Darren Watkins Jr, an American YouTuber popularly called Speed is in Ghana to cover the final lap of his 20-nation African tour in 28 days, the biggest streaming project of his YouTube streamer career.
His motive? “I want to show the world what Africa really is,” Speed said during his stop in South Africa.
The 21-year-old had his first YouTube livestream on December 28, 2018 streaming Epic Games’s online game, Fortnite. 7 years on, his brand has evolved from a YouTube gamer to In Real Life (IRL) streams, attracting over 50 million subscribers.
Speed’s African tour
IShowSpeed kicked off his African tour on December 29, 2025 in Angola, before moving to South Africa, Mozambique, and Eswatini, featuring live-streamed interactions with fans and local culture.
So far, he has toured Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Nigeria as anticipation builds for his last tour in Ghana on January 26, 2026.
In Angola, he was welcomed by traditional dancers to begin his 4-hour stream where he had a super car spin, rode on local motos (okada), ate local delicacies and played football with young players. Midway through the livestream, IShowSpeed paused said, “Bro, I’m not going to lie, bro, I love the love in Africa, bro,” describing the energy as “crazy.”
“I really do love the love and energy here, bro,” he said.
In Kenya, Speed performed his famous backflip near resting lions, livestreamed to more than 200,000 viewers, he toured the Maasai mara, met the “Gen Z Goliath”, Bradley Marongo, the tallest man in Africa who is 8.2 tall, and ate East Africa’s popular flat bread known as chapati while interacting with street vendors.
“The whole city is shutdown bro, this is amazing,” IShowSpeed said in Kenya.
How is IShowSpeed’s African tour being perceived?
For many Africans, IShowSpeed’s visit to the continent will help change the negative perceptions about Africa.
Global market researcher, Ipsos in a report said his Kenyan tour outperformed every other African country on the 28-day “Speed Does Africa” tour.
The report states that iShowSpeed’s Kenya stop peaked at “8.5 million livestream viewers, the highest of any African stop,” while delivering “360,000 new subscribers to his channel in a single day.”
Ipsos argues that Kenya has positioned itself as a young, energetic, digitally native nation capable of shaping global culture, not merely consuming it.
For many internet users, the young streamer’s tour has shown better narratives about Africa, enticing many foreigners to visit the continent.
Some entertainment analysts also believe the livestreaming is inverting the module of Africa’s tourism drive, achieving significant results with little effort.
“One content creator like Speed and his mileage, his leverage, with such an authentic reach, can achieve what years of traditional marketing cannot,” Ghanaian entertainment analyst, Olele Salvador said.
IShowSpeed during his tour has also touched the hearts of many Africans for his authenticity.
I am a fifty something Ethiopian mother and I can’t believe I watched the whole thing with my kids, I never even heard of the guy until yesterday but love his energy and also I love the fact that his first major purchase after becoming a millionaire is a house for his mom @Selam_h9m said on YouTube.
For others, this tour is not only exposing Western misconceptions but mirroring Africans limited view of their own continent.
Comments on his Ethiopia’s IRL like this, “as a kenyan I didn’t really know how beautiful Ethiopia is. Hands down the best stream that we saw. I’m in awe. I have to visit Ethiopia,” solidifies that point.
His tour has forced Africans to get a deeper understanding of the continent beyond their national borders.
Despite the positives, some believe the tour is a self-gratification gimmick focused on enlarging the streamer’s fan base.
Who is IShowSpeed?
Darren is the 91st most subscribed YouTuber in the world with over 1.7k videos, 50.5million subscribers and over 7 billion views.
He is widely known for his high-energy personality, emotional reactions, and unpredictable and explosive live streams and viral moments.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Speed grew up with a strong interest in video games and online entertainment. Like many Gen-Z creators, Speed spent his early years watching YouTube and dreaming of becoming a content creator.
What started as a hobby in his bedroom in Ohio with a handful of viewers has now become a life-changing career.
In 2024, Speed told Forbes, that “having a million viewers was always a dream of mine.” Now he not only has millions of viewers but also is number 42 on Forbes creators list with an estimated net worth of $20 million.
