Nigerians’ prayers of winning Puskas Award (FIFA’s Award for best goal) seems a little closer to being answered with Sikiru Olatunbosun’s left footed volley on Saturday. The miracle goal came just in time to ensure that Lagos’ MFM FC (Mountain Of Fire and Miracles FC) were 2-1 winners over Enugu’s Rangers during Saturday’s premier league game.
The build up was something even Barcelona would be proud of with the flicked passes and precise through balls. Over the weekend, the video of the goal went viral and got featured by Fox Sports as the goal of the day.
Its hard to pick who is more deserving of the glory for this one—the team-play, the goalscorer or God—but that was one beautiful goal.
In the years where Nigerian music is progressing with international magazine features and Grammy nomination, one would expect Nollywood to follow suit with a place at the Oscars. Yet, another year has passed and no Nollywood movie or director got so much as a shout-out at film’s biggest night.
The Academy Awards are the highest recognition for film and despite being the third largest movie industry in the world, all 89 editions of the award ceremony have gone without a Nigerian presence. Those in the movie industry would argue that people who say Nollywood movies are bad, don’t actually watch Nigerian movies. In fairness to them, recent works from Kunle Afolayan (“October 1st”, “Irapada”, “Phone Swap”), Mildred Okwo (“The Meeting”) and Kemi Adetiba (“The Wedding Party”) indicate a progression of a storytelling culture. But between piracy and low investor confidence in big budget productions, Nollywood has only a handful of movies like this to show. Other than that, Nollywood is still steady churning out your average badly shot and ridiculously scripted films only fit for memes and Instagram skits.
The current Nollywood is riddled with a creative complacency. This is in part because consumers are satisfied with what they’ve always gotten from the industry. The lack of alternative entertainment for many Nigerian house holds means directors can get away with badly produced movies because people would still watch them anyway. There is no denying that Robert Peter’s “30 Days in Atlanta” had great cameras, lights and fancy locations but none of it could make up for the watery plot or a story that seems intent on reinforcing stereotype characters and over familiar themes.
Usually, a safe argument for many is the ‘for a Nigerian film’ context. A low scale that demands that quality of our films are measured by the average standards we expect of ‘Nigerian films’ ( although we have better shot music videos).
Our apathetic attitude towards the movie industry has deprived us of a good critique culture. We grew up watching these poorly produced movies and get defensive when they are compared to movies from outside Nigeria. Yet, African directors like Darrell Roodt (Yesterday 2004), Gavin Hood (Tsotsi 2005), Jehane Noujaim (The Square 2013) and more have been to the Oscars as nominees and winners. If their achievements prove anything, its that even Nigerian film makers can aspire to more, if stories tackle more universal themes without compromise.
We need to stop letting the noise of hype drown critical value when high profile budget movies with plot holes come out of Nollywood. Its time to start demanding more from Nigerian producers who are stuck in the “If its not broken don’t fix it” limbo. Nobody should get cool points just for trying.
Culture is integral to how any community sees itself and how it is perceived by the larger communities in which it exists and being able to control the narrative around how is perceived or at least contribute to it is vital. This is in part, why The NATIVE exists and why we continue to push out the best possible content about the artists, music and subcultures that would otherwise be misrepresented or ignored. But we’re not the only ones shaping the narrative around Africans at home and in the diaspora and how we have come to be this way; there is also The Republic.
The brainchild of economist and social pundit Wale Lawal, The Republic was spawned out of a need to contribute to the intellectual narrative around being Nigerian and by extension, African. Our idiosyncrasies, our ideologies, our colloquial culture and the very things that endear us to other and separate us from them are the meat of The Republic, the things they intend to scrutinize and celebrate, critique and exult. The Republic’s charge is simple, and best articulated in the inaugural forward for the journal’s first issue:
At The Republic, we will always prioritize the meaningful exchange of ideas. Always, we will find ourselves tasked with pressing forward: on the most critical of social, political and economic issues; by innovating through dead ends; and by providing guidance through thickets of opinion, ignorance and misinformation—three main features of our time—in search of glades of insight⎈
It’s doubly important that the first issue is about gender and women. We won’t pontificate any further, that we’ll let you do yourselves after you check out the magazine.
