Dbanj and Tuface both confirmed this morning on Beat FM, that they’re working on a new joint titled ‘feeling good’ and that the video for the single will soon hit the air waves.

Dbanj also denied his membership of any cult precisely, Illuminati and is reported to have said G.O.O.D. Music is a partner to his newly formed label, Dbanj (DB) Records.

Event: Album release party and after party.
Venue: Club Luxe, Etim Inyang Crescent, V.I. Lagos.
Artiste: Harrysong
Album: Testify
Record Label: Questionmark Entertainment
Appearances/Attended by KC Presh, Sound Sultan, Sammie Okposo, Tuface, Banky W, M.I., Baba Dee, Orezi, Retta, Lerato (Big Brother Africa alum), Kevin Lucciano-Gabriel, Ego Omalicha, d’Supremes, Dipp, DJ Humility, Akeem Shodeinde and others.

Covered exclusively by Soundcity, Nigezie, Da New Live beat and Real TV.

Click here to win an autographed CD from Harrysong. Text report of the release party coming soon.

More pictures coming

Saharareporters recently published an article written by veteran rap artiste and enterpreneur, eLDee where he has distanced himself from the Mo’Hits, D’banj and Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign scheme after their allegedly re-edit of a voter registration initiative commercial he was part of into a commercial where the youth including the artistes Tuface, MI, eLDee, PSquare, BankyW, Duncan Mighty and Wizkid support President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid in the upcoming elections with a free concert to this regard in Abuja on the 25th of March 2011. “I have never, and even more so now will never be a part of any campaign for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan…  I don’t appreciate my image and likeness being exploited for political purposes without my consent.” He wrote in his article titled ‘The Politics of ‘Our Time”.

Here’s the original commercial:

Read the entire article below:

“Integrity requires three steps: discerning what is right and what is wrong; acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost; and saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right from wrong.” – Stephen L Carter.

Months ago, before the 2011 voter registration exercise began in Nigeria some of us were very excited as we saw this as an opportunity to effect the much-needed change in our country. I geared up and began non-partisan campaigns aimed at youths in Nigeria to ensure that they register, vote, and protect their votes. I spent at least four to six hours everyday campaigning on social network platforms, TV/Radio, and print media. My team and I did everything we could from explaining the process, to following people on twitter who posted pictures of their registration cards, to giving away cellphone airtime and even went as far as helping local INEC officials with some of the technical difficulties they faced at the commencement of the registration exercise. We are currently working on an incidence reporting initiative to help curb election malpractices. What’s in it for me you might ask…like I tell everyone who has asked me, some of us just really believe in a better Nigeria. If I have the resources to make change, I wont hesitate to put it towards just that. I am Nigerian, I have a daughter who is Nigerian and I would love to see my daughter raised in this country. I am a true patriot and I have consistently promoted the idea that the Nigerian situation can and should improve with the right leadership.

During the voters’ registration campaign, I got together with a few friends and colleagues of mine to discuss ways to increase youth participation in the democratic process of our country using our music platform. During one of those discussions, we came up with the idea to have multiple concerts across the country, which would only be accessed by registered voters. It felt like a great idea because with this initiative, we could all join forces and get more attention from our intended demographic. Household names such as PSquare, D’banj, eLDee, Tuface, MI, Banky W, Naeto C, Sound Sultan, Timaya, Wizkid, Duncan Mighty and the likes, would easily fill up arenas in any city so why not have a free concert that people can only be a part of if they present their voters registration card. To the best of my knowledge, we came up with a tag called “Our time” for the concert series. In order to avoid the initiative being politicized, we agreed to raise funds through non-partisan means alone.

We put little resources together and quickly shot TV commercials since there were only a few days left of the voter registration period. The commercials were immediately published on TV/Internet and it generated a good amount of attention. At the end of the voter registration period, there was overwhelming evidence of the success of the initiative and we all looked forward to entertaining our registered voter fans at the concert series.

