2023 NBA All-Star Halftime Show: The Afrobeats Takeover!
By Chris Owusu-Barfi
It was a historic night at the recently held NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND in Salt Lake City, Utah when the lineup for the halftime show had an all-Afrobeat Lineup featuring Three Nigerian musicians. This was the first time in history that a major sporting event such as the NBA had a halftime show with an African artiste involved, even though they had three of them performing. The headliner for this year’s NBA all-star halftime show was none other than the ever-energetic, showstopping and one of the best afrobeats artists Burna Boy with the lovely and beautiful queen Tems and the afro raver Rema as the other performers. The show was a celebration of African music and on top of that Nigerian music, who are the pioneers of the movement. This also proved how far African music has traveled around the world.
Burna Boy was the first to mount the stage, starting with a statement that he was about to take the crowd to Africa without even getting on a plane and truly delivered on that promise. He started his performance with his internationally acclaimed song Anybody while wearing his one-of-a-kind belt. He then performed It’s plenty and Ye. With the NBA players and fans at the auditorium screaming and lip-syncing to the music. He then capped off his performance with the hottest afrobeats track, Last Last. It was a wonderful performance from Mr. Damini as usual.
The 2023 grammy award-winning artist Tems then mounted the stage starting with her soulful single Crazy Tings from her If Orange Was a Place EP. She then smoothly transitioned to her next song on the bill Free Mind, and she did that impeccably. She then capped off her performance with Essence and Higher. Wow! She really delivered on the big stage and her voice was amazing.
The sensational Rema then took centerstage, starting his performance with his internationally acclaimed and billboard-charting song Calm Down with a few dancers in support. He then took the crowd into the true afro-ravers mood with ladies in the crowd screaming here and there, he is truly a ladies’ man. He then performed his latest single Holiday on stage. It was the first time most people in the crowd were hearing it, but his performance made it seem he had had that song for years. It made a few of us even me download the song after the show. It led me to listen to this masterpiece over and over again. The song is about his history in the music industry and how far he has come. He truly gave an amazing performance.
Burna Boy on Stage performing at the NBA ALL-STAR Half-Time Show
Afrobeats truly took over the show and delivered. It was an amazing performance and it truly showed off African Music and showed each and everyone how far it has come from Fella Kuti to the likes of Burna Boy and Wizkid now.