Hiphop World Awards 2009: 9ICE, MI, 2FACE OTHERS BILLED TO PERFORM

….. As organizers keep mum on foreign acts

The much talked about hip hop world awards is just around the corner, and as it gets closer, artistes who are on the bill to perform are already warming up to storm Abuja.

9ice

According to a statement signed by the awards CEO, Ayo Animashaun, top on the list are amazing rave of the moment Abolore Akande popularly known as 9ice, Lyricist and rapper MI, new kid on the block Kel, and rising female singer Omawumi.

MI recently released a Mixtape tagged Illegal Music!!

Others are Lord of Ajasa, Darey Art Alade, Banky W, 2face Idibia and rested loose coalition- ‘Da trybe’ comprising of Eldee, Del, KB, Sasha, 2shotz, Freestyle and Blaise.

Darey

Banky W who first hit lime light in 2007 with ‘Ebutte Metta’ will thrill fans with songs off his debut album ‘Mr. Capable’, and select singles off his upcoming sophomore album

9ice will perform his hit song- ‘Gongo Aso’, and there is no doubt he will excite fans the way he did last year.

Darey Art Alade will make his first major performance of his hit single ‘Not the girl’

‘This year’s awards is going to be exceptional, there will be so much excitement people should look forward to more exciting performances this year, I am so sure the crowd will find it exciting seeing Da Trybe on stage again, they have not performed together for a long time, every one has been busy doing their own thing, where else will they be reuniting if not on our stage?’ Ayo Animashaun says.

Omawunmi

Already tagged ‘a prize to die for’, this year’s awards will hold at the International conference centre Abuja on Saturday May 16 and will be hosted by Banky W and Kemi Adetiba.

Ayo animashaun, Kemi Adetiba and Banky W (source: http://www.gistmaster.com)

Even though there are indications that some foreign acts will be performing at the awards ceremony. Animashaun says- ‘we have promised you an award that matches international standards he insists ‘The ceremony promises to be full of surprises and it’s going to be the first of its kind’ he explains. ‘If there is any gospel the award has preached over the years, it is the power of Possibilities’. He re- assures again.

The awards ceremony which will be officially sponsored by MTN and Lipton will commence with the yellow carpet ceremony.

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DAREY’S Un.DAREY.ted ALBUM PIRATED!

the Un.DAREY.ted Album by Darey

Barely a week after his album hit the stores; Darey Art Alade’s second album has become yet another prey to piracy.

The NCC on Thursday April 2, 2009 caught Akina Music International Limited formerly Benrit Outlook Ltd in the process of illegal mass production of suspected pirated products. The optical discs plant which will soon be charged and prosecuted for piracy of copyright protected works had also been raided by the Commission about four years ago and is currently being prosecuted at a Federal High Court in Lagos for piracy of musical works and cinematograph films.

‘If not for the timely intervention of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), I am not sure what story we’d be telling today. A lot of our intellectual work, time, money and energy have been put into the release of that album, and to think someone was trying to pirate it breaks my heart’ Darey says

Un.DAREY.ted. which has been on a test run since 2008, and has over time gained momentum as one of Nigeria’s most anticipated albums was finally released on March 31, 2009 under Soul Muzik after a string of videos for ‘With this woman’, ‘Carry dey go’, ‘Not the girl’ and ‘More’.

‘I hope and pray that this criminal act will not be allowed to continue to happen, I mean, people can’t continue to feed off our sweat and toil, its not fair’ Darey who was at Dubai as at the time the news broke disclosed.

Expected to hit the media are more eye catching, irresistible videos from the album- Un.DAREY.ted

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JIMMY JATT’S BATTLE FIELD AUDITIONS KICKS OFF

Cool Dj Jimmy Jatt

In a bid to present gifted and talented people a platform to express themselves, Nigeria’s finest DJ, DJ Jimmy Jatt counts down to the launch of Battlefield –  his talent hunt/reality TV show of some sort.

Expected to debut in a matter of days, Battlefield is expected to take a whole new dimension from the usual reality shows on TV.

“I have been around for a while and I have moved around a lot. I have realized that most talent hunt shows here are all about singers, but we should understand that just the same way we have a whole lot of young people who want to sing; we also have a whole lot of young people who want to rap and dance and become DJs,” says DJ Jimmy Jatt who plans to kick off auditioning of the battle series by mid April.

The auditions he says will commence in Lagos with a Dj Battle on April 15, 2009. the venue is The Place, GRA, Ikeja… so all aspiring Dj’s get ready!!

The Rap battle and Dance Battle May is expected to kick off in may and june respectively.

Battle Field

“We do different competitions every month and a winner emerges to qualify for the grand finale at the end of the year. Anybody that wins in each month gets between N200, 000 and N400, 000. For the grand finale, we have for the winner one million naira, a brand new car and a state-of-the-art DJ equipment,” he says

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LAGBAJA BACK WITH NEW ALBUM!

