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Tag: Wizkid

  • WIZKID SLUGS IT OUT WITH LINDA IKEJI FOR MAMA ‘PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR’

    WIZKID SLUGS IT OUT WITH LINDA IKEJI FOR MAMA ‘PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR’

    NIGERIAN superstar, Ayo Balogun, aka Wizkid, will be going against sensational blogger, Linda Ikeji in the lifestyle category, Personality of the Year, at the forthcoming MTV Africa Music Awards. Other contenders in the category are Pearl Thusi, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), and middle distance runner and Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya.

    Wizkid, Cassper Nyovest, AKA and Sauti Sol lead the pack in the first round of nominations with an impressive nine nominations between them.

    Fifty MAMA nominees including artists and achievers from 18 countries were revealed in nine key music and lifestyle award categories by Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa and MTV Base (DStv channel 322) at a star-studded reception at Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, South Africa.

    At the front of the field is Nigerian star Wizkid with three nominations including nods in Best Male, Best Collaboration and Personality of the Year. Next in line with two nominations each are AKA (South Africa),Cassper Nyovest (South Africa) and Sauti Sol (Kenya).

    The keenly contested Best Hip Hop category sees MAMA nominations for Emtee and Riky Rick of South Africa, who’ll be going head to head against Nigeria’s Olamide and Ycee, and Kiff No Beat (Ivory Coast).

    An epic battle of the bands is in store in the Best Group category where Ghana’s R2bees face off against Kenya’sSauti Sol, South Africa’s Mi Casa, Navy Kenzo from Tanzania and Togolese duo, Toofan.

    Alex Okosi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa stated; “MAMA celebrates Africa’s incredible young musicians and trailblazers by breaking down barriers, driving engagement, and highlighting the continent’s rich and abundant talent.”

    The MTV Africa Music Awards Johannesburg 2016 is sponsored to by Joburg Tourism in partnership with Absolut Vodka and Google and in association with MTN and DStv.

  • Flavour, Brymo, Wizkid up for AFRIMA Awards

    Flavour, Brymo, Wizkid up for AFRIMA Awards

    WITH its date inching close, the 13-man Jury of the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, has unveiled the nominees for its 2016 edition. The nominees were unveiled on Monday, August 22, at the Protea Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos with live online broadcast.

    According to the moderator of the adjudication process, Mr. Mike Strano, about 2700 entries from African music professionals were received during the period of May 20, 2015 to July 30, 2016. Describing the nominations process as careful and thorough, Mr. Strano harped on the jury’s resolve to be fair and transparent.

    Speaking further, Strano, who is the Regional Director, Eastern Africa/Co-Producer, AFRIMA said; “There are 34 categories of the award but only 10 are released today August 22, which are the regional categories. A new category introduced this year is the “People’s Choice Award” which comes out from a healthy debate by the International Committee of AFRIMA and the jury.”

    The Best Female Artistes and Best Male Artistes of the five regions have been released while the nominees in the continental categories will follow suit seven days after.

    Slugging it out for the Best Male Artiste, Western Africa category are some of Nigeria’s finest; Brymo   (In The City), Flavour (Dance), Tekno (Duro) and Wizkid, (Final Baba Nla). They will be going against their Ghanaian and Malian counterparts, Okyeame Kwame (Small Small), Sarkodie (Hand to Mouth) and Sidikiba Diabate Fais Moi (Confiance).

    For the Best Female Artiste, Western Africa category, Nigeria’s Aramide, Seyi Shay, Temi Doll Face, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Niniola will be slugging it out with Senegal’s Adiouza and Ivory Coast’s Josey.

    In attendance were officials of the African Union Commission, members of the AFRIMA jury, members of the International Committee of AFRIMA, past AFRIMA winners and nominees, media executives and other stakeholders in the creative/entertainment industries of Africa.

  • Wizkid, Falz shine at BET Awards

    Wizkid, Falz shine at BET Awards

    Nigerian superstars, Ayo Balogun, aka Wizkid and Folarin Falana, aka Falz Tha Bhad Guy both made their country proud at the just held BET Awards.

    While Wizkid went home with the award for the Best International Act (Africa) at the BET awards, on Sunday, Falz was named the Viewers’ Choice Best International Act.

    “I feel blessed and I am thankful to God for making all of this happen,” said Wizkid, who joins previous winners, Tuface and D’banj, on the league of champions of the category. Thank God for my EME fam, it’s a blessing to be part of an amazing team. Everyone I’ve worked with, everyone who has supported me in one way or the other, God bless you,” said Wizkid who was joint winner with Ghana’s Sarkodie.

