You were probably wondering like we were – what happened to Bobo Omotayo and his Friday postings on Bella Naija? Well, some have said the pressure was too much, some have said he relocated to some wild west, some had said Mr. Kilon Sparkles had been hijacked by Nollywood.

But the truth is Bobo Omotayo has been working on an upcoming book titled London Life, Lagos Living.

London Life, Lagos Living is a collection of Lagos-life based observations turned ‘tales’. After early secondary and higher education in Scotland and England respectively, Bobo moved back to Nigeria to start his working career. It’s his various encounters through work, love, and social circles since his relocation which makeup as the backdrop for these ‘tales’.

Now, there is much more to the book. Presented as a coffee table book, the 200-page book is filled with glossy images which tell its side of each story. To achieve this, the author worked with top Lagos and New York-based designers, photographers, artists and illustrators to create this never-seen before concept.

Details on the book are as guarded as they come but we’ve managed to get our hands on the book cover. We also got details of a pre-order hotline which has been set up to deal with questions regarding the book’s release.

The book is scheduled for release in November 2011 at all major bookshops and selected bars and cafes. As we get more information, we will be keeping you posted.

T-REX a.k.a Mr Kokoro hails from Edo state, Nigeria and he was introduced into the Industry in 2000 with a group called The soul vibes connection (SVC) where they released a few songs to radio but dissolved almost immediately. He has since stayed solo releasing his first single THIS TYME featuring Toxic man and Orangutan of Premium beats and a video was shot with Davina Media in 2007, Video for ‘This Tyme’ was aired across TV platforms in Nigeria. The artiste, T-REX who has been busy recording and working on his music returned with two hit singles “Kokoro” Feat Playbouy of Playtown and “The kaka”. ‘Jump’ is a follow up.

Listen:

Download: T Rex – Jump

As part of events surrounding this year’s Hennessy Artistry, Hennessy Nigeria has announced a series of VIP Night club parties starting from September 30, 2011 with Tiwa Savage, eLDee and Banky W leading a pack of Nigerian artistes to major clubs in Nigeria!

Since Hennessy Artistry announced Headliners for this year’s project, it’s been all work and even more play for headliners Banky W, eLDee and Tiwa Savage!

Not long after the theme song for Hennessy Artistry 2011 titled “Toast to the good life” was released, Banky W, eLDee, Jesse Jagz and M.I embarked on a scheduled trip to Cognac, France alongside Hennessy Nigeria’s Communications and Events Manager Tokini Peterside, and Head of Trace Urban Anglophone, Sam Onyemelukwe.

While in France, the artistes were treated to a night in “Chateau de Bagnolet”- a private chateau in Cognac belonging to the Hennessy Family. Banky W, eLDee, Jesse Jagz and M.I joined the likes of Common, The Roots, Ray Charles and Alexander Burke on the list of prestigious guests at the exclusive Hennessy chateau- An occurrence all four artistes playback as “an experience they will never forget”.

Now, starting from Friday, September 30, Tiwa Savage, Banky W and eLDee will headline four exclusive Hennessy Artistry VIP Nights in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. The first of which will hold at Octopus Lounge in Yaba on September 30.

The VIP event will showcase spectacular performances from the headliners as well as some of the country’s finest artistes; all backed by official DJ Caise.

As always, Hennessy’s innovative musical platform not only gives room for vast creativity, but also encourages “The Art of Blending”. This is why this year, one lucky Facebook fan will get to win a VIP Night-Out with the superstars at the VIP event, and hang out with them for the night. The process according to Tokini Peterside, Hennessy Communications and Events Manager is easy “Just visit the Hennessy Nigeria Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hennessynigeria to see how to apply”..

Since inception in 2006, Hennessy Artistry has been able to mix and blend hip and inspirational music from around the world. Artistes that have been involved with the music platform include Kanye West, Pharell Williams, Ne-Yo, Leona Lewis, LL Cool J and Fabulous. .

Currently in its 5th edition, Hennessy Artistry is Nigeria’s most innovative musical platform. The series was first unveiled in Nigeria in 2007. Through the years, it has evolved from a cocktail-mixing contest between renowned bartenders to a battle of DJs and now a platform for experimental collaborations among multi-talented artistes.

FMG is a songwriter, performer and RnB/Hiphop recording artiste – born Nifemi Akinde into a family with 3 siblings and being the youngest. This singing maestro began singing in 1995, honing his craft for his passion until he made a move to make it a profession in 2005. FMG, who is influenced by late Fela Kuti, Sunny Ade, America’s Usher Raymond is fast growing into a must watch singer and performer. The Ogun state but Lagos raised singer released a record entitled ‘Jamilaya’ in 2009 which rose him to prominence in the industry circuit, among peers and colleague. Born in the late 90s and realizing the need for a proficient management, on approached by John Ake of “Peace Entertainment” – management outfit, the talent got signed to the outfit and still being managed.

