Nemo and Andy’s favorite toys from Toy Story were the gateway animated heroes for a lot of kids. Pixar has since gone on to make other lovable characters and while most of these characters were fictional, their human leads were always white. The increasing demand for diversity has led to coloured people getting more recognition in the film industry and Pixar won’t be left out. They released the trailer video for their next animated film, “Coco” last week announcing that their next lead role would be a coloured person from India.
In the past, Pixar have starred a South Asian boy in their short film, “Sanjay’s Supar Team” but they are about to make history with their first coloured lead role in a feature length piece. The teaser video shows a 12 year old Miguel stuck in a limbo dimension where he sees the dead and can’t be seen by the living. He journeys through the land of the dead to prove his musical talent and discovers some generational secrets about his family’s history.
“Coco” has a music fueled theme and director, Lee Unkrich who also worked on “Toy Story 3” is expected to inspire a new slew of nostalgic Disney sound tracks with this symbolic movie. The animated flick is expected for the 22nd of November release. You can check out the trailer below.
Bayomi is a Nigerian rapper based in Michigan, USA. After last month’s release of a remix of Runtown’s “Mad Over You”, the rapper is updating his catalog with a new single. “Love Without Second Thoughts” follows the same psuedo-romantic themes of his prior released singles, “Cheap Love” and “Love Again”.
The Nigerian born Michigan rapper discusses love and the distorted variations of emotions. His bars are held together by misty keyboards and drums inspired by Mario’s “Let Me Love You”. And much like that song, the emotions behind the beats are what drives the song more than any else.
Bayomi often centres his subject matter around dealing with relationships but he’s not to be mistaken as soft. His manages to avoid using cuss words while balancing a moderate gangster appeal. He also subtly acknowledges his faith by borrowing Paul’s definition of love from the bible right before slyly also describing love as sex without rubber.
It’s odd, but it might just strike you as a song that needs a replay.
Listen to Bayomi’s “Love Without Second Thoughts” below.
The first thing we thought of when we first heard Canadian based Dj Daniel Afe’s new song “Ijo Daniel (Lambda)” was Olamide’s 2015 smash hit, Shakiti Bobo. All the elements for a hit are there; infectious afrobeats that makes you want to shake out into a little jig, a killer hook that is easy to remember and hard to ignore and two guest artists with funky delivery, well versed in the monotonous, slightly autotuned pidgin delivery that mega stars like Tekno and Maleek Berry have helped popularized, a smattering of sultry female voice ala Rick Rozay thrown in for good measure.
The song’s interesting twist is that Dj Daniel puts himself at the heart of the song, even though Dj’s are normally behind the scenes. He asks the audience to engage his music by first urging himself to engage the music. The verse tend to dip into predictable Nigerian music tropes, with cameos about Rozay and ‘loose women’. But when the song ends you know exactly who he is, and are curious to find out what else he gets up to when he is spinning the wheels and put himself front and centre in a meta millennial way in his music.
Finding a break into the international mainstream can be a daunting task. For Seyi Shay, her new single incorporates elements of Afrobeat drums and Latin inspired acoustics. This crisscross is a very common maneuver for mainstream appeal and on Seyi Shay’s “Yolo Yolo”, you hear an inherent attempt for a universal sound, with a focus on rhythm and melody as opposed to instrumentation, which used to be a safe cover for artists to hide lackluster lyrics and incoherent content.
The accompanying video is shot against the beautiful landscape of South Africa’s tropics with lush colours, costumes and props, that truly embodies the intended Latino feel of the video. Seyi dons a blue off-shoulder top with a printed fringe skirt and bangles that portrays her as a gypsy and with her statement neck choker, a “Cleopatra”.
Though this Latin American touch is a phenomenal thing, it might just be the only thing you can get out of the video. No doubt, the video has a good cinematic appeal but you might find yourself wondering about the video’s point when you are done.
Last year, Tekno released “Rara” as a follow up release to “Diana”. It was produced by Selebobo to mimic the slow feel good dance-hall afropop style we have grown to love and attach to Tekno. Tekno however saw the beat’s similarity to Fela’s “Lady” as an opportunity to show his more socially conscious side and address an issue that has been troubling him. The single focuses on the woes in the society and why we shouldn’t ignore these issues.
