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  • Grammy Awards: Cardi B, Drake, Lady Gaga lead awards chart

    Celebrating the world’s biggest stars, Sunday night’s 61st Annual Grammy Awards, which held at the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles, United States, had so much to remember, including a few surprises here and there.

    Reports describe the outing as standing the “risk of being defined more by who didn’t show up than by the actual attendees, performers and winners.”

    The conspicuous absences were filled by some brilliant performances — mostly by women like Brandi Carlile, Janelle Monáe and especially Lady Gaga.

    Some of the surprises on the night include Cardi B picking up the award for Best Rap Album, ahead of Pusha T, Nipsey Hustle, Travis Scott and Mac Miller.

    It was also a great outing for Drake whose God’s Plan won the Best Rap Song Award.

    Nigerian singer, Seun Kuti and his Egypt 80 band who was nominated in the World Best Album category for ‘Black Times’, was defeated by the Soweto Gospel Choir for their Album, ‘Freedom’.

    Other nominees of the World Best Album category are, ‘Deran’ by

    Bombino; ‘Fenfo’ by Fatoumata Diawara and ‘The Lost Songs Of World War II’ by

    Yiddish Glory.

    Seun Kuti &Egypt 80 band were also billed to perform at the premiere show of the awards ceremony.

    One of the high moments recorded had Lady Gaga in the spotlight. Joined by her “Shallow” co-writers Mark Ronson and Dirty Pretty Things indie-rocker Anthony Rossomando for a Hedwig-like tour de force, Gaga took the pyro-showered Staples Center stage in a silver-sequined unitard, clubfoot platform boots, rhinestoned eyelids and bleachy bedhead. She delivered an absolutely fierce, fearless performance that rocked every bit as hard as her 2017 Grammy duet with Metallica and was as over-the-top and glamtastic as her polarizing Bowie tribute from the 2016 Grammys.

    Here are some other winners:

    Album of the Year

    • Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B
    • By the Way, I Forgive You, Brandi Carlile
    • Scorpion, Drake
    • H.E.R., H.E.R.
    • Beerbongs & Bentleys, Post Malone
    • Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe
    • Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves
    • Black Panther, Kendrick Lamar

    Record of the Year

    • “I Like It,” Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin
    • “The Joke,” Brandi Carlile
    • “This Is America,” Childish Gambino
    • “God’s Plan,” Drake
    • “Shallow,” Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper
    • “All the Stars,” Kendrick Lamar, Sza
    • “Rockstar,” Post Malone
    • “The Middle,” Zedd, Maren Morris, and Grey

    Song of the Year

    • “All the Stars,” Kendrick Duckworth, Solana Rowe, Al Shuckburgh, Mark Spears, Anthony Tiffith
    • “Boo’d Up,” Larrance Dopson, Joelle James, Ella Mai, Dijon McFarlane
    • “God’s Plan,” Aubrey Graham, Daveon Jackson, Brock Korsan, Ron LaTour, Matthew Samuels, and Noah Shebib
    • “The Middle,” Sarah Aarons, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Marcus Lomax, Kyle Trewartha, Michael Trewartha & Anton Zaslavski
    • “The Joke,” Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth, and Tim Hanseroth
    • “In My Blood,” Teddy Geiger, Scott Harris, Shawn Mendes, and Geoffrey Warburton
    • “Shallow,” Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando & Andrew Wyatt
    • “This Is America,” Donald Glover and Ludwig Göransson

    Best New Artist

    • Chloe x Halle
    • Luke Combs
    • Greta Van Fleet
    • H.E.R.
    • Dua Lipa
    • Margo Price
    • Bebe Rexha
    • Jorja Smith

    Best Pop Solo Performance

    • “Colors,” Beck
    • “Havana (Live),” Camila Cabello
    • “God Is A Woman,” Ariana Grande
    • “Joanne (Where Do You Think You’re Goin’?),” Lady Gaga
    • “Better Now,” Post Malone

    Vocal Album

    • Camila, Camila Cabello
    • Meaning Of Life, Kelly Clarkson
    • Sweetener, Ariana Grande
    • Shawn Mendes, Shawn Mendes
    • Beautiful Trauma, Pink
    • Reputation, Taylor Swift

    Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

    • “Fall In Line,” Christina Aguilera featuring Demi Lovato
    • “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” Backstreet Boys
    • “Shallow,” Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper
    • “Girls Like You,” Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B
    • “Say Something,” Justin Timberlake featuring Chris Stapleton
    • “The Middle,” Zedd, Maren Morris, and Grey

    Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

    • Love Is Here to Stay, Tony Bennett & Diana Krall
    • My Way, Willie Nelson
    • Nat “King” Cole & Me, Gregory Porter
    • Standards (Deluxe), Seal
    • The Music … The Mem’ries … The Magic!, Barbra Streisand

    Best Dance/Electronic Album

    • Singularity, Jon Hopkins
    • Woman Worldwide, Justice
    • Treehouse, Sofi Tukker
    • Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, Sophie
    • Lune Rouge, Tokimonsta

    Best Dance Recording

    • “Northern Soul,” Above & Beyond featuring Richard Bedford
    • “Ultimatum,” Disclosure (featuring Fatoumata Diawara)
    • “Losing It, “ Fisher
    • “Electricity,” Silk City & Dua Lipa featuring Diplo & Mark Ronson
    • “Ghost Voices,” Virtual Self

    Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

    • The Emancipation Procrastination, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
    • Steve Gadd Band, Steve Gadd Band
    • Modern Lore, Julian Lage
    • Laid Black, Marcus Miller
    • Protocol 4, Simon Phillips

    Urban, rap, and R&B categories

    Best R&B Album

    • Sex & Cigarettes, Toni Braxton
    • Good Thing, Leon Bridges
    • Honestly, Lalah Hathaway
    • H.E.R., H.E.R.
    • Gumbo Unplugged Live, P.J. Morton

     

    Best R&B Performance

    • “Long As I Live,” Toni Braxton
    • “Summer,” The Carters
    • “Y O Y,” Lalah Hathaway
    • “Best Part,” H.E.R. featuring Daniel Caesar
    • “First Began,” PJ Morton

    Best Traditional R&B Performance

    • “Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand,” Leon Bridges (TIE)
    • “Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight,” Bettye LaVette
    • “Honest,” MAJOR.
    • “How Deep Is Your Love,” PJ Morton featuring Yebba (TIE)
    • “Made for Love,” Charlie Wilson featuring Lalah Hathaway

    Best R&B Song

    • “Boo’d Up,” Larrance Dopson, Joelle James, Ella Mai & Dijon McFarlane
    • “Come Through and Chill,” Jermaine Cole, Miguel Pimentel & Salaam Remi
    • “Feels Like Summer,” Donald Glover & Ludwig Goransson
    • “Focus,” Darhyl Camper Jr, H.E.R. & Justin Love
    • “Long As I Live,” Paul Boutin, Toni Braxton & Antonio Dixon

    Best Urban Contemporary Album

    • Everything Is Love, The Carters
    • The Kids Are Alright, Chloe x Halle
    • Chris Dave And The Drumhedz, Chris Dave and the Drumhedz
    • War & Leisure, Miguel
    • Ventriloquism, Meshell Ndegeocello

    Best Rap Album

    • Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B
    • Swimming, Mac Miller
    • Victory Lap, Nipsey Hussle
    • Daytona, Pusha T
    • Astroworld, Travis Scott

  • Grammy: Twitter on ‘fire’ over Drake’s acceptance speech

    Over 480 thousand Twitter users have reacted to Drake’s controversial acceptance speech at the 61st Grammy Awards.

    The rapper, who picked the Grammy for Best Rap Song for ‘God’s Plan’, took the moment to address the imbalance in award nominations and awards.

    He said, “I want to take this opportunity while I’m up here to just talk to all the kids that are watching this, aspiring to do music.

    “All my peers that make music from their heart that do things pure and tell the truth, I wanna let you know we’re playing in an opinion-based sport, not a factual-based sport.

    “So it’s not the NBA where at the end of the year you’re holding a trophy because you made the right decisions or won the games.

    “The point is you have already won if you have people who are singing your songs word for word if you’re a hero in your hometown.

    “If there’s people who have regular jobs who are coming out in the rain, in the snow, spending their hard-earned money to buy tickets to come to your shows.

    “You don’t need this right here, I promise you that, you already won,” he said, holding up his Grammy.

    Following the speech, fans across the world, including Nigeria commended the rapper for speaking his truth and calling out award shows for their perceived bias.

    Read Also: Grammy: Cardi B, Childish Gambino make history

    @TundeGbedo said, “For the first time, I will agree with Drake 100 percent on that.”

