A New Era Begins: 25 Creatives, 10 Songs, 50 Beats: CheekyChizzy Launches Afrobeat Boot Camp LA, First Writer & Producer Camp
- Sahndra Fon Dufe
- Aug 27
- 7 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
Hollywood, August 2022, 2025-
I spent the afternoon in what felt like a bowl of talent — a building that spoke music everywhere you looked. Tucked away in a quaint Hollywood corner, Noise Nest Studios transformed into the heartbeat of a movement, and a cultural laboratory: the inaugural Afrobeat Boot Camp LA, curated by Nigerian hitmaker Cheekychizzy.
The room felt alive with possibility, the air pulsing with layered rhythms as nearly thirty artists, songwriters, and producers—many meeting for the first time—broke into creative pods. With hooks forming in real time and artists rotating through studios like pieces on a chessboard, this was not a showcase but infrastructure in the making. It was a vivid reminder of what it truly takes to create Afrobeats: a dynamic ecosystem built on collaboration, spontaneity, and an undeniable global demand that is only growing worldwide.
Afrobeats in Motion
Afrobeats has conquered the world. It’s traveled from Fela Kuti’s Lagos clubs and Wizkid’s sold-out O2 Arena shows to Burna Boy’s historic night at Madison Square Garden. Today, its rhythm is the official sound of the FIFA World Cup, the anthemic pulse of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, and the viral engine behind TikTok hits like Rema's 'Calm Down'. It's the sound of airports, commercials, and culture itself. What Cheekychizzy curated in Los Angeles was not just another bootcamp; it was the institutionalisation of Afrobeats in the heart of Hollywood.
The demand is undeniable, formalised by the GRAMMYs' new category for Best African Music Performance. Sync licensing, film and TV placements, and global gaming have made Afrobeats more than music—it’s a new media economy where a single placement can create an international star. To be in that room was to watch culture not only being performed but being architected for its next global chapter.
The Curator: CheekyChizzy
When Cheekychizzy arrived in a Naija Nation jersey, it was a quiet, deliberate statement. In Los Angeles, the epicentre of branding, the jersey was an emblem planted for Africa’s most populous nation in the heart of the American music machine. His production credits read like a map of Afrobeats' modern history and its global journey. He’s been in the engine room with pioneers, crafting the infectious energy featuring D'banj on "Big Vibe" and laying down smooth rhythms on "Facility II" alongside Perruzi and the legendary Wande Coal.
But his vision has always been a bridge between continents. He proved his mastery as a connector on tracks like "Please Don't Go," which seamlessly united Detroit rapper Dej Loaf with Nigerian powerhouse Teni, and on "Up or Down," which brought together Runtown and viral sensation Libianca. This ability to merge worlds is matched by his influence in the industry's halls of power; as a voting member for both The Recording Academy (The GRAMMYs) and the UK's MOBO Awards, he helps shape the very definition of global success. Cheekychizzy is the rare creative who is as fluent in the studio as he is in the boardroom, making him the ideal architect for this moment.
During a rare moment of calm between sessions, I sat down with him to discuss the endgame. While new tracks were being crafted just feet away, we explored the roadmap for Afrobeats' next chapter and its undeniable future on the world stage.
BLACK FILM WIRE Editor-in-Chief: What’s the goal?
CHEEKYCHIZZY:
“We’re creating new sounds, new music, bridging the gap between Afrobeats and what’s happening here in LA. Most of them are meeting each other for the first time… |
BLACK FILM WIRE Editor-in-Chief: But why LA?
CHEEKYCHIZZY:
LA is diverse. LA has a lot of music, different types of music and it's also the heartbeat and decision-making in music as a whole in general, mostly happens in LA. All the labels are here, all the producers are always here. This is Hollywood and this is where dreams are being made. |
BLACK FILM WIRE Editor-in-Chief: How do you see Afrobeats evolving in this space?