The video for “Rara” was directed by Director Q who took panned shots of Lagos. The Ijora Badia swamp can be seen from a birds-eye view as well as a few other scenes showing what life in the less developed parts of Lagos looks like. The cameos in the video include Orezi, Peter and Paul Okoye and a couple other artists dancing along with children who are happy to be dancing with the stars.
This conscious side of Tekno is new and may would even say its the attempt of a man trying to test the waters of fan reception for diverse content on his album but its been months since his album announcement and simultaneous exit from MMMG and there has been no further word. With “Rara” adding to his tally of hits, many expected his solo exit from Ubi Franklin’s MMMG to be a turning point. Drake’s More Life is the first official release of a playlist by a studio recording artist. We are in the beginning of post album years, a trend many predicted last year after Chance the Rapper got nominated for (and eventually won) a Grammy off his Coloring Book mixtape.
Tekno may have never positioned himself as a trend setter in the past but with more control of his creative decisions, the singer could ear mark the beginning of a revolution for Nigerian Afropop. The sub-genres heavy reliance on single hits has come at the price of longevity and as one of the most progressive voices of modern Afropop, a format shift from Tekno may damn well shift the playing field completely.
In the age of increased awareness of gender politics, feminism and Google, it’s always a wise choice to backtrack and crosscheck to make sure you don’t ignorantly make an offensive statement. However, people don’t always make the wise choices. If anything, the stupid choices always stand out and the higher the status of the person, the more in-your-face the slip ups are. Going by Mel Gibson’s social pariah status, one would think anyone especially public figures would know how to convey their ideas without being overly offensive. Sadly, Kiss Daniel showed us over the weekend that that might be asking for too much.
Over the weekend, Twitter went bonkers when a snippet from his Punch interview surfaced where he said:
“I like ambitious women who are intelligent, can think for themselves and envisage the future.
There are some women that can tell you a lot of ways to properly spend and invest N10m and you would be amazed.
That is the type of lady I want, a woman who can drown you in her thoughts.
I don’t want the type of woman that would only think about how to twerk and spend your money.
I like twerking and I’m not saying it’s bad but when it comes to choosing the woman I would live with for the rest of my life, I think intelligence is more important.
There will come a time when ladies would not be able to twerk again because of old age.”
In his defence, he said “only”, referring to women who can only twerk and spend money as he succinctly put it. However, his seemingly innocent statement is quite problematic as it mirrors the widespread notion that women can not be multi-faceted beings like men are. A woman isn’t just restricted to being only an intelligent prude or a just a money-guzzling twerker. This Madonna-Whore complex theory is the assumption that the traits we value as stereotypically “feminine” are directly at odds with embracing one’s sexuality. That a person can’t be kind, understanding, intelligent and also sexually empowered. That they have to be one or the other.
Though this might just be an innocent slip-up, it won’t hurt him to educate himself so it doesn’t happen again.
It’s usually hard for young artist to pull off a full project considering the financial and emotional cost of production. Yet, Straff has released a debut project titled Vanilla Sky.
Vanilla Sky is a 7 track EP that boast of features from Chocolate City boss M.I Abaga and underground rapper FI as well as production credits from Ycee’s official DJ, Wav.Os and up and coming deck Remy Bargins amongst others.
“O. M. W”, the first track on the EP features a vocal sample from Tony Montana in Scarface, setting a tone for the gangster theme Straff takes all through the EP. Straff raps with the same hedonistic confidence of Kanye and Future, casually bragging about money, getting the baddest bitch, snitches and just having a good time on a good song.
Straff uses beat with synth heavy and chant rhythm overlays straight out of the Pharrell handbook. He also borrows sounds from the Caribbeans for “Snake In The City” and “Badman Tin”. In a time where the African soundscape is being harvested by anyone for commercial reasons, Straff completely avoids the home sound and emphasizes foreign culture. His rap skills leave a little to be desired but Vanilla Sky is an enjoyable experience for what an indie artist with the freedom to create exactly what he wants sounds like.
He isn’t exactly as odd as Tyler the creator but both are obnoxious and try to stand out. Vanilla Sky shows an artist who still needs to work on reaching a final form. But with friends like MI and Straff’s creative confidence, this debut EP might just mark the beginning of a really promising career.
For a relative newcomer like Niniola, her repertoire of hit singles is quite impressive. Her small but effective catalogue has seen her dabbling in different genres, from Afropop to House music and even an ambitious experimental electronic twist to Yoruba Waka music. Since her debut single, Niniola hasn’t so much as made a formal announcement hinting the release of a possible debut album but we intend to kickstart a demand for it with our list of top 5 essentials from Niniola.
