2 Shotz Introduces The Umunnamu Group With ‘Superman Dead’

After five studio albums which has kept him in the music scene since he first debuted with ‘Pirated Copy‘ in 2004, 2Shotz has the all right to define himself as the meaning of longevity. His last album ‘I Am William‘, might not be his strongest effort but it does manage to seal his claim.
Ready to move on with his carrier, the rapper has signed on to his Umunamu label, two new acts Olstar and Mad Blayze. And just like any outfit, he plans to take over the scene one song after the other.
Their joint effort ‘Superman Dead‘ is not a bad effort too. A mid-tempo bumpy tune, the Umunamu group do justice in their own way to the track. With subsequent releases, will shall know how potent they are. For now we enjoy…

D’banj’s Prancing, Wizkid’s Album, Karen’s Breasts…

‘What if I told you that D’Banj and Don Jazzy have been signed to Kanye West’s record label?’
‘Who doesn’t know? You are making it sound as if it was told to you exclusively. Every living thing within a 100 mile radius of planet earth knows by now, so stop making it sound like breaking news. Psewww.’
‘But have you seen the video of the signing ceremony, if one can call it that? Did you notice that Kanye had not had his bath? It did look very unprofessional, didn’t it? I mean, Kanye and his people looked like they were still wearing what they wore to bed the previous night, right?’
‘What does it matter what they wore and what they looked like? The important thing is that they have now signed our guys to one of the biggest hip hop outfits in the US. A lot of artistes would have given their left kidney to be signed by Kanye, even if it meant he was going to come to the contract signing ceremony butt naked. Hater oshi!’
‘Whatever. At least you can’t say that you didn’t see D’banj prancing about like a festive drumstick …rather childish really. Doing that annoying ‘I’m D’Banj, or Skibanj skit is burdensome, isn’t it? And he did look like he was getting on Kanye’s nerves, right? I thought I also heard the people in the room laughing, you know, like people laugh at circus monkeys or something…you did get that feeling too, right?
‘What nonsense feeling? It’s people like you that that spoil this country! Instead of being happy for the young men, you are spewing nonsense. Did you not see as Kanye was moving his head to the song? Sit down there and be hating o; the boys are hammering big time. They have Bentleys now and you have what? Answer me now, what do you have?! Nonsense.’
‘Ehn, man shall not live by Bentleys alone. And it was the beat Kanye was moving to, for as we know, D’Banj can’t sing.’
‘Did he tell you he was singer? He’s an entertainer, period! Why can’t an artiste be appreciated for what he is, rather than for what you people think he should be?!’
‘Perhaps that explains Wizkid’s album then…’
‘What’s wrong with Wizkid’s album?’
‘I didn’t say anything was wrong with it…just that he might also be an entertainer because he certainly can’t sing.’
‘Of course Wizkid can sing! What’s wrong with you?! He may have got some assistance from auto tune…well, maybe a lot of assistance, actually, but that’s hardly a crime? Besides, he’s barely out of his teens, what do you want from him, a musical cure for cancer? What were you doing with your life at his age?’
‘I am unimportant in this equation, and nothing you say can change my opinion that it is an album of choruses. A few lines make up a verse or something and then chorus takes over and ‘ye ye ye ye’ follows, 1000x. That annoying ‘ye ye ye ye’ thing, present everywhere! I’m sure he learnt it from Banky, you know, that his ‘Yaga yaga eh eh’ stuff. It’s an EME thing, isn’t it? What do you think Skales’ would be, ‘Ye ye yaga yaga’, right?
‘You are impossible to satisfy! Anyway, the young man has successfully launched his album and career…you will go grey hating on his success. Stay there. See your mouth like ‘ye ye ye ye’
‘Oh, where you at the album launch? I hear it was a slightly classier version of a high school prom. I was told that parents came to drop their wards and the mothers had this kind of exchange:  ‘Ah Brenda’s mummy, you too brought Brenda?’ ‘Yes o, I see you brought Yvette too’.
‘Surely, you jest. Did you not see that bigwigs from the entertainment industry represented at the launch? You didn’t see the pictures on different blogs, right? I’m done with this conversation!’ I’m better off watching Big Brother.’
‘Oh, that reminds me: is the Nigerian guy still in the house?’
‘What Nigerian guy? There are two Nigerians in the house and they are both ladies.’
‘Really? I could have sworn that the yellow one with the husky voice, biabia and chicken legs was a guy!’
‘Karen is a lady. Okay, maybe not a lady in the generic sense but I think it is rather disingenuous of you to call her a guy, seeing that she does posses a rather prominent pair of boobs.’
‘Ah ah, I see why you’ve been watching BBA. But they are not hers; she bought them for £4,000, I’m told. Please let’s keep things in perspective.’
‘If she bought them, they belong to her, period. And she will buy more when she wins the prize. You, on the other hand, can only dream of that kind of money. Sad for you.’
‘Win fire! You think they would let her win? It’s amazing how naive you can be. You really don’t know how these things work.’
‘Stay there and be headstrong like plank nailed to a wall. I am done.’
‘Planking!’
‘What?’
‘Planking! Have you too been doing it?’
‘Are you serious? Do you really think that I will engage in such idiocy?! Do not attach my name to such a ridiculous act, please!’
‘I don’t think this issue deserves all this grammar you are blowing…if you don’t want to plank, don’t. But don’t say it’s idiotic just because you don’t appreciate it. That, is what is ridiculous my friend.’