    @Shaneiso tweeted, “Legendary. We are witnessing the hard beginning of Something interesting in the music business.

    “Hopefully people can take a lot from these speeches. Those awards don’t validate your creativity and passion.”

    @Boodaforceghost wrote, “Thank you Drake for questioning what is an artist true worth and the meaning of true success, it’s a shame we couldn’t hear more.”

    @Osascruz tweeted, “Love this #GrammyAwards speech from Drake.”

    In an interesting turn of events, his speech was cut off straight to commercials once he started talking in-depth.

  • McGregor hangs out with hip-hop stars

    Conor Mcgregor took his mind off his defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov by watching Drake and other American hip-hop star perform live in Staple Centre, Los Angeles.

    McGregor – who was defeated by Khabib in the fourth-round last weekend at UFC 229 – made the most of his night out as he listened to Drake and hip-hop trio Migos, perform during their Aubrey and the Three Migos tour.

    The Irishman took to Instagram to show off his action-packed night out to his huge 29 million followers. McGregor hangs out with American singer Halsey at the Staples Center on the weekend

    McGregor was given a backstage tour by hip-hop trio Migos on Friday night as he poses alongside with Migos

    He posted a video of him backstage with Migos before posing with a bottle of his Proper Twelve whiskey during the gig.

    Furthermore, McGregor enjoyed spending time with American singer Halsey on Friday at the first of Drake’s three concerts at the Staples Center in Los Angeles – with Adele also in attendance.

    The 30-year-old appeared to be loving life at the gig despite it coming just a week on from his painful defeat by Khabib.

    And following last weekend’s loss, Ronda Rousey has now called out McGregor for his violent actions in the build-up to the eagerly-anticipated fight.

    McGregor appeared to be loving life despite his defeat by Khabib Nurmagomedov last week

    There were months of bad blood between McGregor and Khabib, with the Irishman having to undertake community service and anger management lessons after attacking the Russian’s bus.

  • Drake’s ‘In My Feelings’ hits No. 1 on UK Billboard Chart

    Internationally acclaimed rapper and singer Drake has scored a double victory on the UK Billboard Chart with his viral single ‘In My Feelings’.

    The American rapper, who is known for his acting gained a large chunk of Nigerian fans when he remixed Wizkid’s ‘Ojuelegba’ in 2015.

    Billboard shared the news through its twitter handle @billboard on with the link to the charts while commending the viral dance challenge that has helped to promote the song.

    They captioned it, “Drake’s In My Feelings challenge is spreading worldwide.”

    The song went viral through the #Dotheshiggy challenge now dubbed the #inmyfeelings challenge where fans all the world are making and posting videos of themselves dancing to the song.

    The hashtag #InMyFeelingsChallenge went viral earlier in July on Instagram.

    Celebrities including Will Smith, Kevin Hart and Ciara have all taken part in the craze.

    “In My Feelings” is Drake’s third No. 1 U.K. single this year, making him the first to pull that off since Justin Bieber in 2015.

    The song rules with combined units of 91,000, according to the Official Charts Company, comprised of 8.8 million streams and 11,000 download.

    ‘In My Feelings’ follows ‘God’s Plan’ and ‘Nice For What’, earning Drake a hat-trick of chart-toppers in 2018
    The song is off his new album ‘Scorpion’ which has also been getting rave reviews and is currently topping the Billboard Chart.

  • P Diddy world’s highest paid musician in 2017 – Forbes

    P Diddy world’s highest paid musician in 2017 – Forbes

    American hip-hop superstar, Sean Combs, a.k.a P Diddy has emerged Forbes highest earning musician for the year, without releasing any album for the period.

    “Diddy is the top-earning musician on the planet, pulling in a career-best 130 million dollars pretax this year.

    “His total got a boost from his Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour, his Ciroc vodka deal and the sale of one-third of his Sean John clothing line for an estimated 70 million dollars.”

    According to Forbes, Diddy has used a combination of charisma, smarts and showmanship to elevate himself from modest means to the top of an empire that encompasses music, spirits, clothing, television and more.

    “I’m the average person,” Diddy told Forbes earlier this year.

    “I started looking at business at the age of 12, from delivering newspapers to working in gas station bathrooms, or even doing things like being a background dancer or a stylist.

    “Whatever I could do to get close to the industry,” he said.