Ibadi
Sarz’s EDM/Afrobeat fusion production set a backdrop for an intricate story built on desiring affection from a man with wandering eyes. Niniola’s switch from English to Yoruba also mirrors the transition in her attitude from merely being concerned to a determination to maintain her man’s attention. Her first joint collaboration with Sarz won’t be easily forgettable not just because of the lyrics but also because of the near perfect melding of vocals and beat.
Soke
Following “Ibadi”‘s success, Sarz and Niniola released another joint single, “Soke”. This time, Niniola isn’t fighting to keep the attention of her man’s wandering eye, rather she crafts a tale of her shortsighted lover eager to blow his lottery winnings at a go. Niniola’s happiness at with the change in fortune doesn’t cloud her reasoning, as she secretly saves up with the knowledge that tides easily change and next time, it might not be in their favour.
Start All Over
On “Start All Over”, Niniola and Mavin Record’s latest signee, Johnny Drille tell a story of new beginnings in spite of multiple shortcomings in the past. While capturing the changes and berating themselves for what they did wrong, the song is built on the promise to do better to each other. Johnny Drille’s country music-influenced production coupled with Niniola’s effortless switch from English to Yoruba results in a severely underrated folk love song that deserves to be on any Niniola-inspired playlist.
Jigi Jigi
Riding off the high that came with bagging the Best Female Artist at AFRIMA, Niniola’s gratitude became a central element in her next release. “Jigi Jigi” replays the story of the Queen and her mirror but in place of an arrogant attitude, an excited grateful one remains. She sings of a man who treats her like a lady (a surprisingly low bar if you really think of it) but all that really matters is how happy he makes her feel. ODH keeps closely to the South African house effect Niniola has seemed to mark out as her niche.
Maradona
Her most recent single, “Maradona” got featured as our Best New Music a while ago but it still deserves a spot on this list. The Latin-American influenced instrumental strikes a clear note underneath layers of subtle sexual innuendos. Not a lot of women would get away with “Maradona” like Niniola does despite the directness of the lyrics. But somehow, the delicate balance between the boldness of what she implies and her sly lyrical delivery heightens the sexual appeal.
FalzTheBahdguy is looking to build on the success of his viral single, “Wehdone Sir” with the release of “Baby Boy”, his latest follow-up. The new single falls into a long line of social media inspired singles we’ve heard from Falz in recent times, and on “Baby Boy”, even more obvious than others.
Falz switches between English and Yoruba with fluidity on the fast paced trap beat of “Baby Boy”. We hear less of the Brother Taju shtick that made him popular across social media, luckily his presentation and vibrant flow are quality through and through. The short pause before dropping his punchlines and the way he cuts every bar with an ad-lib accentuates his often understated rap skill.
In the video for “Baby Boy”, Falz taps Nollywood veterans Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD) and Jide Kosoko along with IK Ogbonna. Falz and his elaborate cast tell the story of what a Brother Teju that gets enough money to become a “Baby Boy” would look like. Their brightly colored Polos and golf course accidents show the goofy side of Falz we have gotten used to and makes us wonder if he has any new ideas.
Watch the Bahd Guy switch to the “Baby Boy” life in the video below:
*This post was updated for it’s accompanying video release.
On first sight, Yaba doesn’t appear remarkably different from other buzzing metropolitan townships in Lagos. The symphony of shouting conductors, the ever-present car horns and piles of rubbish at road corners do nothing to differentiate from anywhere else. Yet between the run-down buildings in the seemingly inauspicious township, tech start-ups have taken root and created enough buzz to draw international venture capitalists and more established digital firms.
“Yabacon Valley” as it’s (un)fondly called by the techies in the area, has attracted the attention of Geeks On A Plane (GOAP). GOAP is an initiative by 500 Startups set up as a tour for investors and executives to learn about high-growth technology markets worldwide. In conjunction with Ingressive and the Africa Tech Foundation, 500 Startups kicked off the Lagos leg of their African tour with an official welcome event at the IBM Innovation Lab in Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to their schedule seen on their official website, they’d be in Lagos between March 20th-23rd 2017 to visit key hubs and startups in Yaba District Ecosystem. They’d also be meeting leading Nigerian actors and directors to discuss the growing film industry, digital distribution, monetization and content creation at a Nollywood media & tech party night. Their schedule also includes a VIP investment dinner organised as a platform to network with top-tier VCs and angel investors, while learning about the Nigerian investment ecosystem.
