Beauty Queen “Beauty Tukura” indeed looks good in just about anything. But when it comes to posing for a photoshoot, the reality star proves time and again that you can be comfortable, fun, or even tell a beautiful story without uttering words.
Former Big Brother Naija housemate, Erica Nlewedim, on Tuesday, celebrated 2 years of being in limelight.
Celebrating her years of fame, she published the photo of her Stargirl Skin product on her Instagram page, even as appreciating her parents, Management, Friends and fans.
She wrote,
Two years of fame and I’m proud of how far I’ve come! @stargirlskin is 6months old and our customers all over the world are happy with the how polished their skin looks!
I just want to appreciate my loving fan base THE ELITE LEAGUE for standing by my side especially when it was not rosy! I also thank my mom and dad! I thank my adopted mummy @funkekut for guiding me down the right path! I thank my management @pauloo2104@upfrontandpersonalglobal for amplifying the actress and star girl Erica brand! I thank @kevinikokoli for being my personal manager and @donmikeone my friend! I thank @donjazzy@delemomoduovation@ronkesokefun@to lanredasilvaajayi @siruti@denrele_edun@mercedesrichards24@azukaogujiuba for being in my corner and being so supportive!
My friends and family I’m so grateful cos with your help I have grown and I hope I have made you all proud 🥲
Beauty Queen “Beauty Tukura” indeed looks good in just about anything. But when it comes to posing for a photoshoot, the reality star proves time and again that you can be comfortable, fun, or even tell a beautiful story without uttering words.
Afrobeat musician, Femi Kuti, has said he thought that he’d die at a very young age.
The musician, son to the legendary Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, clocked 60 on June 16.
In an interview with Goldmyne TV published on Sunday, the singer said he was “quite shocked” that he was still alive to celebrate 60 years.
He said while growing up, he had a friend who always told him that he would “die soon” because he was reckless.
In the interview, Femi Kuti said, “I thought I would that I would die very young. I had a friend who would look at me and say, ‘this man will die’.
At the time, I had a bike so he be looking at like ‘this one, you’ll soon die’ because I was so reckless as a teenager.”
Speaking of his new age, the musician added, “To have clocked 60, I’m quite shocked that I’m here. But it’s gracious.
“It’s an age where you just reflect on so many things in your life and you know, every moment is now precious with friends, family and your children. It’s an unbelievable age. I thought 50 was good but 60 is greater.”
Anthill Studios has unveiled the teaser for its animated series, “League Of Orishas.”
“League of Orishas” follows the characters in a fantasy world inspired by various west african mythologies, the story is set in a time when gods, supernatural beings, humans roamed
the Earth. It will feature some of your favourite gods and their devotees.
The animated series is created by Niyi Akinmolayan and animated by Eri Umusu.
”League Of Orishas” will premiere exclusively on Anthill Studios’ YouTube channel on September 11, 2022.
The 15th Headies Awards, which took place on Sunday night (September 4), was a major event for African artists. The show, which aired live from the COBB Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, was hosted by American actor and comedian Anthony Anderson and Nollywood actress Osas Ighodaro.
From the glitter and glam on the red carpet to the unforgettable appearances of performing artists to the announcement of the winners, The Headies is one of the most anticipated and glamorous music award shows, with many people looking forward to it.
The event celebrates the best in music with extraordinary and historic wins. Wizkid, Tems, Waje, Adekunle Gold, BNXN, Oxlade, Gyakie, Olamide, Davido, and Burna Boy were among the stars that received gold statues for their performances in the year’s best music.
Wizkid received a slew of awards, including Best Collaboration, Song of the Year, and Best R&B Single. BNXN received the Next Rated Award, while Ayra Starr won the Viewers Choice Award.
