Will and Jada Smith headed for divorce?

According to a report by National Enquirer, friends of the A-list couple fear they won't make it through the holidays. Well, it's according to National Enquirer, so there's probably no cause for alarm.

From The National Enquirer
He’s been caught with a hot young blonde, she’s been seen without her wedding ring – and now friends fear this will be Will and Jada’s last Christmas together! “Will and Jada are trying to put on a good front in public, but behind the scenes, they’re having major troubles,” said a source close to the couple, whose 16th wedding anniversary is Dec. 31. “If this marriage lasts beyond the holidays, it will be a miracle.”
But the source says Will is desperate to avoid a divorce. “Will has more to lose since he was the major breadwinner and they’d likely have to split things in half,” explained the source. Will has also previously stated that “divorce just can’t be an option.” Meanwhile Jada just doesn’t feel that she has as much reason to stay married. “She’s telling friends that she’s thinking of filing for divorce and having a Happy New Year – without Will!” 

DJ Beaten To Coma For Playing Tonto Dikeh?s Song In The Club

DJ moses is in a medically induced coma. Police say the 41-year-old was working in liquid lounge nightclub around 5 a.m. Saturday morning following a physical altercation inside. "A fight broke out,
when he played tonto dikeh latest single JEJE. Trying to mix it and repeatedly mixing the intro of the song an angry guy yelled he should change the song but he refused, then suddenly a bottle was thrown at him ," said on of the bouncers.
Then all of a sudden the DJ was rushed by drunk guys kicking and hitting his body. Paramedics found the 41-year-old unconscious and bleeding.
According to reports from the hospital he is suffering from fractures to the eye and bruising on the brain. Although he is in a medically induced coma, but he is showing some signs of recovery.

One of the drunks guys was caught and all he could say was 'he is mad ,,how could he be repeating that song for 5 mins what kind fuckery is that..

REVIEW: Watching ‘Saro The Musical’ could leave a sour taste in your mouth

Watching Saro you could leave with a sour taste in your mouth – not as a result of disappointment, but from a feeling that Nigeria can and should have much more of this kind of production. The two-hour-long musical is the first of its kind in Nigeria – the same country that boasts some of the biggest names in African entertainment.

The word Saro refers to freed slaves from Sierra Leone who settled in Nigeria in the early 1800s. In the same vein, the musical, which is set in modern times, celebrates migrants to Lagos from other parts of Nigeria, with a focus on four talented young men (played by Patrick Diabuah, Olumide Dada, Athony Offiong Edet and Paolo Sisiano). The quartet face a series of challenges as they chase better fortunes in this ‘city of dreams’.

A little more could have been done with the stage setup, although this would be best achieved in a proper theatre, rather than a hotel ball room. Energy was not in short supply as the actors, singers and dancers in their eye-catching costumes showed their spontaneity, proving that this show is worth taking on the road, anywhere in the world. The music was solidly executed, both by the main characters of the act (including Diabuah’s operatic voice), but also by the band, which featured a cohesive horn section. The audience was both motionlessly fixated on the stage or singing along. Under the leadership of the musical director Ayo Ajayi, the 25-piece ensemble played a medley of Nigerian music right from classics from Fela Kuti to todays hits from Olamide, Davido and Omawumi, among others, showing just how much talent this country has to offer. Talent though, we can all agree, has never been Nigeria’s problem. Saro’s executive producer, Bolanle Austen-Peters, has shown just how the country can harness the energy and creativity of its population. Austen-Peters has prior experience in the arts, running productions at TerraKulture – her cultural centre in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Saro opened on Friday, October 25, 2013 at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, and ran right through the weekend with tickets ranging from 5000 to 40000 Naira, which reveals the demographic the producers were aiming for – although to be fair, that’s not far from what you would get to watch a Broadway or West End musical, in the UK or US respectively.

The opening show was marred with technical issues affecting the microphones and the 3D laser backdrop, but these hitches were corrected in the later performances.

Considering the novelty and size of this project, it is a shame to have had it open for only one weekend.

