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Dr. Amir

Ph.D. FROM THE GHETTO UNIVERSITY OF LIFE

AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, AND TALES OF THE UNKNOWN

GHANA VS NIGERIA “GHANIAN SOUND INFLUENCES NIGERIAN MUSIC” MR EAZI TWEETS, RUNTOWN REACTS

TOP 10 CELEBRITY FEUDS OF 2016 FIRST HIT TRACK OF 2017 “MAD OVER YOU” RUNSTOWN

FEBUARY 2017

12 The truce agreement 16 For the love of those puma fenty CREEPERS

18 Cover interview 28 Top 10 celebrities 36 First hit track of 2017 37 GHANA VS NIGERIA 38 Dating tips from history

Reward for the best is not in a plaque. 5 Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note 7 The Good Morning Blab (TGMB) 8 World most expensive horses 11 Revenged her defeat(Funke Akindele)

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CONTENTS

FEBUARY 6TH

We will not only stand with Naija, We will stand up for Nigeria. We will not only stand with 2face, We will walk the miles with 2baba. We should know, the walk on Feb 6th does not only start from The National Stadium to The National Theatre, it starts from all our homes to the future we choose for our selves and our Country. Its in my hand and yours to make 2025 possible. The future is everything we can do, yet undone. The future is in our reach, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reach for it together. Feb 6th.

Febuary 2017

“Ideas are cheap, implementation is the key”

Those were the words of a wise friend with whom I was sharing some of my big ideas and mind inventions. iCover magazine, being the ﬁrst of my brain children to escape abortion, miscarriage, and the womb, have thought me so much about the importance of hard work and dedication. Without which “uploading implementation to install achieved goal” will not reach 100% complete. The idea of giving you the best entertainment magazine on your mobile device, in soft copy, for free, was born in the year 2016, the same year some of the biggest Nigerian celebrity feuds of our time went down including one of the biggest comebacks from a relatively defeated person. Don’t fret, we weren’t all about 2016 in this maiden issue of iCover. 2017 also started with a “Mad Over You” craze, spiced up with some early morning “Ghana vs Nigeria Twitter Cold War”, like in the days of the jollof rice wars. The debate on the influence of Ghanaian musicon Nigerian sound is not about to be laid to rest even as our cover guest, the multi- talented Dr Amir, singer cum producer; producer of the monster hit “Reggae Blues”, gave his two cents on the matter. The Sound debate was not all the “PhD holder from The Ghetto University of Life” talked to us about. He also revealed, in an insightful interview , the gory and exclusive details of his relationship with, Harry Songs, Kcee and all about the 5 five star drama you read about online, including his very interesting story on growing up. 2016 was a very serious year for many; probably too serious for many more. However, in the sight of all the seriousness, the escapades of Michael Ngige will help sooth our ribs with some cracking laughter so that we can get back our confidence and take charge of the New Year. It’s never too early to do whatever you have in mind to do. Do it and plan in the process, do it scared, do it afraid but do it anyway because a year from now you would wish you started today, it’s never too early. Happy New Year!

Chukwuemeka Chinyere Editor-in-Chief

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Febuary 2017

EDITOR IN CHIEF

CHUKWUEMEKA CHINYERE

HEAD OF GRAPHICS DESIGN JEROME OGUNNA (PENGASON CONCEPT)

WEB DEVELOPER AGOZIE DAVID

CONTENT EDITOR TRIUMP OKOROCHA

WRITERS

NGOZI EZENWA IFUNANYA CHUKWUDI MICHAEL NGIGE

PR CO-ODINATOR MARYAM DAUDU

PUBLISHED BY 47TIMES

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Email: icovermagazine@outlook.com CALL +2349068199041, +2347013197174 FOR MORE ENQUIRIES

MASTHEAD

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Febuary 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY TAKE CHARGE

THE GOOD MORNING BLAB....

ife can be very unpredictable, things happen and plans change. Sometimes bad becomes good and at other times good goes bad. However, even in the uncertainties of life, certain deliberate steps and consistent actions will yield specific results. Therefore your actions today will determine the results tomorrow; good or bad. A lot of young people have crawled into their mind “shells”. They stay away and avoid old friends and family because they are not proud of what their life has turned out to be. This is mostly due to mistakes, wrong decisions or unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances beyond one’s control. When life spirals out of control and things just suddenly become the opposite of what you imagined, planned and wished for, it is not time to cry or wallow in self pity. It is rather time for reflection, time to think deeply and dream wildly, it is time to re-strategize and do it all over; bring back the sexy! (In Justin Timberlake’s voice). It is a tedious and difficult task but it is very achievable and rewarding. All you need do is work on your mindset daily, be focused and work hard. It’s beyond amazing what getting the right mindset can do for anyone. It did wonders for an old friend of mine whom I recently got in contact with after a long while of losing contacts. He was like a lost soul when we met, he kept wandering endlessly. He was broke, helpless and alone. He had a good background, but somehow ended up in the streets somewhat abandoned by friends and family. He did all sorts of things to survive and even resorted to begging at a point. It was that bad! However, when we got in contact again after about 2 years, my friend was a transformed person who was oozing with self confidence. He

talked with great certainty and never second- guessed himself. I was amazed beyond words. I even thought him to be arrogant and proud. As time went on and as we talked more, I realized it wasn’t an inflated ego but it was confidence at its peak. He had taken charge of his life and was focused and certain about his destination. He was also very willing to put in the work needed to turn his dreams into a reality. Today he is an entrepreneur on the path of greatness; I have no doubt about that. He inspires me to do more and I will achieve my goals this year because all I need is within me. I don’t want to hide or make excuses anymore because I remember I used to top my class, used to be the one to beat in sports, debate and quiz but somehow life stunted on me and I found myself withdrawing into my “shell”, but no more! I’m picking every stone,

stick and rock that life has thrown at me so far and building myself a bridge with it. That’s the mindset! “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love” – Mother Theresa As we all sip a glass of wine to usher in the new year, let’s toast to all the dreams coming through this year. Let’s toast to a new beginning and a fresh start; to a revived spirit and a bounce back. Blow up your shell by leaving that comfort zone. Don’t be a snail and “withdraw”, be a Lion and “roaarrr”. Then watch as the rest days of your life become the best days of your life. Happy New Year, Happy take charge.

Ifunaya Chukwudi

07063394889 WHATSAPP ONLY

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Febuary 2017

WORLD MOST EXPENSIVE HORSES 10. Jalil – $9.7 million

This racehorse was sired by Storm Cat, the grandson of Northern Dancer, which was one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history. After he was foaled on the 15th of February 2004 in Lexington, Kentucky, Jalil was purchased by the emir of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed, on behalf of the Godolphin Racing Operation. The price paid for this amazing horse was of $9.7 million and right after his purchase, he was sent to Europe to be trained by Saeed bin Suroor. His racing career started in 2006 at the Newmarket Racecourse of Suffolk, England, having multiple successes until 2008. He was exported to China in 2011 to support the thoroughbred industry of the country

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9. Snaafi Dancer – $10.2 million

Snaafi Dancer was the first Thoroughbred racehorse that was sold for over ten million, at the staggering price of $10.2 million, bred by Donald T. Johnson at the Crescent Farm. Sired by the famed Northern Dancer, he was sent to the Keeneland Select Sale of 1983 at an auction which started at $1 million. He was finally bought by Sheikh Mohammed’s Aston Upthorpe Stud after a bidding duel with Coolmore Stud. This horse apparently didn’t race at all since he was too slow during training and also had fertility problems that made him unfit to breed as well, so he was finally retired at a farm in Florida.

Am dazzled at how the super rich part ways with this very scares commodity we bleed and sweat everyday to gather, well that’s the reason why they are “super rich” in the first place. The list below, got me thinking, “just how much would I be priced and sold for if put on the market?”, well after some thought, it really depends on who is doing the selling and buying. If my mum ever puts me up for sale as she had once threatened to do, am sure the asking price would be something to brag about, but I will be so unlucky to be put on the market by my kid sister, because that girl has the ability to sell me off for five times less than what Joseph was sold for. As far as she gets enough money to buy some crystal beads, I could be taken to the Antarctic for all she cares . Sadly enough though, no matter how overpriced my mum or anybody tags me, I sure will be sold cheaper than some of the horses on this list, if not all. “Something has got to be the reason why these horses cost this much”, well you are spot on, now let’s dive it and find why

8. Meydan City – $11.7 million

Taking his name from a development in Dubai that was launched in 2007, Meydan City was a highly sought after horse that proved to be a major disappointment for his owner. Bred at the Jayeff B Stables, this horse was sold at the 2006 Keeneland September yearling sale by Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Maktoum for the impressive price of $11.7 million. After he was trained by Mubarak bin Shafya at the Mark Lewis stable, the horse only managed to bring his owner $1,360 throughout his short career with zero wins from seven starts.

Febuary 2017 7. Seattle Dancer – $13.1 million

6. Palloubet d’Halong – $15 million

Bred in Kentucky, this Irish Thoroughbred racehorse stallion was sold in July 1985 at the Keenland selected yearling sale for a cool $13.1 million, making him the most expensive yearling sold at a public auction back then. The owners of the horse became Stavros Niarchos from Greece, Vincent O’Brien from Ireland, his daughter Susan Magnier, Robert Sangster from England and Daniel Schwartz from California. Together they’ve helped Seattle Dancer win the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes at the Curragh Racecourse of Ireland as well as the Group 2 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown Racecourse. He sired 37 stake race winners throughout the career and finally died from a heart attack at the age of 23.

Although most of the horses in this list are racehorses, this one is an exception since he’s one of the world’s most skilled horses at slow jumping. He was sold to former Dutch Olympic Medalist Jan Tops for no less than $15 million just a couple of years ago. Initially the media thought Jan’s wife, Edwina Tops-Alexander, has bought this amazing specimen for herself, but they’ve quickly realized that he was purchased to compete in the Qatar CSI2 competition with Ali Yousef Al Rumaihi as the rider.

3. Moorlands Totilas – $21 million

5. The Green Monkey – $16 million

This American Thoroughbred was extremely sought after since he was sired by Northern Dancer and Secretariat, two of the world’s most renowned horses. It was sold back in 2006 at the Fasig-Tipton Calder sale when he was two years old for $16 million. He made his debut in racing on September 15, 2007 at the Belmont Park race of Elmont, New York where he finished third. His second race was on October 13 of the same year in Belmont Park where he finished fourth after which he was retired on February 12, 2008 since he failed to break his maiden.