See the full list of the winners below:
Best Rap Album
Olamide – Carpe Diem
Best Alternative Song
Flavour – Doings
Best Rap Single
Ladipoe feat. BNXN – Feeling
Best Street-Hop Artist
Goya Menor & Nektunez – Ameno Amapiano Remix
Lyricist On The Roll
AQ – The Last Cypher
Best Vocal Performance (Female)
Waje – Last Time
Best Vocal Performance (Male)
Oxlade – Ojuju
Producer Of The Year
Sarz – “Monalisa” by Lojay & Sarz
Best Recording of the Year
“Celebrate Me” by Patoranking
Best Music Video
TG Omori for “Champion” by FireboyDML feat. D Smoke
Bella Okagbue and Segun Olusemo Sheggz are constantly serving the viewer content unknowingly; they are both living facts without holding back, despite knowing fully well that cameras are in all corners.
There contents have no genre, many tried to define what next for them, but reverse is always the case here. Within two days of meeting in the house sheggz already all over bella, he was clearly on saga adeolu path according to naysayer but thing change, bella and sheggz become inseparable.
Bella Okagbue and Segun Olusemo
Many viewers criticized them daily, labeling them a lot of names to discredit them and kill the fans’ morale. Many also tried to speak to Bella from Twitter, but they all forgot that Bella and Sheggz are in a confined space and cannot see their grievances.
They viewed them and judged based on personal emotions, forgetting they were not hearing them. They also had no choice unless they were ready to forget the show and walk out of it.
Bella and Sheggz are the contents; they act like other housemates while unintentionally bringing out gbasgbos; nearly 90% of the criticism directed at them is based on the reality of African lives.
Many ladies were turned off by Sheggz asking Bella out at first, but that is the reality of 90% of African men: they are meant to ask women out with strategies, but we bully them for what is normal before and during relationships.
Sheggz and Bella are not perfect, but content-wise, they are delivering, as mentioned here: ACTIONS AND REACTIONS ARE REALITY SHOW CONTENTS.
Rebellz and SheggzFC, rather than sharing emotional opinions to feed vultures what they expect, should better focus on the game and leave talk for later.
Advice for keyboard warriors: rather than sharing emotional opinions, try to control your emotions and be helpful in your growth. This will prevent your keyboard from getting damaged or upset and will result in a calm nightmare.
Ranks Magazine is a media outlet documenting creative minds today for tomorrow, which Identify and Promote Business, People and Industries from the perspective of every people & connecting people to latest business news
Two things happen when you live through an era of rapid change, as we are now. Firstly, there is an inevitable surge of artistic creativity and second the contrarians, the non-conformists and the anti-heroes come into their own. We witness the rise of the rebel: those who don’t play by the normal rules, who flourish in chaotic, unpredictable times and welcome uncertainty without fear. This is what this edition of Ranks Africa Magazine, celebrating Entrepreneur, Cross Okonkwo is all about. This edition celebrates the curious revolutionaries who think differently and this is reflected in the articles and contents carefully put together in this edition.
This edition, gives an insight into the life and brand of Ikechukwu Sunday Cross Okonkwo, popularly known as Cross, Entertainer, Lifestyle & Fitness Entrepreneur and the King of the Cross Nation.
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Taking a giant step from certainty to uncertainty, Cross da Boss inspires entrepreneurs, setting a new standard beyond entertainment on this exclusive edition of Ranks Magazine which explores his entrepreneurship journey, growth and lifestyle.
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Boma was the most cherished housemate (Still a loving guy) on the open night of #bbnaija Season 6, but days later the #Bbnaija crew started showing the imperfect side of him. Instead of Boma’s fans waking up and defending him, they let it slide. The internet dubbed him a villain, which the public relied on to troll him daily while the show threw him in the river. The Boma fans let him draw inside the river like a real okro.
Segun Olusemo Sheggz
Pere experiences the same thing, but his team and fans were disciplined disciples who committed to defending him even before the show used him for agenda, and the patriots turned Twitter into a campaign office, accompanied by several receipts to constantly prove he was a good guy with general mandates.
Through actions and reactions, you can tell that the internet labeled him (Sheggz) as what Ozo is to Nengi, Frodd to Esther, and later Saga to Nini, but Sheggz proved to the world that he’s not “Gbewudani”.
Sheggz and bella is a real relationship, Never compare them to ozo and saga situationship. Bella reciprocates whatever sheggz offers unlike nengi and nini who always denies ozo and saga #BBNaija
From that point forward, the internet labeled him an abuser, but the SheggzFC continued to channel energy into Shella rather than creating a stable personality for him. Drop back-to-back receipts and show the world how the BBNAIJA is attempting to use Sheggz for contents.
