Each year tens of thousands flock to the Caribbean for Carnival season. Whether it’s a messy jouvert or a boisterous and ‘boasty’ road march, carnival is a great equalizer, with celebrities dancing to the same beat as the common man.
This year was no exception. One notable guest was hip-hop megastar Chance The Rapper (born Chancellor Jonathon Bennet) who was visiting the island in celebration of his 30th birthday.
The rapper completed the road march with the popular Xodus band, but Carnival wasn’t all vibes and liquor for the Grammy Award-winning artist. Chance’s journey to Jamaica marked another leg in his mission to pick up where Jamaican national hero Marcus Garvey left off.
Black Star Line Festival
In a conversation with RollingStone, Chance asserted, “We don’t have no movies about Marcus Garvey and the Black Star Line.” The original Black Star Line was a steamship company developed to establish trade and cultural connections between the African diaspora and the continent itself.
It was also a reclamation of maritime travel, the method through which the African diaspora was forcibly removed from the continent.
Chance and his old running mate Vic Mensa, are re-imagining the movement through a medium he’s an expert in – music. The concept for the festival took root in Chance’s mind the minute he landed in Ghana for the first time.
He traveled to the West African country at the behest of Vic who had made the journey before. He quickly fell in love with his surroundings. To be welcomed by Black faces and beauty was almost overwhelming, he recalled. He learned the history of the continent and was particularly influenced by the life of Kwame Nkrumah.
First Edition in Ghana
This past January, the rapper’s inaugural Black Star Line Festival was held in Accra. Chance and Vic performed, as well as other established acts from the United States, including T-Pain, Erykah Badu, and Jeremih, as well as local acts, the Asakaa Boys, M.Anifest, Tobe Nwigwe, and more.
Over 50,000 people attended the festival that apart from starting hours later than advertised, went off without a hitch.
Like that first trip to Ghana with Vic, Chance’s visit to the island served a dual purpose, reconnaissance. On The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the rapper shared that plans are in the works to hold the next festival on the island.
The rapper met with Jamaica’s Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Babsy Grange, US Ambassador to Jamaica, N. Nickolas Perry, and Usain Bolt.
