E
PIC RECORDS CHAIRMAN/
CEO Sylvia Rhone will make his-
tory as the first African American
woman to receive the Spirit of
Life Award from medical research founda-
tion City of Hope at its annual gala, set for
Oct. 10. Rhone follows 2018 recipient Jon
Platt, now chairman/CEO of Sony/ATV
Music Publishing, joining a lineage of hon-
orees that also includes industry legends
Mo Ostin, Clive Davis and Quincy Jones.
Stars and industry leaders alike will
gather to celebrate the executive at the
Barker Hangar in Santa
Monica, Calif. Alicia
Keys and Sara Bareilles
will sing a special duet,
and Yolanda Adams —
whose career Rhone
helped launch while
in charge of Elektra
Records in the 1990s — will perform hits
from her gospel repertoire. Former U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder will present
Rhone with the prestigious award.
Rhone began her trailblazing career as
a secretary for Buddah Records in New
York in 1974, and later rose in the ranks
at Atlantic Records, where she was ele-
vated to senior vp/GM in 1986, working
with acts like En Vogue and Brandy. In
1994, she was named chairman/CEO of
Warner Music Group’s Elektra Entertain-
ment Group, making her the first African
American woman to hold the top title
at a major record company. Rhone then
served as president of Universal Motown
Records before arriving at Epic, where
she was named president in 2014 and
promoted to chairman/CEO this April.
At Epic, she helped revitalize the label’s
pop and hip-hop roster with Future, Fifth
Harmony, Travis Scott and 21 Savage,
among others.
The gala honoring Rhone’s career
doubles as a fundraiser for City of Hope,
a research and treatment center for can-
cer, diabetes and other life-threatening
diseases that was founded in 1913. The
organization’s Music, Film and Entertain-
ment Industry Group, established in 1973,
has raised more than $124 million alone
through its events each year.
I
N JANUARY 2016, OLUWATOSIN
Ajibade, the Nigerian-Ghanian
rapper who performs as Mr. Eazi,
released the video for his song
“Skin Tight,” featuring Efya. The romantic
visual, funded by one of his best friends, racked
up 23 million views on YouTube, paving the
way for a 2017 partnership with Apple Music
as one of its Next Up artists and more recent
collaborations with Beyoncé, Major Lazer and
Bad Bunny.
The video helped Eazi become one of
Africa’s most promising new talents. Now he
wants to help jump-start the careers of other
musicians the same way.
In July 2018, Eazi launched emPawa, an
initiative that provides music video grants
for 100 emerging artists based in or originally
from Africa. The funding covers expenses and
workshops for making a professional-level
video, with Eazi promising to promote the
final products on social media to his 700,000
Twitter and 2.8 million Instagram followers.
Artists like Diplo and such Afrobeats produc-
ers as E. Kelly, Juls and GuiltyBeatz are on
board as program mentors.
“One major thing that touched me,” says Eazi
about the program, “is seeing people in bad
positions — kicked out of their homes, not being
able to pay rent, dropping out of school — and
seeing how emPawa has rekindled their hope.”
This year, he’s expanding emPawa while
paring down the number of winners to 30
in order to offer deeper resources. The new
group will include 10 artists from Nigeria, 10
from other countries on the African conti-
nent, five U.K.-based African talents and five
African-born artists in other countries. In
July, YouTube announced a partnership with
emPawa to create additional workshops, one-
on-one sessions and A&R coaching for the 10
Nigerian winners.
“Mr. Eazi’s passion for empowering the next
generation of African talent is admirable,” says
YouTube global head of music Lyor Cohen.
“With success stories like him, Burna Boy and
Tiwa Savage being recognized and building a
massive global audience, this has generated a lot
of interest in the talent coming out of Africa.”
Each artist will work directly with an
assigned video director and mentor in a
seven-month program. Selections will be
announced on Sept. 30, videos will be filmed
in October, and the final products will be
rolled out across six weeks starting Nov. 1.
Eazi provides half of the funding, and various
corporate partners contribute the rest.
emPawa is already making a difference.
Nigerian artist Joeboy, who entered the contest
by performing an Ed Sheeran cover, used the
$3,000 funding for a video for his song “Baby.”
The clip generated 10 million views in six
months, driving the song to Apple Music’s
top 10 in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya. “I thought
getting to 1 million [views] was a long shot,” Joe-
boy tells Billboard. “It has motivated me to keep
working harder and creating more.”
All three major labels are expanding their
operations in Africa. Universal Music Group
and Warner Music Group signed multiyear
licensing deals with Boomplay, the continent’s
largest streaming platform, and formed recent
partnerships with local labels in Nigeria and
Kenya. In the past few years, Apple Music, Tidal
and Spotify all have debuted in Africa.
Eazi says he hopes emPawa will eventually
offer legal services, publishing, management
and promotional tools.
Another grant winner, Mikel, who released
his first video for “Peku” in September, says
emPawa transformed his life. “I no longer
play guitar on the streets to survive, wishing I
could be an artist,” he says. “Now I actually get
to be one.”
Cohen (left) and
Eazi in Lagos,
Nigeria, in July.
GOOD WORKS
Taking It Eazi
Mr. Eazi’s emPawa initiative is helping dozens of African
artists make their first professional music video
BY NADIA NEOPHYTOU
Sylvia Rhone
Earns City Of
Hope Honor
BY TATIANA CIRISANO
Rhone
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WU.● Longtime Billboard contributor and CMA Media Achievement Award recipient CHUCK DAUPHIN died at 45. ● Jazz pianist HAROLD MABERN, master of hard-bop and post-bop, died at 83.
24 BILLBOARD • SEPTEMBER 28, 2019