Black Coffee: African music needs vision to travel

He was speaking ahead of a set at the Hi Ibiza in the UK. He relayed a conversation he had with Nigerian popstar Wizkid to a British publication.

"What I was saying to him was that sure, he’s huge and he sells out shows. He’ll go to New York and sell out a show. He sold out the O2 in London. But the thing is he'll sell out the O2 to Nigerians based in London.

"It’s the same in New York, it’s the same in DC and wherever else he goes because there’s always big communities of African people in all of these places. And because he's selling out these shows he's doing great, and because of that it’s very easy to get comfortable.”

The celebrated DJ said there was need for vision in order to move out of selling tickets to just listeners from one’s home country.

“I’m talking about those who are willing though, because not everyone wants to be on a song with Bono, or Drake, or whoever. So I just feel like it’s vision. To be able to think, 'Okay, I want to be on a song with so and so, and I'm willing to dilute my music to have a greater reach.'”

For Black Coffee, the bigger picture involves seeing producers from Africa work in the West.

“It takes vision to get to that space where even the producers you work with are gonna come and give an influence, or even the writers you’re working with are gonna come and give an influence, and then you can expose yourself to a bigger market,” he said.

Black Coffee has himself been making inroads into the Western market, having worked with Alicia Keys and Drake. Following his UK set, he announced he was off to Las Vegas. “Residency Closing Party @hiibizaofficial done,” he tweeted, “now ‘off’ to Vegas for another Residency Closing party @WynnLasVegas.”