For the whole of October, we celebrate Black History Month, to honour and commemorate the achievements and contributions made to society to those of Black community and heritage.
To celebrate Black music culture, we have some incredible artists and musicians playing all over the country this month, so grab your tickets before the sell out and go and show your support!
CORDAE
Grammy-nominated hip hop artist Cordae is one of the most exciting artists in rap today. He first gained recognition for his remixes of classic songs such as ‘My Name is’ by Eminem, and going viral with his response track to J Cole’s ‘1985’.
Since then, Cordae has been up to some pretty big things, from releasing 2 studio albums to multiple single releases, with his most recent being ‘Unacceptable’, released 11th August. He was even reached out to by Eminem himself, and asked to re-write HIS verse on his track ‘Killer’ with Jack Harlow in 2021 – oh how the tables have turned for Cordae.
This promising young rapper is playing Manchester Academy 2 tonight, so grab tickets for his tour now!
Obongjayar
Nigerian-born London-based Afropop artist Obongjayar’s love for music came from his infatuation with American rap and hip-hop as a young boy, freestyling in front of his classmates in the school yard.
Moving to England at the age of 17, he started his solo artist career publishing music on Soundcloud, leading him to be signed to September Records now, alongside artists like Adele and Rex Orange County. He now has over 500,000 monthly listeners, racking up millions of streams on his original tracks, as well as featuring alongside Little Simz and Pa Salieu.
Catch him live at Patterns in Brighton, tickets below!
Brooke Combe
Discovering her love for music at the age of 5 after receiving a toy drum kit, singer Brooke Combe is now a multi-instrumentalist, adding the likes of piano, guitar and bass to her roster. Heavily influenced by 90s R&B and Motown, Brooke has gone on to have a very successful past year, securing the Breakthrough Female prize at the Scottish Music Awards 2021, and most recently touring alongside Miles Kane, as well as her own gigs and a very busy festival period this summer.
Brooke is heading out on tour this September/October, and is due to perform at Neighbourhood Festival in Manchester on October 1st.
Akemi Fox
Manchester-based alternative R&B singer Akemi Fox has been consistently on the rise since her first single release, ‘Weightless’, featuring Matthew Baines back in 2018. The singer, who takes inspiration from the likes of SZA, Erykah Badu and Amy Winehouse, now has a handful of singles and two EPs out on Spotify.
Akemi’s music involves catchy lyrics and infectious melodies that are carried by her smooth, soulful vocal tone, which she showcases on Instagram and Tiktok, posting a mix of orginals and covers frequently. She’ll be performing a couple of headline shows in October, following the release of her most recent EP.
Axel Blake
Comedy more your thing? Axel Blake has got you covered.
After receiving Simon’s golden buzzer in his first audition on this year’s Britain’s Got Talent, little did Axel Blake think he’d be crowned the champion of the series less than 3 months later.
Since then, the comedian has taken the UK by storm with his jokes and laughter, and has even released an hour long Amazon Prime special, ‘I’m Not Gonna Lie’, filmed at The O2 Indigo. Safe to say it’s been a pretty quick turnaround for Axel since receiving the crown, who’s embarking on his very first 7-month UK tour. Grab tickets to see him live below!
BEKA
Infused with neo-soul and R&B , BEKA produces nothing less than energetic uplifting pop tracks, that oddly feel super comforting at the same time, due to her simplistic and smooth soulful tone.
From Nottingham and now based in London, BEKA first grabbed attention as one of the guest vocals to HONNE’s album ‘Love Me / Love Me Not’, which their track ‘Location Unknown’ has gained over 118 million streams on Spotify. This collaboration has taken BEKA all around the globe, and two years later she made her solo debut, with her mellow-pop track ‘I’ll Be There’.
BEKA now has over 1.1 million monthly listeners, and has released a string of single releases, and two EP’s, ‘I’ll Be There’ and ‘Your Skin’, proving her established solo artist status, and needless to say her success is sky rocketing. See her on tour this October!
ATO
Born in Oxford, to Danish mother and Ghanain father, rapper ATO spent a lot of his childhood travelling around the world, visiting his grandparents in Copenhagen, and spending over a year in South Korea, before spending a lot of time between Leeds and York.
Now recently residing in North London, ATO’s travels have contributed to the artist he is today, opening his eyes up to different cultures, which promoted his confidence to create, whether that was music or other forms of art.
Now an established solo artist, releasing music since 2014, ATO has used his freedom of speech and innovation through hip hop to gain him over 150,000 monthly listeners, collaborating with singer and producer, EDEN, on several tracks. Grab your tickets below!
Night Lovell
Canadian rapper and producer Night Lovell takes on a dark, mysterious atmosphere within his music, with echoed, haunting vocals and punchy electronic drum beats, with this mystifying theme also portraying through visuals and image too, along with his full set of teeth grills, and dark studded clothing.
This somber ambience landed successfully though, winning over the globe, with hundreds of millions of streams worldwide.
The rapper crafted many of his own beats, and recorded vocals through make-shift vocal booths in his home before signing to G59 records, whom he released his large discography through, including collaborations with Gnar, Lil West and and $uicideboy$. Night Lovell continues to grow musically, so catch him on tour whilst you can!
Breland & Friends
First writing songs when he was a teenager, Breland gained primary recognition with his country-rap track ‘My Truck’, which took social media by storm in 2019.
Now with over 150 million streams, Breland aims to redefine the stereotypical country music genre, merging elements of pop, hip-hop and R&B, stating that 60s/70s and Motown music are his biggest influence, alongside a range of artists such as Stevie Wonder, Keith Urban, Drake, Nelly and Justin Bieber.
‘Breland & Friends’ is headlining The Garage in London Friday 21st October, which features a line-up of special guests. Previous ‘Breland & Friends’ shows has seen appearances from the likes of Thomas Rett and Nelly. Get your tickets now!
Check out our playlist for Black History Month HERE