2. Shareef Dancer – $40 million

4. Annihilator – $19 million

Annihilator was really appreciated for his beautiful dark color and for its pace that was extremely valued by his owners. The fact that he came from the line of Niatross, which won the Meadowlands Pace and the Little Brown Jug, made him really desirable, that’s why he was sold for $19 million. Sired by Wish Me Wings, this extraordinary stallion is mostly used today as a show horse due to his spectacular presence.

This thoroughbred horse was bred in America, sired by Northern Dancer and the mare Sweet Alliance. Just a year after he was foaled he was bought by Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum for the sum of $3.3 million at the Keeneland Sales of 1981 and trained under the supervision of Michael Stoute at Newmarket, Suffolk. The horse won the Group I Irish Derby Stakes of Curragh and the Group II King Edward VII Stakes in 1983, being titled the UK Middle Distance Horse of the year in 1983 and after all these performances he was sold for an impressive $40 million.

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Febuary 2017

1. Fusaichi Pegasus – $70 million

His name, Fusaichi, is a combination of his owner’s name, Fusao, and the Japanese word for one, ichi. This amazing horse is considered by some as the best racehorse in history with earnings of $1,994,400. After being foaled on April 12, 1997, the horse was trained by Neil Drysdale and just a couple of years later he won the Kentucky Derby in 2000 after which he went second at the Preakness Stakes. He also won the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes and the Jerome

“HORSES WERE MAN’S BEST FRIEND BEFORE DOGS CAME AROUND” icover MAGAZINE

Febuary 2017

F U N K E A K I N D E L E B E L L O ( A K A J E N I FA ) R E V E N G E D H E R D E F E AT It is as clear as the handwriting on the wall that these love birds are truly in love as JJC stood strongly behind his wife, Jenifa, during the ‘infertility prophecy saga’. JJC rather despised the prophet who claimed that Jenifa (his wife) was destined for wealth and fame but not children. JJC went further by rendering prayers on his social media handle for his wife on how their children shall fill their home. Though, Jenifa had been welcomed by the ‘menopause family’ but JJC adamantly believed that they will be blessed with kids sooner or later. Goodluck to them!

He who laughs last, indeed, laughs the best! The Nollywood actress, writer and film producer, Funke Akindele Bello aka Jenifa, surely will testify that she had the best moments of her life in 2016. The 40 year old actress didn’t just hit it big but also found love in Abdul Rasheed Bello, popularly known as JJC Skillz. The Nigerian actress, Funke Akindele Bello came into the industry through the popular United Nations Population Fund sponsored sitcom, I Need To Know, which ran from 1998 to 2002. Records show that she hasn’t been so lucky in love / marriage. In a wrap, she was married as the second wife to one Mr. Kehinde Almaroof Oloyede but the marriage barely survived its first year before their separation in July, 2013. After this shameful fall, Jenifa refused to be defeated as she revenged with her award winning sitcom in 2016, Jenifa’s Diary. This sitcom cut across the globe as a result of its morals, visuals, humour and content as a whole. Jenifa’s Diary was really a huge project that came with huge money for Funke Akindele Bello. As if that wasn’t enough for the actress, the blessings of marriage smiled at her as she secretly tied the knot with the popular video producer and mu-

sician, Abdul Rasheed Bello also known as JJC Skillz in August, 2016. Not withstanding, on the 2nd of January 2017, this couple started the year in a big way as they hosted friends and family to a house warming in their new mansion situated in Amen estate, Lekki, Lagos. The mansion, also known as the Afin (palace), has 7 en-suite bedrooms, 5 lounges, 7 bathrooms, 4 balconies/terraces and a 2 room self-contained BQ. Among the guests at the house warming were: Falz The Bahd Guy, DJ Spinall, Toke Makinwa, Funke Kuti, Tara Durotoye, Kate Henshaw and many more.

Story by:

Ezenwa Ngozi Abidemi (Zeecaah)

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Febuary 2017

THE TRUCE AGREEMENT

here are so many ways to be a rat in my house and I know you know them already, since you have settled down quite nicely. In your greed, just like Lot, when Abraham lovingly offered him the land on the right or the left, you have chosen the juicier part (land flowing with milk and honey)…in your case though, Stockfish and bread areas of the land. But just like Abraham, I am kind and I have decided to tell you a few things on how not to be a rat in my house. I have given up. Fighting hasn’t helped us. I’ve tried severally. Remember those days when we waged war, seven days and seven nights. I kept vigil. I shudder to think. I’ve decided to call a truce. You stay on your own and I’ll stay on my own, agreed? I think I hear you say ‘‘Thank God”. Indeed he is your God, because he made everything and he said, “It is good.” So, listen carefully so that we may live in peace henceforth. As a rat in my house, you may not come out in plain view when I am watching a block- buster movie in the evening, on TV. I’m inclined to compare the voices of the actors with your sounds and I don’t like to be mean that way. And definitely do not come out when I’m writing or typing — it distorts my imagination and I end up writing things like I’m writing now. You may not eat of (the tree of knowledge of good and evil) things like certificates, my Agege bread, the Danish Cookies meant for visitors and of course old Yam (you may eat New Yam). Wait Oga, my certificates are no-go areas if you’re looking for something

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A LETTER TO MY OWN RATS to chew. Do you notice the pile of old newspapers under the kitchen cupboard? Yes… that one.... It’s for you. It’s not very nutritious? Well…pity that! You may not hold meetings in my room when I’m asleep. That point where it sounds like you say ”O ratoo Kwenu” and your comrades reply “Yaa”, grates on my nerves, and by the way ‘big Tom’ sits up in his cot and looks around in pleasant bewilderment like he’s wondering where you’ve been. I cannot rouse myself from my sweet slumber to pat him back to sleep…There is work at 8.00am. You will not come out in full view of visitors. They may not understand. Screwing up their noses in feigned disgust, as if they do not harbour your relatives in their houses; they want me to believe they do not even know what you’re called. Spare me the embarrassment of trying to explain your presence, will you? And as long as the visitors are there, tell your kids to quit their squabbling! You may not hold kitchen parties when I’m out, in case I come back with a visitor. You may not pass through the door when I’m passing. Please, show some respect. I am after all your benefactor. Do I hear you smirk? Do not ever (ever) try to die in a hidden place. I, as you know, will never try to kill you on purpose, but once in a while I get these overzealous house helps who claim to know just the trick to annihilate your race permanently, and in your hurt and feeling of betrayal, you send one of your lowly servants to die like all these suicide bombers at the back of the cupboard; behind the freezer. I see through that particular line of action, the aim being to let us search and search for the source of such putrid

smell, while all the time wearing gas masks– even Tom. I know you feel betrayed, but it is not my fault. How do I tell the maid not to bother, that we have a pact, an agreement, you and I, without risking an awkward sidelong glance? (This oga don dey crase oooo!) By the way, I admire your calculated intelligence.You send a dispensable servant to die, while you the don, the kingpin, “the bigs boy” wriggle in ecstasy (the ecstasy of the very act guaranteed to produce offspring in lieu of your dispensable servant). Tut!Tut!…and since we’ll be bumping into each other every now and again, it’ll be nice if we were on a first name basis. My name is Michael and yours is? “Okonkwo’’? Ah…I see .If you don’t do these things, Okonkwo, we’ll be just fine and I’ll reject the next maid who seems to have that (I know just the right thing to do to rats) gleam in her eyes! Oya go to your hole, lemme head to bed.... And send my greetings to Mrs Okonkwo.

MICHAEL NGIGE

SAY NO TO DUMBNESS H ey, it’s 2017, there are a f e w things you just ha ve to stop d o ing. F or starters, thos e c r a she d se lf - e ste e m guys, tha t go a s f a r as T hanking a babe for a c c e pting the ir FB f r ie nd r e que st, O N H E R WA L L ! A nd am like , if you a r e wr iting so long a l e tter of appreciation fo r just f r ie nd r e que st on he r wa ll, wha t w i ll you do if she responds to your DM a nd e ve ntua lly a gr e e s t o date you. P lease brothe r stop tha t stupid, c onf ide nt show o f N O SE L F E ST E E M M ESHED I N DUMBNESS, it will not p a y you.

E y in, slay boys and slay c hic ks, we know your we e kly job in 2 0 16 w as to get all dresse d up like you going to shut down E sc ape and Q uilox on th e sa me night, but the n f ind your se lf a t Stargen H otel just to pose like who polio wa nts to kill tomm orw and snap rubbish r ubbish pic tur e s. Pls this is 2017, its t i m e to S ay N o To D um b ne ss. Ta ke it or le a ve , those pic tur e s y o u post on F acebook af te r f our hour s of e diting, a nd ta gg i n g of the full population of f or loc a l gove r nme nt, a r e pa r ts o f the reasons w hy the Nige r ia n e c onomy is still whe r e it is t o d ay, pls stop it. T h e truth is, there are le ve ls to this dumpne ss shit, it is oka y i f y ou only affect your s e lf dir e c tly with your dumpne ss, but i f y ou are like those very ve r y dumb a sse s tha t will spe nd n i n e m onths at the AT M ( or ATM ma c hine a s some dump p e ople call it), looking for the ir f a the r ’s he a d without simply sa y ing “ bros abeg come he lp me , I no sa bi “ , a nd the n a llowi n g somebody to stand unde r sun like ne wly r e c r uite d c or of o so ldier, hmmm... If you r e f use to r e c ie ve se nse now, the thund e r that w ill fire you, w ill be a c olla bo tr a c k by Ama dioha f t S a ngo and produced by God. A beg its 2017, please le t’s a ll Sa y No To Dumbne ss.

January2017

Febuary 2017

FO R T H E L OVE OF THOS E From the first day I accidentally bumped unto this stunning and sexy excuse for a foot wear, online, I fell in love. Matters grew worse when I discovered that the footwear was designed by Bad gal RiRi herself. I know, it’s true that when a particular fashion piece is said to be designed by a certain celebrity, it’s more often than not, a PR stunt to boost sales and the Puma Fenty Creepers might not be any different. However, whoever is responsible for the design of these Puma Fenty Creepers is such a genius as he/she managed to give the foot wear the contagious, “can never do wrong” sexiness of Rihanna. The flat sole, the comfy interior and stance the Puma Fenty Creepers gives is nothing but therapy to the legs; its very solid colour combo gives an edgy and coordinated look. The easiest way for a girl to look hella sexy and fine to me is just to hop in one of these, and all her fashion sins are forgiven. But that’s not even the best part... The footwear is absolutely uni-sexy, now that’s something.

