In this article, I am going to talk about the relevance of the title emPawa, Mr Eazi's main aim behind emPawa,how Mr Eazi decided to do more than just fund videos,emPawa's partnership with YouTube and what was Mr Eazi's real reason for starting the project emPawa.
As the title suggests emPawa is all about empowering Africans. According to emPawa it states that ,"emPawa equips African artists with the tools,knowledge,network and investment to grow and export their music from Africa to the world". Their main aim is to empower unknown African musicians and get their music noticed around the world.
According to cnn.com :emPawa foundation, it states that," The idea for emPawa was motivated by the need to give back to Africa's music industry says Mr Eazi". Moreover it says, "In 2018,he called for online demo music submissions from artists across Africa using the hashtag #empawa100. Out of 10 000 entries received from 14 countries, 100 were handpicked and their videos funded at $3,000 apiece". For example in Zimbabwe, Zinarayah gained recognition from their single Composure through the emPawa Africa project by Mr Eazi.
At first Mr Eazi was just funding videos,but then he decided to do more than just fund videos. According to cnn.com: emPawa foundation it states that,"...when one of the artists funded,Ghana's Kwesi Arthur received a BET award nomination, Mr Eazi decided to do more than just fund videos". This clearly shows that emPawa Africa is a huge success as it is not only empowering African musicians but also it is helping them to gain recognition around the world.
Ever since one of their artists received a BET award nomination,there have been a lot of developments. According to cnn.com: emPawa foundation,it states that "The incubator helps artists market their music,provides them with access to TV and radio stations for airplay,and enrolls some of them for class with top business managers so they can become independent music entrepreneurs". Moreover it shows that artists like Joeboy received recognition through emPawa Africa. Joeboy said,"They have invested in my career and will continue to do so. I remember my single Baby. I didn't think the song would blow up the way it did. They helped market it," as it is shown on cnn.com :emPawa foundation. The fact that they are helping artists market their music means that they are taking their work seriously to help African musicians gain recognition across the world.
In order to help young artists,emPawa Africa has partnered up with YouTube. According to cnn.com:emPawa foundation it states that,"With emPawa and YouTube,artists have something to open them up to a newer audience. So, they are not only getting their videos funded,but they are getting their brand and music public". This is a good strategy to help young artists gain the recognition they really need.
Mr Eazi is known to be a top business in the music industry however what was his real reason for starting the project emPawa? According to okayafrica.com :The Music Business of Mr Eazi by Joey Akan, Mr Eazi said on the interview,"The thing for me is,first off, my first video that made me have that buzz in the UK was a song called "Pipi Dance". The viral video we shot was gifted to me by six friends of mine, we paid £300. I knew nothing about it until it was done, they just handed it over to me.The "Skin Tight" video cost me like 1000 [Ghanaian] cedis,and that's because the video director thought that the record was dope at a time when I didnt want to be an artist as a career,so he wanted to push me.The place we shot the video, they gave us rooms for free,they fed us for free. They let us shoot there,so I was just like okay,I'm gonna give back". Although Mr Eazi did not want to become an artist ,the video director decided to support him. The fact that he supported Mr Eazi ,it influended Mr Eazi to help young artists realise their true potential.