D’banj fights Kelly Hansome over alleged copyright infringement

The stage appears set for a court battle between two Nigeria’s music artistes, award winning hip-hop star, D’banj and Kelly Hansome over alleged copyright infringement.

A statement from Mo’ Hits Record (D’banj’s music label) media Company, Media Image Managers revealed that the duo would be heading to the court room soon if all efforts to make Kelly Hansome to withdraw the new song, a remix of D’banj’s I’m Feeling Good, which Hansome had released on the Internet, fail.

Mo’ Hits alleged that the D’banj’s song, I’m Feeling Good, was leaked in the process of recording and it finally found it’s way into Kelly Hansome’s hands who quickly did a ‘remix’. “It shows how slippery the nation’s entertainment sector is,” the star’s publicist said in the statement.

The statement read: “Do take notice that Mo’Hits Records Limited is the lawful owner of rights to the recorded material (I’m Feeling Good) being touted by one Kelechi Obinna Orji a.k.a. Kelly Hansome or persons acting for him.

Mo’Hits Records Limited has not granted the said rights to Mr. Hansome or to anyone else. Mr. Hansome’s possession and offering of the material at issue is unauthorized, unjustified, inexcusable and downright illegal; the subject of current civil and criminal proceedings.”

Mo’ Hits advised anyone not to “publish, offer, play, copy, post or howsoever treat with the said material if or when it is offered to you.”

Hansome through his lawyer had denied any wrong doing. “If that position does not change, Mo’ Hits will be left with no choice than to seek redress in the law court but in the intermission, any third party that does not want to be dragged into this litigation should desist from promoting the work in any form,” the statement warned. 

DRAMATIC: Upcoming R&B singer Dencia fights @ the Headies

Yesterday night at the Headies Awards, fast rising R&B singer Dencia and another babe almost tore their clothes apart while one of them got her wig pulled, before on-lookers quickly came between them. Reasons for the fight are still very sketchy. An eye witness who saw the scenario says she was shocked to her nerves when she saw Dencia exchange blows with another lady. Also stating that, more is expected from her especially now that she is trying to stamp her feet in the entertainment world.

BTW Eldee dedicated his award to his wife, Dolapo who some say have been disturbed by her husband and the messy Mo’cheddah’s nude pic. The guy tried to win her back by telling the world yesterday how much he loved her (dolapo) on stage. SMART

Goldie, Ruggedman Fight Fan Dirty

I remember when I was in school, the first news writing tip I got was that, ‘when a dog bites a man, it is not news, but when vis a vis, then it becomes a good story.’ That is why much is expected from celebs to stay out of bad publicity.

Goldie and Ruggedman threw decorum away when they both took on a fan on a social networking site, twitter on Monday October 10. The fan with the twitter handle, akegag, tweeted,“Ruggedman deserves to die after making us endure all the wacky s**t he makes us hear, It would be cool if he was dead though, wack rapper.”

In a reply, Ruggedman tweeted, “please twifam, join me as I mourn the death of akegag, he died of a homosexual related disease, he was a gay.”

In a support of to colleague in the music industry, Goldie picked on akegag when she tweeted,“you are telling celebs that they should die, it is uncalled for. The other day, you said I wasn’t worth it, I ignored you.”

Ruggedman tweeted these curses on akegag, “Father Lord God, for akegag and anyone like him, let his prosperity be cut off; and in the generation following, let their names be blotted out and cut off the memory of them from the earth. Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; let them seek bread in desolate places. Let his prayers become sin. In Jesus name I have prayed. AMEN.”

While Ruggedman was doing the curses, the following was going on between Goldie and akegag.

Akegag: “When will Goldie change her weave, it is nasty now, maybe it is Brazilian.

Goldie: “You will be nothing but a fake wack bas***d who thrives on twitter famzing and will be forgotten as soon as a new social network comes up.”

Akegag: “Shut up hot kini. Goldie an ugly whore spotting fake weave-on! National cake, f**k anywhere belle face

Goldie: “No wonder you are confused, your uncle actually paid to f**k your mother. So sad you don’t even know who your daddy is. Meaning your mother was a never do well whore who f**ked whatever was paid to her to, including rodents and pigs.

Akegag: I bet you slept with all the producers and they did you till all your hair fell off, hence, the weave on. Goldie is actually her stripper name and Ruggedman will remain rugged and wretched. Goldie sang you don’t need to pay to touch her body. I guess she’s a free bi**h with a bald hair-do.

Goldie: I am having fun at your expense; I might walk around bald for all that I care, I will still be Goldie, and you? I have nothing more to say to you, you can kiss my fake blonde weave-on, lol and go RIPieces as Ruggedman has already said. Cheers.

