23 | THE VOICE JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2012
Pull-Out
POSTER BATTLE
JADEN SMITH & WILLOW SMITH
SAMUELL BENTA Man on a mission
Chart success
There’s no stopping Rihanna!
Career change R Kelly’s heading to Broadway
24 THE VOICE NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 5, 2012
POSITIVE VIBES
Inspirational lyrics from some of our most-loved stars
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NOTORIOUS B.I.G SKY IS THE LIMIT Sky is the limit and you know that you can have what you want, be what you want…
LUPE FIASCO SUPERSTAR If you are what you say you are - a superstar, then have no fear, the camera’s here…
T.I FEAT RIHANNA LIVE YOUR LIFE Never mind what haters say, ignore them ’til they fade away…
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SWAY SONG FOR THE CITY Turkish, Indian, African, West Indies down to Pakistan, Europeans and Asians…we’re the living proof that Israelis and Arabs can live together. We’re the truth – it’s London…
JAY Z DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (REMIX) I’m not a businessman... I’m a business, maaaaaannnn…
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DESTINY’S CHILD SURVIVOR I'm a survivor. I'm not gonna give up. I'm not gonna stop. I'm gonna work harder…
ESTELLE WONDERFUL LIFE My smile is OK at the end of the line and I'm fine, no thorns in my side Somebody remind me, it's a wonderful life…
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MS DYNAMITE IT TAKES MORE Who gives a damn about the ice on your hands? If it's not too complex, tell me how many Africans died for the baguettes on your Rolex?
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GUVNA B FREE One life so live it well. In this world we got free will to live as well…
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LAURYN HILL EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING What is meant to be will be. After winter, must come spring. Change, it comes eventually…
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MIKEL AMEEN WORLD CHANGERS The world can’t change me ‘cos I’m a world changer, have no fear so I’m in no danger, made in God’s image, I was born to be greater…
AKALA FIND NO ENEMY I wake up everyday and I’m overwhelmed just to be alive and like no one else…
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TALIB KWELI
DAMIAN MARLEY ROAD TO ZION Single parents we need some charity, youths what need some love and prosperity… by any plan with any means and strategy…
K.O.S (DETERMINATION)
At exactly which point do you start to realise, that life without knowledge is death in disguise...
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Ssegawa-Ssekintu Kiwanuka
COMMON BLUE SKY Aston Martin King, Luther with dreams. The young Denzel the way I move through scenes. I’m like a preacher that once was a fiend A story of change that came with wings…
BASHY BLACK BOYS No we ain't hooligans, just young and talented nubians, with potential and promise, innovative young masterminds like Sean Wallis…
SSEGAWA-SSEKINTU Kiwanuka was studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as part of an exclusive one-year exchange programme with Cambridge University when he decided to make the most of other opportunities available to him in the United States. He exhibited his photography in a Boston museum and spent one month in Haiti researching the possibility of using sugar cane charcoal as an alternative fuel. His market research was later used to help win the MIT $100,000 Entrepreneurship Competition in 2007, as well as the $200,000 World Bank Global Development Marketplace
NAS I CAN If the truth is told, the youth can grow. Nobody says you have to be gangstas [or] h*es. Read more learn more, change the globe…
Competition in 2008. Ssegawa-Ssekintu became the youngest ever nominee at the global Institution of Chemical Engineers Awards in 2010 and was awarded third place in the Young Engineer of the Year category. In March 2011, he was also featured in The Chemical Engineer (TCE) – the UK's most widely read magazine for the chemical and process industries. Ssegawa-Ssekintu is also the lead vocalist in the classical-meets-hip hopmeets-dance outfit Clean Bandit. "If you are going to do something in life, you've got to do it and want to make an impact." *www.rarerecruitment.co.uk
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www.voice-online.co.uk/entertainment
NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 5, 2012 THE VOICE 25
British actor Samuell Benta talks to YV’s Dionne Grant about inspiring a generation, knock backs and the overwhelming success of hit web series All About The McKenzies
H
E DECLARED his car off the road to fund the first series of award-winning web series All About The McKenzies, so it’s ironic that when I catch up with Samuell Benta he’s happily driving between appointments in the city. How times have changed for the 26-year-old. In 2010, and after what Samuell describes as a “difficult year”, the actor took a trip to Hollywood where he met the founder of the LA Web Festival who encouraged him to put pen to paper and return with an online product that he could enter into next year’s ceremony. Samuell, who had starred in Eastenders spin-off E20 and hit series Hotel Babylon, admits
he “never knew web series’ existed” until he was in Hollywood, returned to the States a year later with All About The McKenzies, a sitcom about a black British family, and took home the award. “I basically threw myself into the project. We filmed for about five days. No actors got paid, none of the crew got paid, the composer was fresh out of university as was the camera operator – they had never done anything on screen in their life. Just goes to show that I can take someone brand new and make a good show.” In the year since its creation, All About The McKenzies has racked up over one million hits on YouTube, seen Samuell featured in The Guardian newspaper and named as More magazine’s ‘man of the week.’
