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Tonderai Zvimba, Showbiz Reporter
POPULAR Nigerian singer, Mr Eazi, who performed at Ammara Brown’s “Ammartia Ignite” concert in Harare last weekend, wants to give 10 budding Zimbabwean musicians $30 000 which will be used for the recording of their music videos.

Posting on his Twitter account, the “Leg Over” hit-maker who is now back in Nigeria, said people should recommend names of the artistes whom he must work with.

“I’m picking 10 emerging artistes from Zimbabwe and I’ll be funding videos for all 10 and also providing $30 000 marketing money to support their videos!

“If you know a talented girl or guy, please get them to enter,” he tweeted.

Mr Eazi is working with emPawa, an organisation whose mission is to grow independent emerging talented African artistes to become global superstars.

Together, they want to empower 100 emerging artistes from all over Africa. Other countries include Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya and Uganda.

The emerging artistes, according to Mr Eazi, will have to showcase their talent by uploading 30-second music video clips on Instagram with the caption #emPawa100 and tag @empawafrica before December 15. After the submissions, Mr Eazi and other industry experts will select the top 100 entries who will receive $3 000 each. This $3 000 will be used to produce a music video.

Once the music videos are shot, another round of judging will commence and from the 100 artistes, 10 musicians will get the opportunity to fly to South Africa for a three-week master class with Mr Eazi, popstar Raye and renowned producer Diplo. While in South Africa, the 10 artistes will also record a song in a state-of-the-art studio as well as shoot a professional music video.

Also, from the final 10, Mr Eazi will select two artistes who he will perform with at the Ghana Party in the Park in London next year.

This initiative by Mr Eazi has been embraced by the local arts fraternity with numerous local artistes being recommended such as Cal_Vin, ExQ, Hillzy, Adrian Tate, Enzo Ishall, Tamy Moyo, Takura, Guluva 7 and Asaph.

In recent times, local artistes have expressed interest in recording quality videos with the hope of having them marketed and played on international music channels. The lack of finance has been the major challenge so Eazi’s gesture came at the right time. — @Sxoop_Kyu.