HipHop World Awards '09

Its official results for the Hip Hop World Awards '09 are outlined below:

Artiste of the Year- 9ice

Album of the Year- 9ice

Song of the Year- Gongo Aso by 9ice

Recording of the Year- Michelle by Etcetera

Producer of the Year- ID Cabasa

Best Music Video- Roll It by Jude Okoye

Best Reggae/Dancehall Album- Gift and Grace by Timaya

Best R and B/Pop Album- Gongo Aso by 9ice

Best Rap Album- Talk About It by M.I

Best Collabo- Good or Bad by J. Martins featuring Timaya and P Square

Best Rap Single- Ki Ni Big Deal by Naeto C

Best Vocal Performance (male) - Don’t Break My Heart by Banky W

Best Vocal Performance (female) - In The Music by Omawumi

Next Rated- Omawumi

Hip Hop World Revelation- M.I

Lyricist on the Roll- Mode 9

Best Street Hop- 04 Ka Si Be

Hip Hop World Hall of Fame- Phillip Trimnell

::The Tenant::

Ok I am usually one who is not easily impressed...lol esp. not in the area of movies and music. This movie Written and Produced by Jude Idada and Directed by Lucky Ejim means alot to me as it tells the story of the average Nigerian in the diaspora looking to make sense of life.

The Tenant tells the story of Obinna, an African refugee in Canada, who has thirty days to leave the country or face deportation. Timothy his terminally ill white landlord makes him a proposition; if Obinna can get his estranged daughter to make peace with him before he dies, then he will by virtue of his being a former immigration officer, intervene in his deportation. As the clock ticks on, Obinna has to do the impossible to find Timothy’s daughter and convince her to return home. In less than 30 days, he has to turn the wheels of hate to one of love.

This movie definately carries the 'G' stamp. Please find below the trailer for 'The Tenant'.

::go down there:: premiere!

sup pips! I just could'nt resist joining in on the premiere frenzy for 2baba. It seems to be the video era for Tuface as his brand new video for 'go down there' featuring the Ghanian born British rapper sway, premiered online today the 17th of April, 2009 online. Forgive me but it seems like the Video God has been unleashed in tubaba's life his second solid video offering just a few months after 'enter the place'. what else can i say but: 'WATCH'... Hypertek in the building.
*He has definately recreated himself*

::Nigerians in Hollywood, season II:: Dapo Torimiro

If you were once a fan of the then famous gospel group KUSH, then our subject today should in no way be a stranger to y'all.
In my post yesterday i did say there will be less gloom & I meant it.
After some psychological debate i finally decided to upload my piece on a certain green mae$tro.

If you have been a follower of my blog reading my rubbish you would have noticed that most of my posts tilt towards Nigeria and the African continent. But like the name of this blog, the endless possibilities of the Green minds (Nigerians) all over the world is what we celebrate.
I started a series called: 'Nigerians in Hollywood' and this piece ushers in season II of the same series.
OK ! heads up pips, It all started in gidi for our subject, who was then a KUSH groupie, the only male amongst three gorgeious women and then they dropped 'the experience' an all time classic which blew up real good. Suddenly the rumors started, they had broken up as a group...

For some time i personally had wondered what ever became of this perfectionist of an artist, producer, instrumentalist... until recently i found him again. The power of the Internet.

From producing world class soundtracks for Hollywood movies & TV series to producing and writing songs for A class US artists like John Legend (Quickly- [Evolver2008]) and Brandy ('torn down'[HUMANDec.2008]) and lots of other US artists which include Joss Stone, to touring with Lauryn Hill and performing with Stevie Wonder live....
in his own words: "its great to move from being a fan to a collaborator" with artists he once admired from a distance. He also worked with Jeffrey Webber on the track Change which was done for Obama's campaign.

One could say Dapo Torimiro has got it going good for him. How often by the way do we see Nigerians leave home barely 10 yrs and make so much impact on a global scale?
though Dapo may not have any grammies yet to his name or bling plaques, get set for him as he is sure to burn his own spot on your mind soon enough. From what i hear his album is in the worx and would drop soon. Dapo is currently based in Los Angeles.

If you are in doubt bout his mastro ability, listen to the track Quickly (John legend ft. Brandy) on this post.

Quickly (snip) - John Legend & Brandy

your comments would be appreciated.

less gloom!

dont know if its a writers block or the fact that i have been too engaged in brand building, whichever it is it sure has kept me from y'all.

I do hope you had a splendid easter, my hustle cut my holiday short, but am still grateful all the same. alot has definately happened since my last post, as i settle in to take them all in im currently @ a point of indecision as to what to post next. There is so much gloom but i don't sell gloom to my audience and so...

keep ur fingers crossed for less gloom and a more interesting story plus have an xplosive week(+ve).

