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EPIC Entertainment's #MhadSoundBwoi, Dj Pregz starts a project promising to be hot and EPIC as he drops his first single titled HUSTLE MUST PAY which he features JTown's Favorite Y.A.N act Verse (Biri da wondo crooner) alongside Kimberlite Nation's Koded crooner Skitter who also produced the joint. The joint was mixed by Slash P.

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Just shortly after her internet-breaking baby announcement, Beyonce released campaign images (and video) of her new line of activewear for Ivy Park.
After the success of her debut effort, Queen Bey’s sophomore effort features some famous faces in the campaign images including black-ish star Yara Shahidi, proteges of her Parkwood label, Chloe X Malle, singers Selah Marley and Sza, and model Sophie Koella.
Take a look at some of the campaign images below.



Watch!

Source: Refinery 29

A middle-aged man identified as Nura, has committed suicide in Tsamiya village of Gezawa local government area of Kano, by hanging himself on a tree.

“The man kept his shirt, shoe and a local counter (Charbi) under the tree and then wrote his name before he committed suicide,” an eyewitness told Dailytrust.
RIP!

Photo Credit: Dailtrust

 

CharlyBoy has blasted those criticising musician 2Baba‘s planned protest against government at all levels over their policies and the economic downturn.
In a post on Instagram, the ‘Area Fada’ said that even if anyone opposes 2Baba’s planned protest for any reason, they shouldn’t “expose their ignorance” on social media as it is clear that corruption, political criminality, poverty and suffering are reigning supreme in Nigeria.
He wrote:

Brandon Maxwell is best known for being the stylist to pop star, Lady Gaga. For his Spring/Summer 2017 campaign, he tapped Victoria’s Secret model and close friend, Riley Montana.
In the campaign photos and accompanying video directed by Jessy Price, Riley can be seen in her hometown of Detroit, flanked by members of her family. In the video, she’s clad in Brandon Maxwell’s pieces, narrating the story of her struggling beginnings to her current position as one of fashion’s top black models.
The campaign and video are inspired by Maxwell’s mantra, which is to “Move forward, but never forget where you came from“. See the video full here, watch a short version below.
View the campaign images below.



Photo Credit: Instagram | @brandonmaxwell

It seems that Drake and Nicki Minaj have rekindled their friendship following Nicki’s split with rapper Meek Mill.
On Wednesday, the Nicki took to Instagram to post a picture of her and Drake. Although the picture was without a caption, it was pretty clear what message the Anaconda singer was trying to pass across.

The “feud” between Nicki Minaj and Drake lasted for over two years, supposedly starting since their last collaboration with the song “Truffle Butter” in 2015. Although this may not be seen as a full on beef between the two, we can definitely say that the distance which had developed in their friendship was as a result of the major feud between Drake and Nicki’s ex Meek Mill.
News of the beef between Drake and Meek Mill went viral on all social media platforms back mid last year with results of it ranging from multiple tweet rants to a couple of diss tracks aimed at each other.

In an interview last April Drake revealed to Beats 1‘s Zane Lowe that he does not speak to Nicki anymore but also expressed a complete understanding for it – “She dealt with me how I would expect her to, which was with class, and I could only ever do the same,” he said.
“Again, another person that I have a lot of love for and a lot of respect, not only for our past and how much work and time we put in, but even just the way she dealt with the situation at hand,” he added.

Regardless of it all, now not only are the duo back together but it seems the whole Young Money family is back together. Nicki also took to Instagram to post a picture of her, Lil wayne and Drake captioning it “theBIG3” “YoungMoney”.


Seems new and exciting music collabs may be on the way!

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, in a text message sent through Boade Akinola, the Director, Media & Public Relations at the Ministry of Health, has said that he was not aware of the discovery of a cure for HIV/AIDS by Maduike Ezeibe, a Professor of Virology at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State.

“I’m not aware of his claims. There are standard ways of disseminating such information. The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, in conjunction with the College of Medicine University of Ibadan, has been mandated to verify two claims of cure for HIV in Nigeria. We shall make our findings public when ready,” PUNCH quoted the message as saying.

In a statement on Wednesday, Prof. Francis Otunta, the university’s Vice Chancellor, announced ‘the discovery of a drug for the treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS by the institution’.

Ezeibe had said that the medicine had been used to potentiate Ampicilin, Chloroquine, Piperazine and Sulphadimidin, among others, and could be a major foreign exchange earner for Nigeria, if approved by relevant authorities.

