Afro-Nation Recap PT. 1
By: Taylor Winter
Afro-Nation held its annual Afrobeats festival this summer in Detroit, MI. If you missed out on this year’s event, keep reading to know what all went down.
Festival doors opened around 2 pm and the festival lasted all day until around 10 pm. There were two stages for performers and DJ sets to get the crowd going.
If you never knew about Burna Boy’s younger sister Nissi, make sure to check out her music. She hit the festival stage early on and performed a few of her upbeat afrobeat songs. If you don’t know where to start, listen to her newest single “Higher” followed by “Overthinking” and let us know what you think!
Later on, Latto hit the stage and performed a few of her hits like “Put It On The Floor”. What I loved about Latto’s performance is how good of a dancer she is. Her dancers were on point and she didn’t miss a beat, while rapping and keeping the audience engaged!
In between sets, I got to engage with the audience and find out who everyone was excited to see Saturday! Of course, most of the audience couldn’t wait to see Burna Boy but Ari Lennox was also a crowd favorite.
Speaking of Ari Lennox, her set was absolutely amazing! She stunned in a beautiful shimmering gold dress with big curly hair. She sang hits like “Shea Butter Baby”, “Pressure” and many more!
What I loved about Afro-Nation is meeting and seeing black people from various backgrounds come together and enjoy food, drinks & great music. There were many afrobeat artists as well as African American artists like Latto, Ari Lennox, and Ebony Riley. If you are looking to get into up-and-coming artists, definitely try to attend this festival next year!
Once Victony, Diamond Platnumz, Skillbeng, Dadju, and a few DJ’s performed their sets, the crowd was more than ready to see Burna Boy. Fans I talked to in the crowd traveled from Miami, Atlanta, and New York to get a glimpse of Burna Boy’s performance.
It was a little after 9 pm when Burna hit the stage and the screams were so loud you could barely hear the music! As the anxious crowd chanted “Burna, Burna” he finally appeared on stage!
Burna Boy’s charisma and stage presence is something you have to witness for yourself if you can. The Nigerian superstar’s talent and fan base can’t be ignored. The audience knew every song he sang word for word and it definitely fed off the crowd’s energy.
When he sang his hit “Secret” off of his album “African Giant”, a fan threw their bra on stage and not only did he catch it, he danced and sung with it, while shouting out the ladies in the audience. Next thing you know, even more bras were thrown on stage!
