Kendrick Lamar collabs with Global Citizen on Africa tour circuit

The Future. Global Citizen and pgLang, the creative firm founded by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free, are joining forces to make Africa the next music-touring hotspot, starting with a Lamar-fronted festival in Rwanda next month. Considering Africa’s growing entertainment industry and the rising popularity of Afrobeats, live music could break even more records in the coming years by making the underserved continent a regular stop on global tours.

Continent investment
Kendrick Lamar is ready to rock Rwanda with the help of Global Citizen.

• pgLang and Global Citizen have entered a five-year partnership to establish a touring circuit across the African continent.
• Lamar and Free will curate the festival’s music, design, broadcast, and marketing.
• Global Citizen’s hope is the tour circuit will help create sustainable jobs and build touring infrastructure — goals that lift people out of poverty and ensure more artists stop in Africa.

“Move Afrika: Rwanda” on December 6th at the BK Arena in Kigali will kick off the project, which will be headlined by Lamar and feature performances by local artists. The show will be paired with a campaign to highlight issues affecting the country, including food insecurity and healthcare shortages. Unfortunately, this year’s concert won’t be livestreamed globally — only broadcast live across Africa.

Global Citizen struck a deal with Rwanda’s government to have the festival there for the next five years. And by 2025, Move Afrika will expand to four more countries.