Apple Music has launched a new bi-monthly artist program and companion playlist named Africa Rising to identify, showcase, and elevate rising African talent.
According to Apple, Nigerian-born, Afro-fusion singer, and songwriter Omah Lay will be the maiden artist for the new program, and every two months, Africa Rising will feature an artist selected by Apple Music’s editorial team on the continent who will be promoted to music fans in Africa globally.
The program also includes a companion playlist featuring Africa Rising cover star, plus new and emerging artists across all genres from the continent.
Africa Rising is Apple Music’s latest of various initiatives aimed at promoting African talent.
Now available in 33 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the platform recently launched its new show Africa Now Radio with Cuppy and a series of ‘At Home With’ playlists exclusively curated by African artists including Simi, Fireboy DML, Sun El-Musician, Master KG and more.
Last month Apple-owned Shazam launched the Mzansi Risers playlist in South Africa.
Apple Music has also selected Nigerian Afropop star Rema as the latest artist for its global emerging artist program, Up Next, following the addition of Burna Boy to the roster last year and Mr Eazi back in 2017.
Omah’s musical journey started during his teenage years as a member of the rap group, Lil King.
A few years later he swapped performing for producing. In 2019 he released two singles Do Not Disturb and Hello Brother, both of which ended up on heavy rotation on Port Harcourt.
Omah’s debut EP Get Layd was released under indie record label KeyQaad and has been the No.1 album on Apple Music Nigeria since its release in May 2020, with all 5 songs from the EP featuring on the Nigerian Top 10 singles chart.
