Monday, March 30, 2009

MARLEY AND ME

The boyfriend (hereinafter referred to as 'TB') and i went to see 'Marley and Me' tonight. Totally TB's idea; never mind what he says! We saw a preview when we saw 'YES MAN' and he really liked it, i wasn't too sure!
So we went to see it and did we enjoy it?

Let's put it this way.

Marley and Me is marketed (via its previews) as a feel good movie!
Boy and Girl get married. Girl starts getting maternal, guy is not so sure. Guy's friend (who is a babe magnet extraordinaire), advises guy to get dog. Guy gets Marley who turns out to be a lovely terror who stays with family through thick and thin- yes, moving, children, fights and all.

Is the movie any good?

TB loved it, i liked it in bits.

Like i said, MARLEY AND ME is meant to be a 'FEEL GOOD' movie!
So when did feel good movies start making you THINK? CRY? and do more than just FEEL GOOD?
The acting is on point!
Loved Owen Wilson, and his friend (babe magnet doctor from GREYS ANATOMY), and the kids. Jennifer Aniston does funny and dramatic well, but not well enough to get the big drama roles i'm afraid.
IM SORRY, IT'S THE TRUTH!

There are too many stories in that movie
1. Marriage and the sacrifices we make (wherein in this movie, Jennifer makes more than Owen)
2. Marley (which should have stayed the ONLY story, cos they would have made a great movie from it)
3. The truth about parenting (It is not all gloss and glamour)
4. LOVE (it is not all gloss and glamour, sometimes you fight!)
5. Being fufilled (cos the grass is always greener on the other side, but one day, you have to go outside and say to your grass. You might not be greener than Sade's grass, but you are greener than Jacks! And even if you weren't, i love you grass! Always will. )

Too many stories, too many tears, too much thinking, not enough laughs, not enough feeling 'gooding'!

But should you see the movie?

YES

Cos it's still a pretty good movie!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hip Hop World Awards Nominees List OUT!

Hip Hop World has announced nominations for its' Award Show coming up on the 16th of May
As always, 'mo lenu pa', so i will now begin to tell you the categories, and make comments where neccessary!

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

ENTERTAINER by D’Banj
GONGO ASO by 9ice
PARADIGM SHIFT by Mode 9
TALK ABOUT IT by M. I.
UNSTOPPABLE by 2Face

Liking this category for the most part! I only have two issues and they are like one issue in one.
Why is Tu Face's album nominated for Album of the Year, but not Banky's?
I know people wonder why i put the two together but Tu Face's album could have been left as Best R 'n' B Album nominee alone! Whatever made it great enough for the cross over should have made Banky's album good enough too!
But lets not join issues sef!

I know Tu Face is an icon, and i love the man, but his nomination feels token!
Like when they gave Halle that Oscar!


2 ARTISTE OF THE YEAR

D’BANJ
P-SQUARE
TIMAYA
9ICE

On point!
ANd 9ice should win

3 SONG OF THE YEAR

“FALL IN LOVE” - D'Banj
“INCASE U NEVER KNOW” - 2Shotz
“GONGO ASO” - 9ice
“GOOD OR BAD ” - J. Martins

We all love 'Gongo Aso', and 'Fall In Love' isn't bad either, but 'Good or Bad' makes it just past the finish line before them!

4 RECORDING OF THE YEAR

“STREET CREDIBILITY” - 9ice
“NOT THE GIRL” - Dare Art Alade
“MICHELLE” - Etcetera
“CAN’T DO WITHOUT YOU” - Tuface Idibia

We have no thoughts here!
Rare



5 PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

TEE-Y MIX for “KI NI BIG DEAL” by Naeto C
DON JAZZY for “FALL IN LOVE” by D'Banj
ID CABASA for “GONGO ASO” by 9ice
TERRY G for “IN CASE YOU NEVER KNOW” by 2 Shotz
JESSE JAGZ for “SHORT BLACK BOY” by M.I

id cabasa jo

6 BEST MUSIC VIDEO (AWARD GOES TO DIRECTOR)

ALFONSO DORMUN for Bosi Gbanga by Eldee
JUDE OKOYE for Roll It by P-Square
DJ TEE for Pere by Mo'Hits All-Stars
IGHO for Naija Boy by Igho

Jude Okoye should take it


7. BEST REGGAE/DANCEHALL ALBUM

GIFT AND GRACE by Timaya
ME MUSIQ AND I by Blackface
ICHIBAN by Chakka Da’ Souljah
MY SHINE by Black Solo

Err...


8 BEST R ‘N’ B/ POP ALBUM

ENTERTAINER by D'Banj
UNSTOPPABLE by 2face Idibia
ETCETERA by Etcetera
GONGO ASO by 9ice
MR CAPABLE by Banky W

We need an Alternative Music category for award shows; Etcetera's album has to go up against these essentially pop albums!
Nevertheless, great choices, and 9ice will probably win


9 BEST RAP ALBUM

TALK ABOUT IT by M. I.
PARADIGM SHIFT by Mode 9
SECOND TURNING BY THE RIGHT by Lord Of Ajasa
YOU KNOW MY P by Naeto C

Apologies in advance to every one else, we know how much effort went into your work, but TALK ABOUT IT has to win
It is the rap album that makes pop fans rap
It is the rap album that relies more on creativity and sheer genius than beef, disses and collabos with ALREADY KNOWN STARS!
It is the album that was pushed without a video (unless you count the video for Crown Mentality which technically does not count)

Infact, if this album dont win, dem go hear am!


10 BEST COLLABO

“STREET CREDIBILITY” - 9ice FT 2Face
“LE FENU SO” - Lord Of Ajasa FT 9ice
“GOOD OR BAD" - J Martins FT Timaya AND P-Square
“E FI MI SILE” - YQ FT Da Grin
“BUSH MEAT” - Sound Sultan FT 2Face & W4

I won't look at this category in terms of the singles themselves, i will instead look at it in terms of the COLLABORATIVE effort and...
STREET CREDIBILITY takes it!