Lagos, and Nigeria as a whole, could do with productions like Saro all year round but there is so much that needs to be in place before this can happen. There need to be spaces where performance artists can practice and also perform, and the National Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos, would be perfect for that, if only it was not such a grim representation of Nigeria’s maintenance culture.

Nigerian theatre, and performance arts as a whole, still has a long way to go but as Bolanle Austen-Peters has shown, it is up to the citizens to innovate, and Saro has definitely lived up to its billing.

It would be great to see this show return. It was a little rough around the edges but nothing that some smooth finishing cannot handle. Break a leg!

REVIEW: Victoria Kimani’s kingdom is almost here

 Album- Queen Victoria

Artiste- Victoria Kimani

Guest Appearances- Lynxxx, Banky W, Loose Kaynon, Pryse, Ada, Wyre, Akuse, Prezzo, AY, Ron Browz, Kyah Baby, Rukus, Shiiikane, Kimya Bamboo,

Producers- Kid Konnect, Chopstix, Drebeats, Ron Browz, Wayne, Drocc, White Nerd

Record Label- Chocolate City (2013)

In a bid to expand to conquer the African continent, Chocolate City opened shop in Kenya and signed its first non-Nigerian act Victoria Kimani. After a couple of singles, the East African pop artiste drops her new mixtape Queen Victoria which can be regarded as her first showing in the Nigerian market.

19 tracks long, Queen Victoria is a mixtape which features Victoria Kimani on both original beats and borrowed instrumentals. The collection starts with ‘Open Your Heart.’ Singing on DJ Sbu’s ‘Lengoma’ Victoria Kimani turns the instrumental into an emotional pop ballad. It’s a nice approach of flipping one of the hottest instrumentals from South African House within the last two years. The track also has a whiff of emo to it.

On ‘Forgive Them Father’ featuring Ada, Victoria Kimani borrows Foxy Brown’s 2001 single ‘Oh Yeah’ featuring Spragga Benz. The Indian singing is a nice feature on the whole set up of the track. ‘Do What You Do’ is a breezy summer pop song featuring Banky W who delivers a few rap bars that should jumpstart the discussion of his rumoured all rap mixtape once again.

Victoria Kimani goes the dancehall route on ‘Freaks’ which jacks French Montana’s song of the same name. ‘African Man’ featuring Lynxxx is a lusty crunchy pop song produced by Kid Konnect. It features a haunting oriental flute and a surprising element of Victoria Kimani singing Seyi Sodimu’s 1998 hit track ‘Love Me Jeje’ at the end.  The Choc City queen brushes off a lover who is asking her for money on the short but interesting ‘My Money’.

Kid Konnect produces a groovy haters’ anthem on ‘F.U.M.F’ featuring Loose Kaynon. The bearded Loopy Records MC spits ‘listen so hating is so last year/why you so mad cos my sweat shirt is cashmere’ on the track. The crown prince of auto-tune Ron Browz rears his head on ‘Touch Me’. The track has a theme of lust and has a knocking effect much to the delight of the listener. Victoria Kimani gets playful on ‘We like to Party’ which has the bassline as Lumidee’s 2007 ‘Never Leave You’.

Victoria Kimani tries her hands on Sean Tizzle’s ‘Sho Lee’ on ‘Get Wild’ featuring Shiiikane but the beat is too much for her. It would have been best of she left it alone. Tracks like ‘Own Zone’ and ‘Girlz’ are disposable tracks with too much sheen and not enough warmth. This is the major fault line of the project. There is too much gloss and not enough heart. Also Victoria Kimani’s over reliance on auto-tune can make the mixtape tiring.

However on ‘Heaven’ she changes the tone of the project. On the song she sings ‘I need your angel wings every single night…it’s something I can’t explain, your presence cures my pain.’  The latter end of the project follows suit as the artiste touches on more serious topics on tracks like ‘Africa I Love You’ and ‘Trayvon’.

Overall, Queen Victoria is a promising start from the pop artiste. She has the look and the vibe. All she needs is emotional depth.

