Since its inception, the HOMECOMING FESTIVAL has stood as a beacon for the creative reawakening sweeping across the African continent. Founded by cultural curator and powerhouse Grace Ladoja in 2018, the platform was born from a mission to build bridges between African creatives and the global stage. Her vision was simple yet seismic: to showcase the vibrant creativity, talent and flair of Africa across the globe, still grounded in heritage but shot into a future, unlimited by the boundaries of one continent.
The very first HOMECOMING Festival took place in 2018 and in that inaugural edition, the seeds of the full blown movement we have today, took root. It fused music, fashion, art, and sports across Lagos, drawing major attention with appearances and performances from the likes of Skepta, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, J Hus, and Not3s, while also spotlighting emerging Nigerian talent. With exclusive Nike collaborations, pop-ups, and cultural exchange at its core, HOMECOMING 2018 set the bar high and it’s kept going higher ever since.
HOMECOMING has since evolved into a multi day cultural exchange and festival with permanent residency in Lagos, Nigeria–a city bursting with rhythm, ingenuity, and style. With each edition, HOMECOMING reaffirms its ethos: to empower a new generation of African artists, designers, musicians, and thinkers while encouraging them to shape their own narratives. What began as a pioneering effort to link global creative communities with the Nigerian youth has now blossomed into a cultural force that connects music, fashion, art, sport, and technology in a uniquely Afrocentric way.
What started as a bold idea became an unstoppable wave, and in its 2025 edition, Homecoming completely took over Lagos, effectively transforming it into the epicenter of a global movement.
The 2025 edition of HOMECOMING, held from April 17th to April 21st, delivered its most ambitious and all-encompassing celebration yet. It fused world-class experiences with authentic African soul, drawing thousands to Lagos for a journey through creativity, collaboration, and community.
In the shimmering chaos of Lagos, where energy never sleeps and creativity knows no bounds, Homecoming Festival 2025 unfolded like a living mural, layered, loud, and luminous. This year’s festival was certainly a full-circle moment for Grace Ladoja. For she must have taken a moment to reflect on how far her brain child has come. How high it has soared. A beautiful feeling it must indeed be.
HOMECOMING ART TOUR
The festival began on April 17 with the Homecoming Art Tour, a curated pilgrimage into the pulse of Nigerian art. Over four days, attendees journeyed across Lagos’ most storied and experimental art spaces, from the iconic Nike Art Gallery to the deeply personal studios of artists like Samson Bakare, Mobolaji Ogunsoroye, and legendary Afrobeat album cover designer, Lemi Ghariokwu. Each visit was more than a sightseeing stop; it was a soul exchange. Galleries like O’DA, Windsor (led by Yusuff Aina), AMG Projects, and the Home Collective (curated by Josh Egesi) opened their doors to art lovers, critics, and collectors, offering raw access to the continent’s visual soul. The Center for Contemporary Art, J.K. Randle Museum, and Fresco Gallery formed part of this cultural constellation, reinforcing Lagos’ place as an artistic capital where legacy and rebellion collide.
April 18 saw the intellectual backbone of Homecoming flex its muscle at the EbonyLife Place. The Homecoming Summit was a call to creative arms, drawing together thinkers, doers, and dreamers under the banner: “A Manifesto for the New Creative African Era.” The conversations didn’t skirt the surface–they plunged deep. Panels explored self-care with Femme Africa, financial empowerment, the politics of fashion, the dynamics of sport, and the architecture of sound. Panel discussions and keynote conversations featured heavyweight names, with speakers like Ambush founder Yoon Ahn, renown music journalist Joey Akan, design expert Vincent Van De Waal, confidence coach Tiwalola Adebayo, creative director Gabriel Moses and HOMECOMING’s own Grace Ladoja, sharing stories that pulsed with lived experience and vision. Workshops with Nike Creative Labs, The Native’s A&R experts, and Confident and Killing It offered more than knowledge–they gave the next generation tools to own their narrative.
Key Topics & Conversations:
Femme Africa: Self-care & financial empowerment
The Power of the Game: Sports, culture, and community
Reimagining African identity through contemporary art
By nightfall of April 18th, the building blocks of conversation gave way to pure, electric rhythm. Hi-Fi, Homecoming’s DJ-only rave, took over the night. A temple of bass, synths, and sweat, it featured sets by Spinall, Aniko, TXC, Coco Em, WeAreAllChemicals, Sons of Ubuntu, and a few others, each spinning frequencies that turned the festival crowd into a living, dancing waveform. The event leaned heavily into electronic and experimental sounds, showcasing how African DJs are pushing sonic boundaries and connecting dancefloors from Lagos to London. It wasn’t just a party–it was communion. Rhythm, melody and energy creatively fused together to create a vibe that was nothing short of ethereal.
