CHANCE THE RAPPER and Vic Mensa have announced the much-anticipated lineup for their Black Star Line Festival, scheduled for Accra, Ghana on Jan. 6, 2023.
The West African festival, set in the historic Black Star Square, boasts a star-studded line-up that features talents representing the rap/hip-hop genre. Headlining the concert alongside CHANCE THE RAPPER and Vic Mensa are rap heavyweights T-Pain, Sarkodie, M.anifest, Asakaa Boys, Vic Mensa, Tobe Nwigwe, Jeremih, Erykah Badu, and more.
CHANCE and Mensa announced the festival last summer after spending several weeks in Ghana with eight Chicago students they brought there to learn about their roots in an experiential setting. It was the couple’s second trip there this year. The music and arts festival aims to connect Black artists from around the world with the continent of Africa.
The festival’s name was inspired by Marcus Garvey’s iconic Black Star Line speech. The line, founded in 1919 and run by Black people, connected America, the Caribbean, and Africa to global shipping and tourism opportunities. In homage to Garvey, the Ghanian government launched their fleet with the same name nearly 40 years later.
“When Vic and I started our careers and started touring, we did shows all over the U.S.,” Chance said in a statement captured by Rollingstone back in July. “Eventually we started touring in Europe, we did shows in Asia, South America, Central America, but we never had a chance to play our music for the people who support us the most. 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.”
“Everything we’re doing is with the goal of uniting and building a bridge between black people of the diaspora and the globe, with the continent,” Mensa said in a statement. “And Ghana is the gateway to all of that.”
Tickets are available from Monday.