    Also, Beyoncé ranked second with 105 million dollars, making her the only other act top to pull in nine figures.

    Her Formation World Tour, which wrapped up in late 2016 and fell partly in the scoring period, was a major income contributor to her.

    The Formation World Tour was the seventh concert tour by the American singer in support of her sixth studio album, ‘Lemonade’.

    Drake, the world’s acclaimed most-streamed artist in recent years, rounds out the top three with 94 million dollars, much of it from his Boy Meets World Tour.

    The highest earning artistes list is generated considering pretax income from June 1, 2016 through June 1, 2017, fees charged by agents, managers and lawyers inclusive.

    “We gathered data from Nielsen SoundScan, Pollstar, the RIAA and interviews with industry insiders,” Forbes said.

    NAN

  • Wizkid, Mary Njoku, 3 others for Future Awards

    Wizkid, Mary Njoku, 3 others for Future Awards

    Ayo “ Wizkid ’’ Balogun, Mary Njoku, Amaka Osakwe and Iyin Aboyeji are nominees for “The Future Awards Africa, the continent’s highly-coveted “Young Person of the Year’’ Award, the organisers announced on Wednesday.

    The award, at which Silas Adekunle, Chief Executive Officer of Reach Robotics will be recognised, has the theme, “Nigeria’s New Tribe’’, and will hold on Dec. 9 at the Federal Place Hotel, Lagos.

    Bukunyi Olateru-Olagbegi, Chairman, Central Working Committee, The Future Awards Africa ( TFAA ), said it was to celebrate and accelerate innovation among Nigerians aged 18 to 31.

    She said that the TFAA acknowledges inspiring young people making a difference through social enterprise, social good and creativity.

    Olateru-Olagbegi noted that the award was presented in conjunction with The Future Project which has a mandate to build and empower citizens across Africa, through inclusive enterprise and active citizenship.

    TFAA is regarded as the “Nobel Prize for Young Africans’’, and the “most important youth awards’’ by Forbes.

    It has produced over 150 winners and over 1,550 nominees since its first edition in 2006.

    Olateru-Olagbegi, anlaysing how the nominees emerged, said that arguably, Nigeria’s most influential artiste this year, Wizkid released one of the biggest albums of the year, “Sounds from the other Side’’.

    “He recorded ‘One Dance’ with Canadian superstar, Drake and also signed a major publishing deal with international music giant, Sony RCA records, while grabbing three awards at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards and a Grammy nomination.

    On Mary Remmy Njoku, an actress and movie producer, she said that she was also the Chief Executive Officer of ROK Studios.

    “Launching her production company in 2013 with 25,000 dollars seed money, it has consistently grown — producing television series and films on a platform that has successfully launched two cable channels in Europe and Africa.’’

    Amaka Osakwe, the creator of Africa-focused fashion label, Maki Oh, has established a reputation as one of the leading designers on the continent.

    Her outfits are worn by international superstars like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kerry Washington and the former U.S. First Lady, Michelle Obama.

    With the launch of Andela, Iyin Aboyeji committed himself to the task of nation building through personal innovation.

    He left the highly successful tech incubator to start Flutterwave, the tech startup has become a global sensation and winning the Fintech Award at the 2017 Apps Africa digital innovation awards.

    Another nominee, Silas Adekunle, is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Reach Robotics, a company developing the world’s first gaming robots.

    Silas, in partnership with the University of West England, Bristol, managed the Prince’s Trust “Robotics in schools’’ programme in Bristol.

    He led a team of engineering students into schools to develop the interest of young students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) through robotics.

    Expatiating on the award, Bukola Adebakin, Team Lead of TFAA, said the focus on Human Capital Development was informed by its value proposition: Africa’s growth needs a generation of young people who are gainfully employed and able to demand and secure better leadership.

    She said that TFAA’s projects include “Aiki.ng’’, an employability portal presented with Microsoft; “Nigeria Symposium for Young & Emerging Leaders’’, “StartupsAfrica’’, “Intern4Jobs’’, “YMonitor.org presented with National Endowment for Democracy (NED)’’ and “The Future Enterprise Support Scheme’’.

    Adebakin disclosed that The Future Project was founded by the Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams, and supervised by a Global Board of Advisors drawn from Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East.