But for the hard-working entrepreneur, this, it seems, is just the tip of the iceberg. “I don’t mind man of the week, but I need to be man of the century,” he jokes. Despite the success of his online series, which he wrote, produced and directed, Samuell has faced a number of knock backs when trying to convince the mainstream that it’s worthy of their attention. “I received a lot of good response online and I was phoning around TV networks and had a few meetings. I’ve proved there is an audience, but still people don’t seem to holler back.” He explains: “I look at the shows we’ve had in the past like Desmond’s and The Crouches and I think, ‘why have we stopped doing this?’ I’m so going to change stuff up. I’m going to make a show that is universal.” For the new series, due in mid 2013, Samuell has joined forces with popular online youth broadcaster SBTV, hoping to reach new audiences. He is also aiming to launch the careers of new British talent who he says have been “shunned by the industry.” He says: “Now that I’m going through SBTV, I’m sure that it will make a lot of people sit up and say something whereas before they gave me air. “I’m going to use talent who were shunned and make them grow through my own show. For
instance, our comedians are big, but they’re doing it on such a low scale underground that the mainstream don’t know who they are. I know through my show, things can happen differently,” he adds. “People are scared to invest in new talent. In productions, [using new talent] costs a lot of money and producers want to keep production prices down. But on a subconscious level what they are actually telling young black people who are aspiring to be something bigger is, ‘hey guys, this can’t happen.’ It really does take one person to change a whole paradigm and I’m hoping to do that.” Asked whether he thought a glass ceiling was in place when it came to black comedy in the UK’s mainstream, he said: “It’s much bigger than that. There are massive comedians like Lee Evans and Michael McIntyre who have a huge following and support, but when it comes to black talent, the only person who springs to mind is Lenny Henry. He has had major success, made attempts for TV and they have shut him down. “To get All About The McKenzies on TV has been my intention from the start. I want a universal show that everyone is going to love, it’s just that online we have the freedom to do things for free.” Despite his own setbacks, Samuell is full of admiration for fellow
online series Meet The Adebanjos, which has succesfully made the change. He said: “Meet The Adebanjos is an inspiration to me. They are a great example of independence. They did what I did, but on a TV level. They’ve met with TV networks and they were turned down. ‘Oh the show’s too black,’ or ‘It can never do this’. They had more results with a foreign market and they’re doing their thing. It’s not mainstream television, but they’re still getting what they want out to the people. On the new series, for which he will hold public auditions in January, Samuell promises a “fleshed out” storyline with more “references to black history”. “I understand that the youth are heavily influenced by what they watch and listen to so I
RIHANNA:
The self-confessed ‘bad girl’ bagged her 12th number one on the Billboard charts with latest single Diamonds
understand what must come from my show. They’re not going to listen to ‘Mr Stevenson’ at school, they’re going to listen to someone who is young like them, who looks like them and has the content that will actually make them pay attention.” As our conversation comes to a close, and Samuell nears his destination, I ask what might come of our conversation if this interview happened in 10 years. He laughs, thinks for a second and says: “I would say, ‘you’ve seen all of my blockbusters, right? Well, I’m just in talks with Denzel [Washington] at the moment and we’re going to be doing a film soon and I’ve also got my own drama school. It’s been a good few years.’” www.youtube.com/allaboutthemckenzies
Follow @Sbenta on Twitter
R KELLY:
The singer has announced plans to bring his hit musical soap opera Trapped in the Closet to Broadway
OR BUSTED? F F BU
Dear Kat, I am thinking about converting to Islam and my family think that I have lost my mind. My best friend at college is Muslim and she has shown me how much it can change me for the better. I will still go to church with my mum and brother on Sunday if that’s what it takes to make them happy, but I am 18 and I am old enough to make my own decisions without being judged. What should I do? Fi, 18
Dear Fi, I think you should take time to truly consider why you want to convert to Islam. Once you are certain about your decision, explain those reasons to your family. If you communicate why it means so much to you, they will hopefully see that you are not acting on impulse or that your decision is based on the influence of your friends. Religious people are always protective about their beliefs so their negative reaction may simply be a result of that. Give them time to come around to the idea, keep an open mind and stay strong.
NICKI MINAJ:
DJs from Hot 97’s The Breakfast Club were blasted by the rapper live on air for not ‘doing research’ before interviewing her
BUFF BUFF CHRIS BROWN:
Stylish, cool, effortless
KATT WILLIAMS:
The comedian was arrested in connection with the assault of a man in Oakland, California
TWEET OF THE WEEK A$AP Rocky was left fuming after his Toronto show was cancelled following a ‘bogus’ bomb threat. “ALL THIS WORK TO GET ACROSS THE F******* BORDER FOR MY SHOW TO BE CANCELLED BCUZ OF A BOGUS A** BOMB THREAT!!!! THIS S---- EXTRA LAME...”
ESTELLE:
Simple, sexy, sophisticated
A$AP
BOW WOW
26 THE VOICE NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 5, 2012
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