While AfroFuture will be a two-day music festival, it also plans to be a two-week celebration of Black unification

AfroFuture Festival

AfroFuture Festival BURAK CINGI/REDFERNS; PARAS GRIFFIN/GETTY IMAGES/BET; RUNE HELLESTAD/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES

AFROFUTURE WILL BE drawing the members and lovers of the African diaspora back to Accra, Ghana, on December 28 and 29, with Afrobeats superstar Davido, UK rapper J Hus, and Ghanaian MC Black Sherif as headliners, the festival exclusively announces via Rolling Stone today. Launched in 2017 and known as Afrochella until this year, AfroFuture had acts like Burna Boy, Asake, Ayra Starr, and Fireboy DML lead its lineup last winter.

The month of December is popular for travel to and celebration in West Africa, colloquially called “Detty December.” With activations across art, fashion, and food, AfroFuture’s guiding theme this year is “Black Unification & Pan Africanism.” Starting December 18, the festival also plans to host a two-week expo of wellness sessions, screenings, and panel discussions, an entrepreneurial pitch competition in partnership with Pharrell Williams’ non-profit Black Ambition, a film competition, and a community service day.

“AfroFuture has always been more than just a festival; it’s a full-circle celebration of everything African – our culture, our people, our talents, and serves as a platform for us to appreciate and acknowledge the larger contributions we make in the world,” co-founder and CEO Abdul Karim Abdullah said in a statement.

This year, Davido, a stalwart of Nigerian pop, released his fourth album, Timeless, which leaned heavily on amapiano fusions and spawned the hit “Unavailable.” J Hus, known for popularizing the UK genre Afroswing that melds hop-hop, Afrobeats, and more, also released an album this summer, Beautiful and Brutal Yard, which features “Who Told You,” a lighthearted dance song with Drake. Black Sherif has grown popular since dropping cult favorite, drill-influenced rap tracks like “Second Sermon” and “Kweku the Traveller,” which came in at Number 7 on Rolling Stone’s list of 2022’s best Afropop songs. Last week, he won the BET Hip-Hop Award for Best International Flow.