On an interesting note, they also intend to pay homage to Fela’s legacy at New Afrika Shrine before they leave for Ghana.
Yaba’s bubbling tech ecosystem gotten the attention of international businesses looking to invest in Nigeria. GOAP’s stop earmarks another win for the tech hub following Mark Zuckerberg’s visit last year.
Here at the Native Mag we know first hand that great music starts from a great instrumental and that great instrumentals don’t necessarily need vocal work to make their mark. So we are all for celebrating artists who strike out and focus entirely on the instrumental genre and make magic.
Ghanaian American multi-genre produce Kwame Obimpe otherwise known as DBM (Dope by Mania) is on to somehting amazing with his debut LP, ‘Strangers Have the Best Candy’. Following the path forged by alternative Chillwave producers like Ta-Ku and Sango who meld a world of influences and elements into something wholly original. DBM is untethered to any instrument, style or genre, sometimes switching up the entire sound two or three times in the same song. Vocal samples as percussion, subtle tempo changes for thematic effect, minors to ramp up emotion, Obimpe does it all. The kind of thought that must have gone into this album is such that we rarely see from African artists in this pop-heavy numbers driven race for streaming relevance.
Trying to condense the complexity of ‘Strangers Have The Best Candy’ seems like doing the album a disservice, there are no fillers, no missteps, just twelve concept driven songs with hard to forget titles. We won’t prosyletize anymore, we’ll just let you make your own conclusions.
The first thing you need to know about Ghanaian hip-life singer is that ace producer Kuvie worked his magic on the song’s production. Kuvie has not yet had a bad song in 2017 and we doubt he’ll have one any time soon. At the crossroad between Nigerian and Ghanaian sounds, Kuvie takes a unique perspective and one he employs heavily on “Tomorrow”. But he is subtle enough to never outshine Darko who is an all out revelation.
The themes for “Tomorrow” aren’t all that rare in contemporary African music, there seems an almost manic preoccupation with the complexities and dynamics of sex and relationships and how both influence our lives. Darko focuses on a particular subset of women on “Tomorrow”, women who use of social media platform Instagram has earned them the often derogatory term ‘Instagram Girls’. He used to be formerly enthralled by them, the seeming perfection of their lives, the careful marketing of the image they try to sell to their followers and paramours, and the perceived emptiness that lies beneath the veneer. Darko suggests he’s seen this darkness and is no longer impressed with the facade. He is now looking for the proverbial good girl, the one who shuns social media and is ‘real’. He’s found his one true girl and now that the lure of the unknown no longer seduces him, he needs to convince her that he’s changed.
Realness is subjective and what is not on “Tomorrow” is Darko’s command of the sound, the simple keyboard loop and athletic guitar solos that runs through the entire song will instantly remind you of the hip-life greats and Darko’s meaty growl will instantly remind you of the earnestness with which Fela Anikulapo did the same. Like Fela, he switches easily between Twi, Ga and Pidgin, spinning the most enthralling yarn, urging you to your feet.
Instagram Girls might not impress Darko, but they inspire him, and that’s good enough for us.
DJ Consequence tapped Ycee for his last major single “In a Benz”. This time around, the vibe machine tapped Achievas Music’s Attitude and Mavins up and comer, Reekado Banks for “Banging”. Both singers tap into their earlier chemistry from “Mo Le Nu” for DJ Consequence’s Afro-trap single produced by Altims.
“Banging” has a groovy mid tempo beat that stays true to the song’s title with base heavy beats interrupted by flutes at intervals.
The video is directed by Avalon Okpe who took shots of a party scene set inside a mansion. It draws inspiration from the mannequin challenge, a viral video trend popularized by brother-duo, Rae Sremmurd.
Time has a surprising way of making one realise his wants no longer have that glittery appeal they once had. This realisation usually triggers a paradigm shift, causing one to question his values and beliefs. For Darkovibes, the realisation that “Instagram girls” no longer appeal to him came with the need to preserve his relationship with the woman he loves.
On “Tomorrow”, he tries to convince his woman she’s the only one who does it for him while begging her to stay with him through thick and thin. He slips between language barriers, inserting choice lines of Twi and Ga while trying to convince her. Kuvie’s near pure acoustic production coupled with Darko’s language choice makes it impossible not to notice the influence of Ghanaian Highlife, one of the forerunners of the genre in West Africa.
