OUR Version of Cultural Connection: They Had Lavish Birthday Parties; We Have Sold-Out Burna Boy Concerts.

Back in the day, our West African immigrant parents made the Met Gala look like child’s play.

For birthday parties, naming ceremonies, baby showers, graduation parties, and especially weddings, they pulled up to each other's parties in the freshest nativewear. 

Whether it was the sounds of drums traveling through the parking lot of event halls or the scents of fried goat meat and jollof rice wafting through apartment building hallways, our predecessors were always down to show up. In a foreign country, it was important for them to find and build communities around their culture. 

Thankfully, they knew the value of documenting those moments. With disposable cameras, camcorders, or professionally produced videos, we can look back at those times with pride and a bit of curiosity.

What would it be like to have been young, fly, fine, and African in the 1990s?

My generation - the young, fly, and fine Africans in the 2020s - may not do naming ceremonies and birthday parties the way our parents did.

We’ve gathered in our own cultural hub. Afrobeats concerts.

It’s not the same. Sadly, we’re not as fresh as the OGs. However, I’ve realized that the widespread attendance at concerts, festivals, and DJ sets from the world’s top Afrobeats creators is OUR way of fostering community around the cultures we love.

When WizKid, Burna, Davido, and Asake sell out Madison Square Garden, it’s an event. When they pull up to arenas in our city, we gather– first in small groups at each other's homes, then outside in the line, then en masse at the show, and finally in complete bliss at the afterparty. 

We’ve also been able to build career opportunities within these spaces. We’re not only in the audience. You can find us behind the camera, on stage, playing instruments, managing artists, booking shows, hosting, and more. In those capacities, we deepen our relationships with one another.

In 2024, reports showed that 97% of Afrobeats superfans have attended

a live music performance within 12 months.

Unlike in Country, Electronic, Indie Rock, and K-Pop, MILLENNIAL Afrobeats concertgoers outperform Gen-Z concertgoers in the amount of Afrobeats we consume. As much as this is a sign of ‘superfandom’ - which is not specific to any race, nationality, or ethnicity- this mass attendance at concerts reflects an enthusiasm from African millennials who can’t wait to show up and build our own versions of the cultural communities we saw our parents invest in when we were kids. 

Sincerely,

Latifah