Fast forward to March 17, 2011. I am watching television and I see a commercial that looked just like the one we shot for our campaign. It was indeed footage from our voter registration initiative commercial, however this version was manipulated to suit a different purpose. The new edit describes a free concert featuring D’banj, Tuface, MI, eLDee, PSquare, BankyW, Duncan Mighty, Wizkid and others, which supposedly holds in Abuja on March 25, 2011 and totally omits our voter registration campaign initiative. The advert now ends with a different tagline, “supported by Our Time Group, Youths rising up for GEJ.” I immediately had a cold feeling of shock, betrayal, deceit, and misrepresentation because this was the exact opposite of what we created the initiative for. Now I was being touted as a representative of the youth in support of the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan presidential campaign. What’s even more interesting is that Silverbird TV ran this new advert before and after the D’banj interview with Goodluck Jonathan, as if it were part and parcel of that GEJ campaign initiative. I called all parties involved to express my disapproval and disgust at how anyone would take such an innocent initiative and manipulate it to misrepresent the interest and support of the youth. To my dismay, another slap in the face came in the form of a full-page newspaper advert in The Vanguard of March 22, 2011 with my picture, among others artists, advertising the same GEJ Presidential campaign concert.

It is sad and indeed worrying that people continue to take advantage of good intentions and initiatives for selfish and corrupt purposes. I use this medium to make public that I have never, and even more so now will never be a part of any campaign for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, therefore please do not expect me to be at the supposed concert. Let me be clear, I have nothing against the supposed concert and its participants; I just prefer to be consulted about such a manipulation of interest beforehand. I have never received any money or gift of any kind from any member or supporter of the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan presidential campaign or any presidential campaign for that matter, neither have I volunteered my services in support of any such campaign. I’ll be glad to announce if and when I do but until then, I don’t appreciate my image and likeness being exploited for political purposes without my consent.

By eLDee

Africa’s legendary artiste Tuface who recently appeared on The award winnig Monique show in Atlanta, US is reportedly planning on opening a lounge in his favourite part of town in Lagos – Festac Town.

The Lounge would be called Hypertek. It is common knowledge that the singer has refused to move from Festac Town. The Lounge which would have a bar, VIP section, restaurant and dance floor would be open in close to his home in Festac Town.

He is said to have paid for the property and it would be open before the year runs out.

Video from the studio recording at The Mo’Nique show studio that hosted Tuface. Video courtesy MR. Ayo Shonaiya and RMG.

There’s similarity in the looks and sound of the recent signee to Kennis Music, Joe El and Tuface Idibia which raises speculation of the label’s search for another ‘money spinner’,  It can’t be denied that one of the most successful artiste that  the label ever signed was Tuface idibia.

Apparently, Following their inability to nurture a very commercial viable artiste, they are looking at ‘a remake of Tuface Idibia’ in the signing of Joe El. As seen in the picture above, Tuface and Joe EL could pass for brothers and their music genre share the same similarity in topic and delivery. Until we are proven wrong, THIS IS A DUMB MOVE!

You think otherwise??

Joe El in ‘I No mind’ video:

J Sleek, the producer for Tuface monstrous hit single – Implication is in a hospital in Festac after an accident that left him with a serious injuries and fracture on his way to Etisalat party at GET Arena on the 21st of January..

He was in the company of three persons and the car somersaulted and turned four times – only the producer was admitted for injuries.

A pretty noisy lounge with some 15 or more of my friends had just been brought to dead silence with a loud shhhhhhhhhhhhh! sound by my girlfriend who was visibly dying to read a joke aloud, off her black berry. 30seconds later, the joke on “how the current presidential aspirants were the same ones who told us over 20 years ago that we were the leaders of tomorrow” was done. And as the joke signed off with a sarcastic projection of when our tomorrow was likely to commence, a roaring laughter descended on the silence from every corner of the room.

Sure, I had my share of the laughter but with a little difficulty. Why? Well, have you ever let out a hearty laugh with mixed emotions? You know when what tickles you is irresistibly funny but with the outburst comes the after-thought that sets you on think mode? That home truth that leaves a bitter after-taste with the potential to make laughter your last reaction upon a re-think about the import of what you have just heard or seen? If you can relate, then you have saved me the trouble of explaining my difficulty.

So, while the rowdiness of the lounge was being slowly restored, I was battling with the sour taste of the truth hidden in the joke. The truth in this case being the sad reality of the near non-existent opportunities reserved for the Nigerian youth to make any impact on a massive scale in his society. It donned on me that while America had embraced an age where the white house could be governed by not only a young man but one with traceable African roots, Nigeria tenaciously holds on to a drama plot where the curtains are never drawn on the old and tired players who have every plan to die on that stage. Little wonder why every time recognition is bestowed for remarkable contribution, the recipient would approach the podium an old man.

At the forefront of hosting the guilt of this ill is clearly the sphere of politics where only a few daring young ones have swum against the tide with amazing success as is clear with the Lagos story.