    NAN

  • Wizkid drops new video ‘Come Closer’ without Drake

    Wizkid drops new video ‘Come Closer’ without Drake

    Wizkid has dropped his much anticipated video for the single, ‘Come Closer’ but without Drake, the American rap artist.

    Drake’s absence was clearly obvious as his verse had no one to mime it except Wizkid, who handled situation very well.

    And it is already generating rave reviews, attracting accolades such as ‘it’s a dope’, ‘a game changer’, ‘it’s fire’ and so on.

    The video which was released on April 6, has already raked over 400,000 views on You Tube and over 3,000 on Wizkid Evo account.

    The audio on You Tube, has closer to 1.5million views.

    In the video, according to a report by MTV Base, a new blonde haired Wizkid is seen sporting an all-white outfit with some swamp green boots in the opening scenes.

    The video itself was wonderfully shot in the studio with dancers who are clad in African-face paint and African prints which ignited more admiration for Wizkid for projecting African.

    However, a fan took to his twitter handle to remind Nigerians that Wizkid also did not show up in the video of ‘One Dance’ by Drake..So we shouldn’t be angry if Drake also didn’t show up in his video.dr

    Wizkid in his response to his fans, said: “Had a family emergency during ‘One Dance’ video shoot, and Drake was on tour when we did ‘Come Closer’. No bad blood, one love still” .
    Meanwhile the tweet has been deleted.

    In 2016, the singer was absent during Drake’s video shoot for ‘One Dance’, and failed to make the final cut.
    According to some section of fans, it was payback time.

  • Madonna in awkward kiss with Drake

    Madonna in awkward kiss with Drake

    Drake found himself in the most awkward position when queen of pop, Madonna, 56 pulled the 28-year-old singer back to kiss him on his lips, for about three seconds at the Coachella event.

    Right after the kiss, Drake looked horrified quickly wiping his mouth.

    Many wonder if Madonna might have done that in order to entertain the younger crowd which Coachella attracts riled. Wearing black a tank top that said Big As Madonna, hot pants with stockings that showed off her toned legs, and a pair of kinky boot heels, she sauntered over to Drake, who was sitting in a chair.

    She pulled back his head after caressing his cheek in and made the shocking move.

    27836BB600000578-3036560-image-m-80_1428910958352
    When Madonna finished her French Kiss, she walked off oblivious to the Truffle Butter singer’s reaction.

    The age difference may be a problem – he is 28 and she is 56 making them 28 years apart. She is exactly twice his age.
    Many also consider Coachella an odd place for Madonna to perform as it is known for attracting a younger crowd such as Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid.  Madonna has desperately been selling her new album Rebel Heart.

    Also on stage was Christina Aguilera.

  • Madonna fantasises about kissing Drake

    FOLLOWING the footsteps of celebrities like Kourtney Kardashian, Joe Manganiello, Nicole Richie, Blake Shelton, Britney Spears, Olivia Wilde and more, Madonna, whose 13th album, Rebel Heart, is out now, shared 25 things you don’t know about her in US Weekly’s March 30 issue.

    The songstress may be one of the most well-known women on the planet, but the music icon has plenty of secrets, too.

    “My all-time favourite Madonna song is Bitch, I’m Madonna,” the 56-year-old pop diva says, referring to a Rebel Heart track. “My least favourite is Material Girl. I never, ever want to hear it again.”

    The singer’s revelations aren’t music-specific, however. Madonna also discusses what she learned from being married to actor Sean Penn (1985-1989) and director Guy Ritchie (2000-2008). “I have found marriages don’t last if you share bathrooms. The best thing about being single is there’s no one to throw out of the bathroom when I want privacy,” she says.

  • MI covers Drake’s Pound Cake

    MI covers Drake’s Pound Cake

    Fans who are eager to have their rap idol, MI, deliver hardcore rap lines would be glad to know that he is back to his game. While it is not clear whether he is going to release a third in the series of his Illegal Music mix tape, the artiste, over the weekend, dropped a cover to Drake’s Pound Cake which he titled Round Cake.

    In the new track, MI delivers metaphors on money, success and love for his fans. In a recent chat with The Nation, the artiste said that he is toying with the idea of an Illegal Music III. “I think that maybe, I should move on and do something else. There is always going to be something else to do. My albums are made for the general market. For Nigeria, I don’t really go hard. So, I think there is always something hardcore that I will do for the real fans. I don’t know if it will be called Illegal Music 3, but if it is, it will be the last one.”