PU MA

PUMA FENTY CREEPERS

C R E EP ER S

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PUMA FENTY CREEPERS

Febuary 2017

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Febuary 2017

“Harrysong Stupidity Made My Brand More Popular”

ittle is known about the multi talented music producer Dr Amir, even as he has a good number of hit tracks to his name. The sound of “Dr Amir on the beat” in almost every Harry Song hit single, from Ofeshe to Reegea Bules and Baba for the Girls, paints a mental picture of a “Donjazzy looking type of person, bulky and bossy. However, on listening to Dr Amir’s verse on the controversial “Samankwue” track, which had Harry Song and Timaya on it, the voice of Dr Amir on that song did not in anyway correlate with the image I had painted, in my head. Thank godness for the availability of Instagram, I went on a search rampage to put a face to the voice. The success of my research revealed a young swagged up ladies’ man, with long original dread locks, nothing like those Burna Boy and Flavour strands. I was pleased with the young face and bright smile I saw in those pictures, especially because it didnt look anything like the timid and reserved image of the regular Nigerian music producer. In his words, “ Whenever I turn up at places I have never being to before, people go like, who is this artist???, and they just get completly suprised when I introduce myself as the producer they all dance to his tune”. This assumptuon is understanable as he

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DR AMIR was once signed as a singer under Paul Play’s now defunct record label, Play Ground Entertainment. Which also housed Del B as its sound enginer. However, his career as a singer was shortlived, due to how the company’s focus was then, shifted from the music buisness, to saving Paul Play’s life. Dr Amir is an absolute enigma, the 129 minute chat we had with him was not nearly enough to cover his life and career in half, as like an onion, there always a peel after another. Its two days after the the 2 hour Interview at Dr Amir’s crib at Oral Estate, Lekki, and I still have a few numbered questions I missed to ask during the interview, because

there was so much being said. However, the few important questions I managed to throw in those two hours of sitting, standing and walking around, were met with long detailed responces, answers that mirrors the broad and philosophical mind of Dr Amir, a Ph.D holder from the Ghetto University of Life. Gory details about growing up, abandoment by his biological parents, adoption by his ever loving foster parents, to his sidekicking days for Del B, and his unfortunate musical journey with his one time pal, Harry Song in the face of all the Five Star Music drama you have never heard or read about

Febuary 2017 before, were spilled from the mouth of Dr Amir into the ears of our voice recoder which he only at the end of the interview, discovered was on, and recording. Dr Amir almost regretted spilling so much truth into the recording device of “some two ratchet looking guys who claim to be reporters”, but later on, gave us his trust and preached us to go ahead and write to the world, the truth, beacuse the truth sets free. Life at Five Star Music. Did you or Del B get an official deal with Five Star Music after the progress of Limpopo? No we didn’t, it was just a family thing, it was more like a frat. Since we were conquering with Limpopo because that was our biggest break through in terms of industry recognition and all that, so since it was this group of people that made it work, there was no contract anywhere, we just thought to stick together and keep making music. The only person I think, got a contract was Harry, of which I don’t even know what his contract states, just what you heard on social media about him getting a car and all. Along the line with all that stuff going on, because I have known Harry for a long time and we had this Chemistry working together. So there was this time, one night Kcee was supposed to have a session, and I was in the studio working, but Harry came to the studio earlier and heard what I was working on, that project ended up becoming “Better Pikin”, as he heard what I was doing he liked it and told me immediately about an idea he had in his head that could work with what I was doing. We did it, it was sounding good, Kcee came around heard it, loved it, Del B too, as per family level, liked it and you know added a few spices to it that juiced it up and all, and every body there was just feeling it. At the end of the day, that was the first major work I did for Harry Song, but it wasn’t my name on the song, when released. I swallowed much

more than that during my time at Five Star Music, because I knew there were dues to pay and every dog has he’s own day.They spent good time trying to convince me not to feel robbed, or feel some certain typa way for not getting my duely deserved credit because they were building a Five Star Music brand that portrays Del B as the producer, I didn’t have a problem with that, I let that go. We still made good records together, Pull Over, I co-produced that, and Limpopo as well amongst a ton of other song I mixed and mastered for Five Star with out getting any credit on the song, but I let all that go because for me it was a building process for me. Were you getting extra financial credit for all these works that your name was being omitted from the credit section? (Laughs) Extra financial credit for omitting name ke?, have you even gotten half the credit you deserve?, my brother leave Nigeria and financial credit, if you are talking financial credit, let me ask you, even the Reegea Blues and all the hit tracks we kept doing back to back, where is the financial credit to it. Like I said earlier, Five Star was more like a frat, a family. At the time, that wasn’t a problem because we all thought each other to have one mind and one goal and love for one another. So at what point did you begin to mind about getting credit for you work? After we did Kcee’s album, which I mixed and mastered, prior to all that success, I had already done better pikin for Harry, I didn’t get the credit. I did another song again for him, Story, which my name was behind .But I was still under Del B. But after “Story”, the next level was , Kolombo, it was at Kolombo that I had to make a decision that I have to stop being an under dog, Kolombo was in 2014. In 2014 I decided wanted to be my own person and Five Star agreed that I was a different entity from Del

B. I had the talk with Del B about me being my own person and a producer, but the drama of disapproval he began to display just made decision making easier for me. The Dr Amir and the Harry Song Relationship. What was it like, working with Harry Song? If you are an industry person, or you have good ears for music, you will understand that I and Harry have this working chemistry that keeps churning out hit singles back to back. The moment I decided to create a niche for my self and get out of that Del B’s shawdow, Five Music on the other hand were having some sort of problems with with Del B, issues I can’t talk about because it not my story, so I was readily available for Five Star at the time of Del B’s exit from the camp. The first track I delivered on was Kolombo, Kolombo was already written and already produced by Black Jerzey, but due to financial back slide on the part of Five Star, Black Jerzy decided not to have nothing to do with the song, so I had to reproduce Kolombo, which I delivered on and it was successful. After that we made Ofeshe, and at that point people started to know this certain Dr Amir, as a different entity from Del B. Along the line I produced a lot of songs for Kcee as well, from “Turn by Turn” to Correct, Alkaiyda, Bureau De Changer, Baby Korrect, Talk n Do, the list is endless. In the midst of making these many songs we made Reegea Blues. That song was a blessing for everybody, from the Artist to the label to me the producer. The song became a virus in less than a month. Working with Harry then was like making magic, we understood each other so very much, it was a beautiful sight to behold, a beautiful relationship that gave birth to some thing as big has Reegea Blues.

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Febuary 2017 Tell us, how financially big was Reegea Blues. With the success of Reegea Blues, money started coming in real quick, not even from that endorsement with Gala, that was much later. 2 to 3 weeks to the release of Reegea Blues, Harry Song’s schedule bacame so tight, like he was booked, every Sunday from that month to the end of December. In six months Reegea Blues made around 70million naira give and take, from shows and all other places, the song was mad. Its too hard to understand that a song that garnered as much as 70million naira in revenue, did not in anyway bless the producer of the same track with financial blessings? My brother I am telling you that if you are not in the system you will not know what is going on, but in the industry people know that this Artist-Producer thing is a problem, always was, especially when it comes to the issue of sharing money or something like that. I have to state that, all the while I was sidekicking and underdogging for Del B, I did not cast my worries on getting any credit, financial or public recognition, I just wanted to grown into an house hold brand, so I was just focused on doing that. However, with the success of many Harry Song hits, which I single handedly produced and the then mighty success of Reegea Blues, I thought it time to begin the necessary proceedings to getting my name out, one of which is PR, and one needs good money for good PR as you must know. As a family, with Kcee at the head, I approached Harry like, pls ooo I need some money to help me do my thing, and he just started behaving like the selfish dick head he really is. It hurt me so much, seeing how I have done so much for you for free, from better pikin till now, even Kcee bought Del B a car and a few other insentives when Limpopo started bringing in proceeds, but Reegea Blues was bringing much more than Limpopo, and am not even asking for

a car, just a few hundred of thoushand naira, which was nothing to you, to help my brand and push my career. Harry refused blatanly and even told me to leave if I wanted, that he could make more hit records by himself without my help. All these happend because I begged him for money from what we worked together, money I deserved and more. It was not like I wasn’t making money on my own, because with the little my name was out there, my client base grew, and I had fell out after he showed me his real side because I approached him from the money angle. All these happend a month after the realese of Reegea Bules. What exactly would you have preferred to get from your time at Five Star Music, or from Harry Songs, that you didn’t get? You can’t tell me you want to boost a producer’s image, and you don’t do anything to show it. In media, visibility is everything. You have a D’banj who, put Donjazzy out there, in every video, we kept on seeing his face, they were almost like a 2man singing crew. D’banj had all the charisma, he used that to build a Donjazzy brand that had a huge acceptance from the public. If Harry was to have done half of what D’banj did for Donjazzy, for I wouldn’t have ever gone to anybody to cry for lack of publicity. But that was not the case. Life after Five Star Music. If you left Five Star Music one month after the release of Reegea Blues, when then did you do Wigili with Harry Songs, Kcee and Skiibi? Atfer I left, Harry was enjoying the success from the Reegea Bules I made for him, so he was thinking that he could do it by himself that he didn’t need me, so I wished him luck and left. In Febuary of 2016, after Harry had tried a number other top notch producers in the industry, and made some very wack songs which, the management of Five Star made sure,

did not see the light of day because of how wack they were. I was reached out to, they first came to me through Orezi, who everybody knew as my real G from day 1, to come back to the camp and help Harry Song make sense of his career. After alot of said and done, I agreed, I went back to Five Star, that was when you started hearing good Harry Song tracks like Baba for the Girls, in the process I worked with them on Kcee’s album and Harry Song’s album which I mixed and mastered as well. During my second stay at Five Star Music, I knew for sure that my days were numbered so I decided to maximize my short stay there, at least lunch my career as an artist back. That was how we made Wigili, I decided to have the top three Five Star Artists on the song for market acceptance, and it I was a good one. Wigili was not all I did as a singer, we made Samankwue too, which was a major track, which I had Harry Songs and Timaya on. Why then are there two Samankwue tracks released online, one owned by you, the other by Harry Songs. Thank God you noticed that all by your self, Samankwue just tells you and everyone else the kind of person Harry Songs really is. Samankwue was a song done and owned by me, featuring Harry and Timaya. We made Samankwue during my short return to Five Star after I have complained so very much about how bad my PR was, so they had Timaya and Harry on the song to help my PR, get my name out there and all. However, Harry left an I too, left again and finally, before the song was put out to the public. But for all the good works I had done for Five Star, I think they figured they do me a solid by releasing the track in my name and the name of my record label D A Records, which I had opened after I left, the last time. Also as a result of a few turn out of events, Harry left Five Star to open some wack music company like that. And the reason why I call his company wack is, after

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Febuary 2017 the release of Samnkwue under my imprint, by Five Star, which by the way was a big pleasant suprise to me. Harry went ahead to release the same track under his new music company, which was a copycat of my Samnkwue, without anything so much as an addition, all he did was remove my part of the song, changed the name to “Samankwue - Harry Song ft Timaya” and then he quickly made a video. Timaya was confused, calld me like, blood whats going on, I explained and told him it was alright that he could the vidoe with Harry. It was no biggie. That is the reason why you sometimes hear or see two Samnkwue on radio or online. However I can assure you now that if you just Google the word Samnkwue now, the first three pages of Google search will bring out the original version of the song which is mine. Harry’s stupidity made my brand more popular.

thing as big as Reegea Blues and you rob me of what I deserve, I am not stupid, I wish him the best with that, let see how far that takes him.

