NIGERIAN ARTISTES UNITE AGAINST INTERNET FRAUD

With Nigeria's image taking a bashing because of internet fraud, Nigeria's artistes have united to fight this scourge popularly known as Yahoo-Yahoo.
According to an Internet crime report published in 2008, Nigeria ranked number three on the list of top ten countries involved in on-line crime. Unfortunately this situation has not been helped by the music industry with some artistes churning out songs that celebrate the Yahoo-Yahoo lifestyle and encourage internet fraud.
Now with the backing of The Microsoft Internet Safety, Security and Privacy Initiative for Nigeria (MISSPIN), select Nigerian artistes- Banky W, Bez, M.I, Rooftop MCs, Modele, Omawumi, Wordsmith, and Cobhams have composed a song titled' Maga No Need Pay'. The aim of the song is to discourage the Nigerian youth from participating in cyber-crime and engage themselves in honest activities and work.
The song and the video (directed by Kemi Adetiba) were both released on February 3, 2010. The song is one of several steps MISSPIN is using to fight cyber-crime in Nigeria.

TERRY G AND WANDE COAL CAUGHT IN THE ACT

In the Nigerian music industry it is common knowledge that a lot of artistes indulge in the act of smoking the narcotic called cannabis, popularly known on the streets as weed, igbo, choco etc. Even though it is common knowledge, most contemporary artistes do not publicly flaunt their love for weed because of the bad rep that comes with. The unwritten rule was you could do it but don't get caught smoking it.

It however seems some artistes have decided to break that unwritten rule. Recently, pictures of Terry G and Wande Coal puffing on weed started making rounds on the social networking site Facebook. While nobody regarded them as saints it was kind of shocking and disheartening to see artistes that millions of kids look up to publicly engage in what is regarded as a social vice.

KNIGHT HOUSE

Finally one of the most anticipated mixtapes of the year is finally out. Street Scriptures Vol. 1, the mixtape orchestrated by the innovative Knight House crew consists of 25 songs from some of Nigeria's artistes such as eLDee the Don, Kel, Sasha, and Sauce Kid. Other acts include Teeto Ceemos, Nyore, Ice Prince and Knight House franchise artiste Mo' CheddaH.
The rap oriented mixtape would have been out earlier but due to drawbacks from marketers and artistes, the body of work is just coming out.
For those who have been waiting to cop the mixtape from their local vendor they might have to wait till the end of March to get their hands on it. The reason for this is because Street Scriptures Vol. 1 has only been released digitally on iTunes and has not yet been physically reproduced for distribution. According to a member of the production house, the mixtape was first released on a digital platform so as to exploit the growing digital market in Nigeria.
When the mixtape is going to be out on CD, it would be a slightly different version with fewer tracks and the inclusion of two exclusive tracks tailored specifically for the Nigerian audience.
The Knight House family broke into the scene with their new single The Flyest which featured Mo' CheddaH, Sauce Kid and Teeto in 2009.

BANKY W'S THOUGHTS ON THE JOS CRISIS

With the attack of three communities in Jos on Sunday, March 7, 2010, that has led to another crisis in a state that was once regarded as the most peaceful, a large number of Nigerians have expressed their concern and displeasure in the way and the manner in which innocent people (mostly women and children), were brutally slaughtered.
Within the music industry, one of the prominent voices that are speaking up against the carnage in Jos is Banky W. The R and B singer who broke into the industry with his interpolation of Umbrella by Rihanna in 2007 recently let his feelings known via his blog- http://bankyw.blogspot.com
In his piece titled Hell Is Empty and All The Devils Are Here, Banky stated that �it's unthinkable that in 2010, after the world has gone through so much progress and development, some of us in Nigeria are still living like this. It's heartbreaking to witness these events. It's heart-wrenching to think of what happened on the morning of March 7th. It's unfair and deplorable. It's mind-numbingly sad, pathetic, and downright insane.�
He further went on to write that �the worst thing about the Jos attacks is the fact that this is not the first time that we've witnessed such horror, and conventional wisdom says it won't be the last. There's a song on my last album called "Why", where I tried in my very limited capacity to speak from the heart on situations affecting our Nigeria. I specifically mentioned "fighting in Jos, killing one another no remorse". This song was created by Cobhams Asuquo and I over a year ago; I was inspired to write, when similar killings occurred and a friend of mine lost 2 immediate family members. Little did we know that the song would prove to not only be an account of times past, but a prophecy of things to come as we are now witnessing the same evil history repeat itself.
In his write-up he charged the youth of Nigeria to stand up for change. Change does not happen overnight... Some will recall that in the USA in 1994 there was a revolution of sorts, but partly due to somewhat dubious circumstances (Florida, etc), the Bush Regime lasted an additional four years. We are used to Politicians in Nigeria treating Power as a birthright and votes not counting, despite our calling it a democracy. But in the same breath, how many of us actually turn out to vote? 2011 might be the year that changes our country forever. We may or may not succeed in toppling the "birthright-mindset" of our leaders immediately, but we MUST, in the very least, get the ball rolling. We the (young) people must decide that we are fed up of the nonsense we've seen for years and vow to change things wrote Mr. Wellington.
Last year June, Banky W wrote an article in response to Reuben Abati's article in The Guardian. The article was received with positive responses and applauded for its brilliance.
To read Banky W's full article on the Jos Crisis click HERE http://bankyw.blogspot.com/2010/03/hell-is-empty-and-all-devils-are-here.html

Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe

Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe (born 8 March 1973), better known as Boris Kodjoe, is an actor and former fashion model. He is perhaps best known for his role as courier-turned-sports agent Damon Carter on the Showtime television drama series Soul Food.

Early life

Kodjoe was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Ursula, a German psychologist, and Eric Kodjoe, a Ghanaian physician. His namesake is Nobel Prize-winning Russian poet and writer Boris Pasternak. He was born Jewish through his mother and maternal grandmother, though Kodjoe and his wife are members of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
Kodjoe's parents divorced when he was six years old and he grew up in the vicinity of Freiburg im Breisgau. He is fluent in German, French, English and Spanish. He has a brother named Patrick and a sister named Nadja. Kodjoe aspired to be a professional tennis player and attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, where he played tennis for the Rams.^{[citation needed]} His brother Patrick played for VCU's basketball team. A back injury ended Boris' tennis aspirations, but he was quickly signed as a model and soon after entered acting.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People magazine in 2002, Kodjoe is perhaps best known as one of the seven regular cast members from the Showtime drama Soul Food, which aired from 2000 to 2004. He appeared in the 2002 film Brown Sugar and starred in the short-lived sitcom Second Time Around with his Soul Food co-star Nicole Ari Parker, whom he eventually married. He played the role of David Taylor, the wayward son of Pastor Fred Taylor in the October 2005 film The Gospel. He performed in a play called Whatever She Wants starring Vivica A. Fox and made an appearance on the fifth season of Nip/Tuck. His most recent role was in the 2009 science fiction film Surrogates. On Dec. 16, 2009, it was announced that Kodjoe had been cast as the male lead, Steven, in the J.J. Abrams series "Undercovers," in development at NBC.

Personal life

Boris married his Soul Food: The Series co-star Nicole Ari Parker on May 21, 2005 in Gundelfingen, Germany. She gave birth to their first child, a girl, Sophie Tei-Naaki Lee Kodjoe, on March 5, 2005. Sophie has spinal bifida, which was diagnosed at birth. Parker gave birth to the couple's second child, a boy, Nicolas Neruda Kodjoe, on October 31, 2006. The family resides in Atlanta, Georgia after moving from Los Angeles, California.
Kodjoe's height is 6 ft 2½ in (1.89 m).

Random Ridiculousness: Artist Dresses Baby Girl Like Hitler And Other Leaders To Express Evil In Everyone

Norwegian-Danish artist Nina Maria Kleivan ditched the baby bonnet and rattle and opted for a mustache and swastika for a photograph of her infant daughter. She depicted the baby as Adolf Hitler as part of a photo exhibit on the nature of evil.
“We all have evil within us. Even small children are evil towards each other,” Kleivan tells Israel’s Haaretz newspaper. “Even my daughter could end up ruling Denmark with an iron fist. The possibility is still there.”
Kleivan said she was inspired to begin sewing infant-sized costumes soon after the birth of her daughter, who is now 11 years old. She said complications from her pregnancy had left her and the baby sitting at home. Looking at her daughter, she recalled, she considered that each human life begins as a blank slate, with opportunity to do good or evil. Her husband was supportive — until he spotted a tiny swastika armband.
“‘I’m aware that you’re an artist, but this is wrong,’ he told me,” Kleivan recalled him saying. “I’ve pondered that a lot myself: Could I really do this? I agree it’s on the verge, especially Hitler, whom I and most others view as the incarnation of evil. He and Stalin were the hardest to do. It hurt.”
She admitted that it was difficult explaining the work to her Jewish aunt, who lost much of her family in World War II concentration camps and saw the photos at an exhibition in Sweden.
“I felt so bad telling her it was my work, because she didn’t know, and was sickened by it,” Kleivan told Haaretz. “But this is not a deliberate provocation. It calls for reflection. Even though comical, you’re not supposed to only laugh at these pictures. You need to contemplate them, ponder where this evil comes from.”

