MO'CHEDDAH BECOMES FRANCHISE CELEBRITY

All is now set for fast-rising singer, songwriter and femcee MoCheddah to release her debut album Franchise Celebrity. The much-anticipated album is scheduled for release on October 20th and a launch party has been been scheduled by Mo’s record label, Knighthouse Entertainment. According to the talented songbird, “it (the album) is the culmination of 7 years of preparation and was heavily influenced by my experiences in music over that period.”Mo Cheddah was recently awarded with the Most Promising Act to Watch this year at the just concluded Nigerian Entertainment Awards in New York City. She has also been nominated for the Most Gifted Female Video at the Channel O Music Video Awards 2010 as well as the Discovery of the Year at the SoundCity Music Video Awards 2010. The album will contain 15 songs including hit singles If You Want Me and club banger Ko Maa Roll and will feature collaborations with multiple-award winning rapper, Naeto C and the late Dagrin.

LETTER TO MR JUDE ABAGA (MI)

When the news broke that diminutive rapper, MI is ready to dabble into movie, eye brows were raised, tongues keep wagging and fingers failed to stop pressing those buttons of our cell phones to confirm directly from him or his close associates over what could led the rapper in making such decision.
Towards the end of September, the news of the rapper ditching music for acting in Nollywood emanated from his label. This however ended speculations allegedly planted by same label and the stance of the
rapper. The release went as far as telling us that the artiste “jet out to Los Angeles last week to take shots on scenes from his forthcoming debut performance in the action movie which he is cast in”. The implication of this information, as now confirmed by his publicist, is that there would be a delay in releasing the rapper’s anticipated sophomore album previously scheduled for a September/October release.
Different questions were being asked from different quarters asking why the Short Black Boy had to give up music in such a very short time of hitting it big in the music industry. Some believe this move is
just a publicity stunt to herald the arrival of his second album. Some of his predecessors like Tunde & Wunmi Obey (TWO) have tried similar stunts only to debunk over and over after a while and then release the next album. In the process, they occupy media space before announcing the next album release and then we find out it’s been a calculated move to stay talked about.
Mr Jude Abaga was a breath of fresh air when he came to us. He was quickly tagged ‘the rappers’ rapper’ by music pundits as he dominated the rap scene, just before introducing his brother – Jesse Jagz and
other protégées to the stage. Now only a few weeks to the hyped release of his follow up album titled ‘M.I 2’, news of a tentative career switch breaks from his camp. So I ask; is Mr Jude Abaga about to set a record as his label’s trying to make us believe? Or is this propaganda from another artiste, to keep us talking about him or appealing for his kind of music?
We’ve seen a number of Nollywood artistes dabble in and out of music: from Cossy Orjiakor, to Genevieve Nnaji, Jim Iyke and then Omotola who launched her second album where a table was sold for N1m each. Some recording artistes have also made a few appearances in Nolywood flicks – the likes of 9ice, Pasuma, Osupa and Jaywon to mention a few, but none of these artistes ever sacrificed their singing careers for one
in Nollywood nor confirmed such speculations when made. What if he’s truly taking a break for  Nollywood, can he be Nigeria’s Denzel Washington, Ving Rhames or others? Is he ready to compete with
the likes of Ramsey Noah, Segun Arinze, Saheed Balogun and the rest as he did years back in the music industry? Or is he trying to bow out when the ovation is loud (I doubt if it’s still loud). If yes, what’s going to happen to the career that catapulted him into lime-light?

TILLAMAN DROPS SELF PRODUCED SINGLES

UK-based Nigeria artiste Tillaman who recently relocated to the country has fully kicked off the promotion of his forthcoming album after the demise of a close friend and colleague made him stall since his relocation.
He had put the video for “Trying”, one of the singles in his promo CD, out on TV several months with massive airplay and positive feedback.

Now with renewed energy he has dropped his full promo CD consisting of tracks like Fori Fori (produced by Sarz) and Fori Fori new mix, Different Level, Trying (self produced) and the popular Pu'yanga which he did with Dola-Billz (produced by JJC).

As part of his promotion movement, members of his UK-based label 166 Family Dola-Billz, Mattel B and Big Tizzy are in the country to further buttress their stand as seasoned entertainers as well as promote other new jobs.

