Chicago Rappers—Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa—Announce Major Festival in West Africa

Chicago rappers Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa have announced a forthcoming music festival slated for West Africa.

And in so doing, the duo of emcees is calling on global Black artists to participate in the new gathering, which is to be called Black Star Line Festival.

According to the artists, the new music and festival is inspired by the activist Marcus Garvey and is slated for January 6 in Accra, Ghana.

The festival will take place in the historic Black Star Square in 2023 and “aims to be a bridge between Black people and artists of the Diaspora and the globe with the continent,” according to a press statement.

The historic Black Star Square is a monument to the political freedom that was fought for and won by Ghanaians in 1957. Ghana was the first Sub-Saharan African country to free itself from colonialism, under the leadership of its first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and many nations on the continent soon followed. 

“Dr. Nkrumah was inspired by Jamaican-born revolutionary Marcus Garvey, who believed in a free Africa and a global connection between the people of the continent and Black people globally,” the statement continues. “When Dr. Nkrumah developed Ghana’s flag and principles, he insisted that these principles were key to the forward mobility of its people.”

Also according to the release, Mensa and Chance spent the past week in Ghana with eight students from their hometown of Chicago, whom they brought to the West African nation to help them learn about their roots in an “experiential environment.” The trip marked the second for the musicians this year, after spending time in Ghana in January.

“When Vic and I started our careers and started touring, we did shows all over the US. Eventually, we started touring in Europe, and we did shows in Asia, South America, and Central America, but we never had a chance to play our music for the people who support us the most” said Chance during the announcement of the new festival. “When we came here and touched down and felt the love that we received and the fans that we got to connect with, the understanding for the need for the connection became apparent to us. We need a music festival bringing major artists to Ghana. This is what we’re working to create.”

Chance The Rapper’s highly anticipated new project, Star Line Gallery, is due out later this year.

Courtesy Shorefire media