new docuseries coming to Netflix. Women’s history in hip-hop is chronicled from early emcees like Sha-Rock to current rappers like Latto and Coi Leray. Hip-Hop is having its 50th year of existence and this docuseries is a timely contribution to all the canonizing celebrations. The trailer features MC Lyte who is also an executive producer, along with other women such as Tierra Whack, Rapsody and Queen Latifah sharing their perspectives. Viewers have already complained about the absence of Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliott but Shawn Allen who worked on the series posted. on Twitter that both artists refused to license their music and videos. Ladies First will debut the first of a four-part series on August 9th.