To the writer of this story, the subject matter of this piece is coming out at the wrong time because the worst culprit of this issue is not on radio currently to respond for the necessary attention to be given to the story. The worst culprit here is Hitz fm presenter and reggae king Blakk Rasta. His reasons for being off radio at this time is not known immediately, but as our writer Ebenezer Narh Affum posted on www.flexghana.com last week, Blakk Rasta himself posted on social media that he will be away from radio for sometime. If you are an ardent listener of Blakk Rasta`s Taxi Driver show on Hitz fm, you would realize that he has been given prominence to some religious dons (call them guru if you like) and sometimes, he pushes them to make predictions on some pressing issues in our society. Whether those predictions come true or not often times, is the bane of this writer. The last time we checked, one malam whose name is not readily available predicted Obama`s win in the America`s elections and it came to pass to the admiration of all. Shockingly, the malam on that issue even had figures and percentages right so we thought he will be consistent on some of these predictions (if only you will agree for us to refer to them as such). Somewhere down memory lane, the same malam was asked to predict on our own elections and again he stated categorically on the same show that NPP`s Akuffo Addo will win but then, it will be a run off. The elections was over and whether by design or hard luck, NDC`s John Dramani Mahama won on a first round of the elections. There is a case at the supreme court where NPP is alleging election fraud and other issues but the bottom line and what is on record currently is that, Nana Akuffo Addo lost woefully in the elections. The African cup started and again Blakk Rasta was available to once again push some religious gurus to predict our chances, opportunities and threats: close to SWOT analysis. When we lost our semi final bid, one malam who was contacted told Blakk Rasta on radio (Hitz fm) to be precise that Ghana lost the match because we played on Wednesday. The man described Wednesday as a bad day for our country Ghana and that it`s likely whatever Ghana will do on Wednesday will result negatively. He cited our match with Uruguay as an example where Suarez killed our dreams in the world cup. Back to the African cup, the malam assured listeners that our third place match which was to be played on Saturday will be an easy one for Ghana yet we lost again. Are they getting their predictions wrong most of the times? Blakk Rasta has hosted many religious gurus from Budism, Hare Krishna`s, Pastors, Malams, Fetishes and more. Are these religious leaders going to get their predictions wrong like that forever?...Hmmm!!! Samuel A. Baah

Actress Nana Ama Mcbrown made her first public appearance after her unfortunate incident at the premiere of Shirley Frimpong Manso’s ‘Adams Apples’ on Valentines day Night, dressed elegantly, energetic and all smiles.

A post-mortem examination has found a murdered sixth-form student died of multiple stab wounds - as concern grows over eight possibly-linked stabbings.

“Why do people say highlife is dead. It’s like saying big laptops are dead. Bigger laptops are giving way to tablets and smart phones. The same applies to highlife, most of the young artistes are taking up highlife and making awesome hits. R2Bees, Asem and Okyeame Kwame are doing fantastic with their highlife fusions. Highlife is not dead!,” he stressed. According to him, highlife can gain the much needed premium if artistes make a conscious effort to collaborate with other experienced industry players to produce good content. “Rex Omar has lots of songs sitting idle on the shelves. He has written so many songs and no one is taking advantage. There are other song writers who have some fantastic compositions waiting to be produced,” he added. The legendary KKD was speaking with Amandah Jissih on GhOne television after receiving the lifetime achievement award at the Ghana DJs Awards.

It has been gathered reliably that the Okoyes are currently building another mansion in ParkView Estate located in the highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos State. A rep for the pop stars confirmed this. We’re told construction of the ‘edifice’ began late last year while Psquare were on their series of African tours. A recent photo on Jude Okoye’s Instagram page shows him with younger brotherPeter Okoye on the new site. Congrats Guys..

You do not need to celebrate Valentine’s Day to feel the air that blows on 14th February. It’s contagious. ‘Love is in the air.’ So the saying goes. Those who cannot feel it in the air, can at least see it from the over commercialization of love products in the media, the red decorations of most public centers and special gift items designed for this purpose. I find the lingerie shops most tempting! Owing to the contagious nature of this occasion and perhaps the fear of stigmatization, 14th February becomes a terrible time to be single. As a result, most single people, who otherwise might not be interested in dating or ready for love relationship hurriedly accepts proposals to be ready in time for the Valentine’s celebration. Blind dates become a viable option in this regard. Those whose relationships have not been working and therefore on the verge of break-up defer it until after the month of Love. There are always the unlucky ones who despite their efforts end up on Val's day without a Valentine. To avoid being stigmatized, these individuals buy gifts and mail it to themselves as if it was received from a lover. At least they also had something. But Val's day is not only about its contagious nature or pervasiveness. It is also about gifts and for some, sex. Let’s start with gifts. On this day people go to unimaginable lengths to demonstrate their love through gifts. It may include spending a lifetime's savings or a loan facility on various treats to make their loved ones feel truly loved. Indeed it is estimated that about 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are sold each year around the globe. America alone spends $12.2 billion on chocolates, $359 million on cut flowers, and $2.4 billion on diamonds. These estimates do not include luxurious gifts like homes, vehicles, etc. These wonderful gifts are like starters, which precede the main meal - called sex. On Valentine’s day, it has been reported that some people engage in sexual orgies; sometimes very dangerous and experimental in nature. For some, this may include anal sex, homosexual sex and group sex with weird sex positions and the use of health threatening aphrodisiacs. It is speculated that most of these sexual activities happen on office tables, private video rooms, shores of beaches, nightclubs, the back seat of cars, etc. Still on sex, whereas most innocent people (Virgins) are 'shredded ' on this day, there have been stories of many married people and those in committed relationships cheating on their partners on this day. To them, the day presents a golden opportunity to escape from the boredom long-term relationships present to engage in something more adventurous. It may include sleeping with a work colleague/boss, ex-lover, and anybody who might be interested. After all 'any water can quench fire,’ they retort. The shortage of condoms which normally comes with this celebration amply demonstrates the indispensability of sex on this day. But is valentine's day worth the international celebration, commercial investments and the individual sacrifices with its attendant repercussions if it all about gifts for sex? Source: AKYENA BRANTUO BENJAMIN - benakyena@yahoo.com