[Album Review]: Reminisce is high chief of indigenous rap with ‘Alaga Ibile’

Album- Alaga Ibile

Artiste- Reminisce

Guest Artistes- Sossick, Endia, Olamide, Obadice, Naeto C, Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy

Producers- Sossick, Shizzi, Chopstix, Sarz, Dee Vee, Jospo

Record Label- Edge Records (2013)

Duration- 55 minutes

Indigenous rap is the in thing now with Olamide and Phyno being the poster boys of the new rap movement. While they may hug the headlines an equally talented indigenous rapper by the name of Reminisce serves as the lord of the underground. Having struggled to gain recognition early on his career, Reminisce embraced his indigenous side and released the hit single ‘Kako Bi Chicken’.

It’s been two years and some months since the release of the single that finally put Reminisce on the spotlight. Within that period he dropped his debut album Book of Rap Stories which largely went unnoticed. This time around with a better understanding of his abilities as a bilingual rapper Reminisce drops his second album Alaga Ibile.

On this project majority of the production is handled by Sossick who is best known for his work on Da Grin’s classic sophomore rap album C.E.O which is also regarded as the greatest Yoruba rap album ever. With additional production from wonder boy Sarz, Alaga Ibile is Reminisce’s most impressive work so far.

Remilekun Safaru starts his album with ‘Intro’ which features menacing piano keys similar to that of a Dr. Dre production. Reminisce shows his unique bilingual qualities when he spits ‘wanna know the truth/mi o ki n se butter/ spent most of my youth chilling in the gutter/smoke a lot of kush that’s why I stutter/but mi o le nowo lori jewels got to take care of my daughter’ . The thumping street influenced production continues on ‘Government’ featuring Endia and Olamide. On the Chopstix instrumental Reminisce and Olamide go hard with their Odua bars before Endia cleans it up with his rap/dancehall mash up verse.

The chemistry between Reminisce and Sossick is spot on. The tracks ‘3rd World Thug Freestyle’ and ‘Pimp by Blood’ are decent tracks featuring Reminisce dropping his flashy bars over Sossick’s banging production. Going a step further, Sossick helps Reminisce bring out his introspective side on ‘Turn It Around’. The rapper forsakes his showy style to chronicle his rise to the top while Sossick delivers the gloomy chorus he is known for. This is the centre piece of the album and it is encouraging to see Reminisce showing a new side to himself even though it is only on a track.

The Reminisce and Sossick combination fails on two songs. The fault is more of production than rapping with Sossick choosing to ape American rap beats for Rem’ to rap on. ‘Swagu’ featuring Oba Dice and ‘Buga’ featuring Naeto C sound disconnected and disjointed.

You don’t have to go far on the album before you know that Reminisce has other ambitions apart from dropping rhymes for the streets. The next track ‘Sunkere’ reveals Reminisce’s talent of mixing rap with Fuji. The Sarz produced ‘Fantasi’ is the perfect example of this merger with Reminisce becoming a full time Fuji artiste. Hip Hop purists might balk at the transformation but at the end of the day the song is a crowd mover which is all that matters. The pop star Wizkid donates a hook on ‘Eleniyan’ which sees Reminisce dishing his patent rhyme style of mentioning fashion brands and street lingo.

Not all the mainstream experiments work on this album. ‘Ife’ is just too much singing for Reminisce. In his attempt to deliver a love song the rapper goes too far. His collaboration with Davido on ‘Daddy’ is album filler at best. Luckily the humorous ‘Agidigbo’ which name checks several joints where runs girls hustle comes off well and ‘Rude Girl’ featuring Burna Boy is an impressive dancehall track.

Most indigenous rappers get very uncomfortable when rapping in English. Reminisce is an exception. He switches from English to Yoruba and vice-versa well. With such an exceptional gift it is strange to hear him only rap about a limited range of topics. With such a deep voice and bilingual flow one would have expected Reminisce to touch on several topics that will push his brand further.

However despite his limited range, Reminisce has dropped a solid album that should see him in the top spot with his contemporaries.

Sossick who is no stranger to producing solid albums has helped Reminisce orchestrate a solid piece of work that is part Hip Hop and part pop. Reminisce should no longer be regarded as the chief of indigenous rap (alaga ibile) but the high chief.

