“Why I Love to Perform in East Africa” -Mr Eazi

According to the singer, music is most received in Eastern countries of Africa more than any other part of the continent including highly populated countries such as Nigeria and its neighbour, Ghana among others.

Alluding to the all embracing taste of music fans in East Africa, the founder of emPawa, a music incubator says the only place for artistes to get paid over $100,000 per gig is in the region. The region has been known to host sold-out concerts for big names including Wizkid, Davido, Flavour, Patoranking and P Square at different times.

Eazi spoke to OkayAfrica, “East Africa is arguably the most receptive spot for music. In East Africa, they listen to hip-hop, they listen to their local music, they also listen to music from the West of Africa, they listen to pop. So in recent times, asides from when I do festivals or branded shows in the UK or wherever—nobody is going to pay you $100,000 in Nigeria to do a show, or even $60k to come and jump on stage for a set. But you can easily get that money by walking into Kenya or walking into Gambia.

“So those places should be the ones I focus on. Also, when we dropped “Keys to the City,” which was not a single and we saw the views on YouTube, the bulk was from East Africa. It is the only place that I can perform without a curated set. If I perform in Nigeria or UK it’s a curated set. But if I perform in East Africa, I can perform every song from Major Lazer to Lotto Boyz to Lady Leshurr, and all the songs on Accra to Lagos. All, I can perform all the songs before that project

“When we dropped this new project (Life Is Eazi Vol. 2: Lagos To London), the first place I went after the listening party was East Africa. We didn’t even come to Nigeria. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania. We’re not just waking up and saying ‘we are going to East Africa’. It was deliberate. We thought to ourselves, ‘where is the most receptive place for music in Africa?”