Noah and Chidera

He is Chidera Anamege, popularly known as Proto or Chiddy, a member of the american rap group ‘Chiddy Bang’. Chiddy Bang has been nominated as the rockie of the year alongside J. Cole, Nicki minaj and others in this year’s BET hiphop awards.

The 19 years old rapper, Chidera grew up with his Nigerian parents who moved to America many years back. The group is made up of Chidera(MC) and Noah A.k.a Xaphoon (producer/DJ), these two 19 years old musicians met at Drexel University in Philadelphia. They are widely known for blending electronica, Afro beat, grime with hiphop. Signed to Capitol records, and Parlophone records (a UK based label that has got artistes like Gorillaz, Beastie boys) and they were also co-signed by Kanye west and the Roots to EMI. The two brothers who dropped out of school to go fully into music had topped the UK chart with their hit track ‘opposite of adults‘ and they’ve perform in major events like; Glastonbury festival, Wireless festival in London alongside Wale, Jayz, J Cole and others. Kanye West announced them on his blog ‘Kanyeuniversecity’ and there is a collaboration they did with Gorillaz on his stylo remix.

Chidera (Pronto) featured his fellow Nigerians artiste, eLDee the don in ‘slow down‘ a song in ‘The Swelly Express’ mixtape album and the two also collaborated in another track ‘one in a million‘.

Chiddy, just like other nigerian international artistes like Nneka and Wale, have found time to speak out on Nigerian politics and conflicts in a track titled ‘sooner or later’ and sometimes in January, he shot the video of the track in his home town in Nigeria. In an interview with U.S magazine, he said ”one of the earlier songs we recorded, sooner or later, touches on some of those issues (in Nigeria). I definitely try to shed light on real issues when the time calls for it. I’ve been to nigeria once a year for the past 5 years, so i’ve observed some things, like how there’s not 24-hour electricity over these and how families live on $300 a month.”

Chiddy who disclosed that he had loved to work with Wale and Kanye West was shortlisted by M.I. as one of his top ten rappers of 2010. We at questionmarkmag wish Chidera of Chiddy Bang the best in his career and wish to see him win the BET this time around.

NEW TRACK: Chiddy Bang- “The Good Life” (Prod Pharrell)

Goldie.

Goldie is every thing you think and much more – enjoy excerpt from an exclusive interview with QMarkMag.

A lot can be said about you but one thing remains – looking back from ‘Komolé’ to ‘You know it’, you’re a very musical person – how did music start for you?
Music has always been part of my life. Growing up as a kid, I’d always hear music in the house – Dolly Parton, Abba, Whitney, Michael Jackson, etc. My mum was very musically inclined, she was a member of the church choir and I was encouraged to join the junior church choir. In choir practice, we would study music and I actually learned how to write music for a bit. In my secondary school days, I always took an active role in all stage plays and musical dramas. So I guess for me, that artistic flair has always been there. I never thought I’d go into music professionally though, but in the back of my mind, I’d always felt I’d end up in some form of entertainment role or the other. In essence, I’d say music sought me out, not the other way round…

What do you do besides music? It’s a very tasking business’. These days I have little time for anything else.

You are the most consistent female artiste and with a three album deal with Kennis music, you would be staying very much on the scene, what drives you – why do you stay consistent?
I’m flattered you say I’m consistent; I think it’s the grace of God and because I stay true to myself. I don’t follow the bandwagon so to speak and I’m very expressive, both in my lyrics and my dress sense. I think I tend to embrace subject matters most people find uncomfortable and shy away from. I’ve always been this way, and I’ll always be this way; Isn’t that consistent..?

“Komolé”, “Spin Me”, “Shift“, “Nothing has Changed” and now, “You Know It” – Let me guess you love the camera and taking picture?
It’s about selling the music… Entertainment in a whole has gone visual. The best way to sell yourself and your music is to make a video… I will say for the record though, that I love shooting music videos, that’s one of the highlights of being in my profession; I like bringing my fantasies to life. A good music video is just one of the many ways to do this.

One of the things I’ve always wanted to ask is how you came about the name/moniker Goldie?
My friends in the UK nicknamed me Goldie because of the colour of my skin and hair… You see..? I was born a red head. I like to refer to myself as a “ginger albino; bronze skin, bronze hair. As a result I go very red in excessive sunlight. When I was very young, my mates used to taunt me by calling me “Afin Pupa “and the like. But as I got older, I realized that extreme sunlight wasn’t good for my skin and stayed out of the sun. Eventually, in the UK..? My skin tone evened out cuz the weather is more temperate there. Hence the nick name. I decided to take the name as a stage name cuz it came to mean so much to me, gold is rare, is precious, every1 wants a bit of it, or a lot of it. Lol…And it’s also very expensive and can be used to define all things good… I wanted my brand to stand for all these qualities and more.

You said in an interview, you were a tomboy – that’s kinda difficult to believe, tell about that?
I was a tomboy as a teenager; yes that’s true..! My dad wouldn’t let me grow out my hair till I finished secondary school, I remember him saying that’s one of the ways I can get distracted, cuz beautiful long tresses attract boys; boys attract dating and sex; which in turn leads to poor grades and pregnancy… I was also very active; sport wise, and very physical… I could lift people twice my weight; in those days, if I got into fights, my way of winning would usually be to lift my opponent up and put him/her on the ground and sit on them [smiles] and lastly, I was a late developer; I didn’t start growing boobs till I finished secondary school. So all these put together, made me a tomboy. No boy in my school ever asked me out. Hahaha! I met an old school mate of mine recently and he said; “Susan”!!! You’ve grown Boobs! I was like… “Yeolz Keh,”!