Lagbaja

All those wondering un-end if they’ll ever lay their hands on another Lagbaja album can now heave a sigh of relief, because the masked musician has confirmed that a new album – the first since his 2005 release Africano – is ready, and about to hit the streets.

According to a statement released by his publicist Ayeni Adekunle on Monday April 6, the new album, which comes in two CDs, will be officially released in Nigeria before the end of April.

‘‘I’m glad to tell you, brothers and sisters, that our new album is ready’’, Lagbaja said in Lagos this week. ‘‘The world is going through different challenges right now, but the journey continues. We’ll continue to make good music and preach the gospel of Africa to the rest of the world’’.

‘‘We have two CDs coming out this time. Our fans deserve it, especially having waited for this long’’, He said. A third, the long-anticipated Africano Party (now remixed) will follow later in the year.

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How Authentic is the Hiphop World Awards?

Hip Hop world Awards 09!!

The Hiphop World Awards 2008 was a blast!! Although many have praised the awards with one side of their mouths, others have openly questioned the organizer’s their criteria for and judge’s choice for nominees and winners. Of course we can’t quickly forget P-square’s manager and brother, Jude Okoye’s strong accusations against the organizers after last year’s event.

Headie - A prize to die for!!

A critic is as good as his last review, I heard someone say, sometimes professionals put their career on the line when they endorse a brand or product that in the end does not meet up to consumer’s expectations. Here’s my point exactly: was the Hiphopworld awards authentic in their ratings? Maybe!

The Award organizers tagged the “Next Rated” category as the “Most promising upcoming officially unreleased act in the year under review.” And by this we assume that Hiphopworld Awards 08 endorsed Wande Coal as the next big explosion in the music industry ahead of the other nominees like Banky W and MI. To add salt to injury, 9ice was not even on that list – a decision that makes you wanna say “hmmn!”

Wande Coal: HHWA 08 yellow carpet

Did Wande Coal deserve award? Of course he did, since the votes were in his favor. However, this is one category I strongly believe should be entirely left for judges to decide in order to boost the credibility of the Award category itself.

it came with the 'Next Rated' plaque!!

While Wande was still being ‘weaned’ by his Mo’ Hits Family, we witnessed and are still witnessing M.I, Banky W, and 9ice soar at higher heights!! as wande coal’s album is about to be launched, the brother’s already got 3 hot singles blowing up the airwaves all over the nation!!! i guess the judges can now heave a sigh of relief! Their credibility has been vindicated or has it?

HiphopWorld Awards: authentic?

Preparations for the HHWA 09 are in top gear and we hope the organizers would critically review all nominees “under the year of review” and produce a much more authentic Hiphopworld Awards.

Wande Coal: HHWA 09 nominee for Best Vocal Performance (male)

My eyes are fixed on this year’s Next Rated category where ‘overgrown’ acts like Djinee and MP get VIP passes, (lol.. sorry but I haven’t stopped laughing since I saw the nominee list).  Djinee and MP could be tagged as officially unreleased acts but definitely not upcoming  so how do they fall under the Next Rated category?

Hiphopworld Awards ’09… hmmn… change must change abi?

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Is DK the African Ne-Yo?

Don Kolionny: African -Neyo?

Kola Olatunji, the London based, Nigerian born R’n’B artist popularly known as DK, aka Don Kolionny, recently released his debut video “Shake.” The single is a feel-good party song which, according to the new R’n’B artist, invites the ladies to dance and shake to his infectious flow and to party with DK.

He started his stint in music at age 10 and over the years, DK has developed a powerful, unique song-writing and singing style that enables him to deliver smooth R’n’B songs and hard-hitting party jams with ease – a quality that has caused many to hail him as the “African Ne-Yo” -although i think Ne-yo’s got more swag.

check out his video..

…is the tag “African – Neyo” ideal,  or just plain hype?

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DORCAS YEBOAH STEPS OUT WITH “WURU WURU LOVE”

On Wednesday, 1st of April Dorcas Yeboah’s hit single titled “Wuru wuru love” will be

Naija watch out!!!

debuting on major radio stations in the country. The single still fresh out of the kitchen is produced by K-Solo, one of Nigeria’s finest hands in the industry.

The video of the hit single is on the way according to the CEO of 411 Entertainment, the entertainment company handling her musical project.

Dorcas Yeboah is one of Africa’s next rated diva working very hard to get to the height of her career as a singer. The Ghanaian born artiste fell in love with music at the age of 7 while singing in the children’s choir of her church. Recognition came in 2008 when she took part in the just concluded MTN Project Fame West Africa where she became one of the most favourite vocalist and performer in the TV show competition aired across across Africa and the rest of the world.

Come Friday, 29th of May Dorcas Yeboah will be performing alongside top Nigerian music acts: the likes of 2FACE, MOHIT ALLSTARS, 9ICE, TIMAYA, SOULDSULTAN a host of others at the Nigerian Carnival.

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