Santi’s second single of the year was destined for greatness from its inception. With a credit roster of DJ Yin, Tay Iwar and producer BankyOnDBeatz, by design only few things can go wrong. “Beat It Up” is a less corny version of every love-sex song you have heard. There is less talk of love, but more about sex and everything else involved: smoke clouds, commitment issues and the desperation of a lover who wants to hold on to the dysfunctional relationship.
Tomorrow – Darkovibes
We have all had that moment where the things that motivated us to try to better our lives start to mean less and less when our dreams start to come true. That’s why Darkovibe’s “Tomorrow” is so potent. On Tomorrow, the Ghanian singer talks getting over Instagram girls he used to yearn for in the past and his dedication to loving his girl. The trueness of his experience is highlighted here in relatability of a familiar story and the emotiveness of his melody.
Banana Island – Viva Eze
Viva Eze’s “Banana Island”, is set on a room atmosphere trap beats as the rapper interpolates between a sing-song melody and raps about quitting his 9-5 while dreaming-out-loud about buying his mother a house in Banana Island.
Silhouette – Yinka Bernie
Yinka Bernie has mastered both the laid back tint of Blackmagic ‘s voice and Ajebutter’s casually cheeky descriptions. On “Silhouette” he marries his influences for a story about meeting a girl, told across Afrotrap drums and killer trumpet solo.
From Our Pot of Jollof
Trouble (feat. Myst)- Blackmagic
Blackmagic is stripping things back to basic dance floor music these days, but it’s not for a lack of concept. His latest single, “Trouble” features newcomer songbird, Myst, who opens the song for Blackmagic to return with an up-tempo twist to the same iconic auto-tuned laced vocals that made him favourite over the years.
If – Davido
Davido’s “If” is our Best New Music for this week and that’s about enough said.
Banging (feat. Reekado Banks, Attitude) – DJ Consequence
“Banging” is a near-perfect song if we all collectively ignore Attitude’s last verse. Reekado brings the sly melody of his “Link Up” collaboration with YCEE for DJ Consequence’ smooth Afrotrap EDM number. ”Banging”. It sound like something you have heard before, you won’t be able to tell when that reverbed vocal sample sets in on the bridge.
Overseas
“Idols Become Rivals” – Rick Ross
Rick Ross makes a triumphant return on the raw and honest standout from his latest album, Rather You Than Me.
“Home” – Obongjayar
Nigerian born singer-songwriter announced himself with the stunning debut “Creeping” last year. Another standout from his EP is the title track, “Home”. Combining piercing vocals and jarring bars, he is someone we are watching.
As far as Nigerian films made primarily for a cinematic release go, Ojukokoro had a lot riding on its shoulders. For one, it was written and directed by Dare Olaitan, who many know more for his Starwars inspired twitter alias DarthCoal and his often unconventional point of view. Olaitan studied film abroad and in 2014 returned to the country with a very vocal ambition to change how the Nigerian film industry is perceived. There were a few false starts before Ojukokoro was conceptualized, written and filmed. Veteran new nollywood film maker Femi Ogunsanwo of FemmyD films (best known for his boarding school YA drama ZR-7) came on to produce and finance the film in partnership with Singularity Media. It took a year and a half, but on March 17th 2017 the film will open to the public.
So what is Ojukokoro, past the hype and the ambition? I’d dare say the best written Nigerian script that has managed only barely to circumvent a system that punishes originality and celebrates mediocrity to make it into cinemas.
To understand Ojukokoro, you have to understand how the Nigerian film industry has worked for the last two decades. Rapid advances in film technology opened the medium to literally anyone with a good enough canon and a hastily cobbled script. Nigeria quickly rose to the become the second largest producer of feature length films in the world, outstripping the US, but the repetitive storylines, stereotyped actors and hasty production and post-production meant most of these films had no longevity and little contemporary influence. But it made a lot of money and continues to, provided the film producers can rope in a ‘big name’ to headline their film.
Ojukokoro breaks all the rules; its headlining actor Charles Etubiebi is completely unknown, its big name characters (Somkhele Idhlama, Wale Ojo, Ali Nuhu, Linda Ejiofor and Saka) are all supporting characters and some barely get a scene. The film is set in a facsimile of Nigeria, the film’s directors never commit to a particular location. With that many executive risks, Ojukokoro was going to be interesting no matter the final verdict.