But in a turn around, Goldie tweeted, “I really appreciate your uncalled for insults to me today, they have made me stronger. I am also sorry for replying you in the same vain. God help us all.” 

Akegag replied, “.You insulted me first. All I said was your hair do and you descended on me.” And to Ruggedman, “Thanks for the prayers; I don’t think God answers such. You are still dumb though.”

QUESTIONMARK RECORDS BOSS,KEVIN LUCCIANO IN GHASTLY ACCIDENT

These are definitely not the best of times for Question Mark Boss, Kevin Lucciano as we learnt he was involved in a ghastly motor accident some days back.

According to sources,the near fatal accident occurred at about 3am in the early hours of Saturday Oct 1 2011 in Abuja. Kevin was in the car with 4 other friends coming from the congress lounge on his way to his residence in Gana street Maitama when the accident took place.

Kevin has three broken ribs and a left lung that went flat.

Findings revealed that the Question Mark Boss has been flown out of the country in an air ambulance for treatment.

2face Idibia – Outside(BRAND NEW)

Egbon 2baba is one guy that knows how to stay relevant at every single point in time. He has just put out yet another international-standard video for “Outside“; one of my best songs off his “Unstoppable” album. Watch it below.
Directed by Godfather Productions
*O.O*
If, for the strangest reason known to man, you still don’t have 2face [...]

Nigerian  Rapper Ikechukwu on Thursday, October 13, 2011 celebrated his birthday with family, friends and his girlfriend – model Sarah Ofili at Churrasco in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Nigerian acts Don Jazzy, Sound Sultan, Naeto C were present to celebrate will Killz. Others at the party were Badman Floss, Baba Dee, Asa Asika, Tosin Adefope, Producer IKON, Show Dem Camp, Jay Sleek, his brother Uzi and cousin Xela Xelz amongst others.

COMIC ACT,BABA SUWE TO FILE A LAWSUIT AGAINST NDLEA FOR DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER

According to NDLEA Director-General, Femi Ajayi,Babatunde Omidina, aka Baba Suwe would undergo Computerised Tomography Scan (CT Scan). and if the scan result shows that the actor has no drug concealed in his stomach, then he will be released.

He claimed the comic Actor will be released if after third excretion, no drug is found. This is in line with the NDLEA standard operational rule, that says suspect should be released after third excretion.

Ajayi further said Baba Suwe will only get an apology from NDLEA as he should take this as a sacrifice in the war against drugs.

He ruled out the possibility of the actor taking legal action.

Ajayi said: “As far as we are concerned Baba Suwe is innocent, at least for now, it is just normal that when there is reasonable suspicion, we take people in for observation.

We learnt that Baba Suwe would likely file a lawsuit against NDLEA for defamation of character.

Further findings revealed that Nigerian actors under the umbrella of the Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners are currently putting arrangements in place to stage a mass protest over the continuing detention of the actor.

On Sunday, October 16 2011, the ANTP leadership circulated a message among it members reproduced below.

'This is the 4th day of Baba Suwe in NDLEA custody without anything found on him. NOW is time for us to talk. They owe us explanations as we have to act now. Be prepared for a massive rally. Expect further information on this soon, pass this message to others 4RM Prince Jide Kosoko'

The move is aimed at championing a growing agitation for the release of the suspect

Funke Akindele Exclusive: ‘The Story Of Jenifa’

The superstar actress has risen, in such short time, from just one of the numerous actresses around, to become ‘the’ actress – thanks to her movie Jenifa, which catapulted her from obscurity into mainstream prominence.

Now a Globacom ambassador, and a multi award-winning actress-producer, the UNILAG alumnus is back with a new project The Return of Jenifa (TROJ). And, one week after a star-studded premier in Lagos, the star actress sat down with our correspondent for a quikie

How do you cope with so much work?

It’s by the grace of God. I sleep like seven hours in the night and crash like one hour in the car.

Six, seven hours?

I have to because of the stress of my job. We’re always on set acting. The light is really hot. And it won’t be good if you don’t eat and sleep. So I try my best to eat and sleep well. I need that energy to keep pushing on.

Let’s go way back, probably to the time you were born. Give me a brief description of your family. Where you grew up?

I grew up in Lagos, I come from Lagos. I have three siblings. Two girls and a boy.

Where in Lagos did you grow up?

Somolu, Surulere. My mum is a gynaecologist, my father, an educationist. Growing up was fun, I was more of a tom boy, playful. I had fun.