Dear Sheggzfc, start defending your president; show the world that Sheggz is cool and the best guy with only positive vibes. Segun is doing well in terms of content, but fans need to help him outside the house. He’s in a confined space with 20+ people, meeting and dining with them daily for content. If you need to contact Pere Handler directly for a CV, do that and fight creatively before the Internet stamps him out.
I visited the Area Boys at oshodi recently, it was our first re-union in three months.
I wanted to make sure they were doing okay and also talk to them about the upcoming elections so they don’t become pawns in another election year.
If there’s one important lesson i learnt from the oshodi chess project, it’s the profound realization that all men can be criminals if tempted and all men can be heroes if inspired.
I have sat down with Cultists, murderers and thieves under Oshodi bridge and I have listened to them tell tales of the heinous things they have done for politicians during elections.
Some of them regret it, some don’t.
Before we can truly understand how we got to this point and what we can do differently, we need to go back in time…
There are thousands of thugs and area boys scattered across the nation but most of them didn’t become Area boys as adults, it all started when they were kids.
Chess in Slum
I traveled to Ogbomosho recently for a TEDX event and on our drive down to the university, I saw so many children wandering the streets, doing hard menial jobs to support their families in extreme impoverished conditions and I was terribly heartbroken.
The question that lingered in my head was “How will these children ever make it in life?”
Most of them will never get to know the vast opportunities that exist in a world that is constantly changing because the poverty of their parents has chosen this path for them..
The ones that are brave enough to seek greener pasture abandon their families and come to Lagos with high hopes of making it big and going back home with great wealth.
For many of them, there’s no going back if this doesn’t happen..
With time, it begins to dawn on them that the promise of a better life in Lagos was a facade and it was going to be an even greater struggle but this time without a roof over their heads.
The streets become their new home and their life of survival begins…
The children at this stage are the ones you see begging you for money in traffic, washing car windows, doing labor intensive jobs in Markets, working as bus conductors etc.
After the days job, they go back to sleeping in uncompleted buildings, under bridges and in dark corners.
The streets doesn’t care for the fragility that comes with being a child.
To survive, they must shed that innocence and become hardened.
They need to become much harder than the harsh realities of their existence. This is when they take to hard drugs, crimes and cultism.
The cycle of becoming an Area boy is now complete.
Our solution then becomes using brute force to eliminate a problem we have watched fester over time. The police Task force in their bid to fight back with raids and unjustified killings have only made the situation worse.
99% of the Area Boys under oshodi bridge have been to prison and correctional homes several times . Even during our chess project, we had to visit the police station at least 4 times to bail some of the Area Boys that were wrongfully arrested while working with us.
Going to prison only hardens them even more and creates disdain in their hearts for the law and society.
Some of them narrated stories of how their friends were killed unjustly and how they had to join cults to protect themselves.
AS MUCH AS WE HATE TO ADMIT THIS, THE NURTW IS PROBABLY THE ONLY REASON WE DON’T HAVE A FULL BLOWN AREA BOY CRISIS ON OUR HANDS YET. THIS IS WHY THEIR LOYALTY WILL ALWAYS BE TIED TO THIS SYSTEM THAT CATERS FOR AT THE VERY LEAST THEIR NEXT-MEAL.
This is why they’ll take 1,500 naira to put their lives on the line and wreck havoc on innocent citizens for another man’s selfish political ambitions.
We must do things differently this time.
The Chess in slums project has shown us what is possible if we look beyond the single story and societal stereotypes
“We’re all area boys” is a powerful statement that brought us together at a moment when we needed to believe in this dream
The Area Boys are doing okay. We helped the children find their place in the world again.
We must continue to engage them in our fight for a better Nigeria that includes all of us so they don’t become tools of destruction when their poverty and vulnerability becomes weaponized.
We got Dayo a bus earlier this year, he has built a successful transport business for himself in that time and is already saving up to buy another bus.
He is no longer a pawn in another man’s game, but a hero of his own story.