With the bad blood between you and Harry Songs, can you ever make music with him again? Harry Song left Five Star, towards the ending of last year I think, according to what he’s saying, the reason why he left was because he’s contract expired and he didn’t want to renew, but I suspect its much more than that. On leaving Five Star Music, he started his Alterplate Music Company, which he claims is a go to company for everything from, songing writing to music production to videp directing and some other rubbish he said. In his own mind, he was thinking I’d come and work with him on his whatever, after what he has done to me??? He tried to reach out to me again, but I did not give hime the chance at all, I did not only block his line from calling me, I blocked all his friends that are not mine. If you fool me once and then fool me again, what do tou think people will call me? I am a boss of my own I have my own record label, DA Records, and this is our year I am not about to go under anybody, much less Harry. I and Harry have made history together like, how can we do some-

Do you think you will be well accepted by the public as a singer/ performer? Firstly, I was an artist for quite a long time before the turn out of events that lead me into the adventure of being a music producer. However I did not loose that my artistic touch, call it swag or flare, I still got it. The girls go like “wow”, when i swerve by, even with my now level of popularity that can’t be matched with the likes of Flaz and other people. Truth is, if we turn up for an event all cleaned up on the red carpet, even with alot of people not knowing the face behind the name Dr Amir, you will see that the red carpet cameras will be trying to get a glimpse of me more than they would of somebody like, any of your so called big artist. Not because am bigger than them in the singing department, no, but because of my carriage and personality. I see a lot of producers all timid looking and reserved like that is a uniform we must all wear. I am different and I have studied the industry well enough to know what people want to see and hear, mid year 2016, it was

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Why did Del B leave Five Star? Like I said its his story not mine. Okay, what do think of Five Star as a Record label, without Del B, Dr Amir and Harry Song? Five Star is still family, we can always hang out and laugh at out stupidity of yesteryears, I believe change and growth are both very important. Everybody had to go and become their own boss. I have DA records, Del B is doing his thing and Harry of course is doing him. It absolutely normal, Five Star still has Kcee, Skiibi and a few others that can still make them proud. Five Star is family. Being His Own Boss.

Pana all over the place, today every body is ‘Mad Over You”, that’s how fast things change, and we are well prepared to adapt to those changes and effect some changes our selves. Tell us about DA records. DA records is my Company, DA is Dr Amir for short, am sure you must know that already. We do music production, we have worked with a lot of industry heavyweights from Seyi Shay to Patoranking to Orezi, the list is long, even of the level of mixing and mastering. Also DA records is the platform where my career as an Artist will be lunched. Starting up this company, like many good things in life, was not easy at all. I had to take some risks, I sold my car at some point, and did a few thing I don’t want to go into their details. However we are here an we thank God for where we are going. Personal Life. So little is known about you, we will like to know everything we can cover in the remaing time we have, about your past. For starters what is your real name? My real name is biological name is Gbenga Adebola, at some point I was dumped by parents and I was adopted. The family that adopted me are Uhrobos, so on adopting me as thier kid they changed my name to Henry Tonwe, so I now made it a compound name so I don’t loose my background. Now my name is Henry Tonwe-Adebola. How then did you get the name Dr Amir? I was raised in the north, so there was this particular girl in secondary school, an hausa muslim girl, that always calls me Amir. She said that Amir is the arabic meaning of Henry is Amir, both of which means prince or ruler. And I actually liked the name so the name just stuck. The Dr came in from Five Star. At the point when they lost Del B, in Kcee’s words, “your presence here hasn’t given me

Febuary 2017 one reason to miss Del B. So my work rate and talent resulted to the Dr added to my name. What was growing up like? Growing up was quite an experience, the happeings of the first five to seven years of my life is quite a story. Firstly, my mom wasn’t legally married to my dad in the first place. My biological father had a wife and some children in the UK but came to Nigeria for probably buisness or something else alone, and met my mom. One thing led to another, and I emerged. Around when I was five, my Dad let go of my mom but kept me. At some point as time went on, one afternoom he just picked his things and left. Left me alone in a big house, without telling anybody, not even his workers and house staff where he was off to. And that was the last I heard of him till date. I was then taken in by one of his female workers who later turned out to be my foster mom. At first she put me up to stay with her Uncle for the main time, till my Dad returns, however she and her husband, my foster dad who is now late, officially adopted me, when they discovered that my biological father wasn’t coming back. Do you think you were negatively affected by not growing up with your biological parents? I don’t think so, my foster parents who are my world, filled very well into the void created by the absence of my biological parents. They did an exceptional job. I didn’t lack in love and care and affection, they gave me all of that. I see alot of people today who are way older than me, who grew up in the care of their biological parents, but still can not measure up to me with any yardstick life would want to use in comparing us. Do you know that, during my time in primary and secondary school, I was the only one amongst my foster siblings that attended a private school, can you beat that? It is true, at some point the thought of not belonging there crept

in, and each time it does my parents gave me reasons to me to kick out those thoughts. I had a privileged childhood because of those two beautiful God put me into their hands. Did this relative prefential treatment from your parents create any form of discord between you and your foster siblings? Ahhh, my brothers and my sisters are my besties. My number one fans. They love me and I love them back like crazy. There was no single space for bad blood between us, normal sibling quarrels are absolutely normal during our growing up days, beyond that, we all are super cool even till now. Do you have a friendly relationship with your biological parents now? Well, my biological father is still AWOL to me, even has we speak. But I am in a talking, chatting relationship with my biological mom, we talked sometime this week am we good now, we all are. Others Is your hair natural? Of course it is, I have had it on for 8 years now, it was way longer than this but I cut and style it has the feelings lead. My hair is hundred percent real. Do you have plans to pull a Timaya on us ( i.e cut your dreadlocks) any time soon? Ahh, e go hard ooo. Unless I get paid to do so, but to just wake up one morning and cut my hair, hmmm that’s almost impossible ooo. I like the hair the ladies love the hair too. One of the first compliments I get is, hey you are cute, I like your hair, make I con go cut am?? No ooo. Lol

Dr Amir, if you are given a contract by Mavin records now, to dump your DA records company, to and work for them as an artist, will you do it? Hmmm I respect Donjazzy a lot oo, but his my colleague in the business, my senior colleague but a colleague non the less. Am not saying that I can not dump my record company for anything ooo, if Def Jam comes calling with a lot of dollars, especially with the dollar price now (laughs), I don loss be that ooo, but for Mavin, I don’t think so. Maybe if they can pay in big dollars I might reconsider. Dr Amir, we want you to give your two cents on the ongoing twitter wat between Ghana and Nigeria over one sound influencing the other. Firstly, music is music. If we think very well, African jungle music was first influenced by the western world music, with the invention of these musical technology we enjoy now. Here in Africa, we all have one sound, we play each other’s music and dance with one another, it is absolutely wrong for one person to stand up and claim ownership and influencer of a particular sound, may be because you started it. Music should just unite us, you bring segregation with comments and tweets like that. Its Nigeria and Ghana, it should be one love, let’s just enjoy the music. One last word on the Headies snub. Brother Headies is old school, I will rather not talk about that, all we want to do is conquer this year. Reward for the best is not in a plaque. Thank you Dr Amir for your time. Its was an hounor, thanks for having us.

Interviewed by

CHUKWUEMEKA CHINYERE

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Febuary 2017

TOP 10 CELEBRITY FEUDS OF 2016

(1) DonJazzy vs Olamide: It is no surprise that we are kicking off this list with some “headies drama”. As we all must know by now, the “Next Rated” award category is the most coveted category of the night, for many reasons which include the prize car to be won by the winner of the category and bla bla bla. The nominations for the 2015 next rated category of the “Headies Award” can be said to be the most competitive since the Year 2010, having Wizkid, Ice Prince, Olamide and Tiwa Savage slugging it out for the plaque and the car. In 2015, the likes of Lil Kesh, Kiss Daniel, Koredo Bello, Reekado Banks and Cynthia Morgan were all nominated for the award. Days before the award ceremony, Davido endorsed Lil Kesh to win the award via his twitter page and further advised Lil Kesh to “pull a Kanye” on the organizers if they robbed him of the award. However, it was Olamide Baddo, the YBNL boss that took the advice to heart and managed to pull “half a Kanye”, as pulling a full blown out “Kanye” will mean inter-

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2016 was a year of back to back clap backs and jabs. Celebrities kept taking swipes at each other; there was no dull moment at all on social media as there was always something to gossip and argue about. The year 2016 was the only year in the history of Nigerian entertainment that witnessed two Headies Award ceremonies. One happened on the first day of January 2016 for the year of 2015; the second went down on the 23rd of December 2016 for the year of 2016. And trust the Headies Awards to always bring drama along.