Adewale Onifade - Background on BrightFuse - A Talent Community

Adewale Onifade - Background on BrightFuse - A Talent Community

Felabration Season

THE MUSIC
The musical style performed by Fela Kuti is called Afrobeat, which is a fusion of jazz, funk, psychedelic rock, and traditional West African chants and rhythms. As Iwedi Ojinmah points out in his Article "Baba is Dead - Long Live Baba," Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native "tinker pan" African-style percussion that Kuti acquired while studying in Ghana with Hugh Masakela, under the uncanny Hedzoleh Soundz. Afrobeat is also characterized by having vocals, and musical structure, along with jazzy, funky horn sections. The endless groove is also used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted guitar, and bass guitar are repeated throughout the song. His band was notable for featuring two baritone saxophones, whereas most groups using this instrument only use one. This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles, and can be seen in funk and hip-hop. Some elements often present in Fela's music are the call-and-response within the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. Fela's songs were almost always over 10 minutes in length, some reaching the 20- or even 30-minute marks, while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45 minutes when performed live. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside Africa. His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin, although he also performed a few songs in the Yoruba language. Fela's main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards, but he also played the trumpet, guitar, and took the occasional drum solo. Fela refused to perform songs again after he had already recorded them, which also hindered his popularity outside Africa. Fela was known for his showmanship, and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild. He referred to his stage act as the Underground Spiritual Game. Fela attempted making a movie but lost all the materials to the fire that was set to his house by the military government in power.

POLITICAL VIEWS
The American Black Power movement influenced Fela's political views. He was also a supporter of Pan-Africanism and socialism, and called for a united, democratic African republic. He was a candid supporter of human rights, and many of his songs are direct attacks against dictatorships, specifically the militaristic governments of Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. He was also a social commentator, and he criticized his fellow Africans (especially the upper class) for betraying traditional African culture. The African culture he believed in also included having many wives (polygyny) and the Kalakuta Republic was formed in part as a polygamist colony. He defended his stance on polygyny with the words "A man goes for many women in the first place. Like in Europe, when a man is married, when the wife is sleeping, he goes out and fucks around. He should bring the women in the house, man, to live with him, and stop running around the streets!" His views towards women are characterised by some as misogynist, with songs like "Mattress" typically cited as evidence. In a more complex example, he mocks the aspiration of African women to European standards of ladyhood while extolling the values of the market woman in his song "Lady." It should be noted, though, that Fela was very open when it came to sex, as he portrayed in some of his songs, such as "Open and Close" and "Na Poi."

Bypassing editorial censorship in Nigeria's predominantly state controlled press, Kuti began in the 1970s buying advertising space in daily and weekly newspapers such as The Daily Times and The Punch in order to run outspoken political columns. Published throughout the 1970s and early 1980s under the title Chief Priest Say, these columns were essentially extensions of Kuti's famous Yabi Sessions—consciousness-raising word-sound rituals, with himself as chief priest, conducted at his Lagos nightclub. Organized around a militantly Afrocentric rendering of history and the essence of black beauty, Chief Priest Say focused on the role of cultural hegemony in the continuing subjugation of Africans. Kuti addressed a number of topics, from explosive denunciations of the Nigerian Government's criminal behavior; Islam and Christianity's exploitive nature, and evil multinationals; to deconstructions of Western medicine, Black Muslims, sex, pollution, and poverty. Chief Priest Say was cancelled, first by Daily Times then by Punch, ostensibly due to non-payment, but many commentators have speculated that the paper's respective editors were placed under increasingly violent pressure to stop publication.

DISCOGRAPHY
Year Title Label
1971 Live ! (with Ginger Baker) Wrasse Records
1971 Why Black Man Dey Suffer Wrasse Records
1972 Stratavarious (with Ginger Baker) Polydor/Wrasse Records
1972 Na Poi Wrasse Records
1972 Open & Close Wrasse Records
1972 Shakara Wrasse Records
1972 Roforofo Fight Wrasse Records
1973 Afrodisiac Wrasse Records
1973 Gentleman Wrasse Records
1974 Alagbon Close Wrasse Records
1975 Noise for Vendor Mouth Wrasse Records
1975 Confusion Wrasse Records
1975 Everything Scatter Wrasse Records
1975 He Miss Road Wrasse Records
1975 Expensive Shit Wrasse Records
1976 No Bread Wrasse Records
1976 Kalakuta Show Wrasse Records
1976 Upside Down Wrasse Records
1976 Ikoyi Blindness Wrasse Records
1976 Before I Jump Like Monkey Give Me Banana Wrasse Records
1976 Excuse O Wrasse Records
1976 Zombie Wrasse Records
1976 Yellow Fever Wrasse Records
1977 Opposite People Wrasse Records
1977 Fear Not For Man Wrasse Records
1977 Stalemate Wrasse Records
1977 Observation No Crime Wrasse Records
1977 Johnny Just Drop (J.J.D Live!! at Kalakuta Republic) Wrasse Recs
1977 I Go Shout Plenty Wrasse Records
1977 No Agreement Wrasse Records
1977 Sorrow, Tears, and Blood Wrasse Records
1978 Shuffering and Shmiling Wrasse Records
1979 Unknown Soldier Wrasse Records
1980 I.T.T. (International Thief Thief) Wrasse Records
1980 Music of Many Colours (with Roy Ayers) Wrasse Records
1980 Authority Stealing Wrasse Records
1981 Black President Wrasse Records
1981 Original Sufferhead Wrasse Records
1981 Coffin for Head of State Wrasse Records
1983 Perambulator Wrasse Records
1983 Live in Amsterdam Wrasse Records
1985 Army Arrangement Wrasse Records
1986 Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense Wrasse Records
1989 Beasts of No Nation Wrasse Records
1989 O.D.O.O. (Overtake Don Overtake Overtake) Wrasse Records
1990 Confusion Break Bones Wrasse Records
1990 Just Like That Wrasse Records
1992 Underground System Wrasse Records
2004 The Underground Spiritual Game Quannum Projects

