Hip hop competition The Mic: Africa announces semifinalists

The selected contestants sing and rap in English, French, Kreol, Swahili, Twi, Yoruba and Igbo. They are Yung Pabi, Nubuke and Mohawudu from Ghana, Steph, Premium, Ramsoh Latinho from Kenya and Monster, Lionkklash and Emmanuel from Mauritius. The rest are Feckto, Richie Rich and Angelika Belle from Nigeria, Muntu 621, Lil K HPB and Adelard from Rwanda and Zulu Trash, Black Psalmist and MalaCo from South Africa.

The public can vote for their favourite contestants via the competition’s digital media platform, Take Back The Mic (TBTM), on iOS and Android. The top contestant from each country with the highest number of public engagements will qualify for the final, which will take place in January 2021.

The organisers of the competition have partnered with local broadcasters from the participating countries, which will air short films about each contestant for six weeks starting on 6 December.

Speaking to Music In Africa, AMP Global co-founder Lucia Brawley said The Mic: Africa’s aim is to bring communities together in celebration of hip hop at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has created new barriers to travel and cultural exchange.

“There’s an uprising around the world asserting that black lives matter, demanding to #EndSARS, and this week black Americans celebrating saving their democracy,” she said. “Take Back the Mic represents a shift from the days when other people would interpret our stories for the world.

”Our generation has the talent and the technology to speak for ourselves, and in so doing to write our destinies. It’s a global movement to uplift the stories of the continent’s most electrifying young talents and introduce those talents to a global audience. It is the first-ever interactive TV format born in Africa to be exported around the world, kicking off with a billboard in Times Square.”

Asked to comment on the current hip hop culture on the continent and on the impact of The Mic: Africa thus far, Brawley said: ”There are so many diverse sounds on the continent, as reflected in this year’s six participating countries. They reflect three of the original elements of hip hop: rapping, breakdancing and graffiti art. And even within those elements there is diversity, as some of our artists don’t just rap, they sing, and some don’t just breakdance, they innovate movement."

The Mic: Africa is associated with of Take Back the Mic: The World Cup of Hip Hop, a global competition that seeks to discover and promote hip hop acts. The contest first launched in Kingston, Jamaica, and has so far been held in Medellin, Colombia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.