rupting the award presentation like a Big Bad Wolf. But Olamide on the other hand had to wait to accompany Adekule Gold, one of his singers who was being presented with the “Best Alternative Song” award to the stage before he could steal the moment, say some gibberish about Lil Kesh dropping back to back hits, cursing out at everybody for not giving Lil Kesh the award, spilling some alcohol on the stage, and walking off, oh! I almost forgot the part where he threw the mic on the stage floor. Hmmm drama, we knew we hadn’t heard the last of it, but nobody,even Olamide did not expect a reply from the Mavin camp “FedEx” fast. As soon as Oga Donjazzy got on stage to receive some award, ( I keep forgetting its name and reason for presentation) he like Baddo, stole the moment. Instead of thanking his friend Ayo Animashaun for dashing him a 21- karat gold crafted plaque in public for doing nothing in particular,he called “ebgon baddo” out and said, “if it’s the car you want, come and take it”(i.e the kia suv the “Headies Award”

organizers give to the winner of the next rated award, six months after they have given them the plaque). That statement sounded like music to many, especially to Di’ja who started jumping all over the place like somebody that ‘piss is catching’. Olamide was particularly pissed about Donjazzy calling his name out on a world stage, and for Donjazzy, not acting his age, but as he couldn’t go back on stage to give a second jab, he took to his “twitter fingers” and started lashing out at Donjazzy, Dbanj, and some of Donjazzy’s ancestors on twitter, about how he(Olamide) rules the mainland of Lagos state and how Donjazzy, who was born and somewhat grew up in Ajegunle, was not safe to step his foot on the mainland, from then henceforth. Lucky enough for us all, African’s Richest Man, Aliko Dangote, to the surprise of many, stepped in and called both Olamide and Donjazzy to their senses. (I’m not sure whom he called first, but am guessing he called Baddo first to go and beg Donjazzy before calling Donjazzy to ask him to accept Baddo’s apology, or may be not). Alh. Dangote squashed the beef between them as quickly as it takes one to kill a mosquito drunk with blood, and made them(Olamide and Donjazzy) take pictures shaking hands, had them posted online to show the world and their fans that the “beef has finished”, but trust Nigerians na! That did not end the argument, it is still on who really deserved the 2015 “next rated award” and the headies. Was it Reekado Banks, Lil Kesh or Kiss Daniel? some dust, got some resounding response from Davido on IG and some shout outs to Dele Momodu on Humble Smith’s “Osinachi” and Falz “Bahd’s Baddo Baddest”.

Febuary 2017 (2) Davido vs Dele Momodu: As we were managing to calm down from the heat the Donajzzy and Olamide feud created, Davido and his family came at loggerheads with Dele Momodu, the publisher of Ovation magazine, and his niece Sophie Momodu who happens to be Davido’s baby mama. “It is not by force to go to dubai”, Davido kept telling people but they wouldn’t listen. Sophie, who is 4 years older than Davido,is also a party freak, a chimney, and an extravagant spender. She lived with Davido for several months in his house in Lekki and eventually got pregnant after a lot of failed attempts of course. The matter was kept on lowkey; from the time of the pregnancy and delivery to the very early days of their baby’s life. However, hell broke loose when Davido and his Family wanted to take Imade (davido’s daughter) with them on a vacation without her mother who they thought was a nuisance. Dele Momodu as a well respected journalist pulled some Immigration plugs that made it impossible for the Adeleke’s to make it to Dubai in the custody of Davido’s cute little girl.

(3) Linda Ikeji vs Wizkid: Many Nigerian artists and celebs dislike Linda Ikeji, probably because she makes so much money talking and gossiping about them while they work, even at night to get what they have. Wizkid is no exception to the above mentioned crop of celebrities and he has being showing everybody who cares to see, how much he doesn’t like Linda. A good Example is an incident in December 2015 when Wizbaba came for Linda Ikeji and her family on twitter because she wrote a story on how Wizkid collected 8 million naira from students of North Amer-

Long story short, the low key rift made its way to Dele Momodu’s Instagram page, raised some dust, got some resounding response from Davido on IG and some shout outs to Dele Momodu on Humble Smith’s “Osinachi” and Falz “Bahd’s Baddo Baddest”.

ican University for a show and managed to find himself elsewhere but Cotonou, Benin Republic for the show. Later in April, Aunty Linda told us a very juicy and again correct gist, that the house “Baba Nla” bought in 2015 for around 200m naira according to reports, was actually a rented apartment, and that was even not the best part, the best part was that, he (Wizkid Ayo Balogun) had at the time of her report, been served with a quit notice. Hmmm, that was how Wizkid came to Instagram and started to ‘change it’ for Linda oooo. He even went as far as threatening to

shii his 12 year abi 11 year old cousin for Linda ooo. Admist all the IG ranting, Wizkid did not deny or admit the news in any way oo. Ohh, I almost forgot the part where Wizkid mentioned that his manager (Sunday Aremu I guess) had docked Linda and left her unkempt in a hotel room because her “nani” smelt like something that is BV infested. And I’m like, a whole Linda Ikeji, BV smelling nani? For real? Linda Ikeji could have anything ooo, but she wasn’t about to swallow anything given to her by Wizzy, especially the part that an 11 year old is going to beat her up, like not getting married at her age isn’t bad enough. So, what did she do? She carried the matter like those “I too know” primary 5 girls who report to the head master. That is how Aunty Linda carried small matter to go and report to Commissioner of Police ooo. Wizkid called it play play when they invited him the first time to come and answer some questions until he was served a notice to make himself available at the CP’s office or...? Long story short, Wizkbaba made an appearance, apologized to Aunty Linda and signed an undertaken that no harm from his camp will come to her, and she accepted the apology. But Linda Ikeji wasn’t about to pose for some Donjazzy and Olamide type of “we don settle am” pictures with Wizkid. Even the one that his manager managed to take during the truce meeting, Linda insisted that he should delete it.

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Febuary 2017 (4) Peter vs Paul and Jude Okoye (Psquare) In 2014, before the drop of their “Double Trouble” album,there was a brewing rift between the Okoye brothers. Rumors had bit then that, the twin brothers were in disagreement on which songs were to make the final cut for the album. The rift then, metamorphosised into a break up rumor. However many didn’t take the story serious until Peter held his traditional marriage ceremony to his long time heartthrob Lola, in Portharcot without hisbelder brother,Jude, in attendance. Although his twin brother Paul made an appearance, their body language in those wedding pictures that hit the net, wired trouble signals to all their fans. But the troubled waters were calmed by some big Nigerian names who intervened with words of wisdom. 2014 passed,and 2015 followed, we thought we had heard the last of a fight at Square Villa until March 2016 show up. We all know that the whole wahala always starts with Peter throwing some shades on social media, but last year had a twist in the plot. This time the 4year old brewing fracas came to full public eye with Paul @ rudeboypsquare coming on social media to list some classic Psquare hit track he single handedly wrote. We all started woendering what all th a was about. Then I my guess was that, Jude their elder brother and manager wants Paul to get more money because he does all the singing and working while Peter just lingers around pretending to dance, and reecho what ever Paul sings. Few days later, I found out how wrong my assumptions were, as Peter came on Instagram to make it known to all that the 2016 wahala was a residue of the problems they have being having for the last four years, which is, he longer wants Jude as their manager and he wants more structure in their

business. Peter didn’t stop at that ooo, he spills more tea, like Jude never for one day sold any of his property much less his car, to help fund their career, as earlier claim by Jude. Peter also in an interview, complained that he wasn’t getting as much respect from both of his brothers as he should, for example, when ever Paul does a collabo with any artiste, he will appear in the video to make the Psauare name complete, but when ever he does a song with any artiste Paul will blatantly refuse to appear in the video thus making him less of a singer. He at one point refused to show up for the video Flavour’s “sexy rosey” remix, only to be begged insistently by Flavour to please make an appearance. However, as he has seen no end to the disrespect and lack of organizational structure, he put his foot to the ground and decided not to make an appearance for Tiwa Savage’s “Get it together”, thus the release of the single as “Tiwa Savage ft Paul Okoye”. They went ahead to enjoy solo careers under their individual record labels, P Classic for Peter and Rudeboy records for Paul.(for the record those names a

so wack.) Hmmmm how long did last??? Well It lasted long enough for Peter to sign two artistes to his P Classic records, released like two dry songs and then moved out of the Square Villa to some nice place in Banana Island. Rudeboy on the other hand wasn’t idle, he signed and did a song with Muno, relapsed some songs too, scored a feature with the Mavin queen and cried in the studio while recording “Call Heaven”. Thank goodness, it wasn’t too late before these brothers realised that WIZKID did not go to America only to snap selfie with demChris Brown and co. He was also coming for their top spot on the list of Africans richest entertainers if they refuse to given their self brain. If you ask me, I’d say it was boredom that was doing them nothing more, they should better know that dropping “Bank Alerting” hit track every last quarter of the year, together as Psauare is what God made you for, nothing more. Going solo is not your calling abeg.

(5) Skales and Osagie Osarenkhoe: Skales and his manager, Osagie Osarenkhoe were embattled after they were accused of fraud by Baseline Music, Skales’ record label, which has been his home for the past two years. The stories were first simple. They were made public from Osagie’s twitter, where she didn’t make her point clear, but she passed along a message. Osagie was nestled in between two police officers, who took her to their station. Her crime was not initially announced. What was made public was that the arrest had a lot to do with Skales and Baseline music. As the story spread like wildfire, a lot came in. Osagie’s arrest was headline news due to her popularity and standing in the music industry. Osagie was once the manager of Wizkid, and has a string of artistes on her roaster

