Cardi B performed on the continent of Africa for the first time at the LiveSpot X Festival in Nigeria and Ghana on the 7th and 8th of December 2019.

She was open to completely immersing herself into the culture while in Nigeria as she expressed on her social media that she wanted to experience the real Nigeria and didn’t want to eat hotel food but wanted real Nigerian food. Cardi really got out and filled her time in Nigeria ( Cardi B in Africa) with lots of adventures in little time, from going to an orphanage, doing a press run and even went to a strip club.

In true Cardi B fashion, she took her followers along for the ride by documenting everything on social media. But aside from what is the Cardi B norm of sharing her experiences online, she also was sure to promote the show she was headlining.

This led to an interesting topic for discussion that we can’t gloss over. With the way Cardi B promoted her gig and experience of Nigeria ( Cardi B in Africa) all over her socials, do our African artists need to take a page out of her book?

The level of humility and openness that Cardi exhibited during this trip has been leaving many people speechless and there’s no doubt it has expanded her fan base across the country and continent.

We have a lot of artists across the continent that show a lack of regard and huge unwillingness to promote shows that they are headlining both at home and abroad.

There have been incidents of artists having cancelled shows because of low ticket sales and as they walk away unbothered because they have already been paid, it is the promoter that is at a loss in the end.

Now, we already know and understand that this isn’t an issue that is synonymous only with African artists as there is nothing new under the sun and we’re sure that other artists from other countries across the world have their issues, but when an American artist of Cardi B’s status can come to Nigeria and come face to face with the natives and embrace the culture around her and promote the show she is headlining as if it is her personal project, you have to question why our African artists can’t do the same.

We will also make it clear that we don’t know the details of the agreement that is between Cardi B and the organisers of the concert but the energy she exuded from the moment she set off on her private jet from the states to Nigeria was evidence that she was enthusiastic about being a part of the concert. ( Cardi B in Africa)

As amazing as it is to witness, it is very disheartening to think that a lot of our very own African artists exhibit so much pride and ego when the time comes for them to promote shows that they are headlining.

Tickets will be released and the promoters and the street team have plastered flyers and posters all over the roads and on social media but we won’t hear a word from the artists we’re expectant to see perform until maybe a few days before the performance.

We have seen evidence in recent times of how just by simply engaging on social media, a concert, festival or musical experience can garner enough buzz to be the talk of not only the town but the country.

Recently Singer Teni Makanaki took to Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos dressed as Father Christmas carrying a megaphone to announce her show “The Billionaire Experience” which will be taking place in the coming weeks. A good example of how as an artist, you have to take grab your career by the horns and do whatever it takes to secure your daily bread.

Another great example is comedian Warri Pikin who constantly promoted her appearance at the recent AY Live Show in London on her social media. There were a lot of people that bought tickets based solely on the fact that they had seen her promoting it.

The promotion of a show can’t be down to the promoter alone, at least not in these days of social media and technological advancement when just by taking a picture or making a video you can blast a message to hundreds of thousands even millions of people at once no matter where they are in the world.

Yes, the promoter has a responsibility to ensure the smooth running of a show on all fronts but as an artist if you’re not willing to use your influence and drawing power to spread the message of your tours and performances further and wider, then you need to be willing to part with the necessary funds for the right people to help you pass the message across.

The fact remains that if you were working a 9 to 5, no one would have to beg you to get up to go to work every morning and do what is necessary to deliver top performance to ensure you get your monthly salary.

It seems there are a lot of artists that are only concerned with protecting their own investments and not looking at the bigger picture of how their investment of themselves can advance their career and the music industry.

This seems to be the only logical reason that you would find an artist promoting the album launch of artists under their label or the show of their friend and keeping mute with regards to their own concert or the cancellation of it.

It’s as if the general consensus is that since the promoter is footing the bill and the artists get paid regardless of the turn out or outcome of the show, the artists don’t concern themselves with self-promotion. If the artists were fitting the bill for their full productions they wouldn’t look at it as the promoters show or as if they are doing someone a favour, rather they would regard it as their own.

Maybe there needs to be promoter contracts in place where the promoter holds a fraction of the agreed fee and sets a criteria for what would be a successful endeavour and if the agreement doesn’t meet the criteria or if the show doesn’t hold, they keep the fee. That way we won’t have promoters out here constantly at a loss.

Don’t get us wrong, there are some great artists out there positioning themselves to be in close proximity to their fans and showing that they are still in touch with humanity regardless of how much they’ve blown, but there’s still a long way to go.

What Cardi B exhibited was a real example for our African artists to emulate, at least its not only when you buy a Bentley that we won’t hear word again on our social media.

It would be better for us to say “e don do” when we constantly see your promotional flyer coming across our timeline and Insta stories everyday than to hear of more cancelled shows by artists who are capable of selling out certain venues or to be left waiting for hours before you step on stage because you don’t want to come out to an empty crowd.