::Russian Racist Bastards( Nigerians were targeted)::

"what has Africa given the civilised world? I mean apart from Aids? They were wild monkeys once and they are still wild monkeys now"
-Dmitri.
these were the words of a 'full blooded' Russian Neo Nazi racist. As i watched Aljazeera's People & Power programme. Isn't it rather amazing that Nigerians despite all the racist violence they experience would not come back home. Maybe its my ego,...maybe its cos i stay in gidi in a place where its apparent that shit is rosy for lots of pips...

when I started this blog bout a year ago I did a piece on xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa. This time around its happening in 'modarasshia'.

these videos can better explain what i mean. Its a huge shame and i am deeply apalled that we as Africans keep migrating only to experience such inhumanity. i'll let you judge for yourself after you see the videos.

Part 1



Part 2

::The Ponzi Cocept::

$65 billion, too many celebrities and regular pips: victims, one former chairman of Nasdaq and the ultimate world class 'ponzi' scheme. if any of these doesnt already sound familiar, then u have wither been in a coma or u have been marooned on an island.

Enter Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff the darkest mind in the world of FRAUD! Initially i wondered why for so long he was able to carry on his ponzi scheme undetected, then it hit me: former NASDAQ chairman. What other credibility could dwarf that of the man who chaired the greatest catalyst of world economy(NASDAQ).

Not all things that are hyped have credibility, by using his reputation as former... and an elitist clique coupled with the phony classification of the scheme (fueled by the rejection of investment money from people) bernie has redefined the term 'possible'.

I am not about to tell you bout what and how he went about defrauding pips and banks from all over the world. but i only have one question:

why are people not interested in where the money is right now?

my guess is the 5th generation of  the Madoff family would have stuff to spend if @ this time they still cant find the money madoff probably has it all worked out and hidden. If he was smart enough to get it he will mosdef hide it well if not for himself but for the unborn Madoffs'.

in hi own words: ' i knew this day would come, I had expected it since the late 90's' that statement alone tell me that he has a script palying out in his head.

If you are Nigerian and you lost money in the wealthsolution schemes, and others that is nothing compared to what the Madoff victims have lost.

::warchild::

May I have your Attention!!

will the real people please read this stuff...

Imagine you are forced to make a choice between starving to death & eating the corpse of your best friend.

its saturday morning and i'm flippin through channels to see whats new before i head off to work my dial stops @ Aljazeera and right there i have on my screen a black young man on the 'frost over the world show' for some reason my mind tells me he could be a nigerian and i listen on. As it turns out the dude: Emmanuel Jal is not a Nigerian, but a sudanese by birth and an ex child soldier who was rescued by a british aid worker and smuggled out of sudan.

He was recruited @ age 7 he was a “child warrior,” put into battle carrying an AK-47 that was taller than he was...for some reason @ that point haven witnessed so much opression, rape, and brutality by government forces it wasnt hard to convince emmanuel Jal and others like him to join the rebel army.

Scared and exhausted from the killing, Emmanuel and some of the other children - the “lost boys,” as they came to be known - deserted the rebel lines.  On foot, they trekked across Sudan’s cracked, barren badlands, its crocodile-infested rivers and snake-laced mud patches to flee the war and be with their own tribe, the Nuer.  

Four hundred began the trek, feeding on vultures, corpses, and whatever they could find. In his own words: 

'at that point when we were starving we knew not to fall asleep cos if you did you would die in your sleep, I have even almost had to eat my friend when he was dying'. 

Only 16 survived to find relative safety in a refugee camp in Waat, Southern Sudan.

Emmanuel Jal

Fast forward to the present Emmanuel Jal has won worldwide acclaim for his unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his experiences as a child soldier in Sudan. His music can be heard alongside Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Radiohead on the fundraising ‘Warchild - Help a Day in the Life’ album, as well as in three ER episodes, the National Geographic documentary God Grew Tired of Us, and more recently in the feature film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He also featured on John Lennons ‘Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur’ amongst the likes of U2, REM and Lenny Kravitz. Also add to that performances to honour Nelson mandela on his birthday.

