ALL: Hello and welcome! AMEYAW DEBRAH: Akwaaba. GOGO MOYO: Dumela. Sanibonani. MARK ANGEL: Hello, and welcome. WILLIS CHIMANO: Hey. What's up, everybody? LASIZWE DAMBUZA: NELISIWE MWASE: What's
up, #YouTubeBlack? BENSOUL: OK. OK. SHO MADJOZI: Hi, everyone. This is Sho Madjozi all
the way from South Africa. FIREBOY: Hi, Fireboy DML here. ALL: We are Sauti Sol. NINIOLA: Hi, it's
your girl, Niniola, the queen of Afro House. ALL: We are the Ikorodu Bois. REEKADO BANKS: Hey,
what's up, people? My name is Reekado Banks. ALL: We are here to
celebrate with you. LASIZWE DAMBUZA: Wait for it. Wait for it. ALL: Hey, YouTube. Black African Creator
Week Celebration! SHO MADJOZI: Let's go. AKAH NNANI: My people,
the time is finally here. This is it. Thank you for joining
YouTube's first ever Africa Creator Week Celebration. This is history in the
making and another milestone for African talent
and creativity. I'm your boy, Akah Bants,
and we're coming to you live from Lagos, Nigeria.
And we are about to begin. Make sure you're comfortable. Get snacks. Get popcorn, drinks, whatever
you want, whatever you need. And let's go! Welcome to Africa Creator
Week Celebration-- --featuring music performances
by Fireboy, Niniola, Reekado Banks, Sauti
Sol, Sho Madjozi-- --dance performances by
Dream Catchers, Ghetto Kids, the Ikorodu Bois, and
creators from all over Africa. And we are live. Thanks, everyone, for
tuning into the show. What a great lineup. Like I said earlier, I'm Akah. I'm a YouTube content
creator, and I'll be your host for this evening. This week, YouTube has been
hosting a virtual Africa creator week, a weeklong
program curated by YouTube teams specifically for the
creator community in Africa.
And this livestream is
the closing celebration, and I cannot wait for
everyone to get involved. Tonight, it's all
about celebrating the best of African creativity. And I'm honored to close what
has been an incredible week. We have some amazing dance and
musical performances coming up. And we'll be catching up with
some super talented creators who will be telling us what
being an African creator means to them and sharing
some of their insights on Africa, too. Oh, and we'll be
handing out some YouTube Awards along the way. But I'll tell you
more about that later. So now, without
further ado, it's a huge honor for me to
introduce our first guest for this evening,
Cecile Frot-Coutaz, head of YouTube EMEA. CECILE FROT-COUTAZ:
Thank you, Akah. I'm very excited that our
Africa Creator Week closing event will be showcasing the
best of African creativity on the platform.
This year has been a
challenging year for many of us, from the global pandemic to
high stakes political situations and a series of reminders of the
prevalence of systemic racism across the globe. I'm really thankful for
open platforms like YouTube, where many users,
including myself, have turned to for information,
entertainment, culture, and connection
during this period. US creators have all
played a huge role in this, as thousands have
turned to your channels to find the much needed
encouragement and a sense of community, so a big
thank you to all of you. We have seen amazing creativity
from our African creators on YouTube, and we will get
to celebrate that tonight. For those of you who
don't know me, I'm Cecile, and I head up YouTube in EMEA.
I have spent my entire
career in the media industry. And I know that there has
been a historical need for better representation
of Black people in the media industry. And I confidently believe that
the rise of endemic creators such as yourselves has
made and will continue to make a historical
impact on the industry, and that will result in
greater representation of the multicultural population
in media and in the arts. I have every
intention to continue supporting the African
creators and artists who bring their talents and
creativity to our platform because there are even more
viewers who learn and grow from your content. The YouTube team is
committed to playing its part by doing
more to nurture the talent on the platform. And this is why we created
the virtual Africa Creator Week that just
concluded to inform, to educate, and to
inspire our creators. We also announced our global,
multi-year, $100 million #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund to
help amplify fresh narratives and content that emphasizes
the intellectual power, the passion, and the joy of
this brilliant community, including Black economic
equity and well-being.