It feels like it’s been way more than five years since Adebayo Oke-Lawal left his styling collective BUBAAI (short for Bubu, Bayo and Aisha) to start his own design label Orange Culture. He was 21 then and a Unilag alumni and fashion design as a career was only starting to gain traction in Nigeria. Even by that point Oke-Lawal already had an impressive resume, with styling work on some of the biggest fashion magazines at the time and network that spanned the entire continent.
When he decided, after a year of dabbling in women’s wear collections that he was going to focus exclusively on menswear, it seemed at first a misstep. Women’s wear in Nigeria has established retail channels, and extensive PR network and a large clientbase. But his first collection, which featured an abstract print pleated kilt was released, followed by an opportunity to showcase at the inaugural Lagos Fashion and Design Week as part of the showcase’s first class of emerging designers showed Oke-Lawal was thinking bigger than the conventional.
Even then it took him a while to find his voice, there were a number of ‘safe’ collections before Spring 2015’s epochal ‘H.E.R’ collection. Oke-Lawal completely divested himself of Western influences and introduced the first of a line of bespoke prints for the label celebrating the designer’s Yoruba and Edo heritages. He also began to properly explore androgyny in the collection, effectively blurring the line between mens and women’s wear and opening his line once again to his long time female fanbase. Following ‘H.E.R’, Oke-Lawal was invited to join the first team of designers to represent Nigeria at the International Fashion Showcase, and with the help of curator Yegwa Ukpo winning the country’s first honors at the showcase.
On the heels of this came invitations to show the South Africa Menswear Week, at Pitti Uomo, the world’s most prestigious fashion trade show and invitation to host a presentation at the 2016 London Collections: Men. Considering how unconventional Oke-Lawal’s designs and inspirations are, it was the biggest possible recognition of his work. That was, until he was invited to officially debut his Autumn 17 collection as part of the London Fashion Week’s fall schedule.
For this, Oke-Lawal revisited his archives and made a pastiche of all the trends that have defined the brand. Androgyny, Streetwear, athleisure, velour and femininity all spliced into a collage of what it means to be a Nigerian menswear designer defining for himself what the boundaries of Nigerian fashion are. Oke-Lawal becomes the first and the second youngest (after Osakwe of Maki-Oh) to organically rise through the ranks and demand international attention and the respect of the world’s most important critics.
It definitely is a win for Nigerian design and Nigerian menswear.
Over the last couple of weeks, watching Big Brother has been a major pass-time activity for many Nigerian households. Last weekend fans hit twitter to expressed mixed reactions after Simi hit the shows weekly eviction show’s stage to perform her single “Love Don’t Care”. Despite how well she sang and carried the melody, Nigerians just couldn’t overlook her lack of style.
Simi in the outfit that started it all
See some reactions from Nigerian twitter below
The lamentation of a fan who can’t figure where she went so wrong.
Simi is blessed. That voice mehn. She just needs to get her fashion sense right.
London’s Wireless Festival has announced its lineup for 2017. Skepta, The Weeknd, Chance The Rapper, and are headliners with Wizkid, Tory Lanez and Rae Sremmurd amongst the major attractions for London’s biggest urban festival.
The annual festival takes place between July 7-9 at Finsbury Park. Other artists scheduled to perform across the weekend include Sean Paul, Bryson Tiller, Section Boyz, Desiigner and more. Check out the line-up as it stands above, with more names to be added in the coming months.
