Nigerian disc jockey and producer DJ ECool has reached a major career milestone after performing at an NBA halftime show at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, United States.
DJ ECool, also known as Davido‘s official DJ, took centre stage during halftime at an Atlanta Hawks game as part of the team’s Culture Fest celebration to deliver an energetic Afrobeats set alongside other international DJs.
It marked what many are calling a historic first. 
DID YOU MISS? Regina Daniels Buys 4 Cars in 2 Weeks — See How Much She Spent
Why is his NBA halftime performance a big deal?
The NBA is one of the most-watched sporting leagues on the planet, and its halftime shows are broadcasted, live-streamed, and shared across social media to millions of fans worldwide.
Landing a spot on that stage is a statement, especially for a Nigerian DJ, and it exposes him to a massive international audience.
It also means that Afrobeats is now mainstream enough to anchor a major sporting event in the United States.
Other African DJs making global history
To understand why DJ ECool’s NBA halftime performance matters, you need to know what the biggest African DJs before him have and haven’t done in America.
They’ve walked through massive doors, but none of them have walked through this particular one.
Black Coffee
- First South African artist to sell out Madison Square Garden
- Performed at Coachella multiple times — the first DJ to do so twice
- Won a Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album in 2022
- Co-wrote and co-produced three tracks on Drake’s ‘Honestly, Nevermind.’
- Holds a long-running residency at Hi Ibiza and has performed in 82 countries
- Never performed at an NBA halftime show
RELATED: Female DJS Are Taking Over Africa – Here are the Top 10
DJ Spinall
- First African DJ to perform at SXSW in Austin, Texas (2015)
- First Nigerian DJ to tour five US cities in one run
- Official DJ at the BET Awards in Los Angeles (2017)
- First Nigerian DJ to perform at Glastonbury Festival
- Inducted into the Recording Academy (Grammy voters) Class of 2020
- First Afrobeats DJ to perform at Coachella (2024)
- Never performed at an NBA halftime show
DJ Neptune
- Among the first Nigerian DJs to perform at SXSW (2011)
- Has performed across the US, UK, UAE, Australia, and over a dozen African countries
- His 2020 track “Nobody” became a global Afrobeats anthem.
- Huge discography with Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Tiwa Savage.
- His US presence has largely been through club nights and diaspora events rather than on mainstream institutional stages.
- Never performed at an NBA halftime show
Festivals and award shows attract audiences who come expecting music. However, an NBA arena is different because nearly 20,000 fans are there for basketball, not a DJ set.
That kind of exposure goes beyond the traditional music crowd, and that’s exactly what DJ ECool achieved with this performance.
About The Author