So that's enough for me. It's now time to get back into
the programming for today's event, where we will
showcase and celebrate some of this amazing creativity
of our African creators. I hope you enjoy the show. Akah, back to you. AKAH NNANI: Thanks
so much, Cecile. Two things I'm taking away
from that speech, guys. First, I love the part
where she called my name. You know what I'm saying? I loved hearing my
name from Cecile, and she pronounced
it just right. Ah? And then, the second
take away point from the speech, which
I even loved more-- did you guys hear about the
$100 million Black Voices Fund? Hey! I love hearing the sound
of money, money, money. Thank you, YouTube,
for all you do. I can't wait to get into
these next few acts. We have the beautiful Niniola,
a powerhouse Nigerian singer and songwriter, a
dance performance from Ghetto Kids straight
out of Kampala, Uganda, and the iconic Afro pop
group Sauti Sol from Kenya. Today, we are celebrating
our culture, our creativity, and our home, Africa, our
wonderful continent-- bright, bold, and beautiful. OWAMIE HLONGWANE:
Africa in three words-- I'd definitely say colorful.
AMEYAW DEBRAH: Exciting. LADE OWOLABI: Diverse NYACHIO: How many countries? How many tribes? How many artists? TITO MADU IBELEME:
Africa is rich. LILY POPE: Natural. TOMI ADENUGA:
Africa is beautiful. LILY POPE: Beautiful. TITO MADU IBELEME: Beautiful. WINIFRED EMMANUEL:
Resourceful, vibrant-- OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Bold. An extravaganza, darling. NYACHIO: Africa is robust. AMEYAW DEBRAH: And challenging. ALEX MATHENGE: And
Africa is blessed. MARK ANGEL: Africa
is the future. LADE OWOLABI: And
Africa is home. OWAMIE HLONGWANE:
Everything with us is just always over the top,
and I absolutely love it. NINIOLA: Hi, it's your girl, Niniola,
the queen of Afro House. ALL: Hey, we are
the Triplets Ghetto Kids from Uganda, Africa. WILLIS CHIMANO: Hey. What's up, everybody? Ladies and gentlemen,
I am Chimano. BIEN-AMIE BARAZA:
I am Bien-AmiƩ. SAVARA MUDIGI: I'm Savara. And he's Polycarp. ALL: And we are Sauti Sol. WILLIS CHIMANO: We're
From Nairobi, Kenya. BIEN-AMIE BARAZA: Yeah, man. And you can follow us
across all social media. Thank you very
much for having us.
And we're looking
forward to coming to a town or a city near you. SAVARA MUDIGI: Stay cool. BIEN-AMIE BARAZA: Ladies and
gentlemen, we are Sauti Sol. And we are happy to have
you tonight or today. Welcome to the "Midnight
Train" experience. AKAH NNANI: What
amazing performances. Wait, wait. I need to find out something. Did Sauti Sol just release
an official music video? We asked for a performance,
and they give us better. Thanks, guys. That was exceptional. Still to come, we
have performances from Sho Madjozi all the way
from South Africa and Reekado Banks representing Niger. As a creator, I
know how lucky we are to be able to inspire
people that watch our content. And throughout the
show, we're going to hear from creators
all over Africa who will share with us what
they love about being a YouTube creator, too.
But remember, it
takes consistency and a whole lot of effort. So it's important to recognize
our subscriber milestones. Addy, who leads YouTube
content partnerships in Africa, is going to help us
celebrate those achievements with three 100K Creator Awards. TITO MADU IBELEME: As a
#YouTubeBlack creator, I get to explore my creativity. I get to tell people about
my culture, my country. And I get to inspire people. That is one of the things I love
about being a YouTube creator. AMEYAW DEBRAH: Living
in Africa allows us to tell a number of
stories, from the way we live, the challenges we go through, to
even the excitement around us. We are very colorful people. So being able to tell these
stories in a variety of ways makes our content unique
from what you find elsewhere. OFENTSE MWASE: I can tell
the world my stories. I think that there's nothing
more important than that. Telling stories is something
that we are born with.
It's something that we are
taught from an early age. As we were kids, our
fathers and mothers told us stories of
where they came from. They told us stories of how
they got to where they are. And I feel like this is another
form of extending onto that. NYACHIO: What does it mean to
be a Black African creator? Number one, it means to
give other people hope.
To me, it means to
educate, to inspire, someone who is
sitting and not being anything, what would I do? And then they're
like, I can do that. HENNIE DANIELS: Being a
Black creator in Africa-- Nigeria, to be precise--
is a whole lot of work, and it is fun. Because you have
to factor in some challenges while
creating new content. And these challenges
could be enormous, ranging from power
supply, internet, weather. TITO MADU IBELEME: Electricity.