Interestingly the entertainment arena tells a slightly different story. Here the elders in the game have been forced to play by the rules of the young and restless. Without a choice, they have made way for the raw hunger of the youngsters which has practically given them control over most aspects of show business. Ranging from Movies to Music, Photography to Comedy, Dance to Fashion, Broadcasting, etc.

Yes, the young ones pay the piper, dictate the tune and do the dam dancing all by themselves in this industry. The level of success registered with the industry in their control is equally phenomenal. Cashing fat pay cheques, Creating job opportunities, Gaining global recognition, Sealing corporate endorsement deals and building the generally intimidating stature of the industry is an off shoot of the sweat and tears put in by young people. Some of the stories behind these efforts are nothing short of capable of activating your tear glands and permanently reserving an iconic status for a good number these young heroes.

But the reward system is still operated by the papa’s so a federal honor for most of the young is currently a laughable concept. At the most Austin Jay Jay Okocha (Ronaldo’s Idol) may just have to meet up with Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji before he becomes deserving of an OON or even a simple clay statue in the national stadium or Pretty has to be able to shake Junior before we can publicly shake his own hand.

Did I just hear you say “TUFIAKWA! Not our Jay Jay or Pretty” Ah! Amen o! “long life” ….is what we wish them and all our young stars but please, my people, they have lived long enough to have been honored for being living legends. They do not have to be history before they can be made happy for making history. Can we please give that pat on the back now? Now, that they can share in the joy and not by a grave side. Now that the closing statement to the citation can be “a standing ovation please” and not “may his soul rest in peace”. Now that THEY ARE STILL BREATHING.

Me, I will not wait for them government people o! Neither for award organizers who make such recognition an exclusive reserve for friends of the house. I would say my thank you now. I, on that note give to you 8 of the most deserving young people who have been outstanding with their contribution to the industry of entertainment against amazing odds. The RARE feat accomplished by these few guarantees that in generations unborn they shall have their praises sung because if it wasn’t for them, the blessings of serving as channels for a revolution would have been lost on us all.

AND THE RECIPIENTS ARE:

SOUND SULTAN (Lanre Fassasi) Music as a tool for social change. That is the essence of Fela’s entire legacy. It is why I remember quick May 11, 1981 for Bob Marley and may need a rain check to be sure of the exact date when my own grand dad passed. Consciousness and the power of lyrical content is the reason why some elite white kid is going to stay up tonight studying 2pacs lyrics so he can pass his exams. With the loads of vain and cliché topics emphasized by artiste over the years, Sultan is clearly the nearest to Fela with lyrics that would likely form part of a school syllabus tomorrow. Our children would xray his 1st Album tagged KPSHEW… with classics such as Mathematics, Gengen, Koleyewon etc. You know that it was a tradition for him when you follow the consistency as the message is served fresh in all 5 of his albums. A few examples include Motherland from the album Text Book, Animal Farm from the 007 album, King of my country from the SS4 album and the current wave making 2010 from the just released back to the future album. Sultan has kept the light shining from the very 1st verse he delivered in 1995 on Baba Dee’s Governors daughter track till this very day.

Other act trailing closely in this category include Black face, Eldee the Don, Mode 9 and Tuface but it is Sound Sultan who is already a living legend on this basis.

Cobhams Asuquo: This man can make u say ‘God is great 10 times in 5mins from an encounter with his voice. Then they mess you up by telling you that he produced and wrote the song you are listening to. But before you lose your mind totally please take note that he played the instruments as well. Oh yes! The guitar, keyboard, you just name it. But please now know that he was born blind. Ok now you can go bunkers. Do u hate to read? This blind guy went into Unilag to study law. Are you scared of marriage? This young man said ‘I do’ to beautiful Veronica on Dec 2nd 2010. Are you trying to score an African hit as a producer? This man has awards for record sales in France. What kind of versatility do you need to have to via your production, satisfy the fans of DJINEE and that of Mode 9. Fans of Faze and fans of Street Monks, Fans of Asa and fans of Rooftop MC’s. He’s got that. Do you want to own your own business someday? Well meet ex head of Audio production for question mark studios and current CEO CAMP (Cobhams Asuquo Music Production ltd). Business with CAMP is done on that international scale as he is signed to SONY ATV (London) for publishing. There’s so much more but I guess the powers that be want to stay blind to the presence of this rare gem.

