Party No Dey Stop: A Guide to Traveling Afrobeats Parties Around the U.S.

In the summer of 2021, parties across the globe kept running back the sultry Afrobeats track “Essence” by Wizkid, featuring Tems. Tunji Balogun, who guided Wizkid’s career during his previous post as executive vp of A&R at RCA before he left to become CEO of Def Jam, told Billboard at the time that the song became “emblematic of being back outside” after the pandemic and noticed significant streaming boosts every Saturday as more parties took place. After Justin Bieber hopped on the official remix, “Essence” became a global anthem — reaching No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, topping Rolling Stone‘s 50 best songs of 2021 list and earning a Grammy nomination for best global music performance — and opened up the doors for more African songs to also travel far and wide from their native continent.

Fast forward two years later, Rema‘s easygoing Afro-rave song “Calm Down,” assisted by a remix from Selena Gomez, has entered the 2023 song of the summer debate not only because of its vibe, but also because of its commercial success. The song has topped multiple Billboard charts like U.S. Afrobeats Songs, Pop Airplay, Rhythmic Airplay and Global Excl. U.S., while peaking at No. 3 on the Hot 100 — becoming the highest-charting hit from an Afrobeats lead artist in the chart’s 65-year history. “Listeners want to know what more is coming from Nigeria, what more is coming from Africa,” Rema told Billboard earlier this year.

And U.S.-based party series have further piqued the casual Afrobeats listener’s curiosity about the music. “They get the vibe of, ‘Oh, this is a party based around the music I recently discovered? I’mma pull up,'” said Asante, who founded the Jerk x Jollof party series in Detroit nearly a decade ago. “We take that as, ‘Yo, the music is spreading. And not only is it spreading, but it’s resonating in a way where people that may not be from the culture are actively seeking places to enjoy it.”

While these parties have now become grounds for discovery, they’ve long stood as safe havens for members of the African diaspora, who grew up in the States ridiculed for their strange-sounding names, foreign foods and incomprehensible music tastes. Outside of Detty December — the time of year when Nigerians flock back to Lagos for one big celebration, largely centered around music — these parties provide generations of African immigrants with a chance to feel like they’re back home even when they’re thousands of miles away.

“It’s really helping that ultimate dream that we all have of repatriation, people going back to Africa. Whether they’re not going back to Africa physically, they’re going back musically,” said Jason Panton, founder, DJ and creative director of the Miami-based party series, The Shrine. “Who would’ve thought that people would be saying Yoruba and Igbo words in songs, and this was the language that they took from us, those of us who came from the western side of the continent. This is the language they fought to remove from us. And now we’re singing, ‘I need Igbo and Shayo!'”

Billboard is highlighting some of the biggest parties in the U.S. that are focused on bringing all types of people together through African music and are instrumental in making Afrobeats (and related genres) cross over to the States.