Crazy. More pics of the baby below:

Are You Feelin This Get Up???

Serena Williams hit up some Telemundo event last night rocking some skintight fit showing off her dieseled out body complete with camel toe.
Peep more pics including Selita Ebanks and her massive dome when you…

Making It Rain On These Hoes: BeyBey’s Perfume Rakes In Over $3 Milli

Beyonce’s stans sure are one supportive bunch! Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren has confirmed that the scent “Heat” has sold $3 Million dollars worth of the fragrance and sold 72,000 bottles in one day when BeyBey was at Macy’s signing autographs. Damn.

Modenine And Mocheeda At “Da Vinci Mode’ Album Release.

Grandfather of Nigerian hiphop [hey, he is not retiring anytime soon] Mode9 released his album titled “Da Vinci Mode” on Saturday the 13th of March 2010 at La Cachette, GRA Ikeja. Death Blow 2 track made to the new album. Death blow part 1 saw him dissing Ruggedman but the rapper put up the white flag, chickened out and the part 2 didn’t lash at Ruggedman as he purportedly said it would.

 

Mode9

Mode9

Mode9

Mode9 with Mocheeda begin

 

OJB Slams Don Jazzy and Others.

OJB

Music Producer OJB informs that he was abandoned by colleagues and industry friends who he had relied on when his daughter was diagnosed of having a hole in her heart. The producers who worked closely with Tuface on his break out album and several other artiste with commercially successful album couldn’t find one of his friend to give him a loan for the $47,000 surgery for his daughter. He then decided to sell landed property and his stocks/shares which in total wasn’t enough for the surgery and he eventually turned to the Kanu Heart foundation and an agreement was reached.
His daughter, Alice nerve survived as she died in her sleep.
His experience while soliciting from financial support from friends was disheartening: ‘I should be able to raise it easily, you now find out that’s when phones go off and numbers become unavailable.’ ‘You are not getting the picture, no one did [stood by him], Person you look at and presume he has 100 million naira and [giving] 10,000 dollars would be nothing. You’ll be surprised that’s when phones will go off, that’s when phones will stop working. That’s when the networks go like ‘hello, hello; hello, I dey hear you, oh! I no dey hear you again’ but I was surprised when she died everyone came to me and said ‘accept my condolence’ [from] the same [phone] numbers that didn’t go through’. He added.
He apparently doesn’t hold Don Jazzy in high regard. When asked if he would place Don Jazzy as Nigeria’s top producer, he said no and made a joke at him: ‘I’m sure if you ask him who’s your top 3 [producers]? He’ll say Terry G, Terry G, Terry G. ‘ and he would want Don jazzy to ‘come and pay homage [to him], simple’

Toni Payne’s Worst Red Carpet Make Up.

We get the prize for outing a fashion enterpreneur with her own line of make up who wears the very same make up she sells wrong.Guess who came on the red carpet of the MTV 5 on it event as Nicki Minaj’s wannabe. Here:

What a make up!

What a make up experience!

Denrele In High Heels To Make Fashion Statements.

Number one Lagos fashion weirdo pulls another one, step son to Charly boy (we didn’t tell you that). We are so confuse with what to call what he pulled off at Jesse Jags’ listening party at Tribeca, VI Lagos yesternight. High heel or additional sole for his shoe to help his height? Who would have thought he felt he was a midget but hey! this is a no!

Denrele In 'High Heels'

Denrele's Statement?

Drake Still Wants Sade Collaboration

Drake's keeping hope alive. As previously reported, Sade recently revealed that she never collaborated because she doesn't like working outside of her "safety zone."

No Biggie. Drizzy respects Sade's decision, but is confident the two will work on a record together one day.
“I don’t think she really knows who I am, really, my genre of music," Drake told MTV. "I put it out there. It was more of a hopeful thing. It was a very early stage where I was at when I said that I was hoping. One day. Maybe after this album comes out."
"I’m very influenced by her," he continued. "She does something that I do, which  is , she doesn’t do too much with harmonies and she keeps her vocals very clean and just single vocals, sort of haunting melodies. I’m influenced by her a lot."

Magazine Apologizes to Beyonce for Fake Story

NEON Magazine has issued an apology to Beyonce and a slew of other publicaitons for a false story that was published by Ingo Mocek, a freelance writer for the German publication.

