Angelique Kidjo / Emmanuel Jal / Rich Medina

In an expansive career marked as much by extraordinary musical achievement as passionate advocacy and philanthropy for her homeland of Africa, Angelique Kidjo has found many ways to celebrate the rich, enlightening truth about the continent’s women beyond the media spotlight.
On Eve, her highly anticipated Savoy Records debut named for her own mother as well as the mythical “mother of all living,” the Benin born, Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter builds on this ever-evolving legacy with a 13-track, three interlude set of melodically rich, rhythmically powerful expressions of female empowerment. These songs become all the more intimate and emotionally urgent with Kidjo’s dynamic collaborations with traditional women’s choirs from Kenya and various cities and villages in Benin. The singer and her newfound native vocalists sing in a wide array of native Beninese languages, including Fon (Kidjo’s first language), Yoruba, Goun, and Mina.


Emmanuel Jal (Paul) was born into the life of a child solider in the early 1980s in the war-torn region of Southern Sudan. Through unbelievable struggles, Emmanuel managed to survive and go on to emerge as a recording artist, achieving worldwide acclaim for his unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his personal experiences. Jal’s fifth studio album, The Key, was released in September 2014 and included collaborations with Nile Rodgers and Nelly Furtado. The album blends traditional African music with contemporary urban, hip hop and global pop music rhythms, while incorporating EDM, reggae/dub, soul and Afro beat elements.


For the past two decades, Rich Medina has cemented his reputation as an elite DJ, one of few on the planet capable of taking audiences worldwide on a sonic journey through hip-hop, house, soul, afrobeat, funk, breaks and dance classics. Today, many artists who have been Rich's idols have become peers, and his fans often become his friends, even if just through the shared experience of music. Countless couples and relationships were commenced to the soundtracks he has created time and time again. His eloquence extends well beyond the music he plays—Medina's spontaneous use of language speaks to the fact that he's been a well-respected spoken word artist for over a quarter century, not to mention that he's a journalist who has contributed columns and features to a wide variety of publications, including The Fader, Complex and Wax Poetics. Rich is a card-carrying member of the Rock Steady Crew and the Universal Zulu Nation. And he has consistently lent his name to charitable organizations close to his heart, most recently The Africa Center, Room to Grow and GrassRoots.

While Medina could rest on all of his past accomplishments, he has retained the energy of a prizefighter, constantly seeking something greater as both an artist and a businessman, steadily building a respected brand with his own two hands. Rich is one of those rare people who has built himself a platform on his own terms, in his own way, achieving success with every step he takes and enriching countless souls with incredible music and unique wisdom.