The #emPawa30 will include 10 artists from Nigeria; 10 artists from other countries on the African continent; and five U.K.-based African artists, with the remaining five spots open to African-born artists in countries around the world, including the U.S. and Canada.

YouTube Music is partnering with emPawa Africa to provide support for the 10 Nigerian artists in the #emPawa30 cohort, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, Lyor Cohen, announced during a fireside chat with Mr Eazi at last month’s Google for Nigeria Week.

Once selected, each #emPawa30 artist will be assigned an individual mentor and video director, with whom they will work directly throughout the seven-month mentorship program. Mentors will include Diplo, afrobeats producers E. Kelly, Juls and GuiltyBeatz, South African rapper Kwesta, Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie, Tanzanian music superstar Diamond Platnumz, afrobeats veteran DJ Neptune and executives from the African music industry, along with Mr Eazi himself. The videos will be filmed in October and rolled out across six weeks starting Nov. 1.

The 10 artists from this cohort who display the most promise will be flown to a two-week masterclass in January, where they will receive business, marketing and production training while working with mentors in a state-of-the-art recording studio. Four artists will receive additional funding to cover management, marketing and legal fees throughout 2020, as well as to record new music and create additional videos.

After listing Camidoh as one of the 10 underrated and underappreciated musicians in Ghana, it is great to see him get the support to push his craft to the top.

10 underrated and underappreciated Ghanaian musicians in 2019