Welcome home.
Hey!
Welcome to my home.
-What's up, sir? -Good to see you back again.
You've been to South Africa more than most American artists have.
-Yeah. -Uh, does the country have a special place for you?
Oh, my God. I mean, Africa in itself has a special place
for any person who is trying to identify the reality
-that we all come from here... -Right.
...but don't necessarily know which part of it we come from.
-Right, right, right. -So every time I'm here,
I always try to go back
and-- I don't know-- introduce myself to new culture,
go to new places, meet new people, find new things.
But I actually do feel at home,
not just because I'm in Africa,
but because I'm here with Global Citizen, and...
Right, and you've been with Global Citizen longer
than most people have.
-You've been an ambassador for a long time. -Mm-hmm.
You know, you've been part of what they're doing
-in and around the globe. -Mm-hmm.
A lot of people don't know that Usher had been involved
in all of the projects that you've been involved in.
How did you get involved with Global Citizen,
and what connected with you?
Well, I've always felt like I was a global citizen
before I knew what Global Citizen was really about.
-Right. -And, uh, the idea of utilizing, you know,
what you have as an entertainer, and an opportunity to vie
or either advocate for people
who don't necessarily have what they need.
Um, that's always been a part of who I am.
It became a part of who I am or was,
uh, as a result of hanging out with Quincy Jones.
You know, it's like it's enough to sell records
and, you know, be world-renowned,
and have people sing your songs, but what do you do,
-what do you offer that helps other people? -Right.
You know, what philanthropic efforts do you have?
So I started my New Look Foundation,
and obviously, years later, uh, people like this organization
and Hugh Evans reached out to me and wanted me to be a part,
um, of an amazing event on the mall in D.C.
Uh, I actually injured my foot.
I had broke... broken foot.
There's probably a picture of this. I literally...
That's when you came up with the golden crutch, right?
-USHER: I had a cane, the golden crutch. -(Noah laughs)
Had to do it in style.
You know, if you're gonna do it, why not?
But, um, yeah, man.
I mean, every bit of what Global Citizen, um, is about
is what I think is innately the responsibility
that all entertainers should recognize that they have.
You-you talk about your foundation, and I won't lie.
I didn't know how young you were
-when you started your foundation. -Mm-hmm.
I didn't know, um, how deep into it you were.
I mean, you know, I knew of Usher,
you know, um, the singer, I knew of Usher, the performer...
-Mm-hmm. -...but I didn't know of Usher,
the person who was trying to build a community.
Tell me about the New Look Foundation.
-It has a very specific cause? -Yeah.
A very specific target,
and you've been successfully achieving them.
Yeah. Um, well, success is-is relative.
The-the idea is,
-obviously 501(c)(3)s don't function by themselves, -Right.
so the more that people, you know, are donating,
and, also to, you know,
show support for what we're doing, the greater.
But the efforts of being able to give kids real, you know,
opportunity is where it really starts for me.
It's-it's... That's one of the things that makes me who I am.
Somebody believed in me, somebody gave me an opportunity
to know that there was more
in my environment that was waiting for me.
-Right. -So that's what the New Look Foundation has done.
But I really do have to thank my mother,
because starting at a young age,
you know, I think I did a lot things,
like Make-A-Wish Foundation and stuff like that, but,
eventually, it's like,
"Yeah, let's start of foundation of your own.
-And what would you want it to be catered around?" -Right.
And there was opportunity.
She helped me bring that to fruition.
So now... 18 years later,
still doing it and loving it,
having an amazing board, an amazing opportunity
to really change the idea
and really be the reference that I talk about.
-Right, right, right. -It's one thing to say, "Hey, donate,"
but if you don't know where the money goes,
if you don't understand or have a reference
to what it looks like... Is it an academy?
Is it a, you know, is it a workshop?
Is it something that's peer-to-peer training?
Those type of things, I think, begin to become the reference
of what I'm talking about,
what the New Look Foundation represents.
So... Usher is 20 years old.
Mm-hmm.
He's working on his music career.
-Mm-hmm. -His mom says to him, "You want to get involved
in something greater than yourself."
-Mm-hmm. -You see kids who are in court.
You see kids who may have to spend
-most of their life behind bars. -Yeah.
This connects with you when you create an organization
that aims to change that.
Did it connect with you because you saw kids
who looked like you, they were your age, that, like,
your life could have gone a completely different way?
Was there something about that?
I think that was the beginning of it.
In hindsight, right, you know, now,
I'm able to understand that that is somewhat of a trap.
Right? That is the trickle-down effect
of what, you know, mass incarceration is about.
-Right. -You know what I mean?
If you are profiled, if you do not understand
how to see your way out of the reality
of the means that you feel, like, you're subject to,
you'll get lost.
And I ultimately wanted to give kids a new look on life
through real-world experiences.
Having people like yourself
come in and talk about where you came from,
-Right. -how you found your spark,
and, then, what you ultimately did to gain notoriety.
