Smith plays the Base
MTV launches its 100th channel
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Will Smith, Nelson Mandela and MTV's Bill Roedy chat about cable television. |
Smith's longtime musical partner Jazzy Jeff helped out, along with 10 drummers and 35 dancers.
"MTV Base will allow African artists to connect to the world and the world to connect to Africa," said Smith in a press conference before his perf.
The day before, Smith met with former South African president Nelson Mandela to discuss the importance of MTV in communicating to African youth. "MTV was one of the first organizations to aggressively campaign for safe sex, and we spoke about how important it is that MTV can deliver the same message to young people in the continent of Africa," Smith said.
Event marked the entry of MTV to Africa, but execs at the broadcaster are confident MTV Base will be the first of many stations on the continent.
The new station is being run by Alex Okosi, general manager of MTV Networks Africa, who told Variety he worked on the business development plan for Africa for two years.
"Africa is definitely a growth market for us," he said. "From 1995 to now there has been 300% growth in the number of televisions in African homes. Our presence here positions us to be in a place where we can capitalize on that growth."