ALBUM REVIEW: There’s nothing ‘Graceful and Glorious’ about Solidstar’s album

Artiste- Solidstar

Album- Grace $ Glory

Guest Appearances- Flavour, Xcellente, Vector, Jesse Jagz, Ikpa Udo, Timaya, Iyanya, Jojo, Eva, Olamide

Producers- Solid Star, Popito, Master Kraft, Jay Sleek, Mecca E, Rundatrax, Endee, Slim Beat, Tyrine, Prodo, Bonesnack, Kukbeat

Label- Achievas Entertainment (2013)

Solid Star’s second album is titled Grace and Glory and it contains 21 tracks from the singer who broke through with ‘One In A Million’ featuring 2face Idibia. To his credit, he has dropped equally successful follow up singles then. ‘Omotena’ and the club banger ‘Skibo’ have helped raise his profile in the crowded pop terrain.

But when you listen to Grace and Glory the already mentioned singles are arguably the best songs on the album. Solid Star falls into the same trap many of his contemporaries have fallen into: He stacks his album with random songs that gives the album a loose and sometimes directionless feel. There is no story behind the album.

The project starts with ‘Halle’ which gives you hope that the album might be about something more concrete. Solid Star retraces his steps and thanks God for what he has achieved in his career so far. ‘Worry Me’ is another standard Nigerian pop song about a woman whose physical attributes are overwhelming. ‘Anointing’ is a boring song even with its banging beat. There are too many repetitive lines in the song which is a hallmark of many Nigerian pop songs.

‘Chop Money’ featuring Xcellente is an attempt to construct a song that will appeal to the Francophone countries but the construction is not properly done as Solid Star abandons words for gibberish talk. ‘Zizi’ is a skippable cut on the album.

Luckily ‘Omode’ comes in to breathe life on the album. Singing in Yoruba Solid Star shows that he has something to offer when he takes his song writing seriously. ‘Rich and Famous’ is an interesting track. Featuring Ikpa Udo the Calabar rapper delivers his verse in his native tongue Ibibio. ‘No be say because dem say na me sing pass. No be say because dem say Solid handsome pass. Study hard and read your books you will pass your class because this life is just a lesson’ sings Solid Star on the song. This is one of his brightest moments on the album. He just fails to seize the moment and falls back to his shortcomings.

‘Position’ featuring Timaya is basically what you should expect from a standard pop song- repetitive lines, cheesy rhyme structures placed on a beat that seems to do all the work. ‘Shashiwowo’ featuring Iyanya offers something slightly better but it is nothing grand.

By the time you get to the last third of the album you are exhausted. Probably sensing the boredom, Solid Star delivers the reggae influenced ‘I’m Sorry’ featuring Eva. This is a welcome deviation and Eva’s verse adds some needed depth. ‘Shepe’ featuring Olamide boosts the album a little. It seems this singer has a good thing going when he collaborates with rappers.

‘One Nigeria’, ‘Money Movement’, ‘Balling’ and ‘Everyday’ ensure that the album ends in a less than graceful note.

Solid Star’s album is a reflection of the state of Nigerian pop. The whole genre seems to be in a slump and sadly Solid Star’s debut contributes to it. There are bright flashes on the album but they are not enough to see that Solid Star’s first album is graceful and glorious.

#JustineSacco: US PR exec faces sack over derogatory comment on Africa

Justine Sacco’s offensive tweet has been deleted. Photo: Twitter

An employee for the US internet company InterActiveCorp must have thought her Twitter comment on Africa was quite funny, well the expensive joke might just cost her, her job.

Justine Sacco, a communications director for IAC right before boarding a flight to a country in Africa tweeted ‘Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!‘. Sacco then boarded the plane and couldn’t access the internet for hours, little did she know the hailstorm she had raised on the internet and embarrassment she had caused the company.

Not only has the tweet been deleted, Sacco’s Twitter account has also been wiped off the face of the web. IAC has also released a statement over the matter, profusely apologising for the offensive remark.

‘This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC. Unfortunately, the employee in question is unreachable on an international flight, but this is a very serious matter and we are taking appropriate action.” IAC said in a statement.

There have also been reports that Sacco has been fired from the company. NET has reached out to IAC but we’re yet to get a response as at the time of this report.