Do i sound like a war correspondent already?...lol there is nothing funny bout any of this stuf which brings me to my point of piecing this stuff  together. Can we all just get along in this country..pips have seen much worse than some of us wil ever see...

http://www.emmanueljal.org

http://www.myspace.com/emmanueljal

::choc boys::

just like i promised, while we all get around to gettin the latest edition of soundcity blast here's an appetizer for y'all. Sampled from Jayz's -Roc boys. Jesse was wicked on this track

soundcity choc boyz ft ice prince and jesse jags - M.I

::IllegalMusic::

Finally pips Illegal Music is out if you have no idea what i'm talking about, you have probably been under a rock. Well the Most Incredible MI Abaga drops mad rhymes on 'stolen beats'...lol. Now I must mention here as a matter of importance that:

"no kobo was made from these tracks"

so please be careful o...lmao. Anyways i'm sure u's itching to get ur hands on those tracks, its simple buy a copy of the latest edition of Soundcity Blast and get a free copy of the Illegal Music CD inside or check back in a few. for a change good Music is FREE... keep blazin.

::alaba market VS itunes store::

just wondering..., wondering why ours is such a peculiar business enviroment...yeah
ok i'm just chilling @ home tryna upload fresh tracks from 'Isolate' on my ipod and then for some reason my itunes goes to the music store. And strangely the thought hits me to look up some naija tracks and guess what, Naeto C's(u knw my P), Sasha's(first lady), Jimmy Jat's(the definition), 9ice's(gongo aso)
albums cost $9.99 or $0.99 per track on itunes.

@ an exchange rate of =N=120-$1 puts the cost of the albums @ =N=1,198.8 per album or =N=118.8 per track on itunes.

My point is this: my itunes analysis when equated to alaba official prices (since they rule the media marketing industry in Ngeria) is a sharp contrast, to what is obtainable on itunes.

In Alaba albums from the aforementioned artists costs almost exactly the price of one track on itunes..lol

This i feel is actually amazing and this left me wondering, for the fortunate ones like 2face, dbanj, 9ice,
psquare(so far the ones on the international radar) and others say they 'sell'(exclusive of complementary copies) @ least 1million copies each and do @ least say 30 shows @ =N=650,000 each

it would mean that on each album (i.e excluding corporate endorsements) they would make bout =N=169,000,0000 and say after settling assistants, managers and marketers they keep bout 40% they net bout 67.8mill...

Well i knw its not always as easy as i may have sounded but if ur some local champ and a very short sighted one at that this figures would seem pretty fabulous but when you place this figure besides a 'small' sean kingston, or a pdiddy or an usher then believe me this is chicken feed.

people get paid a million dollars just for one performance so whats the deals pips. Like i said even though ours is a peculiar enviroment for business i believe some day it won't be just bout estelle presenting an award to 2face @ WMA08 or bout 9ice gettin a MOBO but also bout better pay for the mic hustlers and their backers.

I'd like to end by saying that if you really appreciate an artiste so much you should be able to pay what you feel the album is worth.

How much would you pay for M.I's(talk about it) album? wanna knw what i'll pay...call me.

I'll appreciate your comments on this ish...

stay green
~gossim.

smart-ass & credit crunch!

One of the biggest lesson i learnt from Rob Kiyosaki is that there is no such thing as a bad time to invest. From the Maddock ponzi scandal, to the global credit crunch, job cuts and economic recession, it seems that there is no end to the announcement of doom allover.

In reality when things like this start happening and the world hits the panic button the smart asses realise that smfin very significant is happening:
"money is changing hands"
so in reality real estate that used to go for bout $6000 would now sell for say btw $1200-$2000, Stocks come crashing down and the wise ones knw its time to move in while the chicken hearted bail.
Now i do not expect you to misconstrue my statements above for insensitivity to the plight of those who have been badly hit by all the drama.

In summary its not all bad in my opinion all it takes is a little time the the brave who moved in by faith would see the benefits plus the real reason its called credit crunch is cos pips still get to eat alot out of the situation.

::Rhythm5::

ok guys i need your opinion, I'd really like to know what y'all think about these two tracks, I have known these guys for some time and for some reason they grew b*@lls to break musical norms. Even a one liner would go a long way in helping the rhythm 5 brand. click on any of the links to listen.

1. BESTI
2. I DON SABI U

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=49952921826


*by the way credit to Snipe for a fabulous job.

green love
gossim daniels

::facebooksphere::

Precisely 3 years ago a sweet heart of mine (zimba thanx a million) sent me an invite to join facebook, back then i didnt see any reason to, cos i was like: "another one bites the social networking dust". Call me foolish, back then i was so disgusted @ these social networking sites (i bet sean kingston felt good about myspace cos it made him...lol) that i considered it a total waste of time.

and then for some reason Mark removed the campus limitation from facebook which enabled pips all over the world to join. Well that single decision to go totally global is one of the best decisions ever made by the aforementioned if you dont agree, i bet Mark's bank account can testify to that fact.