Born Richard Evans Eyimofe Damijo into a polygamous family of 18 children on Tuesday, July 6, 1961 in Warri, the Urhobo–Aladja bound iconic actor-turned-politician started his early days in the Niger Delta. ‘Okan so so Ajanaku’ like the Yorubas would put it, he was the only child of his mother and even if Larry King never saw him grow, you’ll agree to the amount of pressure he must have gone through while growing up, worth being televised. Sometimes the loneliness of not having someone to watch his back when bullied during his days at Warri’s Midwest College, Sapele’s Anglican Grammar School, Okpara Waterside in the defunct Bendel State (the present Delta State) and even during his A-Levels at St. Patrick College in Asaba, the age where some still get bullied in school. Those who take your lunch money and still make you labour for them.
Perhaps it was his irresistible look and amazing charm that marked his hard-to-admit-but-true experience at a young age of 19. Experiences that remain a part of his life till this day. During his years at the University of Benin, his girlfriend got pregnant and like any desperate average young man, he talked her into an abortion which he later found out she never had. And just as he was starting to believe it couldn’t get worse than that, he got another shocker while he was about to launch out to go serve his motherland in the NYSC after graduating in 1983 with a First Class from his father informing him that his new girlfriend was pregnant too. At the age of 19, he already had two children out of wedlock.
He began his professional Nollywood career with ‘Ripples’, a TV soap opera, after the successful completion of his NYSC service in Bauchi State. His first lead role was in ‘The Last Omen’, even though many believe his fame arose in the classic soap opera, ‘Checkmate’ where he played Segun Kadiri alongside iconic stars like Liz Benson and Segun Arinze. However, his years at the university back in ’82 witnessed a great theatrical success with him playing Emeka, a lead character in the drama ‘Echoes of Wrath’, which recorded his break into on-screen significance and the drama later won the NTA National Annual Drama Competition.
RMD also had a stint with Concord Newspaper as a reporter after which he got married to a foremost journalist and publisher, late MEE Mofe – Damijo who founded Classique Magazine. The amazing career woman, amiable talk-show host, mother and philanthropist, MEE (May Ellen Ezekiel) died on Saturday, March 23, 1996. And according to RMD, she remained the great woman who polished him and helped his troubled career, even though many claimed he married her back then for her money. At a point, RMD started Mister Magazine exclusively on men, but this was soon rested and he later returned to acting and public relations.
Returning to academics in 1997, RMD went on to study law at the University of Lagos and graduated in 2004, the same year he innovated the Made in Warri Show.
And in 1999, RMD found love again three years after the death of MEE (May Ellen Ezekiel) Mofe-Damijo in the arms of former AIT presenter, Jumobi Adegbesan.
And on Thursday, January 6, 2011 the couple celebrated their 10th year wedding anniversary.
Before his appointment as the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, the position which he still holds till date in Delta State, he was the Special Adviser to the Governor on Entertainment by the state government in 2009.
The father of 6 has featured in over 40 Nollywood movies, which include; When God Says Yes with Pete Edochie and Stella Damascus-Aboderin, The Legend with Kate Henshaw-Nuttal, Danger Signal with Desmond Elliot, Critical Decision with Genevieve Nnaji and Stephanie Okereke, Bridge-Stone with Liz Benson and Zack Orji, Indecent Girl with Ini Edo, Indecent Act with Rita Dominic and Critical Assignment with international star, Hakeem Kae-Kazim (Hotel Rwanda 2004).
Hon. Richard Mofe-Damijo without doubts is an example of an average Nigerian man who looked life in the eyeball and dared against all odds. Judging from where he stands today, RMD is a true Made Man. Amongst his many achievements is the historical commendable credit of bagging the Best Actor prize at the maiden edition Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2005.
Happy 50th Birthday, Richard