11 BEST RAP SINGLE

“SAFE” - M I ft Djinee
“TALKING TO YOU” -Mode 9 ft Banky W
“WA WA ALRIGHT” - Kel
“KINI BIG DEAL” - Naeto C

This one is tough so thank GOD i do not have to vote!
I mean, the arguments for most of them are strong!
Chei!


12 BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE (MALE)

DARE ART ALADE for “NOT THE GIRL”
BANKY W for “DON’T BREAK MY HEART”
ETCETERA for “MICHELLE”
WANDE COAL for “TABOO”

Banky W for 'DONT BREAK MY HEART'

I am not arguing voices with anyone, just go listen to the vocal performances and delivery on each of those songs then come argue with me!
But come correct cos im not even playing!

13 BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE (FEMALE)

OMAWUNMI for “IN THE MUSIC”
NIKKI LAOYE for “NEVER FELT THIS WAY BEFORE”
WAJE for “SOMEWHERE”

Omawunmi will win!
We need more female vocalists by the way!
More!
More!
More!


14 NEXT RATED

YQ (“E FI MI LE”)
MP (“PASA PASA”)
KEL (“WA WA ALRIGHT”)
D’JINEE (“LADE”)
OMAWUNMI (“IN THE MUSIC”)

Hmmn!
Id give it to YQ or KEl though!


15 HIP HOP WORLD REVELATION - Best new artiste

M I
BANKY W
NAETO C
NIKKI LAOYE

M.I will win
Or i will eat my bra straps!


16 AFRICAN ARTISTE OF THE YEAR (NON NIGERIAN CATEGORY)

BUFFALO (“BUBBLE YOUR BUMZ”)
TINNY (“I DEY KOLO”)
DOGG (“CAN YOU FEEL IT”)
WITNESS (“ZERO”)

You say?


17 LYRICIST ON THE ROLL

MODE 9 for "NINE"
M I for "TALK ABOUT IT"
LORD OF AJASA for "ESA LO BA DE"
DAGRIN for "PON PON PON"

No peeps! No do this to me na!
Okay sha, me, i want Lord of Ajasa to win!
But Mode Nine should win!


18 BEST STREET HOP (single)

“E SA LO BA DE” - Lord Of Ajasa
“PON PON PON” - Da Grin
“04 KA SI BE” - DJ Zeez
“E FI MI LE” - YQ
“COLLABO” - DeeBee

E Sa Lo Bade
to ba fe win hip hop world award!


HHWA19 HIPHOP WORLD HALL OF FAME inductees

GRAND MASTER LEE
PHILLIP TRIMNELL

And there you have it folks

Opinions will boku, but in advance, i take a cue from Lord of Ajasa and 9ice
'Oun ti o ba wun anybody ni ko fenu e so...'

Monday, March 2, 2009

No-To-Rious!

If i saw this movie with you, then you already know a bit about how i feel. No matter what i write here, there is one simple way to summarise how i felt at the end of the movie. But let's leave that till the end of this post!

NOTORIOUS, the movie about the life and times of Biggie Smalls, aka Notorious B.I.G, real name, Christopher Wallace.
You think you know a man, till they make a movie about him!

This movie is about Biggy, so do not expect it to be gritty and dirty. They will tell the 'truth', but just like 'American Gangster' and other movies made about the other black American heroes, everything will be excused, and everything will be treated so it don't look as bad.

Yikes, i got off on the wrong foot already. Let me backtrack!

Notorious traces Biggy's journey- from realising his father was never coming back, to getting into the life of bling he admired from afar while his mother pushed him to school, to getting caught, to falling in love, to fathering two kids, to rapping and meeting Puffy, to becoming a mega star, to the beef with Pac, to the death of the legend.
For Biggy is a legend.

It was a nice beautiful movie to watch. Oh i loved it. Simple, and could have been anybody's story. But you remind yourself; this isn't fiction, it's somebody's life oh!
The acting was good. Loved as always, Angela Bassett. Cinematography was a bit undecided, but i think they were trying to be gritty when it came to the dirt, and shiny everywhere else.
It was a funny movie not as a comedy, but with great dialogue, and mimic (Hats off for the depiction of Puffy).
It was also, sad.
Yes, you know he will die. It don't hurt less. And it don't hurt less when Tu Pac dies either. Plus, seeing how Li'l Kim just never got the man she loved tugged at our heartstrings a little as well. And who doesn't love a good ol' love story? Biggy was a man with a love story- three love stories infact.
Each different, each unique, each simple, yet complicated.

So NOTORIOUS is out.

Fans of Biggy and hiphop will love the movie. Movie fans will love the movie and probably forget its a real life story. But warning. If you love Tu Pac, or get caught up easily in the fray that is East Coast .v. West Coast, you may find yourself a little hurt.
Yes, it was Biggy's story, and in their defence, there was no mud-slinging. But we couldn't help but notice that scenes that had Biggy and Tu Pac in them had Tu Pac look like the razz thug, while Biggy looked like the preppy college kid!
Not once, but in EVERY. SINGLE. SCENE.
Which got tedious for me after a while!
And we may never know the real story behind the Biggy and Tu Pac debacle, but NOTORIOUS paints Biggy as a saint. A misunderstood saint.
Tu Pac wasn't mad; there had to be more to that story, so sorry, but we ain't buying!

So great movie, but as a Tu Pacalyst, two things stuck
- the saddest part of the movie for me was when Pac died, and my best song was 'Hit Em Up'
- either tell the story properly, or don't tell it at all.

Nuff Said!