Ruggedy Baba returns with the visuals to a new single titled Because Of You off his Untouchable album featuring 2face Idibia and M.I.

Ruggedman got into serious copyright infringement trouble sampling a juju track from veteran General Prince Adekunle in his ‘diss’ song targeted at 9ice, the track titled “a word is enough for the 9ice”. Days after the track release, reports of a law suit for copyright infringement emerged.

General Prince Adekunle – According to Wikipedia, is of Egba origin, from Abeokuta in Ogun State. Prince Adekunle has been a major innovator and force in the jùjú music scene, with his distinctive driving Afrobeat style. Famous musicians such as Sir Shina Peters and Segun Adewale started their careers playing with his band, the Western Brothers.[1] Although he toured in England in the early 1970s, he did not become well known outside Nigeria.

Ruggedman sampled his music without consent and after reports of litigation reached him, he went in search of the juju proponent, Questionmarkmag.com gathers. He got the General’s phone number through his son via Facebook but before then he had called the number of his CD jacket and it turned out to be his marketer’s contact (not management). On receipt of phone number, his manager got across to the General and a meeting was fixed.

On the day agreed for the first meeting, the General wasn’t picking his calls so it didn’t happen. Afterwards, another meeting was rescheduled and this time, the rapper went with an older colleague and comedian Gbenga Adeyinka. The general resides in Ketu and on the sight of the comedian, there was shouting from the woman who recognized him. Ruggedman and Comedian Gbenga Adeyinka met the juju artiste in his living room, in the company of a friend. Gbenga Adeyinka did most of the talking – acknowledged Ruggedman had offended the General and they came to ask for forgiveness.

The general confirmed the intention to sue Ruggedman but The General ended up praying for the rapper and his company.

The long overdue body of work from controversial Rap artiste, A-Q is scheduled for release on December 4th at a party to unite both the mainstream and underground Nigerian hiphop circuit.

A-Q was in the news earlier in the yet for calling Ruggedman ‘whack’ in his ead single, Names.

The rapper born Gilbert Ubani was compelled to address the situation, informing he only made an observation when he rapped ‘we don’t say autotone, we say Jesse Jagz track. We don’t say whack, we say Ruggedman’s back’.

The single followed with a remix for the track featuring Pherowshuz and Iceberg Slim. Funky house ‘Champagne and rum’ followed, growing into a viral track that has received several rave reviews both on radio and with the online platforms.

A-Q’s official debut album titled ‘The Past, Present and Future’ is a 17 tracker album featuring Terry Tha Rapman, Iceberg Slim, Xtrim, Retta, Pherowshuz, Lace and parading exceptional line up of producers – Ray X, E Twinz, XYZ, Phatboy and Laylow.

” The album is a proper mix of hiphop”, A-Q describes the album in sentence. The Past, Present and Future balances

Countdowning to the album release, A-Q announced via his Twitter Page (@thisisaq) that he would be making download link for tracks and freestyle he describes as mixtape tracks every friday.

“the idea of the free music is not really to give a bit of the album but a clue on what to expect, It is not just giving out free music. I would be counting down the album release with friends on Twitter and Facebook. The #Blackfriday tracks would be released every friday night till the album drops on December 4th”, A-Q said.

Yesetrday, A-Q released the first #Blackfriday track, rapping over M.I.’s Somebody wants to die. Click Here To Download

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To win two invites to the launch. Album Launch takes place on Saturday, December 4th at Club Karma, Younis Bashorun, Victoria Island Lagos. There would be appearances by Audu Maikori, K Switch, Iceberg  Slim, Skuki, Questionmark All star, M Trill amongst other.

Question to win invite: Mention two songs on the album – The Past Present and Future by AQ?

Send your response to contest@questionmarkmag.com (make your email subject ‘AQ’) or answer using the comment box below and include your contact and working email address, 10 winners would be contacted Friday, 3rd December..

