An artist is committed to art which is committed to the people.” – Chinua Achebe
In the early years of the twenty-first century, Togo witnessed the emergence of a strong political hip-hop community committed to the pan-African ideal of a united Africa. Its members are grandchildren of the revolution, influenced by Togo’s reality and the legacies political leaders like Kwame Nkrumah left behind. One of the key figures of this movement is Elom 20ce, a modern-day griot and pan-African advocate who stumbled upon the book Africa Must Unite while in his student years. Since then, he’s been stressing the importance of a pan-African alliance, collaborating with artists in other African countries to fulfill his vision of a united Africa.
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Based in Lomé, the capital of Togo, Elom founded his own label, Asrafo Records, in 2009 as part of the first edition of Arctivism, a creative activism initiative. The name of the label was inspired by the Asafo, traditional warrior groups of the Fante people of the Gold Coast whose primary function was defense against foreign threats. In a way similar to the hip-hop movement that serves as a political force. The word Asafo derives from sa, meaning war, and fo, meaning people.