One of the recurring themes in the new wave of autocratic Nigerian creators is revolution. It is exemplified by how much of the creation, technical production and post production and distribution is handled by the artists themselves, how little autonomy they are willing to relinquish to the ‘system’. And these artists really can’t be blamed, the industry has failed them, consumed by greed and nepotism, unwilling to take risks on innovators and content to follow the money where ever it leads. Resistance icons like Fela Anikulapo Kuti have become a touchstone sonically and ideologically for these artists but its refreshing to see multi-genre producer and beatmaker Alli Odunayo (otherwise known as Telz) cast his net wider for inspiration.
His latest instrumental single Public Enemy III is very different from everything he’s put out thus far in construction and influence. And trust us Odunayo’s influences range wide, from Michael Jackson to Flamenco. He makes a concession to the contemporary wave with Public Enemy III, offering a classic trap beat grounded by heavy 808’s peppered by his favored Afrofuturist synth adlibs.
But what really distinguishes Public Enemy is how Odunayo subtly uses samples of a classic Malcolm X speech given in 1965 at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement demanding that people of colour be treated as equal to people of other races. This particular speech is political in an African context because of the eponymous 1992 biopic dedicated to the late civil rights activist. In the film, Nelson Mandela (who appears in the films and was inspired by Malcolm X in his fight against Apartheid) is supposed to deliver the speech but he declines, fearing racial upheavals. So to choose this speech highlights how much more we have to go as people of colour be treated as human.
Throw in the stellar break down at the 1:58 and the subtle, layered narrative Ogundiya is able to create without actually singing a line of music, genius level shit.
The 89th Academy Awards held at The Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles last night and these are all the winners announced at the ceremony
Best supporting actor
WINNER: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)
Best makeup and hairstyling
A Man Called Ove
Star Trek Beyond WINNER: Suicide Squad
Best costume design
Allied WINNER: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land
Best documentary
Fire at Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated WINNER: OJ: Made in America
13th
Best sound editing
WINNER: Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Sully
Best sound mixing
Arrival WINNER: Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
13 Hours
Best supporting actress
WINNER: Viola Davis (Fences)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Nicole Kidman (Lion)
Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)
Best foreign language film
Land of Mine
A Man Called Ove WINNER: The Salesman
Tanna
Toni Erdmann
Best animated short
Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl WINNER: Piper
Best animated feature
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life As a Zucchini
The Red Turtle WINNER: Zootopia
Best production design
Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar! WINNER: La La Land
Passengers
Best visual effects
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange WINNER: The Jungle Book
Kubo and the Two Strings
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Best film editing
Arrival WINNER: Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Moonlight
Best documentary short
4.1 Miles
Extremis
Joe’s Violin
Watani: My Homeland WINNER: The White Helmets
Best live-action short
Ennemis Interieurs
La Femme et le TGV
Silent Nights WINNER: Sing
Timecode
Best cinematography
Arrival WINNER: La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Silence
Best score
Jackie WINNER: La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Passengers
Best song
Audition (La La Land)
Can’t Stop the Feeling! (Trolls) WINNER: City of Stars (La La Land)
The Empty Chair (Jim: The James Foley Story)
How Far I’ll Go (Moana)
Best original screenplay
Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster WINNER: Manchester by the Sea
20th Century Women
Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) WINNER: Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Best actor
WINNER: Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
Denzel Washington (Fences)
Best actress
Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Ruth Negga (Loving) WINNER: Emma Stone (La La Land)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)
Best picture
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures WINNER: La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea WINNER: Moonlight
Songwriter/singer Daramola has worked behind the scenes, producing for gospel acts like LaCrae and Billboard-charting duo, Social Club Misfits in the past. He made our best new music list a while ago with “Lotto”,the lead single off his newly released album, The Last Time I Tried.
Last Time I Tried is a collection of stories with a narrative that explores the motions of his past relationship with a lover. He switches across languages, inserting choice lines of Yoruba and pidgin English in unexpected places. Each song is almost stripped bare letting Daramola’s voice find clarity and balance without drowning in the instrumentals. The album is almost a solo job spare a feature from Karen Inder on “Dream” where he reveals his feelings and desire to be trusted by someone especially one he has feelings for.