How much did television at that point in time influenced you, your mum being a gynaecologist and dad educationist, were they strict? Did you have access to TV, comics?

Yeah, definitely I was given access to watch TV and read comics. We were given access to it. Just make sure you’re silent. You read your books. You do the right thing at the right time.

So from primary school to secondary school; Which secondary school?

Lagos state model college, Igbo-okuta.

Let’s fast forward to when you were featured in the very popular ‘I Need To Know’ series. How did that come about?

Well my first experience for the camera was on Opa Williams set, ‘Naked Wire’. I featured in a film.

How did you get the role?

I just attended the audition and Opa Williams is such a gentle man. I heard about the audition then, I was given a role. After then, I was on I.T at APCON I just told my boss, ‘oga I want to go for this audition’. He was like, ‘go, go, go’.

How old were you then?

I was past teenage years. I went, and I got a role.

So in the series you had to play down your age, the character in the script was quite younger than you were. How did you manage it?

At first I found it a bit difficult. My director was always complaining on set. You’re not talking like a teenager. You need to talk like a teenager. I got home a bit sad. And my younger sister said ‘why are you worried?’. ‘They’re going to take the role from me o’, I would answer. Then she would take a look at my script. ‘What are you supposed to say?’ ‘No mummy, yes mummy’. Just say it like that, and I went back and I did it like that, and I got the role. So she taught me how to play like a teenager.

The other people you were working with they were also playing younger roles.

Yes, they were young. They were fairly young.

So they were playing their part.

Yes, they were young. They were teenagers. Averagely you were above their age.

How long did the series last?

Still on air. It lasted for two to five years.

I think the first two, three years was very fantastic. And I don’t know what happened.

They brought in new people.

So after ‘I Need To Know’ there were a few years of…

Trying to get roles.

Tell us about it…

That was a very trying moment. It was really tough.

So you went straight into Nollywood?

Yes, I went into Nollywood. I met Kunle Coker. He helped me to get roles. He was supportive. But it was difficult to get roles on television. You’ll talk, talk, read, read, but they wouldn’t give you the role.

Why didn’t you move straight to series that were airing on TV as at that time?

I tried. I was on ‘Every Day People’. I was on I think ‘Izozo’, but they weren’t like ‘I Need to Know’.

So you rather went for Nollywood?

Yes, when I didn’t get the big break.

What was the first Yoruba movie you featured in?

It was Kolade Alabi’s ‘Iroka’. The producer told me about the movie at an event. I was part of the movie in Osogbo. I played a very minor role. It was in Ayo Adesanya’s ‘Heart Breaker’, after then I crossed over to the faculty where you have Yinka Quadri, Ogogo, Abe Lanre, Yemi Alabi. They welcomed me, featured me in their movies, and I started my first major role. My first lead role was in ‘Ojo Ketala’. Coincidentally, that was my first experience as a producer.

So almost immediately you became a producer. Where did you get the experience from?

I believe I could do it and I started it. I watched how they did it. I’ve been on different production sets and watched how they do it. They call people from different departments, different professionals. Finally I wrote my script, I invited the director of photography and the director. How are we going to do this, call this make-up artist, call this wardrobe person. And I gathered them together and we did the movie.

Prior to you featuring in Yoruba films, you’ve been reading scripts in English. What was it like speaking Yoruba in a movie?

I speak Yoruba very well, I speak Yoruba at home. My mum would say, ‘speak English, English is good, but speak Yoruba, ‘omo Yoruba ni e’, so it wasn’t difficult.

Who invested in your first movie?

My mum

So she believed so much in you.

She believed in me

How about your dad?

My dad wanted me to be a lawyer. So my father would just tell me then, ‘go back, go to school, go and study law’.

How does he feel now?

Now he’s cool with it.

Are you going to consider practicing Law?

Nope

Ever?

Nope.

As it ever crossed your mind to make your dad happy?

Please I don’t practice Law? But it reflects in my script. It’s good that I studied law. It helped in writing my scripts.

How so?

Like if you watch my films it’s all about crime rate, arm robbery like when they want to start a case in court and all that. It helped.

So after ‘Ojo Ketala’, what was the next movie?

After ‘Ojo Ketala’ I did, I think ‘Etanu’. I met Hakeem Balogun who’s become my best producer since date.

So how many films have you produced?

Over ten films.

What Inspired the Jenifa Movie?

I just felt like impacting the youths with a solid message. A lot of girls out there do things they really shouldn’t. Some are ‘aristos’ and stand the chance of losing their lives through dangerous ways – including contacting HIV. And other things that should be set straight, I wrote the movie myself.