    Together, they beat fellow Nigerian, Ice Prince; Camp Mulla (Kenya); Lira (South Africa); and Mokobe (Mali) to emerge winners

    Falz, earlier nominated for the Award, was named the winner at the awards on Saturday.

    The official Twitter account for BET made the announcement official when it tweeted; “Falz has continued to stand out in terms of his creativity and ingenuity, and has carved a niche for himself in the Nigerian industry. He is known for his funny skits on social media, breaking out into a fast rising entertainer in Nigeria and far beyond.”

    The artiste began his career while in secondary school after forming a group called “The School Boys”. His professional career as a music artiste kicked off in 2009 but he shot into limelight after his song titled Marry Me featuring vocals from Poe and Yemi Alade won him a nomination in the “Best Collaboration of The Year” category at the 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. He currently owns an independent record label called Bahd Guys Records.

    Falz beat other talented up-and-coming artists from around the world including Emtee (South Africa), MHD (France), Tkay Maidza (Australia), WSTRN (UK) and Section Boyz (UK) to emerge winner.

    Other winners at the night include Nigerian American rapper Wale, actor Kevin Hart, and rapper Nicki Minaj amongst others.

  • Wizkid in FRESH SCANDAL WITH UK ENTERTAINMENT FIRM

    SUPERSTAR singer, Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid seems to be enmeshed in another controversy, not long after the last one with a celebrity blogger. The Ojuelegba crooner has drawn the ire of a UK based entertainment company for failing to honour performance agreements. The company; Humble Entertainment expressed displeasure at Wizkid’s failure to show up at their recent The SafariNight3, even though he was booked and paid to perform at the event which has played host to the likes of Davido, Wande Coal and Dr. SID.

    The Humble Entertainment management in a letter of May 26, 2016 claimed that Wizkid failed to honour their agreement even though he had been booked, and paid, in addition to meeting all other requirements. Excerpts of the company’s letter state “Humble Entertainments first and foremost would like to express our sincere apologies for any inconvenience and disappointment caused by Wizkid being unable to attend our event.

    Continuing, the Entertainment Company expressed their apologies to all disappointed attendees and any inconveniences caused by the entertainer’s failure to attend the show. They said, “We worked tirelessly to rectify this issue but unfortunately it was beyond our control. Despite going through all the necessary procedures to book Wizkid, which included signing a contract and paying the required fee, we have been let down by the booking/ management parties.”

    Wizkid’s Management represented by Lekan Are however claimed to have no knowledge of such agreement. He responded in a post of May 30, 2016 saying, “@Lilkankz please always get your facts right. I don’t know about this. Nobody discussed this with me — Sunday Are (@sundayaree)”

  • Police wade into Linda Ikeji, Wizkid’s feud

    Police wade into Linda Ikeji, Wizkid’s feud

    The police in Lagos has waded into the feud between celebrity blogger, Linda Ikeji and music star, Ayo Balogun alias Wizkid.
    Ms. Ikeji had filed a threat to life compliant against the singer after he publicly threatened  to send his teenage cousin to beat her up.
    Confirming that the blogger lodged a complain, the police command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent  (SP) said the Commissioner,  Fatai Owoseni has brokered peace between them.
    She said: “Yes, the command received a petition of threat to life from Linda Ikeji against Ayo Balogun. The CP has waded into the issue between Wizkid and Linda Ikeji.  Alternative dispute resolution was used and the parties left in peace.”
    The social media war between the duo climaxed after the blogger published a report that Wizkid was facing eviction problems from his supposed Lekki home.
    Angered by the report, the singer wrote a stinker about Ms. Ikeji, where he threatened to send his 16-year-old cousin to “beat the shit” out of her.
    The post which went viral on social media generated mix reactions from fans and supporters of the duo.

  • Why I reported Wizkid to police, by Linda Ikeji

    Why I reported Wizkid to police, by Linda Ikeji

    After several exchanges of flames on social media, Linda Ikeji has come out to reveal why she reported popular music act Wizkid to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police in a lengthy post on her blog.

    According to Ikeji, she reported the matter to the police because Wizkid publicly threatened her and because she wanted to set an example for other women in similar situations.

    While the blogger claimed she’s been a fan of Wizkid and had no dislike for him contrary to some online comments making the rounds, she said she noticed Wizkid passed snide remarks on her about a year ago.

    The current squabble started when Linda Ikeji published a story that Wizkid was given a quit notice from his Lekki home.