According to Ezeibe, “local and international pharmaceutical companies will find the product as a veritable raw material”.

Credit: PUNCH

Are you an entrepreneur in Nigeria, here are 7 funding programs you should know.
For many entrepreneurs around the world, access to financing is a major concern. In “Listening and Learning for Success – What Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs Need,” I describe the needs of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Amongst the top issues discussed, was finding methods to reduce the costs associated with doing business in Nigeria and the need for competitive interest rates on loan products. Many young entrepreneurs in Nigeria feel that they cannot start a business because they do not have access to the capital required, and those who have started a business feel that there is little to no access to capital to expand or move on to the next level. It is important to highlight the grants, competitions, and prizes available to entrepreneurs around the world. Some of these funding programs are annual, while others are a one-time event. This article aims to inform entrepreneurs living in Nigeria of seven (7) funding programs to know. Some of these government programs and private organizations seek to increase accessibility, equality, and transparency by supporting the growth, development, and sustainability of businesses in Nigeria.

• The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP) – GEEP is an initiative of the federal government of Nigeria and Bank of Industry. The GEEP program offers a no-interest loan scheme with a one-time 5 percent administrative fee for costs. GEEP to date has disbursed 23,400 loans to artisans, traders, farmers and entrepreneurs across 13 states. You can make GEEP part of your success story by applying for funding here. http://www.boi.ng/marketreg/

• The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) – this is an initiative of the Lagos State government. The mission of the fund is to create employment and wealth for all Lagosians. The fund wants to target 100,000 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by 2019. Through the fund, entrepreneurs receive a loan at 5 percent interest rate per annum. It is also important to note that 20 percent of SMEs in Nigeria call Lagos home. Participants of this program have received funding as high as 5 million Naira.

• The Made in Nigeria Business Challenge (MINC) – this is an initiative of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki’s office. The challenge was created to promote nation building and to celebrate everything uniquely Nigerian. The ‘Made-In-Nigeria’ challenge provides entrepreneurs with locally sourced products a platform to connect with government officials, agencies and an opportunity to discuss how the Senate President can continue to support entrepreneurial efforts through policy changes and legislation.

• The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurial Program (TEEP) – is an initiative by the Tony Elumelu Foundation that provides a $5000 seed capital to enterprising young people with good ideas. TEEP requires its program participants to attend an intensive business training and mentoring course. To date, the program has reached a total of 51 African countries with an investment of over $ 4 million.

• LoftyInc Capital Management (LCM) – is an initiative of Idris Bello and partners. The firm recently announced the launch of a new $25 million fund for African entrepreneurs, which will focus on early stage Africa-facing enterprises that leverage technologies to create social impact and tackle big problems.

• The AWP Network – founded by Mary Olushoga is a platform powering business success for African entrepreneurs. The platform helps you to turn your ideas into a reality. What can you expect from visiting the site, you can: read a story about an entrepreneur, attend an event, learn how to apply for various business grants and competitions, how to pitch, write a business plan, create a pitch deck and be connected to experts from around the world.

• Omojuwa Small Business Support Fund (SBS) – is the initiative of Japheth Omojuwa, chief strategist at Alpha Reach, the small business support fund provides grants ranging from 50,000 to 120, 000 naira to business owners in need of funding support. The purpose of the fund is to help young Nigerian entrepreneurs starting a business, it also provides existing businesses with the additional cash flow to move forward. The fund recently disbursed over 2 million naira to over 30 businesses. In addition, will help awarded entrepreneurs with website development services, media and professional support as well as business development training from volunteers.

Have more programs, organizations or firms that we should know about? Please share, email: mary (at) awpnetwork.com