And so I joined, and before long i made some cool dough, cos i met some of my biggest clients on facebook back then. It isn't all about money, In my opinion: " facebook is the second best IT innovation after the Internet" you can quote me anywhere. Truth is, it has opened a whole new perspective to relationships & networking, even more information dissemination became seamless with even more control to information owners. Ok i bet by now you are thinking i probably got paid for the facebook PR i'm doing...WRONG!.

You can never fault a good brand, and facebook is one, why else would microsoft pay $240mill for just 1.6%...lol. This month facebook turned 5 and its been an awesome experience using facebook, i have found long lost childhood sweethearts, cousins, friends..etc. Nigerians have easily embraced facebook, musical tracks have been realeased about facebook...lol. Last i heard Mark Zuckerberg, facebook founder still leaves in his old apartment with his matress on the floor, and still dresses in Tshirts and Jeans.

Well somehow my addiction is worth it, what's your facebook story?

Please feel free to drop your comments.

::Nigerians in Hollywood::Raz Adoti | season2

Sometime in May 2008, I started a series of posts on this blog called 'Nigerians in Hollywood', for some reason there was a long pause after sophie Okenedo's review. We also reviewed Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje , popularly known as 'Eko' from the lost series. Season two opens with a review of another huge talent Raz Adoti.


Born in England to Nigerian parents, Razaaq Adoti (a.k.a. Raz) is the second eldest of five children. After graduating high school, Raz's first intention was to work behind the scenes as a cameraman, but he fell in love with the stage instead. At the age of 17, after his first year in college, Adoti landed his first job in theater.

Before graduating, Adoti was cast as Nathan Detroit in the National Youth and Music Theatre Company's (NYMT) production of Guys and Dolls. The tour took Adoti to Japan, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and numerous other places across Europe. Additionally in 1991, he secured a part in NYMT's production of the opera Aesop, which won a Fringe First Award

In 1992 he was accepted to train at the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama (former students of the academy include Sir Laurence Olivier, Dame Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave). At CSSD, Adoti earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in acting. Upon graduation, he was signed by one of London's most reputable talent agencies and his professional career was truly under way.

Within a year of leaving drama school Adoti's dream of performing on stage came true. In 1997, he was cast in a major supporting role in Steven Spielberg's new epic, Amistad. He was humbled to be a part of the distinguished cast assembled to chronicle a very important chapter in American history. The ensemble included: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman and Matthew McConaughey. After completing Amistad, he returned to London with newfound determination. He worked on various television and film projects.

In 2001, Hollywood came calling again and this time, Adoti was given the chance to work with another Oscar®-winning director, Ridley Scott. Adoti played the main antagonist in Scott's Black Hawk Down, Yousuf Dahir Mo'alim. Since then he has gone on to co-star in director Paul
Anderson's Resident Evil: Apocalypse, opposite Milla Jovovich.

Adoti's past television credits include Sky One's award-winning television drama Dream Team, BBC's BAFTA award-winning miniseries Holding On, ITV's award-winning television drama, Soldier Soldier and Channel 4's controversial miniseries Men Only. Raz last vistited Nigeria in 2008 and comes home regularly. He says he feels a strong connection to his roots.

Next week we would also be taking a trip to the world of Chiwetel Ejiofor. Another Nigerian born, screen genius. I bet they all make us proud some how.

whats your brand definition?

what do these three logos have in common?

These three logos represent about the world's best 'people' brands: Barack Obama [44](US president), Tigerwood [30](world class golfer) & Lewis Hamilton[23] (formula1 champion) respectively. Ever wondered what they have so much in common apart from a mutual respect for each other, these men a re young, intelligent, focus driven, very optimistic goal getters and they are black.
You probably have it on your mind right now that well they had everything going for them as kids (the right enviroment, wealth blah blah), not true.
A wiseman once said that "we are a 'sum total 'of all the decisions we have made in life" I have never heard anything truer... This men indeed have become the brands they are , not by accident but as a result of a strong believe in themselves, discipline and often going against the tide (lewis: 1st black formula one champ last season, Barack: 1st black US president, tiger:golf number one ).
In an attempt to make sense of our lives, it is always the wise thing to understand & develop our strengths and play down our weaknesses. If i'm still not makin any sense then maybe you should explain how it is that a 30year old black golfer has his signature on a piece of plastic card or a shoe and in return gets paid over $100,000,000. Its called branding.

so what exactly do you love doing so much that you could do for free and later get paid millions for? I bet you alone can answer that, but the truth is world class people brands aint local, they are global in their thinking. so if its dancing, you can dance so well and get bookings internationally plus you also get paid for doing what you love.
so what's your brand definition?