    ‘When I reported that he was served quit notice at his Lekki home, I stated fact and I didn’t write it out of malice. It’s not every day you get exclusive stories…and I’m sure any other blogger who got the story first would also have published it. So, there was no beef, I was just doing my job. A day or so after I wrote this story, Wizkid went on my Instagram page to call me names and lied that I slept with some director of his … which I have said before is 1000% lies! But the insult and lies is not why the police is now involved.

    ‘Here’s the thing; You can insult me, insult my family, call me any names you like, even lie that I slept with your forefathers … but don’t threaten me. If you threaten me, I will act!

    She disclosed that some comments that said she reported Wizkid to police because she was afraid of him was wrong.

    ‘No, my darlings, I am not afraid of Wizkid,’ she wrote, ‘Though I do not take his threats lightly.’

    Urging young boys to pay attention, she continued: ‘You see, violence against women and threat of violence against women is not okay. Threatening harm to someone in a public space is a criminal act in every country of the world, including Nigeria. I bet some of you didn’t know that, yeah? You cannot publicly threaten someone with harm. You will only get away with it if your victim doesn’t report to the authorities. If they do, you will have a case with the police and I promise you, the police take these things seriously.

    Decrying violence and threats of violence against women by men, Ikeji vowed that ‘as long as I have my voice and my platform, I will speak up.’

    The popular blogger also said she reported to police to serve as an example to other women in similar situations.

    ‘The second reason I filed a police report is to encourage other women in similar situations to do same. My dear ladies, if a man threatens to puts hands on you, and you feel the threat is real, report to the authorities. Don’t wait until he does it. What if you don’t survive it? If he’s picked up and may be charged to court (yes, you can be charged to court for making threats…it’s a misdemeanor with a prison sentence), then he will think twice before making threats against you in the future or any other woman for that matter.’

    Ending the post, she wished Wizkid the best, saying, ‘I have nothing but love for his craft and hope that one day, we will put this behind us.’

  • NBC bans Olamide, Wizkid, Lil Kesh, others

    THE Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, as the body vested with the responsibility of vetting the quality of songs aired on Nigerian media since its establishment in 1991 by the 1992 Act 38, and Act 55 of 1991 as amended, has again placed a ban on some songs from being played on Nigerian media.

    Citing lewdness and debauchery as reasons for censoring the works in question, the organization has put its ‘Not to be broadcast’ label on the following songs by popular Nigerian music acts; Olamide’s Don’t stop, Reminisce’s Tesojue, Naeto C’s Tony Montana featuring D’banj, Phyno’s Yayo ,Wizkid’s In My Bed , Iyanya’s Gift featuring Don Jazzy, Lil Kesh’s Gbese, May D’s Ibadi, Olamide’s Bobo, and Falila Ketan.

    Even though the songs in question are the rave right now, they will not be played on Nigerian television and radio stations, but will continue to air on websites, and cable channels like Sound City, MTV Base, and Hip TV, in addition to clubs, and places f entertainment.

    The Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, in its memos to heads of stations clarified that their labeling reveals how the parastatal rates content.  And says that free to air channels could not therefore air songs that contain profanity, violence, and vulgarity. Furthermore, like the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NBC avers that songs like Davido’s Fans Mi promote ostentatious living, indecent exposure, and drug trafficking.

  • Fans decry Wizkid, Linda Ikeji over altercation

    Fans decry Wizkid, Linda Ikeji over altercation

    Forty eight hours after Linda Ikeji’s response to Singer Wizkid, the latter is yet to counter the revelations made by the blogger.

    Some fans of the Ojuelegba crooner who have been taking sides on different social media platforms eagerly await a response from him, wondering if there is any truth in the blogger’s responses, one of which indicated that Wizkid does not own his Lekki home, as claimed.

    Linda had also alleged that Wizkid got his Porsche automobile on hire purchase.

    While many have continued to criticise Linda and Wizkid for their behavior, popular filmmaker and critic, Charles Novia lent his voice in a recent post to the ongoing imbroglio between the two celebrities. He spoke about the expectations of the audience from them both as public figures, alluding to the fact that they had fallen far below the expectations of their fans.

    He said: ”This means that while some measure of success demands some form of etiquette from Linda, now living among the elites, same is not expected ( even if demanded) from Wizkid.”

    Speaking further, Novia explained that Wizkid’s reaction was expected, considering his background, but that much more was expected from Linda considering her present position. He said, “Wizkid’s reaction was true-to-type. He’s a street kid. A Surulere or Ojuelegba product and he’s not expected to have any chill. Unlike Linda, who’s also from a poor background and has some understanding of the rules of the streets of Surulere. Wizkid is a supposed nouveau rich kid whose fame and fortune are grounded in the music of his streets.”

