Chance The Rapper has unveiled the lineup for the free Black Star Line Festival he started with Vic Mensa in Accura, Ghana, which will go down early next year.
Set to take place on January 6, 2023, the festival will include performances from Erykah Badu, T-Pain, Vic Mensa, Jeremih, Tobe Nwigwe, Sarkodie, M.anifest and Asakaa Boys, with more scheduled to be announced.
Chance confirmed on Instagram that tickets for the festival will be available on Monday (November 21). However, no time or ticket link was provided.
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Chance also celebrated the festival by dropping off his latest single “YAH Know” featuring King Promise on Thursday (November 17).
On Instagram, Chance wrote: “We’re almost there,” alongside a preview of the track, likely in reference to his highly-anticipated sophomore album Star Line Gallery he announced earlier this year.
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“I was inspired by Marcus Garvey in the early 1900s, 1919 through actually 1922, so 100 years ago now,” Chance said of the new project in a recent interview with Sway In The Morning. “He started and ran this very important, integral shipping line. He had a fleet of ships, these giant ocean liners which are the size of cruise ships, that he owned and funded with common Black folks’ money.
“But what he did with it was he created a trade route between the United States, all of the Black islands and the continent of Africa, and that created a network of people where people from all over the world were interconnected and working with each other and taking trips together, and created this connectivity that didn’t exist before.”
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This connectivity was known as the “Black Star Line,” hence the name of the festival.
“When I think about the Black Star Line and all the spaces that it’s been in, the Black Star is the representation of Ghana, in their flag, in the fabric of how their country was set up,” Chance said. “They believe in global Blackness, Black connectivity and a free Africa.”
Star Line Gallery will serve as the follow-up to Chance The Rapper’s 2019 album The Big Day, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, despite lukewarm reviews. He’s promoted the new project with numerous singles this year including “The Heart & The Tongue,” “Child of God,” “A Bar About a Bar” and the Joey Bada$$-assisted “The Highs & The Lows.”
When asked about what fans can expect from the forthcoming album in a recent interview with Complex, Chance promised he’ll be bringing his lyrical A-game.
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“Everything I do now, I have to treat it like I know who I am, regardless of if anybody else does,” he said, noting that his next project will lean more into the “technical side” of his pen game.
“I think it’s more important to be understood than liked,” Chance said. “Somebody could like your shit but not understand. As long as I know somebody understands it, then I know I’m getting [the message] across.” He went on to cite the poet Aja Monet and Vic Mensa as the inspiration behind this new mentality.
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“I’ve helped a lot of people, and what I enjoy is when those people remain independent and remain in contact and community with me,” Chance said of charting his own path. “I think what I want to do is continue to empower people. I don’t want to make anybody subject to my views of how their career should go. I don’t need to be in anybody else’s pockets.”