 

Davido on twitter today announced the signing of a new artist Denis King a Ghanaian as presume. Also he gave a shout out to his Dad, ‘Happy birthday Dad Baba Olowo’. Be assured that we would bring more details as regards the new artist signed.

Food vendors and traders selling paraphernalia of the opposition New Patriotic Party, cashed in on a mammoth rally held in Accra on Saturday to climax the party’s flag-bearer’s nation-wide listening tour.

For some time now, Deloris Frimpong-Manso has managed to escape questions from the media about when she would get married or who she would get married to but this time has stuck her neck wide out. Ghallywood actor cum entrepreneur, John Dumelo, who was a guest on the “Delay Show” on Viasat1 last Friday, pushed her until she finally decided to answer the million dollar question. When will you get married? That was a simple question from the 29-year-old actor, an interviewee who turned to rather pose questions to the hostess of the “Delay Show”. Delay tried to avoid the question because she is the hostess and not the other way round. But the guest also kept insisting on an answer from the Oman FM Presenter. Delay asked John why he is so much interested in who she is going to get married to and John said “because there is someone in this industry who wants to marry you”. Blushing, Delay became interested and asked John who that person was. John revealed it is Fred Nuamah, the founder of Ghana Movie Awards. But Delay sarcastically swore on her television show never in her lifetime will she tie the knot with Fred Nuamah. Self-acclaimed ‘virgin’ Delay looking very disappointed said “I would rather marry a whiteman than marry Fred Nuamah” and emotively blurted out that “he’s a nice guy and everything but hey, I don’t want to marry him.” For the first time she opened up on her marital ambition stressing firmly that she will not dare marry a celebrity. Meanwhile John Dumelo also talking about marriage, promised to unveil his wife in the years ahead. Source: Peacefmonline

Ghana’s Police say they cannot arrest American RnB Star Chris Brown for breaking the country’s law’s unless there is evidence to prove he smoked marijuana on stage when he performed at the Accra Sports stadium on Tuesday. Chris Brown lit what he described as weed and took a puff live on stage as part of his performance. He then encouraged his fans in the audience to disregard any opposition to the smoking of weed and feel free to do so. A video of that part of the concert is circulating on social media. Ghana’s laws prohibit the smoking of marijuana. But Charter House, organizers of the ‘Hope City Concert’ which featured Chris Brown has denied allegations that the star smoked marijuana on stage. The Greater Accra Police command’s PRO, DSP Freeman Tetteh in an interview with XYZ News said the police are yet to receive official complaint backed with evidence. The Police also warned that they will deal with event organizers who fail to inform the police about such concerts. DSP Tetteh stated that organizers of the Chris Brown show failed to notify his outfit.

Nollywood’s Mercy Johnson’s new baby girl, Purity, delivered at about 1pm Nigerian time, December 30, 2012 in a private hospital in the United States of America, is more than one month old. Earlier today, the actress shared the baby’s picture on social media. Mercy got married to Prince Odianose Okogie in 2011.

Wow, what are the chances of Rihanna secretly coming to Ghana without grabbing any media attention, just to keep an eye on boyfriend, Chris Brown during his controversial performance in Ghana on Tuesday? Well, her look-alike was at the Accra Sports Stadium with friends to catch the fun and excitement. Check her out! lol Source: ameyawdebrah.com