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Febuary 2017 including Skales, GGB dancers, Ketchup and a lot of others. She also consults for a number of others, serving as A&R for many in the game. The arrest of such a figure doesn’t deserve a footnote, it’s headline league, baby! Slowly the stories seeped in. A letter of the petition which enabled her arrest was released to the media, and it read of a lot of accusations. In between everything, here are the 7 core points of it. Here are 7 things we learnt from the petition. 1. Skales signed a 5 year contract with Baseline Music. “On the 11th of July, 2014 the company entered into an Artiste and Record Company Multiple Right Agreement (the “Contract”) between itself and Raoul Njeng Njeng (also known as Skales) for the provision by Skales of exclusive recording services to the Company for a period of 5 (five) years.” 2. The contract gave Baseline Music an entitlement of 70% of profit brought in by Skales. “Under the terms of the Contract, Skales assigned to the company all copyright and other rights or interests throughout the world in all sound recordings made by Skales prior to or during the term of the Contract. The Contract further provided that the Company shall be entitled to 70% (seventy percent) of the gross receipts received by Skales from performance and tours and brand endorsements during the term of the Contract.” 3. Skales introduced Osagie to Baseline Music. “Skales introduced Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe to the Company as his manager and stated her duties to include inter alia tour bookings, strategy and promotion. In order to avoid a situation where accounts will be disputed, the Company set in place a procedure for the remittance of monies received from performances, tours and brand endorsements involving Skales.” 4. Skales earns 30% of the money he makes. “The procedure implemented at the beginning of the Contract was the payment of all monies received in pursuance of performances and endorsements into the Baseline account, whereupon the 30% due to Skales would be transferred to his (Skales’) account after the deduction of expenses.” “The above procedure was implemented at the beginning of the Contract and monies were remitted in the manner stated above. The Company however noticed that rather than remit monies to the Company account as agreed, Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe falsely dictat-

ed to event promoters that monies were to be paid to her personal accounts.” “In all the circumstances where monies were paid to Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe’s personal accounts, these monies were never repaid to the Company.” 5. Baseline Music claims Skales was in cahoot with Osagie. “The Company noticed that although Skales was listed as performing at various concerts, shows, tours and other events, none of the monies received from these events was remitted to the Company.” “In this regard, the Company invited Skales and his manager Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe to various meetings seeking an account and a reconciliation. At these meetings, both Skales and his manager Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe insisted that the events in question were not paid events and as such there were no monies to remit.” 6. The label claims the fraudulent act by Osagie went on for 12 months. “These dubious activities continued for a period of 12 (twelve) months wherein the Company was fraudulently deprived of its legitimate earnings by the said Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe as payments made for performances were paid directly into her account in violation of the procedure set up for payments at the beginning of the Contract.” “The Company in March of 2016 decided to catalogue some of the paid shows, performances, concerts and tours wherein Skales performed and the monies were fraudulently converted for personal use by the said Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe.” “By the Company’s estimation, from the aforementioned events, Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe has fraudulently converted the sum of N7,474,000 from this brief period without accounting to the Company or making payments first into the Company’s accounts as stipulated in the Contract. This is without factoring all the other performances, tours and shows where no remittance was made from the period January 2015 to April 2016.” 7. The record company set a trap for Osagie. “In order to properly document this fraud and catch Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe in the act of theft, the Company created an email address, and sent an email to Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe requesting the performance of Skales at an event in California on the 2nd June, 2016.” .“In the email communication, Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe requested the sum of $5,000 (five thousand US dollars) for the performance as well as one business class ticket, one economy

class ticket and two hotel rooms in a 4-star hotel. (please find enclosed herewith the email communication between Skales and Femi George with respect to the said performance) On 18th May, 2016 the first tranche of $2,500 (two thousand five hundred US dollars) representing 50% (fifty percent) of the performance fee demanded by Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe was wired.” 8. Skales was paid N5,000,000 for his MTN Pulse brand ambassador role. “The Company in 2015 entered into an agreement with Upfront and Personal, for the engagement of Skales to appear in TV commercials, billboards websites and other social media on behalf of MTN Pulse. As per the terms of the agreement, Upfront and Personal was to pay to the Company the sum of N5,000,000 (five million naira) in two tranches of N2,500,000 (two million five hundred thousand naira each).” “The said Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe representing that she was authorized by the Company obtained the sum of N5,000,000 (five million naira) due to the Company without being so authorized. Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe has failed after repeated demands to repay the said N5,000,000 (five million naira) fraudulently obtained.” “Given the above circumstances, the Company believes that a fraud has been committed against it by Teresa Osagioduwa Osarenkhoe. The Company hereby appeals to your good office to investigate this matter in the interest of fairness and justice.” There are also new reports surfacing every minute. This morning, Music business veteran Wale Ewedemi, who also close links to Baseline Music revealed on his Instagram that Skales and his manager have been remanded in police custody, where they have admitted to fraud. “Skales and His Manager Osagie have been remanded in Police Custody after confessing to various charges of fraud and diversion of Baseline Records funds”, Wale wrote. “They are currently assisting the Police in unraveling the extent of the fraud. Running into tens of millions of naira. “At the inception of the contract, he was given a fully furnished luxury apartment in Lekki in a gated estate, with a brand new customized SUV. And a multimillion Naira sign on Fee. “The record label also gave him a free hand to select and run his brand, supported by a multimillion naira corporate expense account. “Skales behavior has reduced the appetite of the Record label to assist other young talents to achieve their full potential .”

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Febuary 2017

(6)Davido vs kaffy: I personally think that if Davido and Kaffy were to be staged for a boxing or “anything goes” match, Kaffy would give OBO a very good dance lesson with nothing but her fist; a beating so black and blue that Davido will gain so much weight only on his face. We will think he is Specil Ed’s twin brother. But thank goodness, the Kaffy Vs Davido beef ended with throwing shades instead of close range blows. So, according to Kaffy, Davido or someone from his camp, contracts dancers and refuses to pay or he cuts the budget, treating dancers with disrespect when the time comes to pay. In the words of Kaffy: ‘‘The One Africa Music Concert in New York is the concert at which Davido disrespected the dancers. While he was climbing to the stage, he told the dancers that he didn’t need them anymore. It wasn’t at the 3- thrones concert. People got that mixed up. They were disrespected right there, by the side of the stage when they were about to climb on set. By the time he heard the uproar of the audience, he said “I no need dancers; I no need dancers’’ and just ran past them. I spoke to Kamal (Davido’s manager) and tried to find out what exactly was going on. This was after I had been contracted from Lagos, because i was the official choreographer for the concert. My Job was to contact all artists and ask them if they needed dancers. It was not an imposition. If they needed the service, they’d let me know and then pay the dancers. That was the deal. Before I left for America, they had already acknowledged their request for dancers. By the time we got to the back stage/his green room at the Music fest, they were still looking up to me, asking me, Kaffy, we hope you’ve got our back. I Said I did; I’ve got costumes and everything from Nigeria, you guys are good to go. All that was done, so

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why would you say you don’t need the dancers when you are about to climb on stage? Now the full story of that was, at the end of the day the dancers went on to dance for him, because I had spoken to the manager and told him that whether they danced or not, they had to be paid ‘something’. They’d already been contracted to dance. The Manager was obviously confused and also shocked about the issue. The Ladies decided that since they were going to dance for the next act, they would start changing and the Davido issue was to be handled later. Now, as the girls were changing for the other artist, Kamal came back and said they needed to go ahead. I challenged him, why the sudden change of mind? Kamal said Davido wanted them for the first song; in fact, he needed on stage almost immediately. They eventually danced for him. Now, I have been pushing them for the payment of these dancers for the past 3 months, since July. I even had to pay the money myself. These are American dancers. I have never worked with them before. One music fest gave me the opportunity to work with them. The issues I’ve had with some dancers are based on these kinds of disappointments. Where artists, clients or people will contract us and at the end of the day, default on payment or change the budget at the last minute. Imagine dancer wey I tell you say you go collect 15k? 2 days before the show, client cuts the budget and i would have to pay you 10k? Why won’t you think that I’m the one cheating you? To cover it up and prevent any lawsuit since American dancers have a union and could put either myself or Davido in trouble, I paid the dancers out of my own pocket. Months after, I have not been paid back. Just before this second one music fest, I went to the star mega jam in Abuja with Darey Art Alade. Davido was

there and i felt it was the perfect moment to remind them of the payment. I spoke to his manager who apologized and said it was because they were traveling a lot and had forgotten to pay. He said: ‘you will not need to remind me, by the time you get to Lagos tomorrow, you will get an alert; we can’t pay you in dollars’. I said well, I paid the dancers in dollars so you will have to give me the equivalent of what the dollar rate is now else I won’t be able to get my value back. This was our agreement. Two weeks after this conversation, nothing happened. I was at a video shoot in Ikeja when I sent him a message again, requesting to know how far with the payment. An hour later, I got a message saying Davido blasted him and said; “I told you I don’t need dancers. You keep pinning them on me. I’m not going to pay any money”. I questioned this development and asked why this was coming three months after the show. Now, DNMT boss Michael is the official choreographer for the 3- Thrones concert but I’m officially for Tiwa Savage and was involved in the 3 thrones concert. I coordinated Tiwa’s performance and went for rehearsals to guide dancers that were going to work for Tiwa. While I was there, I saw Michael putting up rehearsals for Davido and Phyno. I witnessed the hard work of those dancers. Only for me to hear a day ago from dancers that were present that Davido did not turn up for rehearsals. But a day before the event, he came and was rude to everyone. “Who are this people, I told you I don’t need dancers” he was reported to have said. This was what I reacted to. My dancers in New York, whom he initially did not allow to dance, then refused to pay when they finally did at his request, also, the fact that he disrespected dancers at their rehearsals, after weeks of effort. Still, he did not show up. If you know you do not want dancers, why don’t you strike it off your contract from the very beginning? Why allow these dancers to work so hard and then tell them off or talk to them rudely at the last minute? More than one of the dancers present there said Davido also said that if dancers must dance on his stage, he would mark out a perimeter that they must not cross. That got me so pissed. People reached out to me to address this. If I’m lying, let Davido or Kamal come out to say Kaffy, it did not happen this way. Let them come out and face me”. Wow! I think that pretty much summarizes it.

Febuary 2017

(7) Runtown vs Eric Manny Records.

Artist vs Record Label rift is almost a norm in our entertainment industry, still my heart sprinted in sad anxiety when the news of a brawl that might lead to a possible break up between Runtwon and his record label Eric Manny, shortly after the release of his debut album “Ghetto University”, reached my ear. At first I thought the rift between Runtown and Eric Manny was as a result of an unresolved disagreement in the sharing formula of the proceeds from his then new Adidas endorsement deal. However, after some questions asked, we discovered that

the discord between both Runtown and his record label was as a result of an intruding party in the centre of their affairs. Bungo(or bingo, as some might prefer to call him) is a independent show promoter, who knows very well how to do his job. Bungo was brought in to the Runtown-Eric Manny equation, to come make things smoother, how ever his presence and greed brought discord and rancour. Before the “sound god’s” Mad Over You days, Runtown had a low town out of event bookings, which transcended into low income for him and the record label. To this effect Bungo was brought into the

(8) Oritse Femi VS Quilox Bouncers.