Dayo did not need to be sent to kill or commit crimes before he got a brand new bus, just being good and committing his time and service to the project earned him this.
This is how you build the moral compass of a society by rewarding good deeds.
Nature Abhors a Vacuum
There are new children under oshodi bridge now, but if you go there anytime in the morning, you’ll see them playing chess😊.
Word spread about Fawaz’s success story and now many of them want to be like him.
Today makes it exactly 4 years since we officially launched the chess in slums initiative, and I’m proud of all that we’ve accomplished in this time.
There is a stillness in Eniola Olanrewaju’s upscale Yaba, Nigeria flat. It matches the abiding sense of quietness that almost seems to envelop the 24-year-old when she retreats into her world. Eniola, popularly known as
Korty EO
, is one of the most popular faces in the post-digital creative taxonomy that has swept through Lagos over the last half-decade. In many regards, she is a poster child for the boundlessness that characterizes the grind and hustle of young people in Africa’s most populous city. Over the last four years, she’s worked as a graphic designer, writer, content creator, and videographer. Now she is one of Nigeria’s brightest YouTube talents, gathering almost 200k followers on YouTube and more than 100k followers on Instagram.
But Korty’s story did not start in Lagos. She grew up in Bodija, Ibadan.
“It was a safe area but my house in Bodija was not around the fanciest sides,” Korty said sitting in a rocking chair in her spartan living room last month. “My parents were very protective but that’s because they knew that our environment wasn’t the safest but if you asked me I was proud to say I lived in Bodija because it was a fresh area but I wouldn’t bring you to my house.” Growing up as the middle child in a family of five, Korty was aware of the limitations of her parents and strove to make a way for herself. She started out working as a graphic designer while enrolled in the University of Ibadan after a brief stint at Bowen University. “I saw that there’s a lot I could do and I could even not go to class if I wanted,” she said. “I was just freer and able to do my business.”
Her clarity of purpose meant that she always knew she was going to have to move to Lagos to pursue some of her grander dreams, even if she didn’t know what those dreams were at that moment. An opportunity came in 2018 when a modeling agency scouted her while in Lagos to get a certificate from her IT attachment office. But Korty was reluctant to step into the modeling world. “I said no because I used to think that models were shallow,” she said, half-joking.
Eventually, Korty decided to give modeling a shot. She was grateful for the extra income and the opportunity to explore Lagos’s creative community that her constant visits provided. In the modeling world, Korty was faced with having to navigate a labyrinthine maze of toxic booking agents and haughty designers who treated her poorly. “You can usually tell when someone is not so comfortable in a certain place,” she said. “Because I wasn’t comfortable, a lot of stylists did not pick me to walk their shows.”
Mostly observing other models strut their ways on glitzy walkways, Korty started to document their lives in short videos that piqued the interests of her fellow models. Soon after, she joined Zikoko, where she worked as a writer and content creator before convincing her bosses at the time to let her helm a show named HER that was dedicated to showcasing the often-overlooked life of women in Nigeria. In December 2020, after working with Zikoko for close to two years, she left to join Mr. Eazi’s music accelerator program, emPawa, as its head of content. Where Zikoko had a big collaborative culture that emphasized creative cross-pollination, emPawa was more independently structured, giving Korty free rein to pursue projects and create her work in her own image.
Korty EO @ Work
It was while handling the YouTube channel of emPawa that Korty began to see the potential of the platform to host the quirky, confessional-style videos that she really wanted to make. “I was always looking at the analytics and understanding how the platform works,” she said. “After a while, I was tired of it and I just left because I realized that YouTube paid.”
She, of course, wasn’t getting paid immediately. The YouTube channel started taking off with a video documenting the thought process of moving out of her parents’ house and quitting her job at emPawa to create videos for YouTube.
That was in 2020. In the months since then, Korty’s YouTube channel has taken definitive shape, anchored around two shows: Flow, with Korty, is an exploratory show into the life of celebrities and trendsetters in the Lagos and wider west African cultural scene. While the newer one,Love and Lies, is a dating show that chronicles the drama and comedy that follows setting random people on dates in Lagos. When she shoots her subjects, what Korty aims for is submersion, seeking a way to remove any distraction from their immediate consciousness and get as much information as possible from them.