Almost every day, our artistes churn out hits after hits. We have hit tracks like ”Ole s3k3 ni oye”, ”Vera”, ”Azonto fiesta”, ”My baby” and a host of others. We listen to these songs and we feel good about them. The artistes with hit tracks also get the sense of fulfillment whenever songs they release become hits. ”Who should be given the credit for any hit song?”Should it be the musician or the sound engineer? Obviously it is the musician who is able to put into play his creativity to be able to scribble down lyrics for a song. Talented musicians are able to come up with songs quite easily and these songs also become hits. Even in the instance, where instrumentals (or beats) are played for some musicians, they are able to come up with lyrics that suit the instrumentals. This is what we call ”free styling”. The musician, in writing lyrics for a song tries as much as possible to find words that would rhyme, make sense and be able to recollect. Just consider some of the hit tracks on our airwaves at present and you would find one thing; most of them have some catchy word or phrases. Even if you can’t sing the whole song, you can keep repeating those catchy words or phrases. Without any doubts, in as much as it’s the musician who is able to put down lyrics, arrange lyrics and employ the use of certain techniques so far as vocal delivery is concerned, the musician could be given the credit for churning a hit song. However, my bone of contention is that, no matter how excellent a musician could be, can the musician still churn out a hit track if he is not able to get a good sound engineer to produce his beats? The careful observation I have made is that if some of the hit tracks we have currently are reproduced by unknown and not too -good sound engineers, it is likely that these songs which we see as hits today, would be nothing to write home about. The contribution of sound engineers in making hits cannot be undermined. Have we asked ourselves why musicians write songs and decide to record those songs with particular sound engineers? In some instances, musicians hear some instrumentals from the sound engineers, here and then, they are able to judge that if they spit lyrics on such beats, they are bound to have a hit track. Again, consider some of the hit tracks played on radio nowadays; is it not true that most of these songs are enjoyed by the public because they have beats that one can dance to? Who produces such beats? To what extent can we say a song is a hit just because of its lyrics? If the musician should decide to do an accapella, to what extent can the musician churn out a hit? Nowadays, most musicians have realized that before their lyrics can be transformed into hits, they need to see a particular sound engineer to work with. However, what happens after the sound engineer is able to transform the lyrics into a hit song? It’s the musician who takes the sole credit for the hit song. However, I beg to differ. In as much as the musician would find it extremely difficult to churn out a hit song without a sound engineer, why don’t we give credit to the sound engineer as well? It’s an undeniable fact that a song when recorded becomes an intellectual property of the musician but I believe that the sound engineer also needs to be given the credit for making a hit song. Delving deeper, one may even say that not only should the musician or the sound engineer be given credits for a hit song but then, the radio DJ or presenter should also have a share of the credit. Think through all these and make your own judgment but at this juncture, I will drop my ‘diabolic’ pen. I rest my case. Source: Ebenezer Narh Affum

Ghana is a blessed country no doubt, but it needs being repeated though without the intention of putting off the friends and foes alike. We have virtually everything a country can wish for; good climate, wide expanse of arable land, enormous mineral resources with oil discovered now, and a blissful population of about 25million entertaining people. These entertaining people are adventurous, bold and daring. They talk a lot. They dream a lot. And, wait for this; they suffer a lot because of poor industry financiers’ leadership. All said and done, ‘Chris Brown’ Hope City Launch Concert proudly powered by rLG which saw GH acts like R2Bees, D-Black, Efya, Samini and Sherifa Gunu rock, has come and gone, yet there are many lessons to be learnt from the show which took place at the Ohene Gyan Sports Stadium in Accra. Before now, prior to Breezy’s coming, we had thought of it as being a ‘misplaced priority’, see $1m for Chris Brown… misplaced priority?. We tried as much as possible to liken the state of the country and the recent happenings of ‘no light, no water’ to the amount splashed on a musician who barely knows what it means to be universal on issues given a distinctly African flavor in mind, thus, it springs that we are not poor because we lack natural resources or because nature is cruel to us; but we are poor because we lack attitude. Apart from the earlier enormous media bashing on the amount flaunted at international acts at the detriment of the Ghanaian stars, the pre-Independence Day performance concert was a shamble of its hype. From the organisation to the headline performer, the show lacked the worth of denying one’s sleep. A lot of scenarios last night have pave way for more questioning than answering, more also, what is the equivalent benefits rLG as a brand would derive in ‘throwing’ such a huge money away? Most people were shocked at the ‘indecent’ attitude of Chris Brown with the ‘wee’ thing he displayed on stage. Smoking and using vague language on stage all in the name of performing! We feel that there are so many lessons to be learnt, thus; we also complain of ‘no money’, yet we could afford to churn out such amount for a lad to come and promote the smoking of ‘wee’ against our cultural values. Innocent people are harassed with the notion that they possess ‘wee’, arrested and yet Chris Brown in the full glare of the cameras brought out his ‘wee’, made this derogatory statement, “if anybody’s tripping on you smoking weed, fuck them” and smoked, then left freely. There have been stories whereby people have been jailed for over ten to fifteen years for possessing ‘wee’ yet Chris walked away for smoking it. At events like this, security men are always present and we all know that ‘wee’ isn’t legal in Ghana, so what were they doing? It is now coming into play the reason why organisers asked that all press men come without their cameras. Our intention on this issues like this, is to create a setting for a dreamlike interactive communication on matters that affect the Ghanaian entertainment industry, how our stars are treated, how the media are handled, how everything is played on the ‘table of men’ of industry financiers who can gladly dish out a million dollar amount and likewise ‘peanut’ to who their soul desires. See how Breezy & Wizzy thrilled with ‘Azonto’ steps