Why take the comedic route to preach such a serious message?

I felt I should talk about sustaining good morals but in a way one would laugh but still walk home with a message. ‘Jenifa’ isn’t boring, so you will watch and equally get the moral of the story at the end.

Yes I did, but couldn’t find anyone. Ronke Oshodi almost fit the role but she was too big in stature for Jenifa’s character. I wanted Jenifa to be smaller in size. I had to play the part when I couldn’t get anyone to fill up the role.

Tell us about the ‘Omo Ghetto

Yes. I did Omo Ghetto to reach out to young people in the ghetto. That they can be responsible, they can use their God-given talent and acquired skill to better their lives, of their family and that of the nation. Because a lot of people from the ghetto – the pick pockets, touts, the young people that came to rob me when I was shooting Omo Ghetto, are so young. So young!! It was sad, but we thank God. I’m alive.

Did you try talking to them?

Yeah, yeah, even when one was trying to hit me, but his accomplice started begging like, ‘ema fo wokan yen o’. I felt so bad, so sad for them. I heard they’ve been arrested you know. And I feel bad. I hope they’ll change. I hope they’ll be given another chance. You know these are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow, why waste away? Those are the people that inspired ‘Omo Ghetto’.

What inspired your passion for Nigerian youth?

Urm, I had an experience before Jenifa. I met this young girl. I think she’s living in Ijora. A very pretty girl. She speaks good English. She went to a public school. She knows how to braid hair. And she’s trying to get back to school. I met her. She’s so close to me. And I would give her money. ‘Are you okay?’, ‘how are you?’. So I met this young girl, and I think she’s got a good heart. I can do something for the young people. Why can’t I reach out to them through my movie and my N.G.O, The Jenifa Foundation? That’s how we started.

So which one came first? The deal with GLO or the deal with the Lagos State Government?

Laughs. Everything came together. The only thing I can say is that I’m happy to be a Glo Ambassador. Glo is for the gbo gbo bix girls. And we have a lot to offer our subscribers, check out the…

Don’t, don’t, (Laughs).

Then Lagos state, I’m from Lagos state.

Which part in Lagos?

Ikorodu.

A lot of your peers have taken a very long time before they said, ‘I think I can produce too’. Why was your own so sure. Why was your own quite quick?

Because I knew what I wanted to do. And everything’s by God grace. Not by might.

Would you still create more characters, more movies for Jenifa? I mean there’s a ‘Return of Jenifa’. Though it kind of shows a sense of ending.

For now, but tomorrow. Like Madea, Madea was in ‘I Can Do About Myself’, she’s was in ‘Madea’s Happy Family’, we loved Madea, but she’s crazy. She’s got something for you.

Tyler Perry is the richest entertainer right now in the US. Why is she your role model? Apart from being the richest entertainer.

Not because of that. Because of his work.

Because of his work. When did you start following up?

I can’t even remember.

Okay. What next?

We’re resting now

But what next?

We’re resting. Keep your fingers crossed. The energy that we put into the ‘Return of Jenifa’, oh my God, it was crazy, it was challenging, it was tasking. Getting all the cast together. To even get the content. It was a big job. Don’t forget the expectation was also high.

How much do you charge for a movie role?

For a movie role? Ah, oma kpo gan. O to 50million.

How much last?

Ah, I can’t mention. It depends on the person. I can even do it free of charge. If the script is so strong and it’s something I can handle.

Have you ever thought taking up a role in Hollywood? Something not in Nigeria.

We all want to.

Have you gotten any call?

I don’t know. Let’s wait.

You haven’t gotten any call?

Let’s wait.

Laughs. Okay it was nice speaking with you.

God bless you dear. Osagie, thank you for coming.

Cheers. 

SAIDI AND FATHIA BALOGUN TAKE MATRIMONIAL WAR TO MOVIE LOCATION

The cold war between estranged movie couple,Saidi and Faithia Balogun is yet to be over,despite efforts of their colleagues,fans and top personalities to settle the rift that led to their separation few years back.

Recently,at the movie location in Iba,a suburb of Lagos,the estranged couple were said to have avoided each other for the whole days the shooting of their roles took place.

The movie was produced by a mutual female friend,Kemi Korede,who made fruitless efforts to pair them both.She only succeeded in giving the former husband and wife separate role.

Also,Saidi and Fathia were invited to two different locations in Abeokuta,by an actor and producer,Segun Ogungbe,while Fathia was invited by another producer but were interestingly lodged in the same hotel.

Perhaps,it was another plot to make peace between the former couple but those efforts failed woefully