We face a lot of
noise pollution. We also face a lot
of data problems. But despite all of
that, we create. We inspire. NYACHIO: I get to tell
people something new, something they don't know. OFENTSE MWASE: I feel like
we play god a little bit. We get to create
something out of nothing, and there's nothing more
satisfying than that. UG TOONS: When I started
my journey, it wasn't easy. The journey was tough
at the beginning because my subscribers were few. I hadn't laid down hundreds of
subscribers for close to a year until YouTube started
suggesting some of my videos. And through suggestion, people
started viewing my content and started subscribing. And that was when my
audience started growing. And right now, I have
over 370,000 subscribers. So I want to say a big thank
you to YouTube for that. LASIZWE DAMBUZA: As a
#YouTubeBlack creator in Africa, I am so lucky and
privileged that my content not only just brings a
smile onto people's faces but literally brings
people together.
AMEYAW DEBRAH: Being able
to educate and change some misconceptions
that people perhaps had about the continent,
it's always exciting when people are able to
see through your content and experience new
things about a continent that, for a very
long time, people have seen to be dark, full of
sicknesses, poverty, disease, et cetera. So I'm happy that YouTube has
come, and is a bit of a game changer, and is
letting us spotlight Africa in a different way. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Hi, Kay. How are you? KAY NGONYAMA: Fine.
Thank you, Addy. How are you doing? ADDY AWOFISAYO: I'm well. Thank you. It's so good to see you. And you're looking
beautiful as usual. KAY NGONYAMA: Thank you so much. You, too. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Thank you. So for those who don't
know you, tell us your name and where you're from. KAY NGONYAMA: My name is Kay
Ngonyama, popularly known as Kay Yarms on my
YouTube channel.
I am from Johannesburg,
South Africa. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice. And you're originally
from Durban, right? KAY NGONYAMA: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Amazing. OK, so tell us a little bit
more about your channel. Maybe, in one sentence,
describe your channel and tell us when you got
started, why you got started, and maybe how you
even got started. KAY NGONYAMA: OK. Well, my channel
originally started in 2017. It started out as
a beauty channel, which then further progressed
into more of a lifestyle channel. It still really
focuses on beauty, but I started using my phone. I had a ring light
and just my phone. And eventually, I saved
up and bought a camera. But I still preferred using
my phone because I just really didn't have the
software to edit.
And yeah. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Would you be
able to tell us about one high that you had from your YouTube
channel and maybe one low, not so great moment? KAY NGONYAMA: I think my
high, except for 100K subbies, was one of my videos
touching 1 million views. I remember. I literally kept refreshing. I know it was was on 999. And I was like, oh my god. 1M, 1M. So that was a big high for me. And I guess low, if
someone said something about my content that
kind of got me down, but especially because I knew I
didn't have the right equipment to change the quality
of my content. So that sort of did made me
want to stop doing YouTube. But I guess that was just
one person's opinion. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Exactly. And I'm glad you didn't stop
because you've achieved 100,000 subscribers, which is amazing. So congratulations. So should we unbox now? KAY NGONYAMA: Yes. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay! KAY NGONYAMA: So it came
in this big black box. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice. KAY NGONYAMA: And inside
we have this beauty. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Woo-hoo! Congratulations.
Oh my god. It's shiny. KAY NGONYAMA: Thank you. ADDY AWOFISAYO: It's beautiful. KAY NGONYAMA: It is. It's beautiful. ADDY AWOFISAYO: It's
an amazing achievement. What does this mean to you? KAY NGONYAMA: Well,
for me, reaching 100K was really the
biggest motivator. I never thought it would happen. It was the one thing that
was so far from my mind. But when it actually
happened, it really, really motivated me and made me
sort of believe that there's no place I cannot reach. So yeah, I'm really grateful
to all my subscribers, and I'm so happy. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice. I'm so happy for you, too. And I'm very proud of you. So thank you again for joining
us, and congratulations. KAY NGONYAMA: Thank
you so much, Addy. ALEX MATHENGE: One
big misconception that we have about Africa
from other parts of the world is that Africa is
one big village. Africa is poor. Africa is backward. LADE OWOLABI: We speak
African, one language. NYACHIO: Which is very wrong. Very, very wrong. TITO MADU IBELEME:
People think that Africa is this small place.
WINIFRED EMMANUEL: Nigeria,
Ghana, South Africa, Egypt. TITO MADU IBELEME:
Africa is huge. WINIFRED EMMANUEL: Zimbabwe,
Tanzania, Cameroon, the list goes on and on. SIMZ RIGHT: Africa
is not a country. It's a continent, OK? Say it with me. OK. TOMI ADENUGA: Not everything
that comes out of Africa is bad. We are good in Africa. We are warm in Africa. I am a nice person. I am a nice African. NVIIRI THE
STORYTELLER: I believe the biggest misconception
about Africa is that we're still
stuck back in time.
WINIFRED EMMANUEL: Yes, I agree. We are not a developed
continent yet, or we're not so
developed yet, but-- NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER:
Those of you who have stepped
in Africa already, you've seen how
fast we're growing and the potential that we have
even to reach greater heights. WINIFRED EMMANUEL: In
Nigeria, where I live, there is so much
development happening here. OWAMIE HLONGWANE:
You are from Africa. And somehow, you
live in the jungle. THATO RAMPEDI: You don't
have lions as pets. There's not giraffes walking
around in the streets. OWAMIE HLONGWANE:
Wild animals, heck no. We don't even see wild animals
unless we go to the zoo. THATO RAMPEDI: People
assume that Africans are technologically 20 years back. SIMZ RIGHT: What is this
I hear about as coming to you from one computer? Please.
GINA EHIKODI OJO: They just
place the word "Africa" with poverty. Yes, we may not have the
dough, but we've got the swag. Yeah, swag. WINIFRED EMMANUEL:
We have real jobs. We have real lives. We have real events, and
we have real cultures. We have real seasons. And we're real people. BENSOUL: They say that
Africa is a poor land. We, as Africans, need to
see and realize our worth. I feel like Africa is
getting that information, and we are being
liberated in our minds. So watch this space, man. Africa is the richest
land in the world. REEKADO BANKS: Hey,
what's up, people? My name is Reekado Banks. I'm just and looking
to make a few people smile. SPEAKER: Smile. REEKADO BANKS: Hello,
and welcome to my space.
NELISIWE MWASE: It's
a beautiful time to become a content creator,
a Black one in that manner, where we get to write history
that is not only about strife and struggle and pain. We get to share our
joys, our links, and we get to live a legacy
that is also a beautiful one to share with the
future generations. TOMI ADENUGA: As an
African YouTuber, I feel so happy knowing
that my videos touch every single part of the world.
People from the USA, people
from the UK, people from India, people from the Philippines
watch my videos. And I'm like, oh my goodness. CREEZ FAVORS: So as a Black
YouTube creator from Africa, I feel like this is the
biggest platform that we can use in so many ways. Another thing I
think is diversity because now, it's easy
for me to learn or watch anything from any country
through this platform. Even my content can
be posted everywhere. WINIFRED EMMANUEL: Africa has
been under rated for so long, and there's been so
many misconceptions about the continent. So being in a position where I
get to showcase our rich food culture and also educate
the world on Nigerian and African cuisine is
extremely empowering for me.
I think it puts me in
a position of power. NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER:
I compare it to kitenge. Kitenge is the
African fabric, and it exists in all of the countries
that we have in Africa. We have people that call it
kitenge, shweshwe in South Africa, ankara in Nigeria. We have kikoi. And you see, it's just
our African fabric, but it's so uniquely
owned by different people.
And that is how I see my craft. That is how I see my creativity. ALEX MATHENGE: I get a
chance to be authentic. Being a creator is the only
way that I can be authentic. It's the only way I
can tell funny police stories from Africa,
funny police stories that people never
hear, people will never read about in the newspapers. So I get to be authentic
and tell real stories.
GOGO MOYO: There's new
YouTubers that pop up on your timeline every day. Someone gets an amazing idea
and decides to run with it. Good on them. But the one thing that's
the most important is realizing that
you're given a platform. You're given a voice. And therefore, you must
identify your true intention. Are you here to make jokes and
be the funny guy in the room? Or are you here to hold the
uncomfortable conversations? Either way, there's
someone that's looking and is influenced
by you, and your energy, and the type of stuff that
you actually talk about, and share, and put
out into the world.
TOMI ADENUGA: I'm so grateful
to YouTube for this platform because I always wanted
this as a child growing up. And I thought it was going to be
a very up hill task to achieve. But with YouTube, it's endless. You can do almost anything. The ball is in your court. Just start shooting. NELISIWE MWASE: It is beautiful. It is wonderful to be a Black
African content creator. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Hi, Eric. How are you? ERIC OKAFOR: Hey, Addy. I'm fine. And you? ADDY AWOFISAYO: I'm good. I'm good. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Where you are joining us from? ERIC OKAFOR: I am in
Lagos, Nigeria, my house.
ADDY AWOFISAYO: OK. So for those who don't
you, tell us your name and where are you from. ERIC OKAFOR: My name is Eric
Okafor, and I am from Nigeria. I'm from Imo State in Nigeria. I review smartphones on
YouTube, so a tech channel titled "Eric Okafor." And yeah, I was born here,
raised here, schooled here. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice. And you're one of the few
tech YouTubers in Nigeria and probably in Africa, too. So tell us when you got
started, why you got started, and maybe even how
you got started. ERIC OKAFOR: So I
started in 2015. I basically wanted to show
one feature of a smartphone that I got, and I
was excited, but not in the way that I would create
a full review of the phone, just the feature. And I recorded a
very short video, and I put it up on YouTube. That is how I started. ADDY AWOFISAYO:
So congratulations on 100,000 subscribers. ERIC OKAFOR: Thank you. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay! What does this mean to you? ERIC OKAFOR: First of all, like
you said, not a lot of people are doing this in Africa.
So to be one of the few people
doing it and then hitting 100K, I don't know. I feel like I'm opening a whole
other generation of people who would look up
and say, this is what I want to be when I grow up. I don't know. I'm just blown away. I was blown away by it. The growth has been
crazy since then, which is even more exciting. So yeah. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Amazing. So shall we unbox? Where is your button? ERIC OKAFOR: OK, so ta da.
ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay! ERIC OKAFOR: OK. Guys, this is quite heavy. I feel like it's so solid. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay. And it's so shiny. Amazing. Well, congratulations. Very happy for you. Very proud of you. And looking forward to see more
success of yours on YouTube. And we get to celebrate
a million, 10 million, 100 million subscribers. ERIC OKAFOR: I mean, I
want that to happen sooner. SHO MADJOZI: Welcome, everybody,
to my YouTube performance. This is Sho Madjozi,
AKA Sis Madjoz when I come to the city, AKA
Black Cinderella, AKA Chi Chi Chi Chi.
And you are in the right
place because you're about to chi, chi,
chi, chi with us. Let's go. AKAH NNANI: Chi, chi, chi, chi. Chi, chi. Oh, we're live. We're back. OK. OK. Yo, things are heating up, guys. Congratulations to our
YouTube award winners. 100K, what an achievement.
Reekado Banks'
performance was on fire, and Sho Madjozi,
always killing it, man. By the way, girl,
I'm a huge fan. You know? And I did like your setup. I see you. That's why I changed
my jacket to reflect the colors on your set,
so you know I stan. Anyways, guys, I'm hyped
for what's about to go down. Next, we have a YouTube
exclusive set with Fireboy and another dance
performance, this time, from the lads of Ikorodu Bois. It's going to be mad oh. And those of you who don't
know what that means, it means it's going to be crazy. It's going to be sick. That's how we said
it in Nigeria. When we say mad
o, it means mad o. LILY POPE: My favorite
African slang word is nothing but nawa for you. And nawa for you, that simply
means what is wrong with you. AMEYAW DEBRAH: Chale. Chale is a slang for when
you hanging out with friends, and you just want to say
what's up, something like that.
You just said chale,
and it's a vibe thing. BENSOUL: My favorite African
slang word at the moment is kuomoka. CREEZ FAVORS: If you see
a lady who is beautiful and everything like that,
you can call her pisi kali. BENSOUL: Kuomoka means
we are making it. And that's what's happening
right now in Africa, kuomoka. MARK ANGEL: Chineke. I also like nawa o! TOMI ADENUGA:
Sorosoke is Yuraba. And it means speak
out, speak loud, or let your voice be heard. MARK ANGEL: O mad o! ALEX MATHENGE: Makarau
from Nairobi, Kenya. Makarau means the police. NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: Mbogi. Mbogi is a crew. It's your gang. It's your squad. So I believe in that mbogi,
being together .. WINIFRED EMMANUEL:
A girl is fully dressed for your wedding or an
event, and she's all made up. Her face as well beat. She's putting on
really classy attire. Her shoes are popping. Everything is really nice. And she steps out,
and we go, pepper dem. Give them hot, hot. NYACHIO: Form means
what's happening. What are you doing now? What's happening,
like, ay, form? GINA EHIKODI OJO: I did bam.
We bam. And they all right. We are good. We are just OK. We are fine. Yeah. We bam. THATO RAMPEDI: Well, my
favorite African word is halala. It basically means oh, yes. It basically means
congratulations. Basically means let's celebrate. Basically means
what an achievement. It's an expressive word that
just can never be wrong. So halala. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Wasa
lipfa uvhudzwani udo lipfela vhulaloni, which basically
means if you do not listen when the
elderly advises you, then you're going to be forced
to listen to it when you're now in hot water. OLAMIDE: Hello, everyone. My name is Olamide. And I hope you guys are doing
amazingly well out there.