The film, ‘inspired’ by the 2015 fuel crisis under ex President Goodluck Jonathan follows in the veins of classic films like the 1995 Francis Duru helmed RattleSnake, tackling the near impossible to pull of crime heist genre. The stage is a fuel station money laundering front, and the film’s roster of characters lives all intersect actively or indirectly as Andrew the station manager, Mad Dog a thug and contract killer and Mr Senator all push their personal agendas with hopes of cashing out.
An homage to Tarantino-esque film making; the film is divided into three acts, letting the audience in on the film’s twists long before the characters themselves stumble on to their epiphanies. After a less than stellar first act that included unnecessary voice-over narration and scenes that seemed written to showcase the actor’s second and third languages than advance the plot, the film finally picks up in the second act. Once the characters have been acquainted with each other, and the voice over is thankfully discarded, the film turns away from exposition and gets to work building on the suspense and anticipation that carries through into the third act and washes out into an oddly satisfying finale.
The true glimpses of how great Ojukokoro’s writing is comes from the unlikeliest of actors. Shawn Fuqua outdoes himself as Rambo, a thug brought into the orbit of mess of counter heists by the lure of easy money. Switching easily between vernacular, Bini and English, he is sibilant, persuasive and electrifying in each scene. Seun Ajayi, however is the film’s show stopper, completing dominating the screen in the third act as Sunday, the gambling agbero, turned desperate by one too many personal losses. This is scene stealing AMVCA worthy acting, and we expect to see his performance rewarded with nominations from all the major acting bodies.
Ojukokoro grazes perfection, but doesn’t quite manage it for two reasons.
First, the film could have easily passed the Bechdel test, but it doesn’t. Instead the film’s five female characters (all supporting and with ample opportunity to interact with each other) are used as two dimensional props to explain away the motivations and ambitions of the film’s male characters. Perhaps ten years ago, we wouldn’t have even noticed but now, it stands as a glaring misstep. It is incredibly lazy writing about women that offers scenes like Linda Ejiofor’s character asking her husband played by Kunle Remi to ‘Be safe’ while going to ask for directions at an empty filling station because she has a ‘woman’s intuition’.
Second, the film makes the mistake of assuming that its audience is too stupid to follow the interwoven storylines of the film and often goes out of its way to lead the viewer to its zingers, twists and loose ends. An after guiding the audience through the entire film, writers try to throw in a final post credits twist surrounding State C.I.D Officer Jide aka Monday, the Taxi driver and murdered couple that is framed so ludicrously and requires such suspension of belief that the viewer is forced to discard it as impossible.
Ojukokoro shatters our perceptions of what a great Nigerian film is and proves a foundation of superior writing will always shine through. It is the closest we’ve come to a perfect film we’ve come as an industry and suggests perhaps, there isn’t much further to go.
With two thirds of Our Best Friend’s wedding behind us, we’re starting to wonder if they’ll ever manage to tie up all the messy loose ends they’ve managed to rack up. We still don’t know if Charles’s mother was talking about having cancer or not, we don’t know what the hell is wrong with Kemi and her husband and we most certainly can’t see how Charles is supposed to find a wife after one date. OBFW is stressing me out. But Wale Adetula (showrunner) and Oreka Godis are perennially in the youtube comments assuring us that the finale will be worth all this key points episodes. So we wait.
SPOILER ALERT
There’s a whole cache of episodes to watch on RED TV’s Youtube channel so catch up before you get on the new episode, or just skip that and get on here.
Episode 8 starts with Onome on Charles’s bed after their their second round of knacks. Wait is it just me or does nearly all episodes on this show either start or end with someone in someone else’s bed?
If only all this sexiness was attached to a moving storyline.
Well Onome and Charles are now bedfellows, a fact he conveniently is keeping away from Jade and Kemi, for the time being. Jade on the other hand is deep in the throes of ‘New Girlfriend’ syndrome and for only God knows whatever reason, Jade shows up all dolled up to the office of his start up to ‘see’ him. When the receptionist rightfully asks her if she has an appointment, homegirl literally closes in on her and conspiratorially whispers “He doesn’t know I’m coming but I’m his ‘girlfriend’ so cut me some slack.”
Of course the receptionist makes her wait, like everybody else.