We will be bringing you cuts from Daramola’s album in the coming weeks, but for now, you can listen to The Last Time I Tried off iTunes or on Youtube playlist below:
After a few years behind the scenes working as a producer (Maleek Berry produced Wizkid’s Carolina) 2016 was the year we were finally forced to reckon with Berry as a recording artist and man, what an artist he is. Maleek Berry found his way into the highest echelons of Nigerian mainstream music by first conquering international markets through streaming services like Spotify and Deezer. By the time he released his EP, he was already a bonafide hit maker. Even though there was the ugly bit earlier this year with Berry threatening to not release new videos for his singles, if the video “Eko Miami” failed to hit 1 million views on Youtube within a month of its release.
While underhanded, his threat seemed to work out perfectly and after the fans kept their end of the deal, Maleek Berry teamed up with Unlimited LA for the video of “4 Me” which he released yesterday 24th of February. The song is one of the tracks on the infectious party groove “Last Daze of Summer” EP. It has gotten featured on OVO Sound Radio.
The video appears to be inspired by Kid Cudi’s “Frequency” video which also featured psychedelic lighting in the woods filled with models bathed in bright light and smoke. Maleek Berry’s “4 Me” video follows Berry trailing a model through the woods and ending up at a party.
With the wide coverage and acceptance Maleek Berry is enjoying right now, it’s safe to assume that if all it takes for him to continue to produce good quality music is the coins he gets from Youtube views, then prepare to see a lot more of Mr Berry.
Skales is bouncing back nicely from last year’s rough patch, part of which was culminated by an arrest amongst other tabloid-worthy controversies. The singer kicked off this year with the release of his video for “Temper” featuring Burna Boy. His latest video is the long awaited adjoining visuals for “Ajaga”, a late-2016 single.
“Ajaga” features cameos from Davido and Timaya who also have guest verses on the single. Skales seems to be under-doing himself in terms of music video concepts lately (wide-angled beach shots and unclad video vixens are a tired trope). But the rapper has promised a forthcoming sophomore album to drop in April and “Ajaga” ‘s moderate level buzz gives promise of a project worth looking forward to from Nigeria’s most underrated.
Jidenna recently completed the roll out for his The Chief debut. As part of promotions for the album, Jidenna has released the music video for “Bambi”, an African-folk inspired love ballad about a cheating man’s idea of true love in reverse.
On “Bambi”, Jidenna sings of cheating on his ex, but the first half of the video depicts the singer swaggering through the city drunkenly and reminiscing good times with his former lover. He regrets taking the relationship for granted and their inevitable separation, but he’s not exactly remorseful for making it happen.
At the end of the video we’re shown Jidenna had been burying himself in alcohol as part of mental preparation to crash his ex’s wedding. It’s a tough to watch scene but Jidenna nails the acting to make a befitting final act for a great video.
So we’ve passed the four episode test and here’s the tally so far: two great first episodes, a tone deaf third episode and a forgettable fourth one. This is better far than we normally get from Nigerian webshows (side-eyeing you Rumour Has It) which starts off abysmal and then slowly improves until it becomes bearable.
With the entire premise of Our Best Friend’s Wedding already set up, it would seem that scoring a homerun each episode would be the simplest thing in the world. But not.
SPOILER ALERT
If you haven’t seen the new episode, do so here and if you have, let’s continue with the review.
At the end of Episode 4 Jade and Charles Effiong have made up, and the Bolanle Olukanni’s very married doctor Darlene foreshadows (yet again) that jade has a big old lesbian crush on Charles. But I guess if Charles used his common sense and got with her we won’t have a show, so I’ll allow it.
Episode 5 opens with Onome, the one night stand from episode one who sabotaged his presentation at his office. She’s apparently come to see his boss and personally commend Charles on his ‘great’ pitch and discuss terms with him. His (stereotypical) lascivious boss is already salivating at the thought of Onome all splayed out on his office table instead of Solitaire for a change and gets all creepy. Charles leads her away to his office to discuss. This is going to be good.
