Saturday, July 12, 2008

Rihanna and Jay-Z Rise Up in Africa

Teaming up for a good cause, Rihanna and Jay-Z were among the performers on hand in Abuja to kick off the Thisday Music and Fashion Festival on Friday night (July 11).

Hitting the stage as the opening act, Rihanna treated the fans to a rendition of her first big hit, Pon de Replay, before working her way into Turn Me On Boy and Shut Up and Drive.

And after a cover of Bob Marley’s classic Is This Love, the Barbados beauty gave the crowd the thrill of their lifetime - as “just when it seemed like she was retreating, Jay-Z joined her and spurred the crowd into leaving their seats - with the duo feeding the crowd with Rihanna’s biggest hit to date and obviously a crowd favorite, Umbrella, which stayed atop the US music charts for several weeks after its release last year.”

Jay-Z then stayed on stage solo - performing his hit single Show Me What You Got before offering up a one-sided rendition he and Beyonce’s duet, Crazy in Love.

Meanwhile, Naomi Campbell, who was on hand as an ambassador of the United Nations on Climate Change, blasted “the widely held notion in Europe and the States about Africa being a land of poverty, where famine and epidemics ravage the continent.”

“The theme of the Thisday Festival is Africa Rising which would tell the world that Africa is a continent of plenty. The notion is always that it is a continent of poverty, admittedly there are some places like that but it is a rich continent,” the supermodel told.

Gossip Girls

Enjoy the pictures of Rihanna and Jay-Z performing at the Thisday Africa Rising Festival (July 11).