After a nail-biting inaugural season, The Mic: Africa — the first music competition and docu-series TV format born in Africa — has announced its winning artist. Nigerian emcee, Fecko, took an eleventh-hour lead in the Take Back the Mic (TBTM) app charts, emerging as the show’s winner. As the leader among both fans and Celebrity Champions alike, he wins $25,000 and a VIP trip for two to Kigali, Rwanda, courtesy of the Rwanda Convention Bureau.
Founder and CEO of AMP Global Technologies, Derrick N. Ashong (“DNA”), built and launched the TBTM app in 2020 to reward consumers with ad-supported mobile data to discover and amplify the hottest new content. Derrick also created and hosted The Mic: Africa, based on his two-time Emmy finalist digital series, “The World Cup of Hip Hop.”
Fans used the Take Back the Mic (TBTM) app, available in the Google and iOS stores, to select 18 semi-finalists and finalists from six countries: Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa. Local filmmakers directed revealing artist profiles, offering an on-the-ground perspective while enabling the production teams to work around Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Six Celebrity Champions from across the diaspora also helped choose the winning artist: Hip Hop legends DJ Maseo of De La Soul, Doug E Fresh, the father of beatboxing, and trailblazing Death Row rapper, Lady of Rage, as well as newer stars on the scene, MI Abaga, the top Nigerian rapper, David Kau, South Africa’s leading standup comic, and Raja Kumari, one of India’s most popular MCs.
In addition to crowning Fecko the overall winner, fans chose Rwandan graffiti artist, Muntu 621 for a $10,000 Fan Favorite prize and Nigeria’s ChiChi Nwoko for the $15,000 filmmaker prize.
“We are so proud of Fecko, Muntu, and ChiChi for their extraordinary work,” said Ashong. “They personify the excellence emerging from the continent that we seek to amplify across the globe. We plan to work with them and the other amazing artists for years to come in establishing Africa as a hub for the best in Music, Media & Technology.”
The winning artist, Fecko, responded, “I’m honored to represent my country as the winner of the inaugural season of The Mic: Africa . . . Uplifting my community and taking my career to the next level are my top priorities right now. Africa is the future, and I’m on a mission to show the world what it means to be a Limitless African Youth.”
The Mic: Africa was distributed across the continent by Ghana’s JoyPrime TV, Rwanda’s RTV, Kenya’s CitizenTV, Mauritius’ MBC, Ethiopia’s Asham TV, Tanzania’s ETV, Guinea’s Djomo TV, and satellite broadcaster, Africa XP. Season 1 is still available for viewing at takebackthemic.com.
“We appreciate our partners for amplifying this movement,” added Ashong. “Pepsi in Mauritius, telcos Liquid Telecom, 9Mobile in Nigeria and Kenya Telkom, and our radio partners JoyFM in Ghana, the BeatFM and Naija FM in Nigeria, all helped us to reach hearts and minds across Africa and the diaspora. And this is just the beginning.”
