Apple Music has announced DJ Cuppy, whose real name is Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola, as host of its first radio show.
The streaming platform announced yesterday that “Africa Now Radio with Cuppy” will make its debut on Sunday and will feature a mix of contemporary and traditional popular African sounds, including genres like Amapiano, Afrobeats, highlife, alte, house, hip-hop, Afrobongo or kuduro and more. Listeners will hear the latest and greatest African artistes and new forms of African popular music, which fuse traditional and contemporary sensibilities, morphing into hybridized sonic fragments connecting all corners of Africa.
Cuppy, the DJ and music producer, will host the weekly one-hour show, which will be available at 9a.m EDT “The show represents a journey from West to East and North to South, but importantly a narrative of Africa then to Africa now,” Cuppy said.
African music and artistes have found success outside of the continent and onto the pop charts in both the US and UK in recent years. Acts like Drake and Beyoncé have borrowed the sound for their own songs, while performers like South African DJ Black Coffee as well as Davido, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Wizkid and Mr Eazi – all with roots in Nigeria – continue to gain attention and have become household names.
Apple Music’s announcement comes the same week Universal Music Group said it was launching Def Jam Africa, a new division of the label focused on representing hip-hop, Afrobeats and trap talent in Africa. The label said it will be based in Johannesburg and Lagos but plans to sign talent from all over the continent. The deal is said to be worth seven-digit figure.
