M.I NOMINATED FOR THREE AWARDS IN THE UPCOMING HIP HOP WORLD AWARDS ON THE 10TH OF MARCH 2008

M.I rated on of the most anticipated hip hop act in Africam currently on the Bring the Noise tour has been nominated for three awards in the Hip Hop World Awards 2008. next rated, best lyricist and best rap single.

You are enjoined to vote for him.

 Please go to
www.hiphopworld.com/hiphop

This industry has witnessed phenomenal leaps and bounds over the past 5 years and is set to move to the next level. Next month, the Hip Hop Awards hold in Lagos on the 10th of March 2008 and in April the Sound City Video Music Awards will be held as well in Lagos ,Nigeria.

On the international front, Chocolate City is taking Nigeria to its first ever music industry networking event- London Calling.The event takes place from the 19-20th of June 2008 in Earl's Court London.

Please look out for further updates on this blog

The CEO ,Chocolate City Mr. Audu Maikori, has just returned from an International Workshop organized by the British Council And the Ministry of Youth ,Culture and tourism ,Ministry of Economy in Tirana, Albania . The event was supported by Vodafone and Pepsi. Mr Maikori was there to present a paper on the “ A successful Business Model for the Creative Entrepreneur” as well as discuss Intellectual property rights with a team of distinguished professionals and entrepreneurs within and around Europe.

“The Creative economy has been defined as “ those activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have the potential for wealth and job creation though the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. The creative economy is the fastest growing sector of the UK economy and in Nigeria has the potential of generating over 30 percent of our revenue if harnessed  properly. In fact if the government can get involved in setting up the necessary policies to guide  the creative industries in Nigeria ,an estimated 2 million people will be taken off the job hunting market within the two years” says Maikori. The activities include music, film and video, publishing, software, antiques, arts and crafts and radio.

He further stated that Chocolate City in collaboration with the British Council would be hosting an international  project aimed at harnessing the potentials of the creative economy in Nigerian mid 2008 as well as taking Nigeria to "London Calling 2008"

Hi all,

Last week was a pretty hectic yet fulfilling one for us at C.C. M.I was off to Ethiopia for the Bring The Noise tour. Meanwhile in Abuja the inaugural edition of the British Council’s WAPI,(words and pictures) took place on a very high note, on hand was Emem Ema(the WAPI event manager for WAPI Lagos) to help coordinate and support The launch WAPI event, which included dances, acrobatics ,arts exhibitions, poetry, book readings, hip hop, freestyle battles and pure soul music!

The Host for the event was the incredible Jesse Jags and Katung(K bLack). The Minister of Culture and Tourism - Prince Adetokunboh Kayode dropped by and had so much fun he decided to stay for almost and hour, chatting with the youth and interacting with the CC Crew.

The freestyle lyrical battle had Jesse Jags and Ice Prince up against the Krock and a few other MC’s. The battle was mad fun and got every one in the crowd up on their feet applauding! Other artists at the event included Byron, OB Jazz, Seun, Ekene the Poet,

The press were fully represented AIT, NTA,DBN,234 Media and it was nice to see so out of towners Ebun Olatoye( True Love) Bibi(Salamander),Lydia(Taruwa). Our friends Victor Anieliefo (ALS), Danny Kure(Blake and Harper), Ifeanyi, OJ, Oj of Cool FM, Gang, Nike Coker,  and a host of others were also in the house. The event ended (reluctantly) at around 6.30 pm. The Graffiti work done outside the British Council premises was another key attraction of the day. In all WAPI had  over a 120 attendants(not bad for a first launch)

Sunday January 13th -Location- LAGOS- The Future Awards _

M.I returned from Ethiopia and headed straight for the awards ceremony. I also flew in that morning for the event  where CC acts  M.I and  Christine Ben Ameh( Winner Nokia First Chance 2007) were performing. MI’s performance was brilliant to say the least and had the audience enraptured with his freshly cut  (unreleased) track “Oooohhh”.It s was applause galore for M.I from start to finish!He rounded up with his smash hit "crowd Mentality". Oby Ezekwesili of the World BAnk in her keynote address that night, quoted  M.I "when i say fly, dream" stressing the need for Nigerian youth to learn to fly, to dream to break new ground,which incidentally is what the awards are about- Nigerian youth who dared to dream and made it happen!

Yours truly presented two awards- Best use of technology and Best Use of Advocacy, with my co -presenter the pretty Ronke Apampa.

in all the event was a flaming success, my men Baba Aminu and Bayo Omisore also did us proud by winning the Journalist of the year and Best Magazine awards respectively.

So is there really hope for our great nation? Yes and guess what it lies in you-- the future of Nigeria, so be yourself, be yourself , be yourself!!

MI 1

Hi all,

Last week was a pretty hectic yet fulfilling one for us at C.C. M.I was off to Ethiopia for the Bring The Noise tour. Meanwhile in Abuja the inaugural edition of the British Council’s WAPI,(words and pictures) took place on a very high note, on hand was Emem Ema(the WAPI event manager for WAPI Lagos) to help coordinate and support The launch WAPI event, which included dances, acrobatics ,arts exhibitions, poetry, book readings, hip hop, freestyle battles and pure soul music!

The Host for the event was the incredible Jesse Jags and Katung(K bLack). The Minister of Culture and Tourism - Prince Adetokunboh Kayode dropped by and had so much fun he decided to stay for almost and hour, chatting with the youth and interacting with the CC Crew.

The freestyle lyrical battle had Jesse Jags and Ice Prince up against the Krock and a few other MC’s. The battle was mad fun and got every one in the crowd up on their feet applauding! Other artists at the event included Byron, OB Jazz, Seun, Ekene the Poet,

The press were fully represented AIT, NTA,DBN,234 Media and it was nice to see so out of towners Ebun Olatoye( True Love) Bibi(Salamander),Lydia(Taruwa). Our friends Victor Anieliefo (ALS), Danny Kure(Blake and Harper), Ifeanyi, OJ, Oj of Cool FM, Gang, Nike Coker,  and a host of others were also in the house. The event ended (reluctantly) at around 6.30 pm. The Graffiti work done outside the British Council premises was another key attraction of the day. In all WAPI had  over a 120 attendants(not bad for a first launch)

Sunday January 13th -Location- LAGOS- The Future Awards _

M.I returned from Ethiopia and headed straight for the awards ceremony. I also flew in that morning for the event  where CC acts  M.I and  Christine Ben Ameh( Winner Nokia First Chance 2007) were performing. MI’s performance was brilliant to say the least and had the audience enraptured with his freshly cut  (unreleased) track “Oooohhh”.It s was applause galore for M.I from start to finish!He rounded up with his smash hit "crowd Mentality". Oby Ezekwesili of the World BAnk in her keynote address that night, quoted  M.I "when i say fly, dream" stressing the need for Nigerian youth to learn to fly, to dream to break new ground,which incidentally is what the awards are about- Nigerian youth who dared to dream and made it happen!

Yours truly presented two awards- Best use of technology and Best Use of Advocacy, with my co -presenter the pretty Ronke Apampa.

in all the event was a flaming success, my men Baba Aminu and Bayo Omisore also did us proud by winning the Journalist of the year and Best Magazine awards respectively.

So is there really hope for our great nation? Yes and guess what it lies in you-- the future of Nigeria, so be yourself, be yourself , be yourself!!

MI 1