We cut to Kemi in bed + a cut scene where a photograph of her husband is shown in case you forgot she is supposed to be happily married. Jade calls, chipper as fuck talking about being at the streetlight opposite her office and asks Kemi if she’d want to meet after. Like any self respecting person Kemi declines, claiming that she’s sick and ends the call on Jade while she’s still talking. She reaches into her duvet and pulls out the longest, shiniest vibrator dildo I’ve ever seen and goes to town. Hallelujah somebody.
That at least explains why Kemi’s the only chill person on the show, she be getting her orgasms steady.
Meanwhile Jade (who desperately needs an orgasm in her life) is at some ‘commission’, which one they don’t specify trying to pitch for approval/funding (they dont specify either) for her pet project ‘The Jaded Initiative’.
The government official she meets is Nollywood veteran and do I even need to tell you how a scene with a young attractive woman in need and a lewd older government official will end? I don’t abi. Moving on.
Turns out Onome has shown up in Charles’s office to sell him the contract they pitched for at her company, she just wants a little ‘finders fee’. Only 5% of the commission, which everything Charles is supposed to get from the business deal. Charles forms bad guy at first, but at the risk of losing his job, he capitulates and agrees to her demands. So much for Mr. Macho.
At the end of the day everyone ends up at Kemi’s house and the girls get Charles to recommit to the terms of their ‘The Bachelor’ pageant. He reluctantly agrees and they ask him to go on the next date with the next woman on the list, Shayo.
Now from the very first moment they introduced Shayo on OBFW I started rolling my eyes. They’re in a fancy place like the Film House iMax cinemas and after baby girl rightfully asks Charles to not take calls during the movie, she proceeds to try to put her hands down his pants in the very brightly lit cinema. Then after the movie, they go to buy suya and home girl fishes a roll of weed out of her bra and tries to light it in the full glare of Lekki street lights. Charles is understandably perplexed that his sweet innocent Shayo is outchea doing bad gang things and he’s all ‘This is not the you I know’ but home girl is not having any of it. Obvs Charles cannot marry a girl who smokes Igbo, so on to the next one.
Can I just say IllRhymz is a terrible actor? His laiskin and fine face had me fooled for the first few episode but watching him blunder through the dialogue on his date with Shayo was one continual cringefest. Not that the actress who plays Shayo is any better. She has so little charm, I can barely stand to watch her on screen.
And what is with Our Best Friend’s Wedding falling back on character archetypes when their self imposed time limit catches up with them. So Shayo is a ‘bad girl’ because Charles left her to go get his Master’s Degree abroad and that meant she got pregnant, got disowned, had an abortion and lost her womb AND is into S&M? Really? Like whose grand idea was it to have this girl do all this character exposition and then proceed to knack her.
At this point, can we please point out how Our Best Friend’s Wedding has become the place where OAP’s looking to expand their portfolios go to show off their ‘acting’ chops. First Ill Rhymz, Then Gbemi Olateru, then Oreka Godis and even Bolanle Olukanni, at this point the only people left are Toolz and Nedu Wazobia FM.
Bariga Sugar is a short film produced and written by Ifeoma Nkiruka Chukwuogo and Ikenna Edmund Okah who have created something dangerously close to a master piece in a barely 22 minutes long film.
Bariga Sugar is out on YouTube now. Check it out and enjoy! Please share your feedback and RT 🙂https://t.co/zXn4BflpsP
Its set in a brothel named Bariga Sugar, ‘working girls’ on the street live under the watchful eyes of “The Queen”, Madam Sugar. The movie tells the story of friendship through the life of 8 year old Ese (Halimat Olarewaju ) whose mother’s insecurity makes her distrust people and her neighbor, Jamil (Tunde Azeez) an excitable boy who makes resilient efforts to make Ese his friend.
