Black Music Week Took Over Atlanta
A citywide celebration of music, culture, ownership, wellness, legacy, and what comes next.
For thirteen days, bamX brought artists, executives, cultural leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and community voices together for a powerful celebration of Black American music.
From global creative exchange to industry panels, awards, wellness conversations, receptions, showcases, and unforgettable moments of recognition, Black Music Week turned Atlanta into a meeting place for the people shaping the future of culture.
This was more than a week of events. It was a movement in motion.
The Mzansi-Atlanta Creative Industry Expo launched Black Music Week with a spirit of exchange, possibility, and connection. Across the experience, Atlanta became a bridge between African creatives, diaspora culture, and the global business opportunities shaping the next era of music, art, media, and enterprise.
It was a powerful opening moment for bamX, grounding the week in international collaboration and showing what happens when culture, capital, and creativity meet with purpose.
Mzansi-Atlanta Creative Industry Expo
A Continental Exchange in a Global City
Black Music Week opened with the Mzansi-Atlanta Creative Industry Expo, a multi-day experience created to connect Atlanta with Africa’s growing creative economy.
In partnership with Veromo Enterprises, the expo brought together creative leaders, investors, policy voices, entrepreneurs, and cultural institutions for conversations around art, enterprise, technology, investment, and global opportunity.
The experience set the tone for the week by reminding everyone that Black music and Black creativity are not limited to one city, one country, or one industry. They are global forces with deep roots and an even bigger future.
Official UNITE Atlanta Press Conference & Media Day
The Official UNITE Atlanta Press Conference & Media Day brought media, partners, cultural leaders, and community stakeholders together to formally introduce the mission of Black Music Week.
Held at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center on the Morehouse campus, the moment gave the city a first look at the scale, purpose, and cultural importance of bamX.
It was the official launch point for a week designed to honor Black American music while creating new pathways for access, ownership, collaboration, and economic growth.
The press conference marked a defining moment for bamX. Leaders, partners, and media came together to celebrate the beginning of Black Music Week and speak to the vision behind it.
The message was clear: Atlanta is not just a backdrop for Black music. Atlanta is one of its engines. Through bamX, that legacy was brought into focus and expanded into a platform for the future.
The Mayors Fireside Chat added a civic lens to Black Music Week, connecting Atlanta’s creative legacy with the leaders helping shape its next chapter.
The evening reminded guests that culture does not grow in isolation. It grows through investment, infrastructure, partnership, and a shared belief in what a city can become.
“ATL Mayors” Fireside Chat
Civic Leadership Meets Cultural Power
The “ATL Mayors” Fireside Chat brought leadership, culture, and community into one room for a conversation about Atlanta’s role as a global creative capital.
Hosted by Ryan Wilson, Co-Founder and CEO of The Gathering Spot, the conversation created space to reflect on the city’s influence, the responsibility of leadership, and the power of culture to move communities forward.
Jack the Rapper “Remix” Conference
Jack the Rapper returned as a powerful remix of one of Black music’s most important industry gatherings.
Inspired by the legacy of Jack Gibson, a pioneer in Black media and music, the conference honored the foundation he helped build while creating space for today’s artists, executives, producers, media voices, and entrepreneurs to continue the work.
Across panels, showcases, and conversations, Jack the Rapper explored the creative, cultural, and business sides of Black music, from making hit records to owning catalogs, building brands, understanding sync, and reshaping the language used to describe Black creativity.
The Jack the Rapper “Remix” Conference brought history and future into the same room.
The day was filled with conversations that went beyond inspiration. Artists, executives, producers, strategists, and cultural leaders shared real insight on ownership, visibility, publishing, storytelling, brand building, and the business decisions that shape long-term success.
It honored the spirit of the original Jack the Rapper gatherings while giving a new generation the tools, access, and perspective to move the industry forward.
The bamX Reception was a reminder that some of the most important moments happen between the scheduled ones.