Filmography
Fela In Concert 1981, (VIEW)
Music Is The Weapon 1982, Stephane tchal-Gadjieff & Jean Jacques Flori, (Universal)
Fela Live! Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and the Egypt 80 Band 1984, Recorded Live At Glastonbury, England (Yazoo)
Femi Kuti - Live at the Shrine 2005, Recorded Live At Lagos, Nigeria (Palm Pictures / Umvd)

CHARLIE BOY TO THREAD WAKO JACKO'S PATH

After the untimely demise of the king of pop Michael Jackson, the lover of the legendary troops out in large number to pay their last respect to the pop icon by imitating him in all aspects. Few weeks back we gathered that the self acclaimed “Area Fada”, Chalie Boy has taken it to another level by not only replicating Michael Jackson contumely but has undergone a plastic surgery. The Naija bike crooner was recently sighted on a musical location in Lekki with international highly praised dance hall expert, Dr Alban for the shooting of the musical video collaboration, where Chally boy new identity was exposed. A source disclosed that, Charlie Boy did not only travel to Sweden on a musical tour with Dr Alban but he also went there for a face lift. Though many believe it was a bait to conceal his new face. He was edgy throughout the shooting of the video as he instructed his body guards to block photographers from taking his snapshots. We also gathered that his face looked a bit thin and very firm.

According to Chalie boy who only allowed his wife, Lady Diane to make him up denied allegation of going the Wacko Jacko way and claimed that he had an accident in Sweden during a boxing exercise with his pairing partner which shifted his jaw causing it to be rectified through a surgical operation.

Rakim; The King Of HipHop................On the Rocks

Rakim is said to be known as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Who’s to blame for such a heavy statement? You are, or at least those of you who support such self-proclaimed idols. Because of that, you’ve all let it all go straight to dudes head. Know why? Because Rakim refers to himself as GOD! WTF???

Here’s a dude who’s from a much earlier era than Jay Z, yet ‘Hova’ is doing laps and laps around Rakim, when he should have been holding down the “King of New York” title.

Eric B discovered Rakim back in the day, moving the (then unknown rapper) from Long Island, New York to ‘The Big Apple.’. It’s Eric B’s golden touch that transformed Rakim into the superstar we all know today. As a result, Rakim whose real name is William Griffin, was born a star. Both his style and image were sparked from the visionary mind of his partner, Eric B. So…for those of you who have any inclination that Rakim did it all by himself, YOU ARE ALL DEAD WRONG!!!

Most black kids who love the art of hip/hop look up to Rakim. I’m sorry to say, those kids are being totally misguided. Know why? Because the Rakim they idolize so much truly has a deep dark side…which I’m about to reveal to you. Read on…

The group ‘Eric B and Rakim’ severed their ties, in the early 90’s. I don’t know exactly why, but I did try getting at Eric to uncover the reasoning behind their break-up, and he was not available for comment.

Now I’m just speculating here, (but armed with both my credible sources and my great logic). I’m sure one of the reasons was because Rakim went MIA for countless shows and interviews. I wonder why? Were drugs to blame for his sudden absence? It’s no secret that dude has been smoking cocaine for some time now. What’s worse is he’s now calling himself a GOD! WTF??? I’d say that’s very ungodly! I mean, how hypocritical is that?

