Ishowspeed Africa tour aims to showcase the beautiful continent, its unique cultures and peoples to the world. He intends to “show the world what Africa is,” an interesting engagement that many YouTubers in Africa like Wodemaya and others have embarked on for decades.
In recent months, the name IShowSpeed has been everywhere across Africa, from busy city streets to social media timelines. In places like Lagos, Addis Ababa, Luanda, and Johannesburg, huge crowds have gathered just to see him.
Young fans scream, cry, and chase after his car, while millions more watch everything live on YouTube. For many people, especially young Africans, seeing IShowSpeed in real life feels like meeting a global icon.
Who is IShowSpeed?
IShowSpeed’s real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr. He is a 21-year-old American YouTuber and livestreamer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He began creating content as a teenager, mostly posting gaming videos online.
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At first, he focused on popular games like NBA 2K and Fortnite. What made him stand out was not his gaming skill but his personality, his energy. He reacted loudly to everything, shouting, laughing, barking, and showing extreme emotions that viewers found entertaining and unpredictable.
Around 2020 and 2021, short clips from his livestreams began to go viral on social media. These clips helped him grow a massive audience very quickly.
By 2022, IShowSpeed had become one of the fastest-rising creators on YouTube. Today, he has more than 50 million subscribers and is considered one of the most followed livestreamers in the world.
IRL Livestreaming
Over time, Speed’s content changed. He moved away from gaming and started doing real-life livestreams. He began traveling, interacting with strangers, making music, reacting to football matches, and performing risky stunts in public.
His streams are usually unscripted and can last for several hours. Anything can happen, and that unpredictability is a big part of why people keep watching.
The Africa Tour
In late 2025, Speed announced that he would spend nearly a month traveling across Africa. The tour, widely known as “Speed Does Africa,” includes visits to about twenty countries across Southern, Eastern, Western, and Northern Africa. Countries on the tour include Angola, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Senegal, and others.
According to Speed, his reason for coming to Africa is simple. He wants to show the world what Africa is really like. Instead of producing edited travel videos, he livestreams everything as it happens! Viewers see the streets, the people, the food, the chaos, the joy, and even the uncomfortable moments in real time.
Speed in Angola
From the very first stop in Angola, the reception surprised even Speed himself. Fans welcomed him with overwhelming love and excitement. In one emotional moment, a fan recreated one of Speed’s most popular internet memes on a beach, leaving him visibly touched.
As the tour continued, similar scenes played out across the continent. Children cried with joy when they hugged him. Fans ran long distances just to catch a glimpse of him. Entire neighborhoods came to a standstill as crowds formed around him.
Speed in Eswatini
In Eswatini, Speed experienced something entirely unexpected. He took part in a traditional initiation ceremony at the royal palace and was given the name Logijimako, which means “the one who runs.”
The ceremony symbolically welcomed him as a warrior meant to protect the king and royal family. The moment went viral, and many viewers said they had never seen African traditions presented so openly and casually in a livestream.
Speed in Nigeria
Nigeria was one of the most anticipated stops on the tour. When Speed arrived in Lagos, the excitement reached another level. He visited well-known places like Nike Art Gallery in Lekki. Speed also celebrated his 21st birthday during the Africa tour and crossed 50 million subscribers while livestreaming from Nigeria.
Speed in Ethiopia
Throughout the tour, Speed’s activities have been spontaneous. He walks through markets, bargains with traders, eats local food, dances with performers, plays football with street kids, and explores historical sites.
In Ethiopia, he visited the Merkato market, danced the traditional eskista dance, honored Ethiopian warriors and reacted with shock when he learned the country uses a different calendar.
Among Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences, Speed is loved for his authenticity. Fans describe him as funny, energetic, fearless, and kind. They appreciate that he donates money, helps strangers, and treats fans with warmth.
One of the most important impacts of the tour is how it changes the way Africa is shown online. Africa is often presented through Western narratives focused on poverty, charity, or crisis.
Speed does not arrive to fix anything or save anyone. He simply shows up, stays live, and connects with people. Over time, Africa stops looking like a problem to solve and starts looking like a place full of life, complexity, and pride.
Compared to creators whose content centers on philanthropy and rescue stories, Speed’s approach feels different. His long livestreams allow viewers to sit with the continent, see ordinary moments, and experience cultures without heavy framing.
For many people in the African diaspora, watching a Black American feel accepted and at home across Africa has been deeply emotional.
In the end, IShowSpeed’s Africa tour is not perfect, and it is not designed to be. It is messy, emotional, chaotic, and sometimes uncomfortable. But it has made millions of people look at Africa differently, not through headlines or charity campaigns, but through shared human moments happening live.
Whether the attention lasts or fades, the tour has already left a mark. For many young Africans and viewers around the world, it has sparked pride, curiosity, and connection. And sometimes, that is where real change begins.
Ishowspeed Africa tour: Resources
- IShowSpeed’s Africa Tour Isn’t About Saving Anyone – NLM
- IShowSpeed’s Africa tour moment – ToI
- YouTuber IShowSpeed rallies Benin on Africa tour – Africanews
- Travel and Tourism – Archives – Tadexprof