The room was filled with introductions, reunions, shared ideas, and new possibilities. It gave guests a chance to celebrate the momentum of the week, connect with the people behind the movement, and build relationships that could continue long after the event ended.
bamX Reception
Where Conversations Became Connections
The UNITE Atlanta “Family Affair” Reception created a space for guests, partners, artists, executives, and cultural leaders to come together outside of the formal programming.
Held as a welcome party during Black Music Week, the reception carried the energy of the week into a more intimate setting built around connection, celebration, and community.
bamX Underground captured the pulse of the city.
While the panels focused on insight and industry, Underground brought the energy, sound, and social heartbeat of Atlanta into focus. It was a space for discovery, connection, and the kind of cultural exchange that makes the city one of the most influential music capitals in the world.
It showed that the future of Black music is not only being discussed on stage. It is being built in the rooms where artists, creators, and community show up together.
bamX Underground
The Sound Beneath the Surface
Presented by Core Ent., bamX Underground brought the energy of Black Music Week into the night with a mixer rooted in music, discovery, and creative community.
The experience created space for emerging talent, tastemakers, industry voices, and cultural connectors to gather in a setting that felt raw, social, and alive.
The Health Matters Summit brought a necessary and meaningful layer to Black Music Week.
The experience reminded everyone that protecting the future of Black music also means protecting the people who create it, lead it, support it, and live it every day.
By placing wellness at the center of the week, bamX created space for honest conversations around balance, healing, longevity, and care. It was not just about success. It was about sustainability.
Health Matters Summit
Mind, Body, Soul, and Sustainability
The Health Matters Summit expanded the conversation around Black music by focusing on the people behind the culture.
Held at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, the summit centered wellness, restoration, mental health, physical health, and the importance of sustaining the artists, executives, entrepreneurs, and communities who power the industry.
Celebrating Excellence in Black American Music
The Black American Music Awards brought the week into a powerful moment of recognition and celebration.
Rooted in a legacy of honoring leadership, cultural impact, and musical excellence, the awards celebrated the artists, executives, entrepreneurs, and cultural leaders whose work continues to move the industry forward.
The Black American Music Awards closed the celebration with presence, purpose, and pride.
The night honored the creators and leaders who have shaped Black American music across generations. From unforgettable voices to industry architects, cultural innovators, and artists whose work continues to influence the world, the awards created space to recognize impact at the highest level.
It was a fitting signature moment for bamX, bringing the week’s themes of legacy, ownership, excellence, and global influence together in one room.
Honorees and Recognitions
Jermaine Dupri
received the Jam & Lewis Global Creative Impact Award, honoring a legacy of musical excellence, cultural influence, and global impact in R&B, hip-hop, and soul.
Anthony Hamilton
received the Voice of Soul Award, recognizing cultural impact, musical excellence, and legacy in R&B and soul.
Jagged Edge
received the Power of Soul Award, recognizing cultural impact, musical excellence, and legacy in R&B and soul.
Kandi Burruss
received the Suzanne de Passe Trailblazer Award, honoring musical excellence, creative entrepreneurship, cultural influence, and global impact in music and entertainment.
T.I.
received Song of the Year for “Let ’Em Know,” recognizing cultural impact, musical excellence, and legacy in hip-hop.
Kenny Lattimore
received the Chairman’s Award, honoring musical excellence, cultural influence, innovation, and lasting impact in R&B and soul.
The Movement Continues
Black Music Week proved what Atlanta already knows: when culture moves, the world moves.
bamX brought together the artists, executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, civic leaders, wellness voices, and community builders shaping the future of Black music. Across every event, one message carried through the week: Black music is not only something to celebrate. It is something to protect, invest in, learn from, and build around.
This year set the foundation.
Next year goes even bigger.
Super Early Bird Registration Is Now Open
Super Early Bird Registration Is Now Open
Be First in the Room for What Comes Next
Black Music Week is returning, and the next chapter starts now.
Get early access to next year’s bamX experience with super early bird pricing available for a limited time. Lock in your spot before the full lineup, speakers, panels, showcases, awards programming, and special experiences are announced.
If you were there this year, you already know.
If you missed it, this is your chance to be part of the movement from the beginning.