Last weekend, roughly two thousand people gathered at Pier 36 in New York City for a collision of food, music, and basketball called The Battle of Jollof.
The event, now in its fifth year, featured a jollof rice cook-off, a 1v1 basketball tournament highlighting talent from across the African diaspora, and a high-stakes basketball game between Team Ghana and Team Nigeria — a showdown for bragging rights in the kitchen and on the court.
It brought together NBA and WNBA stars, Afrobeats powerhouses, a Bib-Gourmand-recognized chef, and some of the city’s best restaurants, representing flavors from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Ethiopia — and it was completely free of charge.
Why?
Because the purpose of the Battle of Jollof isn’t fame or profit; the purpose of the event is community.
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On the eve of Battle of Jollof, I sat down with Arinze Emeagwali, TJ Adeshola, and Abdul Karim Abdullah, the founders, at Ludlow House in SoHo for a pre-event gathering where they shared how this event came to be. As we walked through the four-story house to find a quiet place for our interview, they paused to greet every guest they encountered, dapping them up with a warm, welcoming energy.
Being greeted is such a significant part of African culture. If you grew up in an African home and made the mistake of walking past someone without saying hi, you’ve probably heard:
“You don’t greet?” or in Pidgin, “You no dey greet”?
You acknowledge everyone in the room to not only show that they matter but to show that they are welcome. Being welcoming is a core value in African culture.
That sense of welcome is what sparked the idea for global brand marketer Emeagwali in 2019. He partnered with Adeshola, a sports and media executive and operating partner at Arctos Partners, and Abdullah, the founder and CEO of AfroFuture, to bring the vision to life in 2020.
“I just wanted to bring together the community — our friends and other people that aren’t West African — and have a vibe and educate them,” he said.
“To be Black, we have so many more similarities than we have differences, ” said Adeshola. “[Battle of Jollof] is all about…
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