South African, Grammy Award-winning producer and DJ Black Coffee was one of the speakers at the 10th anniversary edition of BoF Voices.
Black Coffee shared insights on his personal journey to becoming one of the world’s most in-demand electronic DJs at the prestigious event, held at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
At BoF Voices Black Coffee joined BoF founder Imran Amed to discuss a powerful truth, the world still underestimates Africa.
“The biggest lie about the continent is how we are made to be seen. Just the continent of Africa, if you look at the globe, it’s made smaller but it’s bigger than what it actually is. I’m not even talking about its talent, its taste, its fashion, its music, its culture. I’m just talking about how the entire continent is made to look.”
Black Coffee during the discussion said he’s one of the African continent’s “few exports,” to the rest of the world.
“We have to work 10 times harder, you know. We don’t have opportunity.We have the talent, we have, and this is across the board, not just in music, in everything that we do.
“Africa is a very, it’s a $31 billion industry today, projected to be $50 billion by 2030. But still, we import more than we export. I’m one of the few exports of the continent.”
Black Coffee’s insights have opened up a discussion, with some agreeing with his sentiments, which come at a time when the world’s attention is on Africa.
The international DJ continues to make power moves; he was recently named ‘Billboard African Power Player of the Year’ and used his acceptance speech to urge people to back the dreams of children.
“I want to say to everyone in this room, if you have a child who wants to pursue music, even if it’s unclear, even if you’re not sure how far it’s going to go.
“Even if your child says they want to be an astronaut, and you think, ‘How possible is that in Africa?’ Support. We need to be there for each other, we need to encourage each other more,” he added.
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