TU Face (Innocent Idibia) The singular reason why Tu Baba is on this list is because he is the only one who as a music act does not have fans but disciples. Tu face is the nearest you can get to the idea of a Nigerian Michael Jackson. I know a girl who while exchanging pleasantries with any stranger and introducing herself would not fail to add to her profession and name, the sentence ” .…and yes, I am a crazed Tuface fan” (No Joking). From the Senator to his wife and their daughter Rita in Unilag and their son John in Texas to Gabriel the family driver, everyone has Tuface as their favorite act. This love triples every time there is damaging news about him ranging from- you know what to- you know what. He can’t go wrong in many a quarters. He can start a riot without being physically present. 2 face is a mini god with a spiritual following. The followership is distinct and unusual and makes him a clear living legend. Let’s not fail to mention his intimidating humility.

Eldee The DON(Lanre Dabiri): Watching CNN refer to Genevieve Nnaji as Nigerias own Sharon Stone, I got fascinated by that and tried to find a Naija match in Hollywood stars. After an unopposed lecture, my friends agreed with me that there was only one P Diddy replica in Nigeria. The similarities went beyond the sharp carve of the hair and the shades. The components of my lecture exposed that only EL as a young star in his first year (Unilag 1996) had began what came to be the raps biggest family and a launching pad for carriers that still stare us in the face. Did u ask “like who?” OYA now. Row call: Sasha P, Freestyle, 2SHOTS, SID, Blaize, Lekushay. Sultan says Eldees business sense was frightening that early. While he (Sultan) was excited about going to the studio to record, Eldee was laying emphasis on having Sultan register a company so he could do business in the near future. El discovered the use of the Alaba machinery for distribution of CD’s. El designed and introduced the very first paper casing used for CD’s today as against the plastic cases obtainable then. His mothers faith in him was evident in the shock on T Joe’s face when El showed up with her support in the form of N250k for the project in 1999. He, like Puffy, has outlived all his protégés. Is the only married one from the entire crew with the most collection of consistent hits. What else should he please do to get some respect here. Fight a bull?

Asa: The venue was the French cultural centre in Ikoyi, Lagos and a popular comic act had just gotten on the stage after a bare footed dred- lock wearing tom boy had struggled to extract a weak round of applause from a scanty crowd with a performance alongside her guitar. The comedians opening remarks: “na hunger go beat this one commot for this music business”. That was some 6years ago and boy was he right. For indeed her hunger to explode would not stop beating her and it sent her out of the business that was confined to Nigeria and sent her out to the world of international music business. Becoming the official captain of the relay team running with Nigeria’s hope to someday come home with a grammy. The doom looming predictions of the comedian was shared by more than a handful as Asa’s genre of music stood out as not commercial but it was good music to all who had music trained ears.

She battled with that rejection, battled with an unfavorable record deal, battled with limited funds, battled with a system with little faith in her but she didn’t give in. She kept pushing WITHOUT WATERING DOWN her style just to eat for the moment at the sacrifice of quality (a very familiar story) . Today, Asa is an INTERNATIONAL STAR. Please take that to the bank because when you hear that Asa is on tour, she is NOT playing before 25 Nigerians in a small bar in Ukraine (another familiar story). She is actually before thousands who bought tickets in advance to go see a CONCERT PROPER.

The only female on our list. Asa is a living legend.

Uzodinma Okpechi: The leading, most developed and most professional sector of the entertainment industry today is the music video industry. It is ironically the youngest sector in terms of the new age rebirth that placed it at par with music videos from across the globe. Before Uzodinmamania invaded the industry, our music videos were huge jokes that were far from funny. The Lagos bar beach was officially the only location if you did not have flowers growing at your back yard. At great cost and with lots of suffered losses, Uzodinma changed all that. Pioneering the new age music video package as the new statement made by the artist and his record label. For months, material profit trailed behind passion, perfection and creativity on his scale of preference. When international music cable stations turned their attention to what Nigeria could offer, Uzo was the reason why we could proudly lay our cards down on the table. Quite instrumental to this development were directors like Shina Adedeji, DXF, Baba Dee, and a few others but Uzo led the pack as the first recipient of the award for best music video as a director at the Award for Musical Excellence in Nigeria (AMEN). While his recognition had broken his business interest into the corporate world and kept him a little out of circulation in the industry for which he jettisoned a career in medicine, we would not forget the moves with which he redefined the music video making business. Uzodinma Okpechi, a true Living Legend.