Meanwhile on OBFW Charles is at the office, chatting up Onome when his boss (yeah the asshole boss) shows up to inform him that contract that they were trying to win from the company that Onome worked for has paid for the contract in full, and even better, sent Charles’s a decent commission. That’s the same commission that Charles promise Onome in exchange for the opportunity to keep his job. The boss asks about Onome, raising all our red flags about their relationship, because the showrunners behind OBFW don’t believe at all in subtlety. Charles pretends not to know where she is. Will this end well?
Afrer allowing Jade dry out in the reception waiting room Tunde’s ‘efficient’ assistant shows up, on her way to run an errand. She stops to ask Jade if she can be of help, and Jade rudely asks if she is Tunde’s PA. Tolu, la P.A. says she is happy to hear any feedback on her work since Tunde apparently never tells her anything and ‘pulls some strings’ to get Jade past the receptionist. Jade of the big head with her visitor tag in tow literally barges into Tunde’s office to meet him in the middle of a work meeting.
Hasn’t this idiot girl ever heard of knocking?
Anyhow sha Tunde comes out and tears into her, dragging her thoroughly and suggesting that she attend to her ‘busy life’ that she wont let us hear word about. She flees the office and slams the visitor pass on the receptionist desk to the laughs to Tolu le P.A. Talk about Karma.
Jade predictably returns to Kemi (who also supposedly has a busy life but seems to always be at home) to complain about Tunde. Tunde calls at about the same time as Charles and since Jade is undecided about baby boy, Kemi takes Charles’s call instead. It turns out that Charles has been doing some baby girl elimination of his own and now there are only two women left on his ‘find me a wife’ master list; Bukola and Eyang.
Bukola gets literally two minutes of screen time where all they iterate to us is that she is the ‘Materialistic girl’ stereotype. Like she literally asks Charles to buy her a boat and points to one that is sitting on the Marina. I didn’t even bother, just hit the skip button till the scene was done. Awon OBFW WYD?
The OBFW episode finale scene returns to Onome, who has only seconds long cameos all episodes. She is in a cab on the island and ends up at the Maison Farenheit, where she meets up with no one else but Charles’s boss. The whole commission scam is apparently his idea. It was an interesting twist, but not all that surprising. I’m at that point where I just want them to finish everything.
I have gone through the comments and I keep seeing Wale Adetula (showrunner) and Oreka explaining away that the episodes are as short as they are because they are trying to save our ‘data’. Well I call bullshit. We have explained severally that the short episodes aren’t doing anything for the show or us the audience and I for one, am getting really tired of watching two second vignettes that are supposed to pass for character exposition.
Masterclass West Africa, a satellite masterclass of the World Press Photo Foundation sought out to create a workshop for emerging visual journalists to work with masters of photography and hone their skills. This year’s edition held in Ghana over a 5-day extensive training for 12 of the region’s most talented emerging visual journalists. Following the end of the program last weekend, the participants shared some photographs from their ongoing projects.
The show of affluence has also been a prominent part of the hip-hop culture and this is why Chi Modu’s ability to capture Hip-hop in its most relaxed, unpretentious element is phenomenal.
Born in Nigeria and raised in New Jersey, Modu was a young photographer whose parents had been part of the first wave of immigrants who moved due to a nearly two-year long Nigeria vs Biafra civil war that almost tore the country apart in the late 60s. As fate would have it, the rise of hip-hop came in the 80s and Modu was a twenty-something-year-old photographer who found himself surrounded by artists set to define hip-hop (probably unknown to him at the time). His greatest legacy till date is how he set out to capture the musicians in candid moments, revealing them as real persons instead of the one-dimensional celebrities.
Chi Modu started his career at The Source, the definitive magazine on hip-hop culture at the time and slowly rose the ranks to become director of photography in the ’90s. Over the long run of his career, he has gathered quite the impressive portfolio, chronicling the rise of hip-hop from a budding subculture in South Bronx to becoming one of the most pervasive music genres in the world. To highlight his impact, see some of his works below
His first shot of Tupac wasn’t exactly hitch-free. He revealed his equipment failed and he had to reschedule the shoot for the next day. Tupac invited him to his yard after the shoot and ended up taking pictures of him in his most relaxed state ; without his shirt on. He commented on the series of iconic photos, saying “The nice thing about having him shirtless or in a tank top is that it’s universal. It never gets dated. The pictures I took of him don’t look dated, because he could be wearing that same outfit today. I think leaning towards simplicity is leaning toward longevity. I never wanted to be that hot photographer, because I always knew that was fleeting.” 20 years after his Tupac’s death, Chi released a book titled Uncategorized, a collection of unreleased snapshots of Tupac.