His stage name, FMG was cut from the acronym of his first name –Femi, FM while G stands for Great, what the singer intends to emerge as during the course of his career. The steady rising act has graced the stage and wowed crowds alongside superstatus artistes like P Square, 9ice, Omawumi, Late Da grin, Dr Sid and J Martins.

His official debut single is titled ‘Penetrate’, which is set for release on the 26th of September 2011. ‘Penetrate’ is a uptempo record bound to keep party people move and rock a gathering or party of two and more, it is produced by Vkel. ‘Penetrate’ is best described as great voice crooning on a move bound beat, a must listen.

Listen:

Download: FMG – Penetrate

Nigerian female rapper, Sasha who was once rumoured to be romantically involved with naeto C has kept her private life mostly under wraps.

Sasha on her love life, shared that she believes her being involved in hiphop shouldn’t have discouraged her male admirers. In this interview, she sounded like a lady whom her career has taken all her focus. The hiphop lady is saying, you must love her for who she is.

Excerpts from her interview on Vanguard

Will you tag yourself a tomboy?

No o! I know I started off as a tom boy because a lot of things that my female friends will do were not interesting to me except for maybe shopping (laughs). I probably started of as a tom boy because I was a bit more brazen, adventurous and outspoken but I don’t really think I am anymore. I’m a woman now I’ve grown over the years; that I am feisty doesn’t mean that I’m manly.
…People say when they see me on stage I look so aggressive. I believe that the content of what you are saying matters. If you watch the Adara video, I wasn’t aggressive there because of the message in the song. You have to communicate your message in your songs. The fact is that I might be aggressive when I’m on stage, but then, I try to communicate my message to the audience. I hate to be a tom boy.

Do you think this has discouraged male admirers?

Well I certainly hope not, because I’m an African woman and African women are the strong confident ones and this is exactly how we expect our men to be. But then I don’t just come at you and dare you. I’m not that kind of person. If a man is confident in himself then whatever it is that I am doing should not be a deterant to whatever it is he feels about me. It should not be a problem. But I do get to hear people say ha! Sasha you have to calm down o! because you know you might be scaring men away but then I say what have I done to scare anyone. I mean this is what I do and so it depends really on the individual. It’s not about age or about any thing. It’s about the confidence of the person involved. I don’t see why you should see my performances as a deterant to anything that you might have in mind

Psquare – Peter’s Son, Cameron clocked 3 today. Wizkid joined Psquare in celebrating the boy’s birthday but Cameron is not ‘axeing’ his mommy. His mother [Lola Omotayo] was also present at the celebration that took place at school. Wizkid’s appearance/attendance is a surprise as Peters claims Cameron is a fan of his.

The single is out! Nigerian Idol’s Yeka Onka debuts ‘Follow You’, the highly anticipated hit was
produced by ace Chocolate City producer and artiste, Jesse Jags.

With an upbeat tempo, the sultry voiced singer who has been called a
Nigerian answer to Whitney Houston serenades her lover with spicy declarations of love in
different languages. Fans will be sure to love the eclectic mix of catchy lyrics in English,
Yoruba and her native Igbo.

“It has been an exciting few months working through an amazing range of sounds and options,” Yeka said excitedly. “I have been very blessed to work with this team of professionals to present my music. ”

An album is in the works for the fast rising star – she is hard at work in the studios with Cobhams Asuquo and is set for a working trip to the United Kingdown to finish work on the album and her music video.

Listen:

Download: Yeka Onka - Follow you (374)

“Nigeria is the place to be!” Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, Olivier Laouchez and Head, Sam Onyemelukwe launch International music brand TRACE Urban TV for Anglophone West Africa

Nigeria makes another leap in global entertainment reckoning with the official media launch of the global TRACE brand in the country today. TRACE Urban, the network’s #1 international urban music channel has officially set up its offices in Nigeria to reach Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa, with a mission to drive the industry with hit music videos, unique content, digital platforms and events. True to the African born network’s roots it is looking to bring content to, as well as create great content in Nigeria. TRACE was started in Africa with a global outlook and is the only multi cultural, global platform owned and operated by people of African origin. The concept is to bring Africa to the world and the world to Africa.

“Nigeria is the place to be!” said Olivier Laouchez. “We are inspired by the vibrant music scene, the electrifying artists, great music videos and the passionate creative spirit. Nigerian artists are the hub of the continent’s growing music entertainment industry and our expansion into Anglophone West Africa grew from our desire to be a part of the excitement and to promote African music globally”.

This move is set to transform the fixture in the Western African entertainment industry, with a focus on Nigeria and Ghana. With all of these developments the network is purposefully not going to transform TRACE Urban into a “Nigerian” channel. TRACE is a global media brand and not just a TV channel but an experience offering digital platforms, radio, events and concerts all of which are eventually destined for the region.