In the feature, Mocek revealed details about a marriage contract shared between Beyonce and Jay-Z worth $10 million. Mocek also stated Beyonce had some ill feelings towards white music producers.
Mocek couldn't produce his sources for the information published, resulting in an immediate termination from the publication.
"NEON dissociates itself from the content of the interview with Ms. Knowles," the magazine said in a statement. "NEON subcribes to a high level standard of truthful journalism. Since Ingo Mocek has violated these standards severely, NEON has terminated all relationships with Ingo Mocek with immediate effect."

EXCLUSIVE: Listen Up! – Karen Clark-Sheard

Sup folks, this one is special!

So as I’m sure most of you know, one of gospel music’s vocal ARCHITECTS (she helped create, originate and perfect the “melismatic” vocal style that so many artists gospel and mainstream mimic  today), Karen Clark-Sheard is releasing her new solo CD,”All In One” on April 6th. (My music professors will be proud to know I used melismatic correctly. See I was paying attention, ha!)
As Karen Clark-Sheard is probably one of my favorite singers on earth, I decided I wanted to do something a little special for this release. A lot of times, we in the music business get privy to CD’s wayyyy before they come out and I sometimes rub it in, which isn’t so nice. (hehehe) Well, this time Karen and the folks at HER record label, Karew Records, let me share!!!
So, everyday up until the release of the album, I will let you hear a new song from the new album, “All in One!” So I’m just gonna stop talking now and get right to the first track.
First up, a duet with her SANG-TANG-A-LANGING sister, Dorinda Clark-Cole on “He Knows.”  CLICK ON THE ALBUM COVER BELOW AND enjoy, and tell me what you think!
Til Monday’s exclusive track,
Torrence

Listen Up! – Karen Clark-Sheard

Gaga’s Lawyer Calls Ex-Boy Toy’s Claims “Unlawful”

Lady Gaga is fighting back against ex-boyfriend music producer Rob Fusari’s lawsuit that claims that he basically made her and should receive a $30.5 million settlement for monies she cut him out of. Pop the hood for more on Gaga’s legal lam.

Lady Gaga is firing back at a music producer who claims he launched her career and is suing her for $30.5 million.
Her lawyer said in a court filing made public Friday the agreement at the heart of the suit was “unlawful.”
Song writer and music producer Rob Fusari filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Manhattan against the Grammy Award-winning performer. He said his protege and former girlfriend, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, ditched him as her career soared.
Lady Gaga lawyer Charles Ortner wrote in his response that the arrangement was “structured in such a way as to mask its true purpose — to provide to the defendants unlawful compensation for their services as unlicensed employment agents.”
Ortner wrote that Fusari and his company violated statutes that prohibited them from “acting as employment agents without a license and charging Lady Gaga an unlawful fee for their purported services.”
Fusari’s lawyer, Robert S. Meloni, called the claim “ludicrous” in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
“Fusari is a PARTNER in the Team Love LLC with Gag and her father (through their company Mermaid),” Meloni wrote. “Rob was no more of an ’agent’ for her than she is a Roman Catholic nun.”

Being a partner is one thing, this guy is running around claiming Gaga owes him for her image. Last time we checked he’s not the one walking around wearing no pants! She earned that money the hard way!

T.I.'s Akoo Clothing Line Hit With Lawsuit

According to TMZ.com, T.I.'s Akoo clothing line is being sued for trademark infringement for allegedly thieving its moniker from Akoo International, a self-described "world's largest social music network."

The establishment recently filed a federal lawsuit against T.I., (born Clifford Harris) stating the name was in their posssession before he discovered it. It has yet to be determined how much Akoo International is suing Tip for.
Several weeks ago, Akoo was also placed under scrutiny for a racey billboard that showed a female model at the waist of another male model. The billboard was positioned in the middle of a busy intersection in Newark, NJ causing quite a stir in the Newark community.
T.I. has yet to release a statement regarding either issue.

Breaking News: Real Story on Chris Rock’s Mystery Child

Page Six has a dramatic story today with a headline that reads, “Chris Rock spotted toting mystery tot.” The story goes on to rehash the details surrounding the actress who filed a paternity suit against Rock back in 2007, which later proved that he was not the father of the woman’s child.
It’s bizarre how someone can be seen with a child and then the question is posed, “Does Chris Rock have a secret?“  The child could be his niece, cousin, goddaughter, or any other family member.
Nonetheless, a source close to Chris Rock talked to BET.com exclusively and said the little girl is 2 years old and from South Africa. The Rocks have had temporary custody for six months.  In addition, the girl’s grandmother is ill.  Hopefully that clears up any “secrets.”