One evening in September 2022, hopeful event-goers thronged inside Mr Smith lounge, located along the Enugu to Onitsha expressway. The venue had very high patronage and the resultant buzz could be felt outside and across the usually quiet neighborhood: something new had come to nightlife in the Southeast region of Nigeria.
The event was an Unboxed party. Ideated by Chukwuneta Augustine, Unboxed started as a monthly party series to be held across the five states of the region — Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi and Imo — and as time progressed, in other parts of the country too. Its title is a reference to the vision of “unboxing new experiences,” says Unboxed manager Udeagbala “Bugatti” Chukwubuikem to OkayAfrica one recent evening at the company’s work space in Awka, the capital city of Anambra.
Chukwubuikem tells me that the choice of Mr Smith was a strategic one, so “[in case] we don’t have a large turn out, let it not be too visible.” The event, however, turned out to be an overwhelming success, even more so when you take into account that Awka’s undergraduates — who contribute huge numbers to such parties — were off-session at the time.
“The idea of Unboxed is giving the Southeasterners a feel of what an actual rave party looks like,” Chukwubuikem says, “a party where everybody is somebody.”
‘Everybody being somebody’seems like a trite statement, but when one considers the elitist elements of clubbing culture across Nigeria, the importance of a class-blind space such as Unboxed becomes apparent. It’s structured to give the feel of clubbing without actually being at the club, with most of their events held at open spaces and on non-clubbing days. Combining different forms of entertainment, and consistently refreshing them, has been the ethos of the Unboxed organizers. It’s the reason for the brand’s widespread acceptance across the Southeast and beyond, where it has been consolidating its presence.
Photo provided by the organizers.
Chukwuneta Augustine, aka Slym Shady, with the crowd at an Unboxed party.
Inside an Unboxed party
Anyone who’s attended them will tell you that no two Unboxed parties feel the same, that’s because each party wields a specific theme. The themes decided upon are “[those] the audience can easily find outfits for,” says Faustina Chika, Unboxed project manager and the engine behind its events. “After we go through [the theme] phase, we start working with our creators,” she continues. “Then we strategize about the venue, what we want the red carpet to look like, the experience center. We do our ground marking, how the stage is to be set. Then we have a meeting with the bouncers, the people at the gate, ticketers…”
Faustina and the other organizers’ promotional tactics are especially diligent, going to hostels around campus areas to share the word-of-mouth, but most times they have already established a working relationship with an agent within the lodge who circulates information about the next party.
These preparations set the stage for the Unboxed party, which from then on becomes a potpourri of creative forms. The parties showcase an intentional pairing of entertainment and showbiz professionals. With the “Southeast [creative] scene in disarray,” Chukwubuikem says, “to an extent there is nothing that exists that can be said to be called an industry. What we have here is a collective of talents that are struggling to make it out, while having their minds set somewhere else as the apex, so they see the Southeast as a starting-out ground. So the idea is that: whatever you’re looking forward to getting to at the latter stage of your career is also obtainable at Unboxed.”
Photo provided by the organizers.
Unboxed manager Udeagbala “Bugatti” Chukwubuikem.
What the people say
Having platformed DJs, dancers, musicians, photographers and hypemen, the Unboxed stage is becoming a premier destination for self-promotion. Some of the youngest DJs in Nigeria are currently mainstays at Unboxed (13-year-old DJ Ella and eight-year-old DJ Irish) and some nationally-renowned DJs like DJ Peejay, Funky DJ Pop and DJ Cappello, among others have also been featured at the events. Unboxed ideator, Chukwuneta, is a popular hypeman who goes by Slym Shady.
The undisrupted fun of event goers at the parties is centered on the on-stage activities. Chukwubuikem tells me that only once has a musician performed at an Unboxed party (the Nigerian artist Iyanya at Abuja in January 2023). This hasn’t hampered the numbers, however, with recent crowd size at its biggest community of Nsukka coming at 12,000 attendants. In the capital state of Abuja, the Unboxed party welcomed 9,000 attendees.
“This is a party that operates away from artists,” affirms Chukwubuikem, “yet when the crowd attends, they cannot tell the difference from an artist-headlined party and a rave, because they get the feeling that is not gotten anywhere.”
A regular of the Unboxed parties, tech enthusiast and entrepreneur Christopher Ibeagha attended his first party in April of 2023. Since then, he’s attended almost every party they’ve hosted in Awka. “If I just want to encapsulate everything in one word, I’d say vibes,” he tells OkayAfrica. “It has something to do with the fact that there’s always a lot of thought put into the events. Unboxed has this spirit of nonstop vibing; the experience is always lit. You barely get tired. I don’t know how they do it.”
Photo provided by the organizers.
The crowd at an Unboxed party.
The scenic importance of raves & parties
Rave parties such as Unboxed serve a more contemporary and pressing function considering the alleged insecurity plaguing the Southeast. A region that still suffers the aftermath of the Nigeria-Biafra war, occurrences such as those involving “unknown gunmen” and protection groups like Eastern Security Network have become rife in recent years. Chukwubuikem tells me those reports are quite exaggerated, stating that if young people are coming out on weeknights to rave and party, how could such a region be called insecure?
“Unboxed has done that demystification of the security situation,” says Chukwubuikem. “We’ve never had a situation where someone is leaving an Unboxed party and they were kidnapped, or their phone got snatched and all that. It has never happened. And you can’t leave it to chance, you can’t be lucky for 24 months, it’s a well thought-out strategy. [Faustina] has told you that one of the things we go on to do is have a pre-event meeting with our security team. Security is security, so let’s leave it there.”
Considering what Unboxed has so far achieved, their bullishness towards accomplishing future goals is understandable. “We’re taking [Unboxed] worldwide,” says Faustina. “I don’t want to say where we’re seeing ourselves in the next year, because one year’s a lot. In six months, we should be looking at an African tour.”
Chukwubuikem reiterates the confidence of his colleague. “The reason why I will always tick Unboxed to cross over before any other entertainment event here is [because] this is the most structured event in the Southeast,” he says. “The bar has consistently been raised. So if you say you’re copying Unboxed, that means you should go and stack up some bags because you have a lot of catching up to do.”
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