BOMJA Is Building a Movement in Minneapolis Where the African Diaspora Comes Together
BOMJA, a Minneapolis collective founded by Kojo Frimpong, is creating intentional space for African diaspora communities to connect across cultural lines through music, rhythm and shared experience, with two sold-out events at the Cabooze and a third coming June 12.
The word hits differently when you know what it means. BOMJA, pronounced BOHM-jah, is born from two languages and two corners of the African diaspora: “Nkabom,” the Twi word from Ghana meaning unity, and “Pamoja,” the Swahili word from East Africa meaning together. Blended into one, the name carries a mission: bring people together through rhythm, culture and shared space.
That mission came to life on Jan. 30 at the Cabooze in Minneapolis, when BOMJA held its first event. Less than three months later, on April 10, the collective returned to the same stage, and the room made clear that something real is being built here.
Walking into the Cabooze that Friday night felt like stepping into a living, breathing mosaic of Black culture. Durags and snapbacks moved alongside fur coats and leopard print. Box braids and locs filled the dance floor. Afrobeats, amapiano and hip-hop poured from a rotating lineup of DJs: DJ McShellen, DJ Guy, DJ MKZ, DJ D-Waynne and DJ MWAHHH, each one feeding the energy of a crowd that didn’t need much convincing to move. The night was hosted by up-and-coming Afrobeats artist OC Mack and KP, who kept the vibe grounded and celebratory all at once. Dance circles formed and dissolved and formed again. Nobody was a stranger for long.
This is exactly what Kojo Frimpong, CEO and founder of BOMJA, set out to create, not by accident, but by design.
“Growing up and being in different spaces, I noticed how people from similar backgrounds could still feel disconnected, whether it was because of culture, music, or just not feeling like they fully belonged,” Frimpong said. “Even in social scenes, things felt divided, like certain spaces were for certain groups.”
Frimpong said he also saw the antidote to that division playing out in real time, in the power of music and shared environments to dissolve walls that words alone couldn’t touch.
“When the right song plays or the right energy is created, people drop their guard and connect naturally,” he said. “That stuck with me.”
So BOMJA was built to intentionally recreate that feeling, a space, Frimpong said, “where culture isn’t separated or compared, but experienced together.” For young people across the diaspora who have grown up code-switching between worlds, straddling identities and sometimes feeling like they don’t fully belong anywhere, that kind of space isn’t just fun. It’s necessary.
Frimpong is clear-eyed about the deeper tensions BOMJA is working against. Divisions within the diaspora, between African and Caribbean communities, between first-generation immigrants and American-born Black people, between those who grew up with Afrobeats and those raised on hip-hop, are real, he said. And they didn’t appear out of thin air.
“A lot of it was taught, reinforced, and passed down over time,” he said. “So it makes sense that people still feel that separation.”
But Frimpong believes proximity is a powerful teacher. BOMJA doesn’t claim to fix generational fractures overnight. What it does is put people in the same room, dancing to the same music, breathing the same air, sharing the same energy, and letting that do the work of transcending the barriers.
“It’s a reminder that we have more in common than we think. BOMJA is the physical experience of unity. Not just talking about it, but actually living it.”
That distinction, between performing unity and actually practicing it, is what sets BOMJA apart from a simple night out. In an era where diaspora identity is increasingly visible in fashion, music and social media, there is no shortage of spaces that celebrate Blackness in the abstract. BOMJA asks what it looks like to live it together, in person, across differences.
For Frimpong, the work is personal, and he isn’t stopping anytime soon. When asked what keeps him going, he didn’t hesitate.
“You can’t fail unless you quit,” he said, “and quitting is for losers. I am far from a loser.”
But it is also collective work. He emphasizes the collaboration of his team that helps enhance the vision of BOMJA, like Chief Operating Officer Manasseh Williams.
With two larger events into the new year, and a few intimate ones in between, BOMJA is just getting started as a movement in the making. If you’d like to experience it yourself, their next event kicks off in collaboration with another culture organizer, ARUSA, on June 12, at the Cabooze.
For more information, visit BOMJA’s instagram at @bomja.hq.
Jasmine McBride welcomes reader responses at jmcbride@spokesman-recorder.com.