Africa is all about the youth. And I love seeing young people
showing amazing creativity. The Ikorodu Bois are
one of my favorite crew. And they be doing
as kids and dancing. And so I want you all
to sit back, relax, and let's see what we've got. I hope you enjoy though. SPEAKER 1: Hello. Welcome. ALL: We are the Ikorodu Bois. SPEAKER 2: We are young
creatives, young filmmakers. SPEAKER 3: SPEAKER 4: And dancers. THATO RAMPEDI: The fact that
I, as a Black individual, can tell my stories and
tell where I come from, and then I've got other
Black individuals, other African individuals
relating to what I'm saying is very, very beautiful. So the fact that
we can storytell in all these different
mediums is amazing for me. And the fact that people
can relate to that and we have conversations
based on our upbringing and based on our culture, that
makes me feel really good.
LILY POPE: On this
platform, I have been able to meet amazing
people, content creators. And I have also got different
countries to watch me, countries just like Norway,
Dubai, Canada, Denmark. Yes, it is a privilege to me. Yes, and I have also been
able to showcase my self through sharing my life. Today, I just walk
out on the streets, and I'll get people to say
hi, I know you from YouTube. So it's an amazing platform. LADE OWOLABI: I love that I
get to discover new things. It's part of learning. But I've realized that,
especially through my lifestyle blogs, I go to the markets,
I go for one thing, and then I discover
something else. So that's one of things I love
about being a Black African YouTube creator. OWAMIE HLONGWANE:
Basically, just getting to learn more about
other people's cultures because we're very diverse. Yes, we're Black. Yes, we're African. But we have got so many
different cultures within ours that, on YouTube, I do get
to learn from my subscribers, mainly just telling
me this and that.
And I do get to learn about
other people's cultures with-- some shock me,
but it's always good. It's always good. SIZA NDLOVU: What it means
for me to be a Black creator means that I can showcase
how beautiful marriage is, especially young Black love. LINDIWE RASEKOALA:
As an African, I talk about things
that are generally seen as taboo, especially
as a Black African woman. And I realized this when
majority of my audience isn't even South African. It's actually in the United
States and the United Kingdom. DINEO DUBE: As a Black
female, we're not always given the platform
to express ourselves and to express our emotions. And for me, YouTube has
become that platform. I get to create content
that not only I resonate with but content that my
community can resonate with, content that speaks
to my community. And I feel as though
I'm able to be a beacon of hope for
another Black girl to see that it is OK to take up space. THATO RAMPEDI: And we
are showing other kids that you can go into
digital content creation.
You can become a
digital entrepreneur. Doing YouTube can be fun. And if you work really
hard, you can monetize. So it's the fact
that we're a new age. It's not a lot of us doing it. And we're inspiring and showing
other kids that it's possible. MARK ANGEL: I am a
Black YouTube creator. And Black is not a color. Black is attitude. Black means strength. Black means perseverance. Black means patience. Black is beautiful. And I'm proud to be Black. And I love being an
African, Black creator. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Hi, Dodos. How are you? DODOS UVIEGHARA: Hi, Addy. I'm great. Nice to see you. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Good
to see you, too.
Thanks for joining us. Where are you joining us from? DODOS UVIEGHARA: Thank
you for having me. I'm joining from
Zanzibar, Tanzania. ADDY AWOFISAYO:
For those who don't know you, tell us your
name and where you're from. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Hi, my
name is Dodos Uvieghara, a beauty and lifestyle
creator from Lagos, Nigeria. And I've been on YouTube for
about five years now or more. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice, nice. So tell us maybe a little
bit more about your channel.
DODOS UVIEGHARA:
So on my channel, I create beauty videos, from
makeup tutorials to skin care routines, and travel
vlogs, lifestyle vlog, and just anything that I find
exciting at a particular time. And I started my
channel from really a place to really connect
to a wider audience, and to share things,
and the tricks that worked for me over the years
with every single person because I had a blog
prior to YouTube. But YouTube gave me a
much more bigger platform to really put out my voice
to the rest of the world. And it's been amazing
since I joined YouTube. Ups and downs,
but great overall. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Amazing. Well, congratulations
on 100,000 subscribers. Yay. Tell us what that means to you. DODOS UVIEGHARA:
It means so much because I've imagined this
moment for a very long time, for years now.
