Black Coffee launches 'Dream Club' to inspire young people to reach for the stars

Fresh from his historic Grammy award win, Black Coffee has revealed what’s next on the cards for the We Dance Again hitmaker.

And testament to the gentle giant’s altruistic nature, the DJ, whose real name is Nkosinathi Maphumulo, wants to inspire young people to reach for the stars by establishing what he calls ‘The Dream Club’.

“I want to create a platform that is categorised — like if kids are interested in tech, in coding, they come and join the club. And music, fashion — if they want to do stuff, they can come there and connect with each other and find the information about where to go, who to talk to about their career — in any field they want to pursue,” he said.

Black Coffee said the club will take the form of an app — a sort of Facebook for dreamers who want to realise their aspirations.

The Durban-born artist said he drew inspiration from the work of his good friend, the late Off-White and Louis Vuitton designer Virgin Abloh, who developed a website to show young designers how to start their own brands.

Maphumulo revealed his forthcoming venture on Wednesday evening during a private Grammy celebration party held in his honour at trendy Sandton restaurant Tang.

The idea came to him on the plane ride back to SA after returning from the 64th Grammy Awards held in Las Vegas on Sunday evening where his seventh studio album, Subconsciously, was named Best Dance/Electronic Album.

“This is now my assignment. And I feel sorry for the people I work with because it’s actually theirs [to put into action]. It needs to happen. We need to create a platform whether it is in the form of an app or a social media group. If a kid feels empowered, and they feel driven, they can go to a space where they will be able to find other people — where they can talk about how they can progress themselves, and be better.

“In a society that is mostly not very inspired — there is a lot happening in our country, there are a lot of young people carrying big families, and they can’t even think of themselves ... Those kids also need to [be able to] go back and live out their own dreams,” Maphumulo told the audience at the Arena Holdings, Gallo and Remy Martin-supported event.

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