Ghanaian-American rapper and activist Vic Mensa and global livestreaming star iShowSpeed have been named to the 2026 EBONY Power 100, placing two figures with strong connections to Ghana on one of Black culture’s most established annual honours lists.
EBONY selected Vic Mensa for its Community Crusaders category, which recognises people driving social change and community empowerment. iShowSpeed, whose real name is Darren Watkins Jr., appears under Influential Creators, a category for digital personalities shaping conversations and building communities.
The full list was unveiled on October 5 under the theme The Stories We Shape. The honourees will be celebrated at an invitation-only gala at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on November 9.
Why EBONY recognised Vic Mensa
EBONY lists Vic Mensa alongside Common, preservation advocate Brent Leggs, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America president Artis Stevens and National Council of Negro Women president Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley.
For Mensa, the recognition reflects work that extends beyond music. The Chicago-born artist, whose father is Ghanaian, has used his platform for community organising, civic engagement and projects connecting Black communities in the United States with Ghana.
His Ghana-focused work includes a clean-water project announced in 2023. Mensa said he and his father were developing boreholes for Asokore Zongo in Koforidua, nearby Effiduase and their ancestral community of Amedzofe in the Volta Region. At the time, one of the boreholes had already been completed.
He also co-founded the free Black Star Line Festival with Chance the Rapper. Held in Accra, the event was conceived as a cultural bridge between continental Africans and the Black diaspora, bringing Ghanaian, African-American and other international artists onto the same stage.
The EBONY honour arrives during another visible period in Mensa’s career. As recently reported, he has also joined Riot Games’ virtual music group True Damage for the 2026 League of Legends World Championship cycle.
iShowSpeed’s influence reached Ghana and the continent
iShowSpeed joins technology reviewer Marques Brownlee, fashion creator Wisdom Kaye, designer Grace Wales Bonner and Y Combinator partner emeritus Michael Seibel in EBONY’s Influential Creators category.
The 21-year-old streamer has built his audience around highly energetic live broadcasts, football fandom and spontaneous travel content. His relevance to Africa became especially clear during his 28-day Speed Does Africa tour, which took him through 20 countries between late 2025 and early 2026.
In Ghana, Speed tried local food, visited cultural sites and told viewers that his ancestry traced to the country. His livestreams gave millions of viewers an unfiltered, if sometimes chaotic, view of everyday places and cultural moments that rarely receive that level of global attention.
That matters because livestreaming creates a different relationship between an audience and a place. Traditional travel programmes are edited, narrated and polished before viewers see them. Speed’s broadcasts unfolded in real time, allowing audiences to experience the crowds, confusion, humour and hospitality alongside him.
It was not a perfect or comprehensive representation of Africa. No single creator or month-long tour could be. But its scale helped put African cities, creators and young fans directly in front of a global online audience without filtering the experience entirely through Western news coverage.
The connection between the two honourees
Mensa and iShowSpeed were selected for different reasons, but their work crossed paths earlier this year.
Speaking on the One54 Africa podcast in February, Mensa praised Speed’s African tour for challenging negative ideas about the continent. He argued that the livestreams gave viewers a first-hand look at Africa and helped undo some of the stereotypes repeated through media and popular culture.
That link makes their joint appearance on the Power 100 particularly interesting. Mensa represents a more established form of diaspora engagement: heritage, organising, philanthropy and deliberate institution-building. Speed represents a newer form driven by livestreams, viral moments and the ability to move a huge online audience across borders in real time.
One builds long-term programmes. The other changes perceptions at internet speed. Both show how diaspora influence now travels through more than music, politics or traditional celebrity.
What the recognition means for Ghanaspora
Neither inclusion should be exaggerated into a Ghanaian award or treated as proof that every project linked to either honouree has succeeded. The EBONY Power 100 is an editorial recognition of Black influence, not an independent audit of impact.
Still, the selections are relevant to Ghanaians at home and abroad. Mensa’s work demonstrates how a second-generation Ghanaian can turn family heritage into cultural and community projects. Speed’s story shows how digital creators can introduce Ghana to audiences who may never have encountered the country through conventional media.
The larger lesson is that Ghanaspora influence is becoming harder to place in a single box. It can look like a borehole, a festival, an esports collaboration or a livestream watched by millions. What connects those activities is the ability to move attention, resources and narratives between Ghana and the wider world.
Source: EBONY Power 100, EBONY’s official 2026 announcement, BET, the Associated Press and the One54 Africa podcast.