Rakim claims he’s all about being black, yet he’s quick to turn around and cash a check to join a campaign that advertises liquor. And guess who’s paying attention??? That’s right, OUR KIDS!!! I’d say that’s a solid reason for sparking the divorce between Eric B and Rakim.

Let’s now take a look at his solo career — without Eric B, was Rakim successful? NOT!!! To be sure, let me remind you that though he did move forward as a solo act (through his release of “The 18th Letter”), but he was sure to include a few songs of his own, paired-up with some of the greatest hits he made with Eric B.

Rakim released yet another album, and just about everyone (with half-of-a-brain) wasn’t surprised when it was found to be a complete and utter FAILURE…Know why? It only sold less than 30-thousand units. That’s the reason why Universal Records dropped his a$$! Dude can’t seem to sell a record without Eric B by his side. And Rakim is quick to diss the dude who made him – through verbal attacks on wax on the flop recordings? That’s quite nigger-ish…don’t you think?

Dr Dre came to save the day by signing Rakim to his label, AfterMath. Guess what happened? I’ll tell you. Around that same time, I was sitting in Zach Katts’ office (Rakim’s manager) who played me a few tracks by Dre, admitting to me that he was having issues getting Ra into the studio. Why couldn’t lazy ass Rakim hold-up his end of the bargain? I’ll tell you. It’s because he barricaded himself in his own apartment smoking California crack. I guess that’s why Dr Dre dropped his a$$ too.

This guy Rakim refers to Caucasians as ‘white devils’ – while (mind you), he has his very own ‘Arliss’ backing him up. Talk about a contradiction!!! He’s no different than Glen Beck. In other words, he’s not only a racist…he’s also a hypocrite!!!

A reporter once told me that he held a sort of admiration and respect for Rakim saying, “I walked into Rakim’s dressing room and he was smoking weed with teenagers. That’s when I lost all my respect for the guy.” Wait…that’s not all folks! I also have other sources who have openly admitted to being totally disgusted in Rakim’s behavior. Even Iron Mike Tyson said, “I totally looked up to the guy during my state of depression, I mean if Rakim called me out to get it together I would. But, when I met him and saw what he really was all about, I was completely turned off.”

I’ve got news for you…Rakim is not the saviour whom you all speak of. Know why? Because he’s a crack smoking addict, and an alcoholic lush. With that said, how can he be god-like…let alone a GOD????

In a desperate effort to keep his name alive, Rakim released yet another flop project “The Seventh Seal.” It sold about 1,000 copies…OUCH!!!

Even after dudes tarnished track record, the same label Universal Records (who once dropped him), is now taking Rakim back under their wing by releasing “The Seventh Seal” AGAIN (through Fontana records). His newest release features Rakim making his debut after a lengthy hiatus (probably on drugs). I guess even though Universal Records seems to have not learned their lesson the first time, they’re looking to land some sort of security by again including some of the greatest hits of ‘Eric B and Rakim’. WTF???

I hope that Rakim seeks some help, cuz he’s seriously in need of rehabilitation. Come on Ra, do yourself a favor and check-in with celebrity rehab therapist, Dr. Drew. Because at one time, you and Eric B recorded a fucking dope track called “I ain’t no joke” – But time has proved yourself to be JUST THAT…a fucking joke…Won’t you agree?

FEMI SHUT OUT OF MOBO AWARDS, DESPITE NOMINATION

The son of the Afrobeat legend, Femi Anikulapo Kuti will not attend the next MOBO awards holding at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow, Scotland. This is the first time the awards will have taken place outside London, since its launch in 1995. According to her sister, Femi was not officially invited and informed about his nomination as the Best African act in this year edition of the Award holding in Scotland later this month, Yeni Kuti informed. On the other side, Beyonce is also said to abscond from the awards. Our source revealed the real reason many stars are unable to attend the MOBOs was the failure of the organizers to lock in the date until the 11th hour.
“Beyonce and other stars of her stature are not at the MOBOs because their diaries are locked in up to two years in advance” he said. “It is only in the past few weeks that the MOBO awards have started to come together and that her failure to appear at the MOBO awards has nothing to do with the event being relocated to Scotland. In fact, I don’t think she was even invited.” Femi was nominated alongside Eldee the Don, Nneka and other artiste like Lira, Salif Keita, K’Naan, Amadou and Mariam, Mujava, Oumou Sangare and Baba Maa while Beyonce is nominated in three categories namely, Best Album, Best Music Video and Best International artist.

Information reaching us indicated that both Eldee and Nneka are already in Glasgow for the most coveted award for black origin.