“Since the days of Dammy Krane vs Wizkid Quilox ﬁght, the club life at Quilox suffers violence and the violent must club by force”. The above quotation is the story of Oritse Femi, the “Double Wahala” crooner, on the fateful night in the month September. According to scoop, we got for our snitches at Quilox, Shinna Peller ordered his bouncers to bounce a certain crop of celebrities from the VIP section of the club, because all they do is come en-masse, with one full naon, occupy space made for 10 people and then pop only two to three boles of Rose, thereby occupying space meant for big unknown spenders like Bobrisky’s bae who is ready to pop as much as 15 to 25 boles in one night. On the night of 12 September 2016, Oritse Femi stopped by at Quilox to do some turning up and winding down. He walked in to the place like

he owned it and tried to gain access into the VIP section of the club without knowing that the OGA AT THE TOP had changed parade. Having received authority from above, the bouncer decided to do some power show to some of the celebrities that have being ‘forming’ Jagaban for them since the days of Elijah, and Oritse Femi was on hand to be their ﬁrst scape goat for real. One of the bouncers stopped Oritse Femi from gaining access into the VIP section of the club, in the most disrespectful manner anyone can imagine, without so much as an explanation. This angered Oritse Femi as this bouncer’s unruly attitude must have taken him on a trip down memory lane, an unpleasant trip back to the days before his “Double Wahala” days, when he was being bounced from road side clubs like Buzzua. Oritse Femi started to create a scene which drew the attention of many, including Sound Sultan who was chilling with a friend in VIP. As Sound Sultan came out to calm the situation and to do the much needed job of a paciﬁer, Oritse Femi tried to make a quick

picture to do the kick ass job of bringing more shows for Runtown, which he did very well. Runtown was getting more shows, everybody was happy making more money, including Delly, the owner or Eric Manny records, so Bungo was obliged to hang around a little longer. However, as Bungo hung around a little longer so did his greed for more money grow. He started to book Runtown for shows without the consent of Eric Manny execs, he gave Runtown more percentage than he is originally entitled to according to his contracting with the record label, to buy his cooperation and cause trouble like Lil Kesh and Ycee. We all know the rest na, okay “fo all yalls dat didn’t ye ze gist, lemme gee a quick break down”, Eric Manny sooner than planned, got a wind of what was happening, as nothing is hidden under the sun. And what did they do? Eric Manny, went ahead to get a court order, restraining Runtown from performing any of his song released under the Eric Manny imprint. But, glory be to God and shame to the devil, Runtown came to his senses, put his ways right with Eric Manny, they reached a closed door compromise, beneficial to all parties and... woullla!!!! “Mad Over You” was born, and now everybody is happier making much more money.

move for the entrance on noticing that the bouncers were now paying their attention to the words falling out of Sound Sultan’s mouth. But he wasn’t “Barry Allen” fast enough, as one of the bouncers pulled him back by his shirt lie, “ ogbeni bo le mbe, where do you think you are going to”?? Oritse Femi couldn’t take any more of this ‘see ﬁnish’, so he throw some jabs at the bouncer who held him back, tried to use an empty bole on the other bouncer who jumped in defence of his colleague and things got out of hand. In the end , they told him that it’s not by force to club at Quilox, and he was kicked out. After the sags, Oritse Femi went on twitter to rant and tweet things like, “the only shina I know is Shinna Peters”, however that did not stop Shinna Peller to come on twitter and commend his boys for a job well done.

Bouncer hit and injured by oritse femi

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Febuary 2017

(9) Dotun vs Daddy Freeze Daddy Freeze to me, had never being a sensible guy, but at least his rants had always being tolerable, to his colleagues and friends. But with his new calling as INSTAGRAM PASTOR, Conqueror of the commercial church, and the big yellow paw paw mouth that has refused to shut the hell up, his new patent for unending provision of drama on radio and on social media can no longer be stomached by those around him, and the ﬁrst to burst out in ﬂames of words was… Dotun. One line struck a nerve, “Why do I have to answer to questions of ‘What is wrong with Freeze ’?” It is crystal clear, this colleague is fed up. Just as fed up as most of us, really! Freeze and Dotun are onair personalities at the same radio station, Cool FM.

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It’s safe to say that Dotun knows Daddy Freeze on a more personal level than the rest of us; at least they have a working relationship. So, if Dotun took it upon himself to publicly call Freeze out for belittling Yoruba women, then he must have good reasons. But no, we’re not taking sides. A certain Chiekezi Dozie shared his opinion thus: “If you are Yoruba and you are male, and you want to be successful in life, marry an Igbo woman.” Totally his opinion! Freeze who is infamous for weighing on issues [and his largely unpopular opinion] decided to elaborate on the topic by “ kinda agreeing” and exalting Igbo ladies far above their Yoruba counterparts and as is typical of Freeze, he didn’t exactly use the nicest words. But hey, he explicitly said all

he knows of Yoruba girls is from his “little” experience. Dotun however came to the rescue of the Yoruba female folk and we learnt a few things from his response: that Daddy Freeze’s arcle was classless; the man is going out of line and losing focus; he’s either a sycophant or a selﬁsh man; and yes, he puts the people close to him in awkward positions when they have to defend him every other time. Just when we were applauding Dotun, Freeze returned with a comeback. Started on a philosophical note, then went ahead to defend his opinion and mildly stated that Dotun might be searching for trouble where it didn’t exist. Trust that the drama has escalated and at this point. We do not know who the management of Cool FM will be ﬁring by tomorrow morning. It’s obvious that there’s beef between the two colleagues and one (you know who) cannot continue to pretend that all is well. Before you start thinking that they had reached curtain call, Dotun went back to Instagram sha. This time, he took it to the streets. He called Freeze’s defense stupid and unrealistic and ends with “who you epp’’? Well, this we agree with, Daddy Freeze has not helped anybody except to lock his account when the brawl got tough. Buh one last question,do they shake hands at work? Culled from Ynaija!

Febuary 2017

( 1 ) Te k n o v s T h e H e a d i e s A l h a j i Te k n o h a d h i s best year as an artist in the year 2016, with just four singles released. Te k n o h a s b e i n g i n t h e entertainment industry since around the days of I y a n y a ’s K u k e r e , a l though without an album to his name, and a major record deal. He managed to stay relevant since as far back as 2014 with his club banging track “dance”, however it was only in 2016, The Headies deemed i t ﬁ t t o n o m i n a t e Te k no for the “Next Rated Aw a r d ” . T h e n o m i n a t i o n did not go down well w i t h Te k n o ; h e w e n t on Instagram and made known his disappointment, “Next rated, after a l l t h e s e y e a r s ? L e t ’s be honest please”. It is a l s o s u s p e c t e d t h a t Te kno expected more than just a next rated nomination after his release of 3 banging tracks like “Where”, “Pana” and “Diana”. That is where it all s t a r t e d , w e e k s l a t e r, t h e

Headies put out a public notiﬁcation that ind i c a t e d t h a t Te k n o h a d been disqualiﬁed from the next rated category of the award due to his lack of participation in promotional exercises that involved photo shoots, interviews amongst other things.

A few days after the disqualification and presentation of the Next Rated award to Mr Eazi (zaga d a t ) , Te k n o g o t o n s t a g e at “Rhythm Unplugged 2016” to address the Headies issue, his words were “them nominate me them come still disqualify me again you be God”. I t i s s u s p e c t e d t h a t Te k n o ’s d i s c o r d w i t h t h e Headies’ authorities goes beyond his “Next Rated” nomination, as he went ahead to the ‘ S o u n d c i t y M V P Aw a r d s ’ to clinch the ‘Best New Act’ of the year award, which is no diﬀerent f r o m H e a d i e s ’s N e x t Rated.

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Febuary 2017

FIRST HIT TRACK OF 2017 RUNTOWN . It’s true that “The billboard Twitter charts” rated Wizkid’s “Daddy Yo” at number 31 over “Mad Over You” which debuted at number 38 in the world, which is by the way an amazingly incredible feat for Nigerian and African music as a whole, the streets and music lovers are falling more for the Mr Eazi’s “Sample You” sampled tune orchestrated by Del B and the “Sound god” himself Runtown. Little wonder, Mr Eazi made that tweet about Ghanian sound influencing Nigerian music, as the first five songs on both Mr Eazi’s “Sample You” and Runtown’s “Mad Over You” sound exactly the same. Still, Mr Eazi jumped on the song to do a refix. A good song is a good song. Do you know the best part? Runtown is not done; he just dropped another killer tune with King Sark, ‘Sarkodie’. And he said this one is Final. Well, we went to the streets of Lagos and of course, twiiter to get the views of music lovers on this mad tune, “Mad Over You”.

“Mad Over You”, First Hit Of the Year 2017: If you ask me, I will tell you that, the best way to start a new year is to end the previous year the best possible way you can. Runtown, the self proclaimed “sound god” dropped his “Mad Over You” hit track in first days of November 2016 and made a great impact with the song amidst killer songs like Skale’s “Temper”, Tekno’s “Rara”, Mr Eazi’s “Leg Over” and Wizkid’s “Daddy Yo” amongst others.

Runtown rode on this song all through the end of the year 2016. Fast forward to 2017,”Mad Over You” is still kicking ass on every single music chart as well as the speakers banging on the streets.

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Febuary 2017

MR EAZI TWEETS. RUNTOWN AND FANS REACTS.

No matter the sound or the beat, we dey kill am Those were the words of Run town, the self acclaimed “sound god” in response to the argument between Ghanaians and Nigerians on twitter, on the issue of Ghanaian influence on Nigerian music. Unlike the “Jollof rice twitter cold wars” of last year, Nigerian and Ghanaian tweeps did not just start a music fight all by themselves. The Ghanaian Influence on Nigerian music war started when our Nigerian born Ghanaian music sensation Mr Eazi decided to betray us with a tweet after we have publicly robbed our boy Ycee off the next rated award in the absence of Tekno and blessed him with the plaque and the car. On that fateful day, probably after an over dose of some “wicked shitta weed”, Mr Eazi came on twitter to announce to the world that Ghanaian music is better than Nigerian music. Ok, I know those might not be his exact words, but tell me how this tweet “ The influence of Ghanaian sound on Nigerian music cannot be over emphasized” does not sound like “Ghanaian music is better than Nigerian music” to you. Well, trust Nigerians to always “change it” for anybody who talks bad about our country. Truth or not, even Jidenna who is making us proud in the U.S tried it and received the backlash of his life. Soon enough, Nigerians discovered that Mr Eazi’s tweet wasn’t just his personal opinion, but a coded school of thought of all Ghanaian music lovers, as the very sexy Juliet Ibrahim in company of the whole “Ghana nation” on twitter started to come out in their numbers to support Mr Eazi’s frivolous claim. Truth is, since the days of Azonto, Nigerians have being picking fragments of Ghanaian sounds and making hit tracks out of them; hit tracks that went back to Ghana to give the so called original Ghanaian sounding tracks a resounding tutorial on how to make parties and clubs rock. “First of all.. go down low.” Once upon a time, it was South African house vibes that did it for us. Nigerian musicians kept featuring the Uhuru guys, Mafikizolo and the rest. Did you hear them claim to be influencers of our music? No! Not too long ago, it was the dancehall sound that we all started rocking here and there, so much so that Bad Gal RiRi was caught on camera grinding to Timaya’s “Bum Bum”, them Jamaicans did not claim influencers oooo. There’s something Ghanaians have to get straight. We choose a sound we like, we use it,