When you look at...
everything America's going through now,
-Mm-hmm. -you know, it feels like...
there were issues that American had,
and then a new president came in,
and some of the issues seemed to go away in the media's eye,
but they haven't really gone away,
especially for the black community in the United States.
Your foundation speaks to an idea
that many people feel is core,
and that is getting kids into spaces where they have
the best chance of not being profiled,
they have the best chance of not falling into a trap,
but the truth is, we've seen time and time again,
that at the end of the day, part of the trap
-is just the color of your skin. -Yeah.
When you talk to these kids, when you engage with them,
is there a thing that you have inside of you, is there an idea
that you have where you have a fear for them as well?
I don't speak to the fear-- I think I speak more to the pride
-Right. -and the idea that they could be something greater
than what the world subjects them to
or, either, looks at them like.
To see the beauty in finding or identifying something
that will change your life and many others.
Because not only are you doing it for yourself,
but you're doing it for that young man or woman
-who comes from the same area that you came from -Right.
that was just looking for that opportunity and their way out.
You know, and I do it by way of peer to peer.
It's not just me as, you know, now an adult
benevolently dictating to kids like, "No, this is what you do,
this is the profile, do this and you're good."
Nah. There's only gonna be so many Trevors, Ushers.
Kobe Bryants, LeBron James, but you can find something
that you are passionate about, and it could become a career,
and it could be your way out.
-You can hear the people rehearsing behind us. -Yeah.
Global Citizen is a concert,
it is a movement, it's about action,
-it's about engaging people. -Mm-hmm.
But it also about the entertainment.
I mean, it's a beautiful combination
-of all of these things. -Yeah.
You came through to South Africa and immediately,
the country was set alight by the fact
that Usher was going to be performing with Black Coffee.
-USHER: Yeah. -NOAH: Now, as a South African, I know,
I mean, everyone was excited by this.
Why was that important to you?
Who is Black Coffee to you?
What-what made this, you know, spark, turn into a flame?
Well, out of all of the times that I've come,
I wanted to do something authentic for this region,
and I felt like Nathi, Black Coffee, is that.
Out of all of the African, you know, performers
who will be a part of this collaborative effort,
I felt like I wanted him to be a part of-of this amazing moment.
And it really was set within the intention, um,
of not only celebrating what we're doing with Global Citizen,
which, you know, obviously, this is very elaborate,
but I felt like this was
that opportunity to just start something new.
We're gonna work on the music for the album,
you know, that's coming.
But this will be an amazing kickoff,
and the intention is really
to set the spirit in the right direction.
Um, it's not just Black Coffee.
Uh, you've also got a special group of people
-who are gonna be working with you on that stage. -Yeah.
Tell me about that.
IDA, uh, it's a dance group--
-a dance collaborative, -Right.
of boys and girls from Johannesburg,
who are performers, and, you know, I really wanted,
as I said, the spirit of this to be right. Right?
So, to me, dance has always been a universal language.
They say music is, but dance really is, right?
-There's something about those movements, right? -Yes.
I-I did a lot of study leading up to this performance,
and the, um, what is it...?
-The Zulu movement, -Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
and the conversation of what that was--
I was like, I want to get to that.
I'd love to be able to take the intention
of putting peace over this entire stadium,
and making sure that people understand
that we're together in this effort,
but they get an opportunity to shine.
We get an opportunity to do an amazing mashup of a record
that they're gonna, obviously, you know,
and this is the beginning of an amazing conversation
that me and Black Coffee will be a part of.
-Tell me about the new album before I let you go. -Okay.
The "A." I've seen it everywhere.
-I watched you traveling around. -I wouldn't call that an album.
-That's a warmup, actually. -Oh, that's a warmup?
-Yeah, that's just a warmup. -Wow.
-The album is not here yet. -Okay.
-Yeah. -So that's just a warmup collection of songs
-that have been put together -Yeah. Yeah.
-to warm us up for the album. -There you go.
"A," Atlanta, you call that home.
Well, a lot of things start with "A," right?
-Right. Right. They do. -The alphabet, literally.
-Literally starts with "A." -There you go.
-Right. So... -Well, this one.
What does, what does that "A" mean to you?
What is, what is starting for Usher?
I mean, we've seen so many evolutions of the artist,
but what is this "A" for you?
This "A" for me, was just a reconnection, you know.
I just-- it's what I felt, it's the music I'm listening to.
It's the vibe of where we are.
And working with Zaytoven was just an opportunity
to just bring Atlanta back into perspective.
You think about the majority of what I've been doing
with either Jermaine Dupri or with Lil Jon,
-or any other producers from Atlanta, -Right.
the energy is in that.
So I wanted that energy on this record.
Thank you for being here.
I won't keep you much longer.
I know we've all got to go and rehearse.
Uh, welcome back to South Africa.
Always, always happy to be here.
I'm gonna see you in the streets tonight, my friend.
-Yeah. You hanging? -Thank you for being here.
-Oh, yeah, I'm hanging. -I dig it.
I'm hanging. I'm home, baby.