Love Renaissance (LVRN) has invested in Jerk X Jollof, an event series dedicated to celebrating Afro-Caribbean culture, Billboard can exclusively announce Thursday (June 6).
LVRN’s investment comes more than a year after the Atlanta-based label and management company itself received an investment from Matt Pincus‘ MUSIC, valuing LVRN at more than $100 million. LVRN’s Jerk X Jollof investment is part of its commitment to developing the Afro-Caribbean entertainment space.
“We at LVRN are excited to expand our reach within the Afro-Caribbean community with the investment in Jerk X Jollof,” said Tunde Balogun, CEO/co-founder of LVRN, in a statement to Billboard. “This is yet another impactful way to further the culture and unify like-minded people from the diaspora through the transformative power of music and entertainment.”
Last year, for the unveiling of Billboard’s U.S. Afrobeats parties guide, Jerk X Jollof founder Brendan Asante told Billboard that the Jerk X Jollof series initially started in 2014 as “an idea in college. Some friends of mine and I just threw a sweaty dance party. Someone brought some jerk chicken, someone brought some jollof rice, and it translated.” Asante and the other founders officially brought the party series to Detroit, Mich., in 2016, and since then, Jerk X Jollof has expanded to cities around the world including Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Berlin, Johannesburg and Accra, Ghana. Uncle Waffles, Skepta, Sarz, Spinall, DJ Tunez and more have all performed at the popular party, while previous all-star attendees include Ayra Starr, Davido, Brent Faiyaz and Chris Brown.
“It was an obvious decision to partner with LVRN in order to broaden the Jerk X Jollof brand,” said Asante in a statement. “The alignment of our vision for the enhancement of Afro-Caribbean culture was immediately evident, and we eagerly anticipate the future of this joint venture.”
LVRN and Jerk X Jollof first collaborated on a party during New York Fashion Week in 2022, an event that was also a partnership with Afropunk. “That one was so wild because Brent Faiyaz [pulled] up to the party. [We brought] him, Kawhi Leonard, Joe Freshgoods through the side door. This s— is so comical because I never thought in a million years that I would be dealing with these dope people that are coming to the party,” Asante previously told Billboard. “From that moment, thinking about when it was a sweaty dance party in a college basement, I think that’s one of my favorite memories. Ari Lennox came through, and I was chopping it up with her before she left. I was talking about how she came to Ghana and how she enjoyed it. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, you should come back.’ Those type of moments happening under the roof of us doing something just gave me a glimpse into what the future could hold for it.”
Last month in Atlanta, LVRN and Jerk X Jollof partnered again on a Memorial Day function that was hosted by local music festival brand Milk + Cookies. Another notable achievement in the partnership is the creation of the Jerk X Jollof Stage at Promiseland Australia, which will take place at Doug Jennings Park in Gold Coast Oct 4-6 following the scheduled Jerk X Jollof parties in Melbourne on Sept. 27 and Sydney on Sept. 29. The Jerk X Jollof and LVRN teams worked with the festival to curate an amapiano stage that would showcase a diverse lineup of the genre’s leading talent including Uncle Waffles, Major League Djz, Focalistic and Tyler ICU, along with Jerk X Jollof mainstay hosts/DJs Jae Murphy, Blakito and V-Live — all booked by Jerk X Jollof.