The following article was written by Pius Adesanmi, a Professor of English at Carleton University, on his Facebook Page.
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President Buhari‘s administration, its supporters and well-wishers, do not want 2Baba to have his say in a democracy. They do not want him to organize a protest against the direction of Nigeria under President Buhari’s supervision.
They have denigrated him.
They have abused him.
They have abused his father and mother.
Those who defend the musician’s right to agonize and organize in a democracy have been surprised by the ferocity of those determined to silence the man.
I think that Innocent Idibia‘s traducers – the Buhari administration and its voices in the public sphere – have a better understanding of history than those who are acting surprised and are blindsided by the ferocity of the opposition to Idibia’s planned protest.
Let’s be clear: I support and endorse that protest and the spirit which informs it. If I were in the country, I’d join it to protest against the failures and the shortcomings of the current administration and insist on better, responsible, and accountable governance.
If we cede Nigeria to the crude and primitive instincts of those who would have us perish even the mere thought of peaceful and legitimate protest in a democracy just because they deify President Buhari, we are totally finished. A Nigeria in which the right to protest is demonized cannot contain us and such people.
It is instructive that many of those who are attempting to prevent legitimate protests against President Buhari in Nigeria see no contradiction whatsoever in hailing legitimate protests against President Trump in another democracy in faraway America. Perhaps we should not be surprised because irony and the Nigerian have never been good friends.
I said that the Buhari administration and its supporters who are trying to block Idibia’s right to dissent have a better handle on history than those who are surprised by the state’s reaction.
Come with me.
Centuries before Christ, in ancient Greece precisely, a fellow called Orpheus became the perfect embodiment of poetic genius in music. It was said that his father, the god Apollo, gave him a lyre and taught him to play it. Orpheus became the greatest musician in the universe. The world obeyed the command of his art. Rivers, mountains, animals, and humans all melted when he played the lyre. He fell in love with a beautiful lady called Eurydice.
Misfortune happens to this perfect love story and his wife died and descended to Hades – the underworld. Orpheus had one power, one weapon that no force could withstand – his music. With his lyre, he was able to descend to Hades, cross the dangerous Stygian realm, charm Cerberus the monster with three heads, and gain admission into the presence of Pluto, the god of the Underworld, whose heart he melted with music and retrieved his wife.
Nothing was able to withstand or block the liberating capacity of the music of Orpheus. Orpheus had served notice to humanity that music liberates. Music frees people from tyranny. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
Such is the awesome power of the musician. Fast forward to several centuries after Christ, in 13th-century Germany, the people of the little village of Hamelin were in bondage. The bondage of rat infestation. Doctors could not save them from that bondage. Armies could not save them from that bondage. A single musician and his pipe saved them. He also of course had the capacity to punish them for failing to compensate him as promised. Just as the Pied Piper of Hamelin used his music to lure the rats away, he lured the children away. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
Such is the awesome power of the musician. In Jericho, the invading Israelites had to make the transition from professional soldiers to professional musicians. They laid down their arms and blew trumpets. And the Wall of Jericho fell. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
Such is the awesome power of the musician. In folktale after folktale after folktale after folktale, Ijapa the tortoise uses song and music to conquer, to overcome, to liberate, to bring down tyranny in the Yoruba world. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
Such is the awesome power of the musician. If you watch the documentary, Amandla (find it on YouTube), you will gain an understanding of the fact that it was song and music that brought down Apartheid in South Africa. You will hear former Apartheid police officers and security forces declare that they were more afraid of the song and the chanting “of the blecks” (Blacks in South African English) than the stones and the bullets of the anti-apartheid fighters. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
The man who finds favour with the Muses and they invest the art of music in him immediately becomes an existential threat to power because he is in possession of a weapon that has been the nemesis of power throughout history. Whether he is singing or just operating in the secular realm of a protest beyond musical performance, he is still an existential threat to power.
This explains why the Buhari administration and its supporters are so afraid of Innocent Idibia. This explains why they are so jittery. And this explains why their reaction and hysterics should be familiar to those who have read enough books to understand the history of such reactions to the musician.
The Nigerians trying to stop the artist have ancestors dating all the way back to ancient Greece – agents of power and forces of reaction who have always tried to catch the wind and arrest the air. Sadly, they will go the way of all those who have tried to arrest the air before them. They will go the way of those who have tried to “arrest the music”, to borrow the title of Tejumola Olaniyan‘s excellent book.
If you are a blind Buhari supporter, Innocent Idibia is not your problem. President Buhari is. Face him and tell him to up his game and deliver on his electoral promises. You did not elect him to run Nigeria catastrophically on auto-pilot as he is currently doing. At any rate, if you are a patriot, your loyalty will always be to Nigeria and not to any President.
If you belong in Team Nigeria, the team of transcendental non-partisan patriots who believe that Nigeria is bigger than anyone, including the President, and his supporters must consequently not be allowed to reduce Nigeria to a theocracy run by their god, defend Mr. Innocent Idibia’s right to protest. Support him.
Physically, they may shut down that protest or even prevent him from holding it. Don’t worry. Idibia is an artist. He has song. He has music. He is beyond them.
Let them continue to arrest the air.
It’s their funeral.