He also captured a few shots of Long Beach’s very own in the early days of his career. After flying out to meet Snoop Dogg and his crew (Death Row), he shot the album cover for DoggyStyle. In an interview with Complex Chi Modi says “As you know from his song “Deep Cover” 187 is police code for homicide. So Snoop and them knew about this sign and wanted to find it and take a photo. They told me about it and I was like “Let’s go!” And we caught that late afternoon California sun on his face.”
The man who took the only clear picture of Wu Tang’s ODB
His impressive catalogue also includes shots of the Wu-Tang clan before their prime. He revealed it was incredibly hard to pin down Ol’ Dirty Bastard, highlighting the late rapper’s inability to stick to time. While describing this shot, he explained he was to shoot a series of portraits for the Wu-Tang clan and make a nine-person grid. So he had them all stand in front of his camera one by one. He also made a remark about how rare it is to find a clear shot portrait of ODB. “That’s just a straight-up shot of ODB’s face, and there aren’t a whole lot of them. So I’m glad I have it.”
Also included on the inexhaustible list of hip-hop’s greats are Bad Boy, Common, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Wycleff Jean, Bone Thugz, The Hit Squad and much more.
In addition to The Source, his photos have graced the covers of Rolling Stone Magazine and Jazz Times, Chi will also be remembered for shooting iconic album covers for Snoop Dogg, Method Man, Mobb Deep, Mad Lion, and Christian McBride. His work has appeared in numerous exhibitions, including the Hutchins Gallery, Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville NJ, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn NY, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland OH.
March has already more than its fair share of interesting alternative events happening around the country and while we’ve left you in the dark for a bit as to where to go and what to do if the mainstream really isn’t your thing, we’re taking our L and fixing up.
The last time Adekunle Gold performed at Afropolitan Vibes, he was on his way to becoming the humongous pan-african superstar he is now. With an album and several successful hits behind him Adekunle Gold will be returning to Afropolitan Vibes as a far more experienced artist. Cynthia Morgan and wild child Tomi Thomas are also on the set list, and if that isn’t enough incentive to check it out, this is Afropolitan Vibes’s 4th anniversary. Four years bruh! It’s going down this friday.
Bantu Sessions.
Bantu Sessions is to Abuja what Afropolitan Vibes is to Lagos. Started by the Iwar brothers and the collective of artists, musicians and creators they’ve brought into their fold, the Bantu Sessions have hosted talent like Lindsey Abudei and Kyrian Asher and continues to introduce the Abuja crowd to new, unconventional music. Abuja folks, don’t say we didn’t do anything for you. The March Bantu sessions are happening on the 25th of March.
Find out About Flora Nwapa in Onyeka Nwelue’s documentary.
Heard the documentary has already screened in a number of places and it is screening again (for free, you cheapskates) this weekend at the IREP Docufest this Sunday at Freedom Park in Lagos Island. It’s about time someone started looking retrospectively at the lives of our great female writers and creatives, and it is important that a young filmmaker is the one taking on the project. Check it out, so at least next time you’re not just nodding enthusiastically next time someone brings Nwapa up.
There aren’t that many Nigerian artists whose music is a proper representation of the genre to which they swear alliegance. Perhaps the problem is that our music is largely driven by sonic trends and in-demand producers whose distinct styles lose and gain momentum. Having to depend on the whimsy of another person’s creativity can be a daunting thing. Thankfully, not every artist is subject to these conditions, some find a way to ensure their creative visions rise above any other external influences. Afro-fusion singer Cheso falls squarely in that category.
His new song ‘Feels’ which features emerging Rapper Bibo, has all the tropes of the genre, fela-esque electric and bass guitar runs, onomatopoeic scat adlibbing and a preference for pidgin. But that doesn’t mean Cheso is in anyway hindered by the decidedly African sound his music has, instead he uses it as fulcrum with which he swings contemporary elements into his orbit, creating pleasant music that is marketable on any continent. If there are any criticisms for ‘Feels’, they would be that the song themes are painfully familiar, the very tropes that every African artist returns to when they want instantly relatable content. Even the featured rapper Bibo, offer safe cookie cutter rap. Love songs should transcend familiar platitudes and the same retinue of rhymes.