Ara Tells Us Her Marriage Is Over!

Ara and her husband at their wedding ceremony in 2009

It’s over; all over between drummer girl Ara and her prince charming Nurudeen!
The lovebirds, who made us joyous as they told their love story shortly before tying the knot in June 2009, have been separated since January this year. And Ara, who announced the separation this week, says there’s no going back.
Sources say the marriage is in the process of annulment, and that both parties ‘have moved on’.
‘Ara is back in Ajao estate with her family‘ one insider tells us. ‘While her former husband has also started another life‘.
Our source says the reason for the break, is ‘complicated’. ‘But I believe any man that treats his wife the way he treated her, is not ready to make that marriage work‘.
In a statement issued by BlackHouse Media, on behalf of the musician, Ara says  ‘We’ve been separated since January‘, the musician says. ‘But because I do not want rumours to start flying, and I think, out of respect, all my friends and fans need to know what’s happening to me, I think it’s right to set the records straight once and for all on this. We’re no longer together and we’re both happy. We’ve both moved on‘.
‘I’m single again. But I will not be searching for now‘.
‘I’ve taken this decision very painfully; and it’s particularly a tough and sensitive time for me and my son. And I plead with my friends and fans to put us in their prayers at this period‘.
Ara got married to Nurudeen, a Lagos Prince on June 4, 2009 at the Oshodi/Isolo registry in Lagos. The pair had been dating for a while and had just returned from the US where they hibernated after Ara ‘escaped’ from her controversial Atunda Records deal.
They have a baby together.

Mo’Hits Searches for First Lady

Koko Mansion Winner, Bolanle Okhiria

The second season of Koko Mansion will kick off in a matter of months.
But unlike the debut edition of the reality show which sought to find ‘the ideal Nigerian woman’, this time, Mo’Hits Records, owners of the property, say they’re altering the concept.
‘This time around, we’re searching for the first Lady of Mohits‘, D’banj said at a recent news conference.
One insider tells us plans for Koko Mansion 2 have reach advanced stages; although not much has been concluded.
One thing is sure though: the show will not run on cable platform HiTV. We’re told Mohits and HITV are yet to resolve issues arising from Koko Mansion in 2009.
Bolanle Okhiria, aa Lagos-based presenter and actress won that edition. Part of the issues observers have raised: she never became D’banj’s date for a year as was promised on the show promo; she never got a Chris Aire diamond ring; never got the convertible car that was promised (Okhiria drives a 2007 Model Mitsubishi Outlander 4WD); and only featured as an extra, in Dbanj’s ‘Fall in love‘ video with Genevieve Nnaji as the star of the video.
We’re told the organisers would be looking at preventing a recurrence of this, as the show enters a second season…

Rapper Bow Wow Announces He’s a Dad!

After stalling for sometime, US rapper Bow Wow has come out in the open to announce that he now has a daughter!
In the late hours of Wednesday, July 7, 2011, the rapper explained that he had held back the announcement because he was somewhat ‘nervous’ about how his numerous fans would feel about him.
In a letter released by the rapper, he stated in it that his daughter is ‘the illest thing of my life’. He also wrote in his letter that he would definitely be keeping his daughter out of the eyes of the public and paparazzi, explaining that he just wants her to live a ‘normal life’.
Read the full, unedited letter below…
‘Let me start off by saying i love my fans. With out yall i wudda been left the game. For the past 3 years i been batteling life. Even thought about taking my own. I felt like as a kid i did everything and saw everything too fast which spoiled my adult years. I felt as if i had no purpose to live(Thinking selfishly) until god gave me the illest gift of my life. No lambo, no blk card nuffn ammounts to my lil girl. I waited so long to tell yall the truth because i was nervous on how yall would look at me. Yall know everyone makes a big deal out of everything i do. I wanted to be 1st n let yall know the real. My lil girl is getting BIG fast. i love every minute of it. She inspires me to go harder.Even made me treat my mother better, its like it made me into a man over night. Never been a fan of posting pix of my daughter. Reason is because i want my boo boo to have everything i didnt. Want her to be able to cheerlead with her lil friends with out some a–hole sticking his camera all in my lil girl face. I know how fame is. I missed out on so much that i now know how important it is to cherish and have those things in your life. Yes! I change diapers. Aint as bad as i thought hahaha. I want her to live with me so bad. Jus us 2. Thats my dream man but fellas yall know how it go. Baby gotta stay with they momma and all dat bull. I hate that! So i have to fly 5 hrs away to see her. I find myself going into my i phone book jus lookn at pix of her. Sometimes i tear up cuz i just cant believe it brotha be emotional. All in all im good. This is my 1st. I know all my fans gone support me and ride for her like yall been doin my whole career. To the ones that say ‘Im heart broken how can he do that to us’ well i do have a life thats not all about movies or making albums. Im 24 now. I cant wait 4eva. Im happy and if your a fan then ud be happy too cuz yall gone be with me every step of the way. The bs that comes with having a baby momma is expected. So i neva trip. Jus gotta suck it up keep chin high and try not let her get the best of my feelings by playin them stupid games. Ima stay positive and keep maintaining long as i got yall i cant lose. I love yall. And shai shai daddy love u too! Wizzle!!!!’
-  Boweezy, Cash Money/Young Money.
Born Shad Gregory Moss, the 24-year-old has released six studio albums and is gearing up for the release of his seventh, ‘Underrated’.

Fivemics and BrymO Dish Out ‘Five Blessings’

Stanley Ikegbulam better known to the Hip-hop community as Fivemics or 5mics has been around the Hip-hop scene longer than you might know. His 2005 single ‘Gemini‘ with veteran MC Modenine was an anthem back then and it was expected of him to take it up another notch with a follow up single, a record deal or something enterprising.
Sadly, he has not been able to hit the mark – I’ll say he has been unlucky because, after a fast listen of an average 5mic song, you’ll reckon with why he picked up his moniker (5Mics in Hip-hop grammar means ‘A Classic’).
Now with M.et.al Management (the management company responsible for Kel, Wizkid, Skales, Slim T), the Abuja born rapper is looking forward to bigger things, little wonder he calls on the Choc City ‘hook killer’, BrymO to finish up this up-tempo single. 5Mics does sound a little bit like fellow emcee Jesse Jagz, but he holds his own with simplified lyrics to entertain his average listener…Thumbs up.

Christy Essien Igbokwe: A Tribute To Nigeria’s Lady Of Songs

Here is how I remember Christy Essien Igbokwe: I’m seated on the floor of my father’s sitting room, close to the television set. It’s the early 80’s. ‘Seun Rere’ comes on and I remember the rumours that that came with its popularity: the singer had won a major international award with the song. Part of the price was a limousine; a long white limousine which she used to shoot the video for the song. I can’t remember if I had seen a Nigerian music video before that. I immediately became fascinated with this woman who got an international award and a long car just because she sang a song. A few years later, I would come to know her as ‘Apena’ Jegede Shokoya’s wife, in the popular NTA comedy series, The New Masquerade.
Over the years I have come to follow her career through music, advocacy, politics and administration. You could probably fault her for many things, but passion will not be one of them. Realising her first album at 16, she went on to many successes, including becoming the first female President of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN). Her passion for the things she held dearly showed through her music, including tracks like ‘Hear the Children Crying’ ‘It’s Time’ and ‘Akwa Ibom Mi’. Looking through her body of work, it is interesting to note that she shared that rare quality that her generation of Nigerian artistes seemed to posses effortlessly: the ability to sing in many Nigerian Languages. She sang in Yoruba, Ibo and her native Ibibio and was a crossover artiste in the true sense of the word.
Sadly, like many of her contemporaries, her musical career seems to have plummeted along with the demise of record labels in Nigeria. Somehow, her generation of Nigerian artistes did not make the transition to what currently obtains in the Nigerian music scene. Probably because they started their careers being signed to proper record labels, even international ones, it was hard to survive in the unstructured industry that came up after the likes of Polygram, Ivory, Emi, Tabansi etc had gone under.
At 51, Christy Essien Igbokwe could have stayed with us a while longer. I actually was a bit shocked to find out that she was ‘merely’ fifty-one. However much longer we would have wanted her to be around, decisions concerning who lives and who leaves for the great beyond her out of our mortal hands. Let us be grateful for her immense contributions to our national heritage; let us find solace in the music she brought forth with dignity and passion. Let us not be too sad that we have lost her at a relatively young age; let us be grateful that we ever had her at all.
Rest in Peace, dear Lady of Songs…

Wake The Sleeping Prophetess!

Sitting in her conference room with a few other colleagues the other day, nothing warned us, at least not me, that it would be Lady Christy’s last interaction with the press and hence the public. Date was November 2nd, 2010 and it was nine days to her 50th birthday.
The purpose was simple and defined: the journey so far and the future in view. Received by her husband who manages her affairs and runs the family company, the celebrant walked in dazzling in a red Kaftan, head tie and her signature red lipstick. And the atmosphere changed almost instantly.
There’s always been this spiritual side to Christy either as Essien or Essien-Igbokwe. On this particular day, she wore it like gloves. Apart from speaking on her thirty-one-year-old marriage, thirty-four-year-old music and movie career, her all male children, PMAN – which she formed and remains only female president of in history, her awards and her ‘hey-days’ of fame; Christy spoke freely, perhaps for the first time, of how she interacted with angels and heavenly bodies without inhibition.
And even though she made it sound as simple, effortless and natural as possible, she reminded us quite subtly of her ‘extra-terrestrial powers’ and capabilities. She was a pleasant and queer being. If before that day I had ever nursed an evil thought towards Christy, I would have stooped to my knees, confessing and begging for forgiveness. Yes, the atmosphere was that intense, and spooky if I must say.
Starting out early in life on her own, she held on to her late mother’s prophecy of greatness. Her fearless teenage years, as she narrated in that interview, later graduated to being mystical as angels gave her songs and album titles, which spurned hits after hits with a limousine parked in her residence till date, as part of her trophies. Her name has been around for so long that we argued her age right before her that last day.
It is impossible to think or believe that Christy had no premonition of her death and that she would surrender to death in sickness. It is easier to believe that it was a spiritual battle and her angels were running other errands when the evil one snuffed life out of her. Or could it be that spiritually gifted Christy decided to walk through the valley of death out of her own volition? It would be even more believable to hear that Uduak Essien prophesied her own death and perhaps much more prior to her taking ill or while on her sick bed. Is Christy Uduak Essien Igbokwe really gone?
She loved to laugh. And she did a lot. Whether as the wife of Jegede Shokoya (a cantankerous role she played for many years in ‘New Masquerade‘, a famous early TV soap in Nigeria) or when on stage as Nigeria’s lady of songs; Christy’s life spoke of real life struggles and sermonized women and children. Now that she is no more, and with the romance-crazed generation we have today, who will preach to our children. Nje omo mi a seun rere bi?

NETPod: Fivemics and BrymO Dish Out ‘Five Blessings’ » Darey ‘Not Performing’ At Music Meets Runway

R&B star Darey ‘will not be co-hosting’ the  the forthcoming ‘Music Meets Runway’ fashion show which is coming up in a matter of days. This was announced by his publicists BlackHouse Media on Thursday June 30.
In a widely-circulated statement, Darey says he’s shocked to see his name being advertised as one of the lead performers at the fashion show holding on Thursday, 30, 2011.
‘We do not only find news reports and releases from the organisers mischievous; but also misleading and unprofessional. And we’d like the general public to know that Darey is not in anyway, directly or remotely involved with this event’, the statement reads.
‘Our Lawyers are already in touch with them, hoping they will correct this misinformation, with the clear stand that if this is not done, we will be willing to pursue legal means available to us…’
The fashion event, which sources say will go on as scheduled, despite the unfortunate situation with host Amber Rose’s nude pictures leaking online yesterday, is a fashion show, interspersed with music interludes concert style.
Music meets Runway is sponsored by Samsung and MTN. There are reports Banky W, who recently signed up as an ambassador with Samsung has been engaged to co-host and also perform.