It's such a pivotal
time and just a pivotal place for
my channel and for me. So I'm super excited that
finally, 100,000 views. And it just seems like
from 100,000 views, it just keeps going up. So I'm so excited. I'm already celebrating 500K. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Amazing. All right. Let's unbox. Where is it? Where's your button? DODOS UVIEGHARA: She is here. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Yay. She came all the way with
me to Tanzania from Nigeria. Oh, my goodness. This is huge. Why did I think it was
going to be smaller? Oh, my god. Wow. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Yay. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Congratulations. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Yay! Thank you. Oh, my goodness. Wow. This is fancy. There's a mirror. It's lovely. So fancy. I can do my makeup with this. Would that be me doing
the most if I do my makeup with my play button? ADDY AWOFISAYO: Do
whatever you want, girl.
DODOS UVIEGHARA:
Oh, my goodness. I'm so, so excited. This is amazing. Thank you, YouTube. Oh, my goodness. You guys rock. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Thank
you so much, Dodos. I'm so happy for you. So proud of you, and
I wish you many more continued success on YouTube. Congratulations. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Yay. Thank you. Oh, my god. It's been amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you, YouTube. Yay. FIREBOY: Hi.
Fireboy DML here. I'm excited to perform
for the first time "Shade" for the Africa Creator
Week Celebration. AKAH NNANI: That performance,
Thank you, Fireboy. You're repping a whole new
wave of Nigerian and African talents. I would love to see it. I'm sad to say we're almost
coming to the end of the Africa Creator Week Celebration. But before we wrap
up, we're going to see our final performances
from the Dream Catchers dance troupe, Niniola, and Sauti Sol.
We've heard from so many
creators over the last hour, and I know that these creators
are only a small selection of the entire community. It's impossible to choose
one favorite African YouTube creator, especially as
everyone has a unique flavor. But let's hear from a few
creators about their favs. Wait, before you
go, before you go, I got to say big shoutout to
from the internet. (YELLING) I love you! DINEO DUBE: My favorite
Black African content creator is none other than
Mihlali Ndamase. THATO RAMPEDI: The
team at Defining, which consists of Dennis
Ngango, Noma, and Bongani-- they create amazing videos. DINEO DUBE: Mihlali
has literally broken so many glass ceilings. NYACHIO: Mark Angel
because of their comedy. Yes, I think that
would sum it up. Yeah, it's very fun,
very relatable content. OWAMIE HLONGWANE:
Definitely I have to say it's Thenjiwe Comedy. Now, number one,
obviously, that's because she makes us laugh.
ALEX MATHENGE: Kalybos, the only
boss with one S, from Ghana. Yeah, I like him so much. OWAMIE HLONGWANE:
She has managed to get over 100,000 subscribers. And she uses Zulu. NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER:
this is a guy who loves eating. Very talented young man. TOMI ADENUGA: Dimma Umeh,
Jennie Jenkins, Jackie Aina, SisiYemmie. Oh, my goodness. AMEYAW DEBRAH: Wode Maya. I like the fact that
he projects a lot of positive things from
Ghana and the rest of Africa. LADE OWOLABI: Lade Owolabi. You should totally
check her out. She makes videos about
faith and lifestyle. AMEYAW DEBRAH: He interviews
people doing amazing things. LADE OWOLABI: And
guess who Lade is? I am. I am Lade. BENSOUL: I think Crazy Kennar. The guy has been cracking me up. Africans are funny. GINA EHIKODI OJO:
Moi, Gina Ehikodi, and all the beautiful
African creators out there.
NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: Yo,
what else can you ask for? Keeping it African. Keeping it real. Keeping it Black. NINIOLA: Hi, it's your girl, Niniola. And my favorite dance
group, the Dream Catchers, will be dancing to
two of my songs--
"Designer," and "Look Like Me." SPEAKER 5: Ladies and gentlemen,
it's the Dream Catchers. Come on. Let's go. SPEAKER 6: Dream
Catchers Academy is a free educational and
performing arts academy for the sad and orphaned girls. We love to dance, sing, and act. ALL: Thank you. We are the Dream
Catchers Academy. ROSINA SHARON: For me, being
a Black African creator means pride.