April 19th brought out the competitive spirit of the event with the HOMECOMING Cup, a street football tournament that took place at Onikan Roundabout. The Homecoming Cup was both sport and spectacle as Teams representing influential collectives; WAFFLESNCREAM, Native Records, Motherlan, StreetSouk, The Plug FC, and the HOMECOMING team–battled it out in a vibrant display of skill and camaraderie. A new concept called “THREE90” was introduced, highlighting agility, flair, and rapid-fire play. The Plug FC emerged victorious, claiming the coveted 2025 Cup in what was a thrilling and joyous showdown that blended streetwear and sport in a most exciting manner. Icons like gritty rap artist Odumodublvck, maestro of street music Zlatan Ibile, life of the party Poco Lee, and the living football legend himself Jay-Jay Okocha blurred the line between athlete and artist, showing how deeply sport lives in the DNA of African expression. All in all it was a competition, not just for bragging rights, but for creative pride…and what a thrill it was.
HOMECOMING POP UP
Running concurrently from April 19th to April 27th was the HOMECOMING Pop-Up–the fashion lover’s paradise. A retail carnival that was supposed to end on April 21 but is instead stretching to April 25 due to overwhelming demand. The pop-up transformed Victoria Island into a fashion mecca and the epicenter of African streetwear, housing limited drops, capsule collections, collabs, and art installations.
Hosted at the newly opened TAF Africa Marketplace in Victoria Island, the pop-up spotlighted an elite roster of African and diaspora-driven brands. Patta and Ambush sat beside Free the Youth and WAFFLESNCREAM. Local legends like Dye Lab, Snug, Meji Meji, and Street Souk held space beside global disruptors like Kids of Immigrants, Mowalola, and Denim Tears. The pop up wasn’t just about buying clothes; it was about storytelling, identity, and cross-cultural collaboration. Many of the pieces featured exclusive drops created specifically for HOMECOMING 2025.
Every inch of the store told a story: This wasn’t just consumerism, it was culture stitched into streetwear, with each garment a declaration of identity. Every display was curated with intentionality, turning shopping into cultural immersion. From Lagos-bred brands to global streetwear royalty, Homecoming’s fashion presence shouted one truth: Africa doesn’t follow fashion, it makes fashion.
Then came April 20. The big one. The Homecoming Live Show. Held at Harbour Point, it was the heartbeat of Homecoming. Headlined by Davido, who made history by giving fans the very first live Lagos performance of his latest album 5ive, the concert was an unforgettable showcase of Nigeria’s musical excellence. Davido’s debut performance of his fifth album was the crown jewel, but he didn’t come alone. The lineup was stacked with stars, upcoming and made, delivering a sonic assault that will echo in Lagos nightlife for years. It was a right and proper turn up–the highlight of the event, which had attendees pumped as they swayed in time to the rhythms or screamed song lyrics at the top of their lungs–pure joy evident on their faces. Oh what a day!
The performances were high-octane, genre-bending, and richly infused with flavors unique to each artist. It wasn’t just a concert; it was a declaration of creative independence, driven by artists who are writing the next chapter of African music history on their own terms.
The party didn’t stop there. Immediately after the Live Show, the HOMECOMING After Party erupted into the early hours of April 21st. Just when the night could go no higher. The DJ-led experience was curated by DJ Tunez, Vivendii Sound, NSS, Honeeay and the sensational amapiano duo TXC. With immersive lighting, curated sounds, and a crowd high on cultural euphoria, it was the kind of night that could only happen in Lagos. This wasn’t really the after. It was the extension of a celebration that knew no end.
OLAOLU SLAWN TAKE OVER
April 21 wasn’t the closing–it was the climax. It saw the release of the long-awaited sneaker collab: the Slawn x Nike Air Max 90 drop. Unveiled on April 21st at the HOMECOMING Pop-Up, this exclusive launch marked a historic moment for African streetwear, as Lagos-born artist Slawn teamed up with global footwear titan Nike to create a shoe that represents the heartbeat of the city. Sneakerheads lined up for hours, and social media erupted with reactions to what many are calling the most significant sneaker drop on the continent in years. Sky-high demand. One-of-one aesthetics. Limited quantities. It definitely drove sneakerheads, stylists, and art collectors into a frenzy. With graffiti walls, live sketching, and the scent of hype in the air, it was more than a launch–it was a coronation.
HOMECOMING SPONSORS
None of this would’ve been possible without the village though. HOMECOMING 2025 was powered by some of the biggest names in lifestyle and culture, with major partnerships from official partners like Power Horse, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Guinness, Air Peace, and AlphaTheta, all of whom played a crucial part in ensuring that everything–from logistics to vibe–was executed to perfection, matching the event’s ambition. But beyond the sponsors, it was the people; creatives, collaborators, crowds, that made Homecoming 2025 unforgettable.
Homecoming didn’t just host a festival. It built a living, breathing, dancing, painting, performing ecosystem. It reminded the world that Africa is not a continent to watch, it is a continent to learn from. It’s not the future, it is the now. Homecoming 2025 pulled off something few festivals can claim: total cultural dominance. Every moment. Every beat. Every mural, thread, track, and tackle screamed the same message: Africa is not coming–it’s here.
More than a festival, HOMECOMING has become a movement–a new-age cultural pilgrimage for Africans across the globe. In its 2025 edition, HOMECOMING has continued to carve out space for the continent’s creative visionaries to be seen, heard, and celebrated. From the art galleries of Lekki to the pop-up stalls of Victoria Island, from summit stages to sweaty dancefloors, HOMECOMING 2025 was a love letter to Africa’s limitless potential.
And with each passing year, that love only grows stronger.
