Afro Nation Interview with Melody "Freshhh" | 105.9 KISS FM
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00:00all right it's 105.9 kiss fm number one for smooth army and old school in the d
00:04and of course i've got some big folks in the building today i'm really excited because
00:09afro nation was a huge big deal right and now in 2024 we are the only u.s stop in detroit
00:17and they are back this summer so i want to introduce to the public of course one of the
00:22event organizers himself josh and her project manager ladon what up though what up though
00:28welcome to the d welcome back to the d so let's talk afro nation 2024 well actually
00:35let's take it a step back 2023 afro nation came to detroit let's just go over let's gloss over
00:41that success it was amazing you know we had uh 15 000 people across the weekend wow um embrace the
00:48sound uh embrace the culture the food the dance it was really heavy on the food heavy on the very
00:54very very very special do you know i mean uh we had burner boy and davido headline um we had
01:00um a welcome party as well um we had a motown special at the end so it was really such a community
01:06kind of like event and festival and it was amazing and we're back again yes and detroit is the only u.s
01:12stop let's talk about that how did that even come up i know the other states is mad the cities is mad
01:17like how are we how did we get the top pick well to be honest man like detroit is just such a special
01:22place um as i've said this has become like a second home for me uh the organizers were felt
01:28so connected also to the city um the home of techno gospel motown r&b afrobeats is such a big thing for
01:37us we are the best at what we do and that so bringing that here as well and um allowing the
01:43community to embrace that as well is something special i love that this is so exciting afro nation
01:492024 who is on the lineup this year okay so we've got you know some big hitters yeah so we've got
01:57little wayne uh we've got remma uh we've got a shakie we've got shenzia bringing that dance hall
02:03vibe as well yeah we've got a party next door and i can't forget that i'm a piano so we've got some of
02:07the biggest acts out of south africa be it scorpion kings and uncle waffles i love it and we also got
02:13cash dial you know loco detroit yeah yeah we got we got to put cash dial in there now one different
02:20thing i know that is happening this year let's talk about the i'm a piano stage yeah did i say it
02:24right yes okay fabulous sorry keep going so let me just give a context to what i'm a piano is for
02:28anyone who doesn't know yeah um it's a mixture of house music electronic music uh mixed with african
02:34rhythms um and there's this there's this sound called the log drum when it hits your body just has
02:40to move yes your body has to move it takes complete control uh so we've got the it's actually called
02:45the piano people stage okay and there is literally all strictly i'm a piano music uh we'll have some
02:50of the biggest names out from south africa here um uncle waffles and scorpion kings these are like
02:55the gods yes in this genre so it's going to be something special gee i don't know if you've got
02:59anything else i mean that's it i mean it's like it's the the sound is just a sound thing it's something
03:04that makes your body you know um move in a way where it's like you don't even know like oh what am i
03:09doing i don't even know what i'm doing but right i gotta move so it's it's it's a it's a thing where
03:13it's like on my piano stage sometimes it draws a lot of crowd where it's like you're looking at
03:18that stage like i don't know what's going on over there but i want to go over there but i like it
03:21yeah i want to add something as well yeah that crowd and those people they are loyal yeah they do
03:27not move they don't right they don't move to the main stage yeah they are there from start to finish
03:34last year last year like it was it was a crowd right they stayed in the same spot for probably
03:40at least about six seven hours and they didn't go to the main stage like because all they were all
03:45they cared about was that i'm a piano stage so these are dj acts they would rather listen to dj acts
03:49than actually go see people see the artists yeah but it's about the beat is you you feel it in your
03:55bones i love that and that's another thing that we have to remind people about too especially if this
04:00is your first time this is a festival like lead the heels at home come comfortable we're outside
04:06we're in the elements and we are grooving all day so you know you don't want to be uncomfortable
04:10you don't want to have to make a stop or nothing you know you want to come hang out all day and feel
04:15that groove all day long there is something for everybody yeah into your hip-hop we've got that for
04:20you yeah you know if you're into i'm a piano we've got that for you if you want your core afro beats
04:24we've got that for you want your reggae and your dancehall your caribbean vibe we've got that for you
04:29so come and enjoy this experience i love that i'm really excited it's just gonna be a really
04:34pretty much a great look are there any tickets left at this point we're already in june like
04:38listen tickets are flying but you can get your tickets at detroit.afronation.com
04:43follow us also on socials at afronation.us to find out more information about the festival
