Tuma Basa Ends Eight-Year Tenure at YouTube

Tuma Basa has announced he is departing YouTube, ending his eight-year tenure at the Google-owned company.

Backstory:

• Basa’s most recent role at YouTube was Director of Black Music & Culture.

• He joined the platform in 2018 as Director of Urban Music, and was tasked with further engaging the urban music community.

• Prior he spent 10 years at MTV and three as VP of Music Programming at the Sean “Diddy” Combs-founded hip-hop broadcaster REVOLT TV.

• In 2015 he joined Spotify as Global Programming Head of Hip-Hop, growing the RapCaviar playlist to more than nine million followers.

What’s next:

• Basa hasn’t confirmed his next move.

• At the time of publishing, YouTube is yet to comment or announce a successor.

What they said:

• Tuma Basa, on Instagram: “After eight great years at YouTube, I’m taking a leap of faith and stepping into my next chapter. Thank you to the Music Team at YouTube, the leadership, the artists, the managers, the labels, the producers, the continents, the city specialists, the uploaders and YouTube Lovers and even the Gen AI haters that made this run.. a great run. Murakoze Cyane, Asante Sana, Siyabonga, Amesegenalew, Gracias, Obrigado, Merci Beaucoup.”