    Novia was quick to add that although Linda was only doing her job, it was tactlessly and vengefully done. As he put it, “Putting up the post yesterday of the eviction notice given to Wizkid was perhaps an intuitive gossip obligation she felt she had to share; after all she’s a known gossip blogger. But it was tactlessly done and exposed an underlying beef which was waiting for an opportunity to get back.”

    Continuing his post, Novia advised Linda that the power of music in the present age, and Wizkid’s cult status in the African music industry makes it difficult, if not impossible to win a war of words with him, as Chief Dele Momodu can attest to. Saying that all Wizkid need do is to set some abusive words to music, and the rest is history. In the end, he advised the two cult figures to bury the hatchet. 

    Some fans of both Ikeji and Wizkid have continued to voice their disapproval of both parties’ unruly behavior.  A fan of Ikeji said, ”I am disappointed that an influential person like Ikeji can descend so low by engaging in war of words with a younger Wizkid. I can’t believe that an older and respected woman like Linda Ikeji can stoop so low to give that child the time of the day”. Another said he had lost respect for both, and it would require them to compete for his respect, saying, “I don’t know why they are displaying ignorance and acting immature”. Another Wizkid fan expressed her contempt stating that both parties needed a reality check saying, “Both of them are just displaying an act of foolishness and it is amazing how ignorant they are, and I am really disappointed. Wizkid, who is my star, is feeling bitter because his fake life has been revealed to us, the fans. Continuing she said, ”He needs to get his act together and not embarrass us.”

  • Wizkid and Linda Ikeji’s war of words continues

    Wizkid and Linda Ikeji’s war of words continues

    The ongoing social media war of words between celebrity blogger; Linda Ikeji and Star singer; Wizkid which started a few months ago seems to have gotten bloodier in the last week as the duo exchanged bitter words on social media on Sunday.

    On Sunday, Linda posted on Instagram that Wizkid had received quit notice from the Landlady of the Lekki home he claimed to have bought. She also claimed that his Porsche was bought on hire purchase, and that he was over the 25 years he claims to be. In her Instagram post, the popular blogger said, “So my darling little “friend” Wizkid went on my IG page this morning to blast me for writing that he was given quit notice at the Lekki home he claimed he bought some years ago, which he actually rented. Oh, and by the way did I mention that his Porsche car is also on hire purchase? And no darling, you are not 25, we know your real age.”

    Incensed, the Ojuelegba crooner also took to Instagram to refute her claim. Going for the jugular, the Star boy called Linda names, using a lot of profanity, and made derogatory statements about her lady parts. Calling the thirty something year old super rich spinster “a sad old spinster at almost forty” and that she had not made the kind of impact he had when she was his age. He also bragged that he was willing to take her on to work for him in his foundation’s ongoing project to send over 1000 children to school, saying, “You and your laptop will stay married for life.”

    Wizkid then said his director left Ikeji at the hotel when he slept with her. In the same post he continued, “I googled Linda at 25 and found nothing. You wish you had all I have at 25!”

    Consequently, the imbroglio has led to fans and concerned Nigerians showing interest in the war between the two celebrities, pitching their supporters into two camps; for and against each of the duo. Others have come out to state that their behaviour is less than that required of their statuses as public figures, and role models.

    As one fan said, “Wizkid can abuse Linda that she is unmarried at 35 but it’s okay to have 2 baby mamas at 25! Silly boy!” Another posted, “Not a big fan of hers, but Linda Ikeji’s reply to Wizkid is definitely one of the most matured ‘clap backs’ I have seen.” This dialogue by another says it all, “Wizkid: Did it work? Linda: yes, my traffic increased. That new track better be fire. Go easy next time.”

     

  • How Pop, R&B artistes rank on social media

    How Pop, R&B artistes rank on social media

    The impact of Social media on the Entertainment industry in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized, given that entertainers (Musical Artistes) were among the first Nigerians who embraced the new media and have remained on top of the list of users in Nigeria and across the world.

    Some started earlier and still struggling to gain much followership, depending on how soon such an artiste understood the tricks of each social media platform and apply same in order to connect with fans.

    However, some other artistes came on much later and are doing very fine with a good number of followers on these platforms.

    No doubt, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are very important platforms that have been engaged by these Celebrities to carry their fans along.

    Below is how they rank on Twitter and Instagram: