Nigerian rapper and singer, Divine Ikubor, professionally known as Rema, abruptly exited the stage during his performance at the 2024 Dreamville Festival in North Carolina, US, on Sunday.
The incident occurred midway through his set at Dix Park in Raleigh, where he was delivering his hit song ‘Calm Down’ on Day 2 of the festival.
Expressing frustration over the subpar sound quality, Rema paused his performance to address the issue, emphasizing the importance of African artists receiving the same standard of sound production as their Western counterparts on international platforms.
He stated, “Hold on, there are too many sound issues. It’s messing up my whole performance. I’m seriously not feeling this sht. I’m representing Africa, this is too messed up. If the sound cannot be perfect for every artiste that get on this stage… Africa is in the house and you are messing sht up?”
Rema gained initial recognition with his 2019 breakout hit “Dumebi” and subsequently signed with D’Prince’s record label, Jonzing World, in the same year.
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However, it was his 2022 single “Calm Down” that propelled him to wider acclaim. The song not only garnered significant attention but also spawned a remix featuring American singer Selena Gomez, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and dominating the United States Afrobeats Songs chart for an unprecedented 58 weeks.