CHEEKYCHIZZY:
Afrobeat is evolving into different type of music. Afrobeat is the soul, is the roots of it, like it's the African roots, but you can have Afro R&B, Afro Pop, Afro whatever, you know, like what Irish Style is doing right now, you know, and what the likes of Ayra and Tyler is doing too. You know, it's still Afrobeat, but it's cutting across other types, other genres of music. |
Inside the Studio
From noon till dusk, the building was less a studio and more a creative hive. Inside, a curated collective of over 25 artists, producers, and industry minds splintered into dynamic pods, transforming every available corner into a collaborative studio. The roster was a deliberate blend of established masters and hungry new talent, with Grammy voting member Cheekychizzy working alongside visionaries like Waka the Creator, De Forest Taylor, and four time Grammy-winning Slikk Music. They were joined by a wave of rising voices—including DJ Let Them Know, Jac, Jonah, Kayo, Mustapha, Ethos, Phonix, Young 6ix, Dre Lu, Fayme, LARZZY, Eden, and EMP—fueling a palpable creative friction. The results were tangible: by day's end, a staggering volume of work had emerged, with over 50 beats auditioned and more than 10 fully recorded songs born from the session's singular focus.
Inside one of the pop-up studios, the process was raw and immediate—dimly lit, with the low hum of equipment just beneath the melodies rising and falling from the speakers. I stood with Grammy-winning producer Slikk Muzik, watching engineer @zoepapiwolfi finesse the levels as a new track came to life.
Watching sound engineer Zoepapiwolfi finesse the levels as a new track came to life, Grammy-nominated producer Slikk Muzik reflected on the process behind the beats that had the whole room moving.
“The process for me making music is more of an emotion, more of a feeling than a technical part,” he said. “Everything with me is about feelings and vibes. When I make my beats, it’s always based on how I’m feeling that day—sad, happy, lit, going to the club, party, whatever.”- Slikk Muzik.
For Slikk, music has always been an outlet—one he’s been plugged into since childhood. He started playing drums at five, piano at eight, and bass guitar in his teens before turning to beat-making at just eleven. Now, with nearly three decades of experience, he sees his music as a way of giving back. “What I want to get out of this program, or this music period, is really giving back—allowing people to feel my music across the world,” he said.
On why Afrobeat drives his sound, Slikk doesn’t hesitate:
“Afrobeat is fun. It’s not boxed in. It’s an international sound, a universal language. Different nationalities, countries, people—everybody can relate to Afrobeat. Not just a particular demographic, but globally, it reaches everybody.”
Artists Meaku and Chidi Okwarabizie volleyed verses back and forth until Victor Ndigwe unlocked the song's core, crafting a hook so compelling that the entire room instantly locked in. In that moment, a simple idea became the undeniable centre of a new record.
[ I'm just expecting good music today. I'm just good vibes in general. I just want to see everybody showcase what they got and just have fun. ]
The sessions moved fast — new voices hopping on beats, strangers becoming collaborators. It was Afrobeats’ philosophy in action: rhythm as a passport, collaboration as currency.
Building the Future of Sound
This wasn’t just about a single day in August. It was about infrastructure: creating spaces for Afrobeats to not only be heard but to be crafted with intention in the world’s entertainment capital.
“Judging by the energy and what I’ve experienced today, this feels like it should become a monthly tradition. Opportunities like this, where creators can step away and collaborate freely, are rare. The music, the producers—it’s been incredible. I even connected with a few new talents.” Cheekychizzy explained, “Moving forward, the goal is to keep building on this momentum and continue creating fresh music.”
The inaugural boot camp may have only lasted a day, but it signalled the start of many more to come — opportunities for African and diasporic talent to create, connect, and cement Afrobeats as both a global business and cultural movement.
More Than a Sound
Afrobeats is not just about viral hits or Billboard charts. It’s about Black cultural continuity. Jazz once travelled from Harlem to Paris; hip hop from the Bronx to Tokyo. Afrobeats is today’s inheritor of that lineage — and now, with camps like this, it is building formal infrastructure in the world’s entertainment capital.
My Takeaway
Black sound has always had its moment: jazz, funk, soul, hip hop, and now Afrobeats. To witness its latest chapter — born out of a small studio in Hollywood — was to watch history in motion.
This was not just a camp. It was the beginning of a new story: Afrobeats building a home in LA, and Black Film Wire was there to see the first note struck.
This camp was not a one-off. It was a beginning.
Reflection
Watching thirty creators lock into shared rhythm in Hollywood underscored a truth: Black-made sound has always had a moment. From Fela’s Lagos to Beyoncé’s Coachella, the story has been one of constant reinvention.
Credit: Google
The Afrobeat Boot Camp LA may have lasted only a day, but it marked a historic first — and a promise that this movement is just beginning.
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