TRACE Urban is now officially open to the Nigerian market – already welcoming local sponsors and partners, including Project Fame West Africa Season 4 and Hennessy Artistry 2011. Managed for advertising, branded content and events and sponsorship sales in Nigeria by Entertainment Management Company (EMC), Mr. Laouchez said, “We are very proud to have selected EMC as the representative for TRACE in the region to commercialise the channel and integrate with artists, viewers and other stakeholders.”

“We are very excited to be on the ground,” said Sam Onyemelukwe, who is Head of TRACE Urban Anglophone West Africa and M.D. of EMC and was previously Business Development Manager for MTV Base. “With this move, we build on the origins and mission of TRACE and we are set to increase the playlist with home-grown music videos and offer more opportunities for artists, advertisers and viewers, but that’s just the beginning. As a Nigerian, I’m proud that we recognize the huge strides our music and entertainment industry has made and the incredible cross over potential of our artists and TRACE Urban is a major supporter of our talent.”

TRACE Urban is acknowledged as the most watched in public places all over Africa – and it is already the number one music TV channel in South Africa with commanding ratings of 44% market share in prime time and the coolest TV channel and coolest Music TV channel in the influential Generation Next awards for 3 years running. The channel is available on the “access” DSTV bouquet available to the largest number of viewers and consistently ranks in the top 10 channels on DSTV with 37% of viewers in primetime*. Selected TRACE Urban content is now spread to local terrestrial channels, Galaxy TV and NTA to reach a wider audience with prospects to spread to more Free TV channels across Africa.

Between 2009 and 2011 he’s earned production credits from lacing cuts on Omotola’s entire sophomore album, most of Harrysong’s Testify album, Ade Bantu’s No Man Stands Alone, Darey’s Rhythm and Beat albums. Also produced singles released by Orezi(I no fit lie, High BP) , Kcee of Kcee Presh(Now I know), Seyi Shay(Loving your way), Darey’s Sisi eko remix featuring Flavour. He did the Nigerian Music Video Award (NMVA) 2010 &2011 theme song, and also has catered to soon to be released projects by General PYPE, WAJE, iLLBLiss, Vector, Zaina, Darey, Yeka Onka(Nigerian idols winner), veteran musician Daniel Wilson and lots more under the wraps.

Ayodele Joseph Basil as he was named by his parents was born on may 16 in the early 80’s in Kano State of Nigeria. His mother and father are originally from Edo and Delta states respectively.

Del-B is of a strong musical pedigree, as his parents, grand-parents, and great grand-parents were all musicians of some sort.

His father was the guitarist and music director of a local church choir, which he and his siblings were a part of. And at a tender age of 11, Del-B was already the playing the Bass Guitar. He soon grew to master the piano and the acoustic guitar. And as if following in his father’s footstep, he effortlessly became choir director in his secondary school and the church back in Kano.

Back Home, Del-B took part in various recordings and became very interested in music production and audio engineering. And in 1998, he pursued his artistic love to Lagos, where he played in different bands and continued as choir director in the Lagos branch of his church.

By 2002, Del-B already had a handful of recordings credited to his name as the Producer. He went on to hone his skill in audio engineering at MidiCorp Studios, then proceeded to Playground Entertainment to work with ace Producer, Singer, Songwriter, Paul Play Dairo as sound engineer.

He has since worked with some of Nigeria’s finest artistes, both on stage and in the studio. Names as 2face, Sunny Neji, D’Banj, Fresh (formally Dr Fresh), Kenny St Brown, Omotola, Felix Duke, Kween are just few of them. And also, he’s worked with corporate agencies on jingles and various musical projects.

His fingerprints in the music scene can be traced onto blown works as D’Banj’s “Why Me”, Mo Hits All stars album “C V”, Kween’s “Jebele”, Paul Play’s Hitsville album and many others.

Although a remarkable music producer, Del-B is also a talented vocalist and would give any musician a run for his money, as he’s drawn inspiration from idols as Quincy Jones, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Teddy Reily, R.Kelly and others. His artistic influence come from listening to various musical genres ranging from Jazz to Rock, Hip-Hop/R&B, Pop, to Highlife, Calypso, Fuji, Juju and more and all of that plus his experience has made him nothing short of a seasoned to the core musician.

Following a ‘graphic’ sex scene she acted in an upcoming movie titled Death After Birth, Ghanaian actress, Jackie Appiah, is being trailed by a barrage a accusations, among which is infidelity. As a result, the actress is in a serious battle at the moment trying to convince everyone that “nothing happened”.

Word is the actress is having an intimate affair with a radio presenter turn actor, Abeiku Santa and this story is causing some heat for the actress at the home front. Sources in Ghana said the sex scene even caused a fight in the studios of Okay FM as Abeiku and his friend, Kwame Amoo, nearly exchanged blow.

The two were said to have rained invectives on each other over the matter. So in a bid to save her face and possibly her marriage, the woman in the middle of the storm, Jackie Appiah, has denied ever making ‘real’ love with Abeiku. In her words: “It was a make believe. We tried our best to make it believable. He is a professional and an interesting person. It was a good experience acting with him. But nothing happened.