Goldie.

Let’s talk about your album, producer, number of tracks, – why are you calling it ‘Gold’?
It’s a 16 track album, I worked with the in-house Kennis Music producer; Master Kraft. Extremely talented individual, eLDee the don, Sarz Beatz he’s also a very talented producer, OJB Jezreel – you all know him, he needs no introduction, Neil Phi in Scotland, and Kas (fimile) – I featured him on a track. Gold is a rare precious metal; it’s extremely expensive and is seen by many as an investment. I believe my album will be all these qualities. Baba Keke (Kenny Ogungbe) came up with the name and after some thought, decided it would be apt.

Do you have a favourite track on the album already? A track we should watch out for?
Oh! All the tracks on the album are great. I love them all because they all stand for something special and I relate to all of them in different ways. That being said though, “Who we are”, which is the last track on the album is one I really like…

Let address it once and for all – what is Goldie’s sexuality? Hahahah… I’m in a loving heterosexual relationship which I prefer to keep private. Thanks.

Sigma Emperor Latest Cover.

Sigma Emperor Magazine, Youth and Nigerian campus oriented magazine recently released into the streets of Lagos and other states, the second issue of her magazine.

The second issue feature music sensations eLDee the don, M.I. And Banky W all on the cover themed ‘‘THE SWAG ACADEMY’’.

In the magazine, the artistes are portrayed as professors, schooling readers on what it takes to be who they are and what they do. They are all featured in three different departments but of the same faculty which is the benchmark of institution of Nigerian music.

elDee has mastered the mechanics of rap and how it is engineered to produce critically and commercially acclaimed rap albums. Speaking on notorious hub for pirates – Alaba, eLDee said “In a way, I feel responsible because I actually initiated and converted the pirates into distribution” and he also spoke about his wife while the ‘Strong Thing’ crooner, Banky W portray as a professor verse in the art of singing with style tells us how beautiful love is but still be painful, he announced ‘Meatie’ beef roll as his favourite road-side snack. M.I spoke strongly against the black culture disregard for her woman with terms like “b*****”.

Going on with the interview, “I thought Kanye West was gonna come out and interrupt my speech”, M.I. joked when asked as regards his victory at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

The magazine also took a dive into revealing the top ten richest Nigerian pop artistes with insightful articles titled ‘The Confessions of your girlfriend’, “What a Guy wants”, celebrity rides and International collaborations – hoax and true etc.

“Sigma Emperor Magazine is a bundle of content and design to sweep readers of their feet, Our intention was solely to give readers all they can possibly get from a magazine – our cover story comes with combined personalities, more than one celebrity gracing the cover for you all to read and enjoy.” The Publisher/C.E.O, Emmanuel Nkansah Jnr said.

“A situation delayed the second issue but we are moving in full gear to make sure the third issue hits the streets soon”, He added.

Sigma Emperor Magazine had her debut in 2008 with the Mo’ Hits all stars led by D’banj on the cover.

The video for “Ota Mi” featuring LKT off the Producer extraordinaire and artiste eLDee’s “Is it your money” mixtape album.

FACT: In the history of music, you can search the globe but you may not ever come across one individual who writes all his lyrics, produces the beats from start to finish, raps on it, sings the chorus, records it, mixes it, masters it, directs the video, shoots it, edits the footage and then releases final product to MTV and radio under his own fully independent record label then goes back to drawing board to do the same for other artists in the industry.

The “Don” in eLDee’s extended stage name is not fancy per se. A true master in every sense of the word, there’s no better definition for the term “do-it-yourself” and that’s why I call him EL-DIY. Get his album from i-Tunes if you haven’t already.

Goldie with company

The budding diva, Ms. Susan Harvey a.k.a Goldie [anybody know if she has Nigerian name?] makes a comeback with a new video featuring veteran rap artiste – Eldee. Eldee wrote, produced and featured in the video. Great  make up, direction and a cameo by Goldie’s new management firm boss Kenny Ogungbe and singer Steel. We highly recommend this – we know you love the video but tell us in your own words what you think.

Wondering what an Egyptian / Nigerian would sound if she sang? Airis it is then. She is a singer, songwriter, and a 3-fold entertainer in a time when her kind come few and far in between. Just after parting ways and leaving Eldee the don’s Trybe records. She premiered her video today.

Here’s her new video – Without you

Born to an Egyptian Mother and Nigerian Father, Airis discovered her interest in singing and songwriting in her teens while growing up in Lagos Nigeria. In 2002, Airis relocated to the US, where she began pursuing up her singing/songwriting career.

Airis has etched her own artistic niche into the candy-coated world of pop. Her voice, soft and strong all at once is canvassed onto energetic tracks with hard- hitting beats that make her sound so universal, so elastic with an inventive personality.

Airis at the video shoot

AiRis is working on her album “TAP – The Airis Project”; which introduces a multicultural genre of music to the industry and characterizes her diverse cultural background.

Airis

Veteran hiphop artiste Eldee the don shot a video for ‘Ota mi’ on his new album ‘is it your money’ and on set with him was LKT and Kaffy.

Eldee and LKT.