Note: The QmarkMag contact email address where winners would be contacted is contest@questionmarkmag.com

9ICE took to Twitter and Facebook to wishing his new archenemy/one-time buddy – Ruggedman a happy birthday (born today, September 20th) – he gave him a new name too. he wrote:

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOG HEADMAN. ENJOY YOUR SEND OFF”

The confederacy of Alapomeji crew to ruin ruggedman’s career has been pushed ahead with a yet to be released video of the diss track ‘talk i’m listening‘. The linchpin of the crew 9ice, who had to involve others in the beef has been dedicating more time and working hard to promote the diss track off  ‘the best birthday present ever‘ (which he has promised to release tomorrow). 9ice who has released only 2 videos off his ‘tradition’ album might have suspended works on promoting the album for promoting diss project aimed at Ruggedman. See pictures of the video shoot to 9ice’s talk i’m listening shot in London below.

Thanks to Funmi Ogunja for the pictures.

Micheal Stevens a.k.a Ruggedman would on the 20th of September 2010 add another year to his roughly mid thirty something years. Never would he have thought that he’d receive a diss track/album as his birthday gift from a colleague that once called him boss, a colleague that championed the hit single off his sophomore album hailing him ‘ruggedy baba the opomulero’ too bad! The Alapomeji camp just released a diss track titled ‘Talk am listening’ which featured Seriki.

The last time I checked Micheal never had it well with the Nine’s, first was the ego battle with erstwhile lyricist Modenine and off recent the very famous phone conversation with 9ice about the rumours of him (Rugged) sleeping with his ex-wife. It’s safe to say the Ruggedman has been doomed by the 9’s. The off recently quiet but twitter vibrant Micheal has evidently run out of ideas as to boosting his musical career even after putting out two singles from his much talked about last album which has taken longer than expected to drop. Teaming up with the Loopy crew, putting Ice Prince on a track and doing all that can be done to impress on the ‘She n my swagga’ track with production from Sossick, the ruggedman still couldn’t make things work, the best thing that has happened to him in recent times has been hosting the Star Quest show and starring in the Glo blackberry advert.

The past few years have not been too impressive for the rapper in the Music Industry from the indirect disses to Modenine urging him to mention his name to the known talking to you featuring Banky W where modenine took a direct jab at him with the famous punchline “you are not a father you’ve got intellect myopia, when I diss a baba its not Ethiopia” followed by the indirect reply by ruggedman in Banging, to the popular death blow part one where the Baba lost any lyrical credibility that he ever had.

The Discord with 9ice began with rumours of him been the cause of 9ice’s broken marriage and also the character portrayed in the song once beaten twice shy; thought to be giving a head by his ex-wife. He thought it as a smart move to record a conversation he had with 9ice on phone, release it online to prove his innocence, but that leak was the beginning and a catalyst for this song. Talk  i’m listening 9ice sang repeatedly and in the first verse Seriki whitewashed Ruggedy reiterating one of Modenine’s line in death blow where he said Ruggedman was sleeping with his dancers. In the second verse 9ice went very direct mocking Ruggedman by calling him a bastard repeatedly. 9ice’s ex-wife Toni Payne appears to be caught in the middle in all of this has she tweeted her frustration on the whole scenario, affirming that Ruggedman releasing the phone coversation was a dumb move but 9ice releasing a track/album to that effect was insane and way childish.

The big questions??
Would ruggedman reply this diss song? If he does what would he say? One of the reasons he gave for not replying Modenine in his words was that he was too busy to think of a ‘broke lyricist’. So what would he make the base of his Braggadocio now? Or would he let this also fade away? The truth is whatever he does, Micheal Steven’s musical career did dwindle and the whole diss saga he is surrounded by establishes an unimaginable manifestation of Karma.

And you just wonder whether the always controversial Ruggedman is really going to wage war with 9ice. As we all know that making diss track is a second nature to Ruggedman considering the number of diss tracks under his belt (ehen, big brother and others) but for now, he has maintained his silence on the diss track. Does Ruggedy wanna let it go? or he’s got plans for 9ice?. Rugged has been updating thoughtless tweets until lately, when he replied to a tweet addressing the issue.

@Sweetness1231 wrote @ruggedybaba dehinde fjan (9ice manager) da so called wack lame, manager (more like gay lover) is onstantly instigating and making matters worse.

@Ruggedybaba responded thus: @sweetness1231 my dear, all i can say is wow. Just take it easy. All mans time will come n what will be will be. The battle is mine’ says the Lord.

As at yesterday, Ruggedman tweeted ‘its 10 days to my birthday y’all! Wonder if i’ll get any surprise gifts’. Interestly, 9ice had promised to release some tracks aimed at Rugged (as a bday gift) to be released on his birthday. So y’all second-guess what Ruggedman might probably – Listen to 9ice’s diss track here

9ice is not backing down on his threat as he has released a diss track at Ruggedman titled Talk I Am Listening featuring Seriki signed to his Alapomeji Records.  On the record, Seriki raps then 9ice comes next talking over the instrumental. Seriki also mentions the rumour of Ruggedman demanding sex from his dancer amongst other things. “I no be Ruggedman wey dey straf him dancer (i am not Ruggedman that sleeps with his dancer) “, Seriki rapped.

His album would drop as “The best birthday present ever…” on Sept 20th, which is also Ruggedman’s birthday.

Toni Payne had earlier said over Twitter “[to 9ice] Release dat diss track for Rugged and I will officially know u don’t know or fear God. Let dat fake manager of urs push u till u can’t move“. What is your take? if you missed Toni payne and 9ice on Twitter – click here

9ice feat. Seriki – Talk I Am Listening (Ruggedman Diss)

Click Here To Download the track.

It is not news that 9ice and Toni Payne are planning to resolve their differences and have make up sex in future. Toni Payne, former wife of the singer 9ice just put the singer on blast over Twitter. She called him childish and took a slash at his PR then grabbed an ice cream at the end. See the tweets for yourself below and hey, could we now hear from the horses’ mouth why they went their separate ways – we’re tired of speculating. She started with: Its like a bad joke! Yeah silence is Golden but sh!t not wen its concerning d mother of ur ONLY kid. Like!

With dat said I’m finna finish my Ice Cream, take a nice warm bath and enjoy me sum Africa Magic Yoruba!
21 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Sept 20! Ki olorun da emi gbogbo wa si. That day I will fully understand d type of person I said “I do” to.
25 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Release dat diss track for Rugged and I will officially know u don’t know or fear God. Let dat fake manager of urs push u till u can’t move
26 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Let dis issue die a natural death! Let me av my peace! Money isn’t and can never be worth my peace of mind! Especially if I NEVER offended u
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

I shut my mouth and took it all 4d love I had for my son, for d love I had for him. Now its being pissed on in d most ridiculous way!
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Whore! Bitch! Ashewo! Av heard it all and hez seen it all yet integrity wasn’t dashed d day my love was born. Too bad and too sad.
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

One more getting bak story and ill FLIP! Without an apology as public as dat stupid bad idea Press Release! It aint gonna happen! Nuff said!
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

So continue spending all dat time and energy on him o instead of sortin out ur life! Talk I’m listening! av talked and I no ur listening
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Sall good! Upon it all! I’m soaring higher! Working harder! Achieving my dreams! Yall cudnt kill what’s inside me! God dint let yall
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

My silence has been taken 4 granted, my love has made me out to be d fool. Now u f-ing talk I’m listening.
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Consider every unit sold a tear drop from me n trust me God don’t like ugly, what sort of dude doesn’t consider his child or d woman had him
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Yeah it will sell d Album o but consider it blood money for every insult av gotten, for every tear I’ve shed, 4 every pain av felt
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Instead of apologizing 4 d pain n drama dudes PR team started dey r busy dragging the issue further instead of lettin it die a natural death
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

I shud get a flippin ACE bloody award for most patient woman in flippin lagos. Another chick wuda gone buck wild on dude
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Talk I’m listening! WTF is dat? Waaay childish! Yeah dumb move to record ur call n make it public but dumber move offending God
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

All dat bloody energy spent on recording a stupid diss track for sum1 who helpd u along d way cuda bin spent telling d bloody truth!
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Its like a bad joke! Yeah silence is Golden but sh!t not wen its concerning d mother of ur ONLY kid. Like!

UPDATE:  CLICK HERE TO READ 9ice’s  response to Toni payne’s tweets.

Just the most bizarre pairing in the Nigerian music history. They came as a big shock and stirred up confusion. Still looks like a dream that is yet to come true, even though it has. Seeing these two artistes sing together was the last thing one can ever think of. Is either they’ve got nothing in common; the opposite of each other’s persona or they’ve once been a fierce rival. We thought the chemistry was not just there, but they proved us wrong. For some perfectly legitimate reasons best known to them, they’ve decided to collaborate. Here are the 5 songs

Eedris and Ruggedman – koleyewon
This is arguably the most popular unexpected hiphop collabo. As the title implies, we still dont understand how these two rivals reconciled and went ahead to make this track. These two rap maestros laid the foundation of rap/hiphop in nigeria amid the dominance of traditional music few years back. While this track was to make amends for their long-lived beef. Some years back, the two rap legends had a face-off on who heads the rap game in naija, a familiar case we all know with hiphop; their case likened to that of pac/biggie. While ruggedman had claimed that he redefined it, Eedris monopolized the rap industry. Some still believe that Ruggedman had a chip on Eedris shoulder on why Eedris’ musical career failed. Kennis, another rival of Ruggedman might have been out of the hoop when these two rappers came together to make this unbelievable joint.

The Pulse and Busta Rhymes – Sotey (remix)
The collaboration which i still see as a bizarre coincidence had proved to many that american rappers can definitely blend with afro pop. It served as a reference point on why drake’s alleged collaboration with our psquare might not flop. For a newcomer like the pulse to have paired with a legendary rapper at the early stage of their career still amazes many. Busta spoke pidgin with his american accent in a line ‘i got to go and pray sotey‘ and sounds interesting, funny though. I know this would have got some artistes wondering why they hadn’t done something like this.

Jim Iyke and 2face – Who Am I
Jim doesnt sound like that usual guy you watch in movies, and he asks ‘who am i?, a nollywood actor of course, and not a rapper with this track, hell no. This pairing came as a shock and it was quite comical, you just laugh it off. Jim was lucky to get a humble and ‘ the always ready to collaborate’ 2face on this one. Many still believe 2face had condescended to do a song with jim, he was just too important for that. The track isn’t totally bad, what do you expect of a track that has got 2face on it. Jim took the first verse and 2face helped with the chorus and came in to sing the second verse. We wouldn’t like to see this kind of collaboration again, as it sounds disastrous for the growing music industry.

Lagbaja and Mode 9 – scream
How this pairing worked out successfully is still a mystery. They must have spent more time in the studio trying to work out their differences. They did the odd thing, we still call it afro hiphop. Mode 9′s rhymes really worked on lagbaja’s perfected percussion. Scream was a track in Lagbaja’s penultimate album, africano, in case you forgot. The saxophone virtuoso challenged Mode 9 by taking him out of his hiphop beat zone on traditional afro beat. Its great to hear mode 9 rhyme over talking drum.

9ice and Nneka- show some love
9ice wasn’t doing his normal deep yoruba proverbial lyrics which made it possible for 9ice to blend with nneka on this track. And you wonder who gave 9ice this idea. It worked coz nneka isn’t knew to reggae unlike 9ice, and even the message the song carried was in line with what the activist, nneka has been preaching in her songs. 9ice made a big move to have called on nneka to assist, and she never disappointed. But still, no one knew 9ice could flow well on reggae not to talk of pairing with the german based soul singer, nneka. Quite inspiring.

Ruggedman is reacting to the calling out by the fast rising rap artiste, A-Q did on his latest single ‘Names’. AQ rapped that “We don’t say autotune, we say Jesse Jagz – We don’t say whack, we say Ruggedman is whack” and it was later reported as a ‘diss’ at the two artistes while  some other media have reported it to be a publicity stunt which AQ addressed in a recent interview with NEXT newspaper – “If it is for a publicity, I would  go after Naeto C or M.I.”.

AQ was on Radio Contentinental 102.3 FM, Lagos with radio OAP on Saturday, 28 August with OAP and rap artiste K Show where he addressed the Jesse jagz/Ruggedman situation again and played tracks off his new mixtape ‘bars and Hooks’ hosted by DJ Jimmy Jatt that he informs would be released soon.

Credible Sources inform that after the recorded show  was aired, Ruggedman sent a SMS to K Show questioning why he would ever have AQ on his show. SMS asked why K Show would let AQ ‘belittle‘ Ruggedman on his show and ended with “It is highly unacceptable”.