“I put my camera far away from them so they can even forget that it’s there,” Korty said. “It’s usually me, my cameras, and a photographer because most of the people I film are in some sense celebrities and once they see too many people, they become guarded but if you make them comfortable they can express themselves.” Editing, though, is where it all comes together as she applies her experiences while staying true to the vibe of the shoot. It usually takes place over an active period of one or two weeks depending on the quantity of footage she gets.
The distinctive contours of life in Lagos and the city’s ever-present trans-generational tensions weigh on Korty’s mind and spill into her visual content. “I think Lagos is the center for a lot of things because there’s a lot of people here so it’s easy to find various communities here,” she said. “Sometimes I’m very conflicted about where I stand because I’m old Gen Z. I’m 24 and there are people being 18-year-old in 2022. It often feels like I’m in the middle because where does the class of 1998 fit into it all.” Still, the grind, hustle, and growing fearlessness of young Gen Z’ers’s in Lagos inspire her more than anything. “There’s more evidence of people’s patterns and lifestyles (in Lagos) because of the Internet and that brings more exposure. I feel like the Gen Z culture awareness in Lagos is so strong that it’s being transferred to other parts of the country but Lagos is the pinnacle.”
Korty EO
Still, existing in Lagos can take its toll, and navigating the YouTube payment model as an independent creator can make it even harder. “It was very difficult,” she said about getting her channel — none of Nigeria’s fastest-growing — monetized. “They have to send a pin to a post office. It’s very easy for people abroad but if you live in Nigeria, getting your pin and money is very hard.” Korty had to make a video detailing her frustration with the monetization process before further relief came and she worries about the next generation of indie creators hoping to share their talents with the world via YouTube. “With newer people coming into the platform, it’s really hard for them because they are confused. There’s a procedure but the procedure doesn’t work unless you get your pin and it’s mentally wrecking.
“There needs to be a better process for how people get monetized in Nigeria, if YouTube says it’s catering for everyone in every part of the world, they need to do that regardless of the difficulties in the country. I know that’s easy to say but that’s just it, it shouldn’t be better in one place than it is in another, and also I guess Nigeria should also care about these things enough to make it easier for everyone.”
Earlier this year, a video documenting Korty’s attempts to schedule an interview with Wizkid over three days in Lagos went viral. And it’s an experience that has only solidified her resolve. “For me, the main thing is that only a few things can stop me in this life,” Korty said. “Obviously, the goal I had was to get Wizkid but the real thing was for people to see how if you set a goal and you move towards it, you either get it or move really close to it.”
For all the inspirational themes of her videos and persona, Korty is not a filmmaker that really cares about cajoling an awakening in her audience, seeing her role as more of a guide on the facts of a situation or phenomena. “I think for me, my role is to talk about certain things, shine a light on them and leave people to take whatever they want from the video,” she said. “That’s why I tell people that my aim is not to inspire. If it happens that you’re inspired, that’s on you.”
Despite all her protestations to the contrary, Korty understands the impact of her videos and is warming up to her role as an archivist of Nigerian contemporary culture. “When I do things, I don’t have plans but they start to unfold and people start to see what it can become,” she said. “I’m just trying to make it in life, I’m really not trying to be a culture shifter but I also feel like if that is happening and people are seeing a pattern, it’s now up to me to see if I can accept that responsibility.
Korty EO
“I’m very aware that there is a growing responsibility and, if I don’t accept it, I might not grow, I could just be stagnant.”
In many instances, Korty is quick to reject tags or titles and as our conversation comes to a close, I ask what she identities as these days. “I’m starting to say filmmaker,” she said. “A lot of people would say that where do I get the audacity to call myself that because I make YouTube videos but if you put me up next to the YouTubers of today, there’s a clear difference. It’s also why I don’t like it when people call me an influencer because I didn’t sit outside Eko Hotels for three days to be called an influencer. Filmmaking is where I have found myself. In 2018, I was in fashion. Before 2018, I was designing. As time passes, I’ll stumble on something else. I don’t think I can do one thing for all of my life. But whatever I decide to do, I’ll succeed and be competing at the top.”