04:49absolutely don't wait last minute to get your tickets man please don't wait last minute because
04:53tickets are gonna go up for sure people were going crazy for tickets the day of last year i remember
04:57seen it all on my timeline does anybody had tickets anybody just get them ahead of time please don't
05:02wait till it's too late you don't want to do that i love that so what's different this year uh if
05:09somebody came this year i'm sorry if somebody came last year what would be different this year that
05:13they can look forward to so last year we had um lead up events which was also cool i think for us
05:20bringing this festival and it being a new experience we had to kind of like tell the story
05:24yeah um to the later foundations yeah later foundations uh this year it's literally just
05:29going to be the festival it's bigger we've got much much bigger racks on it this year so we're
05:33literally all focus will be towards the festival and we will have some road to detroit kind of like
05:39activations going on as well absolutely and also like um this is the only u.s um stop you know
05:46for afronation last year you know it was miami then it was detroit but this year's this is the only
05:52stop so that's also a big difference this year absolutely is it going to be in the same spot
05:57yep same place douglas set awesome i love that so now on the back end let's just talk you know
06:04a little business like with organizing an event of this magnitude was it easier the second go around
06:10i think when the foundations have been laid it's always a little bit easier yeah you know first year
06:16you're just kind of like figuring it out as you go along but i think we've got great partners in
06:20bedrock who have helped us obviously figure this out and we continue to just be great in what we do
06:26absolutely shout out to bedrock man what about you ladon doing you know project management side how's
06:32it going on your end stressful listen come on give me the real i mean it's stressful man like it's
06:38it's never easy like we're talking about 15 20 000 people uh it's never easy it's also uh understanding
06:44how uh different uh barriers work you know um they're five hours ahead of us so you know i'm sure
06:51i'm sure we understand how it is working in a different time zone so like sometimes at 7 a.m i'm
06:57i'm up you know um having phone calls and talking about different things i gotta chase acts around i
07:03gotta do a whole lot of different things that like you know that uh you have to be you have to have that
07:08composure while you're doing it yeah and also just listen to the beat of your own drum so uh this is
07:13uh it's never easy on my side right but like you said the foundation when the foundation is laid out
07:18is a little bit more easier on the on the surface end of it but the internal side of it it's always so
07:24much work to be done so much work on that back end man like i had a conversation earlier with somebody
07:30else that does events and you know we laughed because you don't realize how much work people on the
07:36outside i don't realize how much tedious steps it takes to put on an event it just looks like oh we
07:43made a flyer and we booked somebody and everybody comes no no no it's not that easy at all it's so
07:49much but it's so worth it to see because afro nation was a beautiful beautiful look um it's an amazing
07:56festival period but it was such a great look in my city i'll say that just to see everybody you know
08:01what i mean like it was a vibe like even even if you were trying to hate on the outside of the club
08:06it was a vibe on outside of the club you know what i mean like it it really i feel like it was a game
08:11changer event so i'm so proud of you guys i'm so happy to see what you're doing i applaud what you're
08:16doing uh what about the future what do you guys have coming up after this festival here wow so after
08:21this festival here we're literally gonna spread this across the continent so we'll do stuff in africa
08:26we'll definitely come back to detroit um our flagship show is in portugal uh which is in three
08:32weeks we're expecting over 35 000 people for that beautiful so that's going to be insane it's on a
08:37beautiful flagship beach so literally we just want to continue to spread this afrobeats
08:43movement this sound through the music the food the culture the dance the clothing and literally
08:51for everyone to be proud from where you're from yes that's all this is about yeah knowing where
08:56you're from being proudly african and spreading this to the world because afrobeats right now
09:02it's pop culture it's global you have so many acts from north america you know tapping in with
09:09acts from africa doing collaboration so it's only going to get bigger and better i love that bigger
09:14and better is on the way and we're doing it this year afro nation 2024 josh thank you so much
09:21ladon thank y'all so much where can people get those tickets let me get the link one more time
09:25detroit.afronation.com get your tickets there and follow us on socials at afronation.us
09:31for all information on the festival and only there only there don't don't don't get nothing from
09:37pookie and them just just get them straight from the source please from day day and the kids yeah
09:42don't don't do it don't don't do it do not get scared shout out to you mel appreciate you so much
09:47always thank you guys
09:48you
09:50you
09:51you
09:53you
09:55you
09:57you
09:59you