we in fact, misuse it; make multiple hit tracks from it, make that sound or that artist global in the process, and throw it back to the so called owners of the sound when have squeezed enough juice from it. If not for senior men like Wizbaba, Chris Brown wouldn’t have known what Azonto even looked like. Alkaiyda has being in existence for as long as Daddy Showkey’s dread lock has been, but the day a couple of Nigerians sang about the dance and did the dance in their video, youtube caught the frenzy and went Alkaiyda crazy. Mr Eazi is a beautifully talented musician; that’s why it didn’t take much convincing from anybody for me to believe that he is Nigerian born from the first time I heard, because I knew that all that talent has to come from somewhere. However, whoever is advising him to stop flying his Nigerian “flag” just wants our dear Mr Eazi to go from saying “Life is Eazi Zagdat” to singing Psquare’s “E no easy ooooo”, because this present action of his will not only reduce his iTunes sales by large numbers, it will give him a new country to influence with his so called “original sound”. But some people have bad mouth sha ooo, I heard somebody say that, if not Wizbaba dat helped Mr Eazi’s life, by now he would have been asking for follow back from Korede Bello, mehnnn, that’s just savage. I agree that it’s Wizkid that helped Eazi’s life by bringing the “STAR” to the “it’s ya boy Eaziiii” but my honest opinion is, I do not really see Mr Eazi as Korede Bello’s fan; I think without Wizkid behind the scenes for Mr Eazi’s picture, Eazi is likely to beg for follow back from Alhaji Tekino.

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Febuary 2017

10 Dating Tips From History That Could Improve Your Love Life

It can be hard to find that special someone. Fortunately, history is here to help. Whether you are looking for “the one” or want to become a real Casanova, these dating tips are guaranteed to help you out. (Disclaimer: Not actually a guarantee.)

10 Use A Fan For Subtle Flirting

Fans have been around for thousands of years but became a hot fashion accessory in 18th-century Europe. Ever resourceful, women realized that the fan could be used for more than just appearances, and soon enough, they started using a secret “fan language” to flirt with their male admirers. While you might think that using a fan to communicate would be rather limited, there were actually over 30 messages that women could convey to the men fortunate enough to learn this “language.” For example, hiding the eyes behind an open fan simply said, “I love you.” Carrying the open fan in the left hand expressed a desire to talk while twirling the fan in the left hand warned the man that they were being watched.

8 Share A Secret Language

Privacy has always been an issue for new lovers. In the olden days, it was even harder for lovebirds to evade the watchful eyes of their parents, who were always there to make sure no funny business was going on prior to

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9 Find A Partner At The Marriage Market

In the Histories, Herodotus writes of an ancient custom in Babylonian villages which ensured that everyone found a partner, including the poorest men and the ugliest women. They went to the marriage market, where men would bid for their new wives. It started off as a regular auction. The best-looking women would go first, as they got the highest bids, meaning that they typically married the wealthiest men. Things switched when the auction got to the women who were considered ugly, crippled, or too old. The auctioneer would pay participants to take them as wives. Each bid got lower, and the winner was the man who accepted the lowest bid. The money was paid from the profits from auctioning off the beautiful girls. This way, every woman found a husband, and the poorer couples also gained a dowry. The market was open to all, even people from other villages. Fathers weren’t allowed to marry their daughters to the people they wanted, and bidders had to provide a backer who would guarantee their intention to marry. In case things didn’t work out, every sale came with a money-back guarantee. marriage. A clever way to continue saying sweet nothings to each other, even with the parents in the room, was to learn Morse code. This tip comes courtesy of Thomas Edison, who employed this strategy to woo his second wife, Mina Miller. The couple met soon after the death of Edison’s first wife, Mary. Mina’s father, Lewis Miller, was also a renowned inventor. He developed the first front-mounted combine harvester. Even though Mina was 20 years old when her relationship with Thomas began, and Edison was 39, the two were still wary of public displays of affection around her parents. That’s why Edison taught her Morse code, and according to him, he also proposed to her using Morse code.

Febuary 2017

6 Be Practical

7 Don’t Get Drunk In Front Of The In-Laws

Impressing the parents of your beloved might not be that important nowadays, but it used to be vital, since historically, the bride needed her father’s permission to marry. That being said, a good suggestion might be to not make a drunken fool of yourself in front of your would-be in-laws. Nobody knew that better than Hippocleides of Attica. Back in the sixth century BC, Cleisthenes, the tyrant of Sicyon, wanted to marry off his daughter, Agariste. Instead of simply accepting a bride price, he organized a competition to find the best suitor. His call was answered by 12 of the most eligible bachelors in the Greek world. The suitors went through challenges such as chariot racing and wrestling to prove their worth. By the end of the competition, Hippocleides became Cleisthenes’s favorite to win his daughter’s hand in marriage. However, at a banquet in the suitors’ honor, Hippocleides got very drunk and started acting like an idiot. At one point, he did a handstand and started kicking his legs in the air in rhythm with the music. An angered Cleisthenes told Hippocleides that he “danced away his wife.” Agariste married Megacles, instead.

5 Spend Some Quality Time Together

Sometimes, you get better results by showing your practical side. That’s a lesson we can learn from the ancient Egyptians, who, as far as we can tell, did away with fancy courtship rituals and complicated ceremonies. If a woman moved her stuff from her parents’ house into a man’s house, that meant they were married. There was typically a prenuptial agreement in place between the husband and the wife’s father, which outlined who got what in the event of a breakup. Divorces also seemed to be a straightforward affair, particularly for that time period. Couples were expected to stay together for life (and beyond), but in the event of a split, they divided their possessions, and the children went with the mother. This didn’t apply in the case of adultery, which was heavily frowned upon and carried severe punishments (even death). None of this is to say that a practical marriage had no room for love or romance. Vizier Ptahhotep wrote The Maxims of Ptahhotep, a collection of wisdom to be passed down to newer generations. In it, he advised husbands to “love [their] wife; feed her and clothe her well; make her happy.” Some of the earliest examples of romantic literature came from Egyptian inscriptions in which men praised the beauty of their wives.

History has never been shy about making it clear that a woman’s place was at home, taking care of the household while the man went out and did things. However, Teutonic women firmly believed their place was next to their hus-

bands, even during war. They followed the men from skirmish to skirmish. They would perform tasks such as feeding the men and tending to the wounded but would not hesitate to take up arms when the need arose. Plutarch writes of Roman legionaries invading a Teutonic camp and being pushed back by women wielding swords and axes, who endured wounds and slashes with “undaunted resolution.” This kind of determination led to the rise of the Latin phrase furor Teutonicus, a ferocity in battle shared by both Teutonic men and women. The chastity and devotion of Teutonic women was another trait evoked by historians. The Teutons were virtually wiped out by Romans at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC. Valerius Maximus wrote that the women pleaded to become sacred servants of Vesta instead of slaves. When their request was refused, they committed mass suicide.

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3 Write Your Feelings Down

4 Try Love In A Bottle

Some people might have problems expressing themselves and would be better suited to writing their feelings down in a love poem. For inspiration, they could turn to the most romantic civilization in history: the Vikings. We might think of the Vikings as having been all about the pillaging, but their poems and sagas are filled with stories of true love, particularly love that follows the couple into death. Njal’s Saga is an example. Njal’s wife is offered amnesty, but she chooses to die by his side to keep the promise she made when they got married. In the Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus records the passionate song of Hagbaror before being hanged and after learning that his wife killed herself so that they could be together in the afterlife: “So let the encircling bonds grip my throat in the midst; the final anguish shall bring with it pleasure only, since the certain hope remains of renewed love.” While the sagas exalted the love between husband and wife, courting an unmarried girl was downright dangerous. Salacious poems suggesting that the writer had intimate knowledge of a girl would greatly tarnish her honor and diminish her value as a wife. These practices could result in death, as the girl’s father or brothers would feel obligated to defend her name.

People who hadn’t managed to snag that special someone could resort to a little chemical assistance in the form of a love potion. Almost every culture in existence has its own food or drink or behavior which is meant to increase libido, make people fall in love, or even cure impotence. There are valid reasons for this: Some of the ingredients used in aphrodisiacs genuinely have positive effects. Even those that don’t work could still cause some improvement thanks to the power of the placebo effect. In a medieval book on plants and animals, Albertus Magnus informs us that a concoction of periwinkle mixed with leeks and earthworms, pulverized and sprinkled over food, can strengthen the love between a man and his wife. He also warns us that the same mixture thrown into a pond would kill the fish. Marigolds were a popular ingredient during the Middle Ages and were used in many love potions. Certain Native American tribes preferred wild columbine. Jimsonweed was used throughout parts of India, which was especially dangerous, as it is a toxic plant, part of the nightshade family.

2 Exchange Gifts

a bride price or bridewealth: The groom had to pay money, land, or wealth to his future wife’s family. Other cultures had a dowry: The bride’s father had to contribute toward the groom’s family. As marriage customs loosened up a bit, gifts between lovers became more common and more sensual, even without a commitment to marriage. Renaissance Italy was a period where such gift exchanges were common. Woven belts or girdles were given to young women, and they often featured provocative or romantic imagery, as they were associated with fertility. Brooches, pendants, and combs were also frequent choices for gifts.

One of the best ways to grab someone’s attention is with a thoughtful gift. Throughout history, material possessions have almost always been at the heart of marriages. Some cultures had

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Febuary 2017

1 Dissect A Woman To Learn Her Anatomy

This helpful tip comes from 19th-century French novelist Honore de Balzac. One of his lesser-known works was a treatise named The Physiology of Marriage, which uncovered the secrets of a loving, successful marriage. Among the many useful pieces of advice offered in the book, Balzac cautions us that marriage is a science and that a proper man should dissect at least one woman prior to marriage in order to study her anatomy. Balzac believed that we all have a certain amount of energy. While most men used that energy for their jobs, women didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what to do with theirs. Therefore, the husband would be well-advised to tire out his wife with constant work so that she didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fall prey to her passions or caprices. Balzac also warned men against letting women drink plain water, for some reason. He recommended water lightly tinged with Burgundy wine. Despite his keen insights into marriage, Balzac married late in life, aged 50. This was 20 years after he wrote The Physiology of Marriage. He died five months later.

Radu Alexander

Culled from listverse.com 41

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