Celebrate African Music With Platoon's Billboard Live At-Home Showcase Featuring Msaki, Kwesi Arthur & More

Former Love Island contestant and ex-cop Mike Boateng has published an angry tirade against his former employer Greater Manchester Police, accusing the force and individual officers he has named of being racist.

By Variety Staff

Thanks to tough measures that included overnight curfews and restricted travel between provinces, health authorities were hopeful that African countries could avoid the worst of the coronavirus outbreaks that have ravaged Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. As of May 28, Nigeria and South Africa — two of the continent’s largest music economies — had

Demi Jones and Luke Mabbott have split after four months together, according to reports. Justin Bieber lookalike Luke, 25, and 21 year old Demi reached the final of Love Island in February, but have now called it quits.

By Tom Grater

Def Jam is going international. A little more than a half a year after launching Def Jam South East Asia, Universal Music Group announced Def Jam Africa, a new division based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Lagos, Nigeria, that will focus on "hip-hop, Afrobeats and trap talent in Africa" and report to Universal Music Sub-Saharan Africa & South Africa managing director Sipho Dlamini.

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, apparently, this is not the case for Love Island’s Ched Uzor and Jess Gale.

Today, Universal Music Group announced that it is launching Def Jam Africa, a new label division that operates within the continent to represent the best hip-hop, Afrobeats and trap talent in Africa. To start, the label will be based in Johannesburg and Lagos; the entirety of its starting roster comes from either South Africa and Nigeria.

It’s an exciting day in the local music industry today as record giant Universal Music South Africa announces that they have developed a local division of the world-famous Def Jam Recordings imprint – and it’s set to be a game-changer for African music.

Afro folk artist Bongeziwe rounds out Friday's (May 22) lineup for Billboard's Platoon Africa Artist Showcase with his emotive Billboard Live At-Home performance from Johannesburg, South Africa.Performing in his kitchen, Bongeziwe (real name Bongeziwe Mabandla) whipped up a mini-set featuring songs from his latest album iimini that he released in March.

It’s a big day for Mi Casa! The local trio are known for blending house music with a proudly South African flair and as they continue to promote their new single ‘Church Bells’, the lead single off their upcoming studio album ‘We Made It’, the group has announced a new global partnership with Afroforce1 Records, a division of Universal Music Group Africa.

< 1 min read South Africa’s Government is facing criticism from human rights groups for excluding LGBT+ refugees and asylum seekers from crucial coronavirus relief packages.

For Billboard's Platoon Africa Artist Showcase, emerging singer-songwriter Msaki stunned fans with a liberating Billboard Live At-Home performance Thursday (May 21) from her home studio.

Siannise Fudge and Luke Trotman have moved into their first home together, sharing images from their flat in South West London.The Love Island stars found romance on the sixth series of the hit ITV2 show, which aired from South Africa at the start of the year.

He’s one of the biggest DJs in the world right now but DJ Black Coffee continues to ensure that the local music space is booming. Having recently raised over R500 million for Covid-19 relief, the star is now making major moves as he today announces that he has bought a major stake in Gallo Music Investments through his investment holding company FlightMode Digital.

By Jem Aswad