Rapper 2 Chainz the latest celeb to party in Ja
Published:Saturday | May 27, 2023 | 1:04 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
United States rapper Tauheed Epps, more popularly known as 2 Chainz, was the centre of attention on Thursday night at the kick-off party for Mocha Fest Jamaica 2023 at Elevate Lounge and Nightclub in Montego Bay and was joined by a number of government officials including and scores of largely American party vacationers.
2 Chainz, with multiple Billboard hits, has been sharing his time in Jamaica, adding to the slew of celebrities who have chosen Jamaica as their vacation spot in recent months. Among those celebrities are Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family; Janet Yellen, senior US President Joe Biden administration cabinet member and US Treasury Secretary; Maryland Governor Wes Moore; Hollywood screen actors Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones; John Amos; Tracee Ellis Ross; Nigerian Afrobeats megastar Burna Boy; American music stars Dua Lipa; Cardi B; Offset; Rick Ross; Omarion and Chance the Rapper.
Delano Seiveright, senior adviser and strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, noted that “Jamaica welcomed approximately 3.3 million visitors and registered a remarkable recovery of earnings compared to pre-COVID earnings of 2019. Further, the island is experiencing a rise in summer 2023 air travel bookings by 33 per cent as compared to summer 2022, according to data by ForwardKeys”.
Mocha Fest, the destination festival which started off as a single festival in Jamaica with only 200 people, has now grown to multiple destinations worldwide with events as large as 5,000 attendees.
2 Chainz was a member of hip-hop duo Playaz Circle that was signed to Ludacris’ Disturbing tha Peace label. He first came to the spotlight when his group released the popular single Duffle Bag Boy. He would eventually go solo, and would release his debut album which shot to No. 1, and had three hits including No Lie, Birthday Song, and I’m Different, which all landed within the top 50 on the Billboard 100. The album would go gold and would make 2 Chainz one of the hot acts in hip hop. He would go on to release a second album called B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time, which would land in the Top 10 on the charts and had the popular single Feds Watching.
The New York Times highlighted 2 Chainz as an artiste who “fashioned himself into one of the premiere hip-hop emissaries across culture with his roguish magnetism and whimsical boasts, outlasting countless peers as he diversified into a television host and brand pitchman”.