It means beauty. It means culture. It means being unapologetically
and proudly African. BENSOUL: Africa. To me, Africa is rich. Africa is pure. Africa, the now
Africa, is liberated. Yeah? And that's why many Black
African content creators are expressing themselves
and with no fear, with mind awakeness. That means Africa is woke. SIMZ RIGHT: What I love about
being a Black African content creator is that we now
have the platform to share our stories ourselves our way. We can break these
misconceptions that are out there about us. NEO RAPETSOA: Being
an African YouTuber comes with such a great task
and such a great responsibility because not only are you now
setting trends and showing people that it's OK
to express yourself, it's OK to show Africa. It's OK to show yourself. It's OK to celebrate
your culture. It's OK to be proud
of who you are. GINA EHIKODI OJO: As a
Black and African creator, it means originality
and being real.
I'm able to showcase
a lot of recipes from my grandma, my mother,
and all the women around me. African recipes are very
original and organic, so I really love to share
these beautiful food stories with everybody watching. ERIC OKAFOR: What it means
for me as a Black African creator is being able to
tell a tech related story from this part of the world. It is something that not a
lot of people do in general. People that are watching this,
if you're interested in tech and you are Black,
you can do this.
I did it with a smartphone. You can do it with a camera. You can do it with any
device that you have on hand. And I promise you
that the journey will get better along the way. ROSINA SHARON: We have very
different, beautiful, beautiful culture in Africa. And if we don't showcase
that to the world, who else is going to do it? We are the ones that
tell that story. We are the ones to bring
this information to the world and show them how beautiful,
how marvelous it is to be us. NEO RAPETSOA: Making
sure that whether I'm doing a playlist, whether
I'm doing a story time, a vlog, a get to
know me, anything that it is that I am doing
on YouTube that it is fun. It is relatable.
But most importantly,
it is not only my story. But it is a story that many
people can find themselves in. That is my favorite
thing about being an African content creator and
a content creator in Africa. SIMZ RIGHT: I'm coming to you
from Soweto, in a backroom. And I am literally
reaching a lot of people. Anything is possible. If you dream it,
you can achieve it.
That's how amazing YouTube is. That's how am-- GINA EHIKODI OJO: Being
African is so fun. We are very cool people. We are colorful. Yeah. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Everything
about us is exciting, our taste in music,
our taste in dances. TITO MADU IBELEME: Our
fabrics, our African prints. SIMZ RIGHT: We have diverse
nations, rich cultures. Don't get me
started on the food. TOMI ADENUGA: There's culture.
There's family. I've been to a Nigerian wedding. I love the Africanness in those. TITO MADU IBELEME: We
have different cultures, different tribes, different
dialects, different languages. NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: The
best part about being African is our culture. It's our heritage. It's our history. It's where we're coming
from and where we are headed as a country, as a continent. LASIZWE DAMBUZA:
Our time is now. Everyone is looking to Africa
for the next big thing. AMEYAW DEBRAH: The
world is watching. Our music is growing. Our art is traveling. And so it's really, really
exciting to be African, particularly in these times. ALEX OKOSI: Wow,
what an amazing show. Seeing the creativity
of our African creators is so beautiful to
celebrate and watch. I don't know which
part of the show was my favorite part, whether
it's the artists' performances, or the dance showcases,
or just seeing the diversity of our creators.
Just incredible. For those that don't know
me, my name is Alex Okosi. I'm the managing director
for emerging markets here at YouTube EMEA. And as Cecile said at
the top of the show, we are so committed
to making sure that our African creators
are thriving on the platform. Whether it be through us
hosting this Africa Creator Week or through our
Black Voices Fund, our purpose is to
really make sure that you are showcasing
your best stuff and that you have access to
the best stuff on our platform, that you're able to
really, really do well on this platform. Again, such an incredible show. Akah, thank you so much
for being an amazing host and bringing all of
yourself to YouTube. I am so proud of you and all our
creators for the amazing work that you do on this platform. Until next time, I look
forward to seeing all of you. AKAH NNANI: What a brilliant
way to end the show.
I wish I had the Dream Catchers'
moves and their energy. And Suzanna, if you're
there, remember, somebody who loves you, OK? And keep shaking what
your doctor gave you. That brings us to
the end of the show. Thank you so much for tuning
in, #YouTubeBlack Africa Creator Week Celebration. I want to let you
all know we love you. It's truly inspiring to see the
remarkable creativity in Africa and the unbelievable amount
of diverse content on YouTube. And it would not be possible
without every single one of you. Thank you for your overwhelming
support throughout the show, and thank you to everyone
who shared their content and stories. And I can't wait to watch your
new videos on your channel. It's a wrap, my people. Peace out! .
African instruments here
https://howtoplaythedjembedrums.com/a-celebration-of-african-creators-and-creativity-africa-creator-week/