We resisted dropping spoilers here so that you can enjoy a story that draws on the nostalgia of our childhood and the lifestyle of struggling Nigerians in the most familiar way possible. At its best, “Bariga Sugar” shatters the notion that you need rose petaled frames to create beautiful cinematography.
Catch a glimpse of ‘Bariga Sugar’ below. You should probably keep a tissue close by, because this is a tearjerker
Omawumi’s career was off to a kickstart after she came in as the first runner-up on the first season of Idols West Africa in 2007. She has since released several singles and two studio albums since then — Wonder Woman and Lasso of Truth in 2009 and 2013 respectively. Earlier this week, Omawumi announced the release date for her forthcoming album Timeless set to drop on March 22nd 2017.
Last month, the award-winning singer released “Butterflies”, a strong ballad and lead single off the forthcoming album. With more artists of her calibre gracefully aging into their oncoming retirement years, Omawumi will be looking to earmark Timeless as an album that will outlive the relevance of its era.
Watch the video for Omawumi’s “Butterflies” below.
After being behind the scenes for many years and working with some of the biggest artists in the game (Davido, Wizkid), producer Del B seems to be taking a more frontal approach with his singing career.
“Boss Like This” is Del B’s first single as a majorly singing artist and it features Mr Eazi. The new single comes with a video starring Del B himself and Eazi in a series of shots panned around hot girls and flourescent lights.
“Boss Like This” is your typical Afropop song, but Del B already proved himself on a slew guest verses on singles from last year. His latest effort is subtle but enough to edge him into the list artists we will be looking out for this year.
See Del B and Mr Eazi in the video for “Boss Like This” below
If the last few years prove anything, it’s that Nigerian music has the potential to get global recognition. That’s not news to anyone but more recent evidence to this is the inclusion of Mr. Eazi, Runtown and Maleek Berry on the setlist of “Sounds From Africa And the Caribbean”, one of the segments at this year’s South by South West festival and conference.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQlCHOtDvwW/?taken-by=maleekberry
SXSW is an all inclusive annual music, film and arts conference and festival with the core value of bringing music from the outside world to Austin, Texas, USA. In the last two years, part of the event has been the inclusion of a “Sounds From Africa and The Carribeans” set which has featured Davido, Iyanya and Jamaican reggae dancehall artists like Damerco and Christoper Martins in the past.
This year’s edition of “Sounds from Africa and The Caribbean” will take place at The Belmont on the 18th of March. Nigeria will yet again be placed on the global map as Mr. Eazi, Runtown and Maleek Berry will join artists from around the globe to meet, perform and share ideas.
When D’banj and partner in crime, Don Jazzy decided to return to Nigeria to set up a music empire, many thought them mad. Yet come 2005, D’banj would take Nigeria by storm with his No Long Thing debut, gain massive airplay and seal his place as an artist whose storm would not just roll by. But in a bid to change the norm, D’banj made some daring career-defining decisions. In this story we examine 7 of the most iconic “Oh so D’banj” things ever.
“Tongolo”
“Tongolo” was D’Banj’s promise to reveal the magic word that would be the ultimate aphrodisiac. It was provocative and quickly became part of our colloquial vocabulary and till today, no one know what exactly Tongolo means. The song is responsible for the his nickname “Koko Master”, a name which generated a lot of controversy and helped boost his popularity.
Playing the Harmonica
Even D’banj referred to the harmonica as a kids toy but when he’s playing it, his charisma just blows it out of proportion. On Songs like “Why me”, D’banj entertains us with solos from the mouth organ to establish himself as being multi-talented. It would be hard for another artist to show such smug talent and not get bashed for it.
The nerve it takes to call all your female fans “Kokolets” in spite of all the controversies surrounding the term shows D’banj’s confidence in his brand. It was a huge risk to his brand, this was the late 2000’s when feminism was just coming into its own. It could have ended his career, especially because he was already famous. The fear of failing was never an hindrance for him, and he was suave enough to get his fans to take the term and make it their own.