Opa Williams: Jokes apart, If you could count, and do arrive at the number 1,000 as the number of times that you have laughed to a joke told by a Nigerian comedian, then here’s the man to thank for the 1,000 laughs. His aim was to get you to have all one thousand laughs in one night. The first attempt to do that was greeted with a world record disaster. The auditorium in Unilag was filled to the brim with empty chairs. That wasn’t enough to stop Opa from creating an industry currently at the nucleus of Nigerian entertainment. Opa had with one project began to do the following.

* Discover Nigerias funniest talents
* Wear Comedy a corporate face
* Institutionalize comedy shows as annual festive events
* Create Jobs
* Enrich himself and more than a few others

Opa Williams was a lone ranger in a business where as far as we are concerned has till date only had passengers come on board a bus that ran on Opa’s drive as the only source of fuel for a long long time. It is painfully fallacious to dare talk about a King of Comedy and not let that name ‘Opa” come behind the title. Like all of our heroes, the tradition that made the man has been sustained over the years and is still flourishing. Today, with tens of industry children to his credit and over 15years of building the hypertension arresting aspect of Nigerian entertainment, this movie producer who we remember for giving us the movie ”Deadly Affair” is a Living Legend.

Jimmy Jatt: ’when people think say we dey mental, back then, na Jimmy Jatt na him dey give us instrumental’ … Tu face from the song stylee. Under those words lie the true picture of the man Jimmy. When rendering help was uncommon and tasking, Jimmy was the sure and last busstop. Show me an artist who was around when the youngsters began to invade this industry and did not get one form of assistance or the other from Jimmy and like Bongos I’ll show u a virgin in a maternity ward. All you needed to be given a chance with Jimmy was say you think you can do it. Infact I dare say that the era of collabos and artiest meeting each other was born with the first of Jimmys annual 2pac remembrance show held at “Water Parks” in 1996. All Jimmy was busy doing that day was making introductions. That evening he actually remembers saying “Plantation boys meet Trybesmen, Mode 9 meet Eldee, OXYGEN (Comprising of Slam, Paul Play Dairo, etc) meet Def O CLAN. Everybody built lots of friendships that would subsequently build the new world era of Naija music. Thanks to the one man who was there for everybody for roughly 2decades and still running strong not just behind but on top wheels of steel. Jimmy Jatt. Our Living Legend.

Kind regards,
Emmanuel Ugolee

This message is brought to you courtesy of NEPA (Nigerian Entertainment Police Authority). You may check out some of our activities with here

Airtel ambassador, 2face (notice he has been proudly spotting red-colored attire recently) threw a party for his 2 year old daughter with Annie Macaulay. The event took place at Posh Cafe and was well attended – celebrities and family members from P Square, Sound Sultan who was accompanied by his wife, 2face’s mom and brother Hyacinth. The event took place on December 12th, a week after Hyacinth got married. His wife is Sierra Leonean. Tuface is reported to have bankrolled the wedding that took place at the bride’s hometown in Sierra Leone to an extent.

Hyacinth met his wife in the US, where he has been pursuing his studies, he intends to move back and live with his wife in Nigeria.

The 2010 MTV Africa Music Awards was indeed glamourous and beyond pan-African. They delivered on glamour with a budget sizeable enough that Eko Hotels could close shop with what MTV paid to have its New Expo Hall as venue for the event, including the expense of branding her entire environ with MAMA material. It was glaringly MAMA’s day at Eko Hotels on the said night.

Tomorrow – Saturday, the award would be televised on MTV Base, some of the things that might never make that show is organizers ignoring the ‘event component’, which is attendees – trading that for a show that they could cut for solely TV broadcast. “Honestly it was like, they came to rip us off after i paid seven thousand naira to stand, they then decided to ignore me as it (the show) ran like it was going live on MTV base when it wasn’t”, a witness told QMarkMag. Audience present were in for just the quick performances from Rick Ross, TPain, Parlotones,  Tuface and of course the final performance of ‘All I do Is Win’ by Tpain, Rick Ross, Tuface and De’Les from Jozi.

It was such a scripted show that every body that got on stage was ‘ stiff’ and still seems to be no excuses for the several minutes long breaks experienced during the show since it wasn’t televised live.

Ikechukwu was screwed over when he tried climbing the stage when he wasn’t suppose to and he was glaringly asked to leave the stage then J Martins, who must have mastered the art of picking up awards plaque for P square. He wasn’t informed or aware of the recorded thank you video from the twin so when P Square was announced, he made his way to the stage – only to be left unattended to.

Ultimately, MTV Africa Music Awards delivered on the stage, lights and sound – the big screen on both sides of the stage was most appreciated.