ATTENTION IS THE NEW OIL: ESCAPEMAG RELEASES ISSUE 15
A continent-wide investigation into how African creatives are turning visibility into ownership, featuring Uche Jombo, Mercy Eke, Layi Wasabi, Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Ycee, Ashmusy, and Levixone (Uganda). Free to download now. Print editions available to order.
EscapeMag has released Issue 15, Attention Is The New Oil, a body of work built around a single argument: Africa’s most valuable resource is no longer what comes out of the ground. It is what comes across the screen, and the people learning to refine it are creatives.
Oil made fortunes for whoever controlled the wells. Attention is making fortunes for whoever controls the cameras, the punchlines, the songs, the feeds. Issue 15 documents how a generation of African creatives is converting visibility into influence, influence into business, and business into ownership that outlasts the algorithm.
This is not a magazine about fame. It is an investigation into economics, systems, and what survives when the watching stops.
“We stopped asking creatives how they got famous, because it is the least interesting question you can ask them,” says Okiki Laoye, Editor-in-Chief of EscapeMag. “Issue 15 asks what they own, what they built, and what still stands if the platforms disappear tomorrow. The answers are the most serious business conversation happening on this continent right now, and it is happening in studios and on set rather than in boardrooms. Our job was to document it at the standard it deserves.”
THE ISSUE
Issue 15 features Uche Jombo, Mercy Eke, Layi Wasabi, Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Ycee, Levixone, Blessing Manafa, Ashmusy, BeeKay, Attitude Rap, Eniola Abolarin, Expensive Lucas and SVNSPACE, across original photography, long-form interviews and companion video features.
Every subject is put through the same territory: the first cheque, the most and least profitable revenue streams, the financial mistakes, what they own, and what still stands if social media disappears tomorrow.
HOW TO READ IT
Issue 15 is free to download now at escapemaghq.com.
Print editions are available to order on the same site, produced in a limited run for readers, collectors and partners who want the issue as an object rather than a file.
Companion video features from the Open Hours series are available on the EscapeMag YouTube channel, where each subject is followed from first look to final frame.
ABOUT ESCAPEMAG
EscapeMag is building the infrastructure for African creativity. The publication does not simply interview creatives. It documents creative economies, creative businesses and the cultural movements they produce, treating creatives as founders, operators and cultural architects. Issue 15 is its fifteenth edition.
MASTHEAD AND PRODUCTION
Editor-in-Chief: Okiki Laoye
Managing Editor: Adeshina “Sam” Salau
Media Director: Popoola Ayomide
Production Management: Atanda Ayobami
Style Director: Racheal Itaya
Photography: Akhezemobo Eric, Joshua Oyebanji, Popoola Ayomide
Videography: Popoola Ayomide, Dr Dinka Eyo Usy, Beeh Oluwaseun
Design: Joey Average, AY Graphics
Behind the scenes: Back Stage Africa
Styling: Racheal Itaya, Dan Stefan, Chibueze Chukwuebuka, Nwatu Daniel Onyemaechi, Ephraim Sadare
Hair: Opeyemi Oyebanji
Original designs: BORA, Daniel McNwatu, FRAIM’D, Naven_seven7, Beatrice Black Atari, Wandé, Elegant by Rachy
Production Partners: OneRPM | Studio Novella, Lekki Lagos
PRESS CONTACT
editorial@digitalescapeafrica.com
escapemaghq.com