Koko Mansion
D’banj’s pursuit to unlock his full creative potential led him to create a show called the Koko mansion, a ‘Bachelor’/Playboy House style reality show aimed at finding him the ideal woman. The 8 week long show lasted only the one season and has since been abandoned because it failed to gain traction. All bullshit aside, a misstep that bad should have ruined anyone’s career especially after the winner of the show complained that none of the show’s promises were fulfilled. On the bright side, D’Banj helped discover Sharon Rekana Ojong, now a celebrity heavyweight in her own right.
D’banj’s company Koko holdings branched out to farming in 2014. Somehow, D’banj survived all the troll comments this got and even found a way to spin it into a productive venture that meet the needs of Nigerians and make him best buddies with Tony Elumelu, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola. I guess when you know your fans, you know your fans.
D’banj had a brief spell as a recording artist under Kanye West’s record label between 2011 to 2016 but he didn’t release any personal projects under G.O.O.D music. Although a number of reasons were given for this, none of them was convincing. He eventually left the label and turned his sights towards a major comeback back home in Nigeria. No one but D’Banj could come out of a snafu that big relatively unscathed.
Iconic Headies Performance
By 2006, D’banj had already become a cultural icon when he got invited to perform at the 1st Headies. It was the biggest stage for the biggest artist in Nigeria to show his stuff and he took that idea literally, getting on the stage in a nothing but his bling and a towel. It had all the trappings of the distinctive shock and awe that D’Banj has pulled out when he needed a win in his career. The NVFCB censor board were scandalized and the crowd and viewers around the world went wild.
His method may be abrasive and off-putting but it got him the recognition he deserved. He embraced his sex symbol status and deserves all the credit it has gotten him.
Korede Bello announced the release of his debut project earlier this month, but things have been quiet from the Mavin singer’s camp since. However, yesterday, an Altims re-worked version of Korede Bello’s hit “Do Like That” surfaced that featured vocals from former Destiny’s Child, Kelly Rowland.
The original is still an ultimate fave, but Kelly Rowland succinctly rides the Afropop wave and Altims showcases more instrumental magic, with more chopped and screwed vocals and lower register sounds popping at unexpected places.
There has been no word from the Mavin camp if Korede Bello’s remix will be on his forthcoming album, but this international collaboration is a great warm-up to more material to come.
Listen to “Do Like That” featuring Kelly Rowland below
It’s been nearly a decade of an active career and M.I will go down in history as one of the most progressive influences of modern African hip-hop. His concept albums and critically acclaimed mixtapes have earmarked his place as an artist with a dedication to craft and presentation.
After tweeting a grey broody art-like photograph and sparking internet-wide speculation of a possible project release, M.I has announced a different project entirely titled, The Love EP. The Love EP appears to be a late Valentine’s project much different from speculations of being his unreleased Yung Denzel album he announced last year.
M.I has also announced a secret performance of the unreleased material for a few select fans at any one of the 16 Lagos Theatre Festival 2017 locations.
After Whiskey brand Jameson hosted Tinie Tempah and other guests at the first edition of JamesonConnects last year, calendars were immediately marked for a follow-up event.
Here's what you missed from the #JamesonConnectsNG held at Railway Compound.
Last October’s JamesonConnects was held at the Jaekel House, an antique pre-independence house on Railway Road, Costain, Surulere. This year’s edition is set to hold this Saturday at the Costain Parks and Gardens.
For the evening’s entertainment, Falana, Jesse Jagz and Ajebutter22 will be taking the stage for special one-off performances while Jameson will bring a blend of relaxation, music and alchohol, perfect for unwinding from the Lagos hustle.
If you don’t have anything to do this Saturday, you probably want to be at an event where there are actual activities and everyone is not just standing around taking selfies and making Snapchat Videos.
London’s Wireless Festival has announced its lineup for 2017. Skepta, The Weeknd, Chance The Rapper, and are headliners with Wizkid, Tory Lanez and Rae Sremmurd amongst the major attractions for London’s biggest urban festival.
