Q&A

The Koko master himself speaks from the Koko Mansion, and talks about the origin and meaning of the word “Koko.” He also sheds light on his first meeting with Don Jazzy, among a few other things. Is he planning to get married soon? Find out… file!

Property of HiTV.

*O.O*

In addition, you can watch the Koko Mansion montage after this…

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Continuing the 5 week interview series in preparation for the naija DJs  Summer Jam in Atlanta; notjustOk presents to you, “the Eva Blazin” DeeJay Neptune…

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This is the 3rd instalment of the Naija DJs interview series leading to the Nigerian DJs Summer Jam coming up June 12-13th. Next up, DJ Fineboy!

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As promised, here is another Q&A with a Naija Dj.

Up Next; Don X

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Each week, for 5 weeks straight notjustOk will interview a Naija Dj in preparation for the Naija Djs Summer Jam going down in Atlanta on June 12 and13th.

In addition,  I think it’s about time we know and come to respect the DeeJay. We will start it off with DeeJay Mighty Mike from Atlanta, Ga:

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I reached out to Durella aka 2Gbaski the other day with some questions and he took time out of his busy schedule to show love back by replying with his answers.

Durella's album 'King of the Zanga', as seen in the picture below (the album cover) will be on every street corner in Lagos, Okoko, Alaba and Yaba on Monday Nov 17th '08…

How come you have never released an album considering the fact that you had
3 well received singles and shot 2 solid videos for Shayo and Wiskolo
Wiska?
We have a saying at TC Records, we don't panic, we plan it. People needed to feel me before we blow them away with my album.

Many People have compared your style to D'banj's, is he an influence musically? Also who were some of your influences coming up?
Life is my main influence. Coming up, I loved boys 2 men, Biggie was
just 2gbaski. I do enjoy Pasuma and lyrically I think African Chain is
heavy.

Enu O See is a smash hit, what inspired that song and what does it mean to you?
The boy is from the zanga, people sometime step up to me like I don't
have a voice, like when they talk I can't reply… this is just
reminding them that I do and I can. No be mouth do Durella… Enu o se
Durella.

You
have various nicknames 2Gbaski, King of the Zanga, Omo Yapayaski and
Durella Miskiaski. Break down the meanings of these names for us
If I break down all, how people go buy my dictionary, but i go give you
2gbaski… simple means Too Much… like you are too much, you are
2gbaski.

How
is the music business in naija and what challenges have you faced?
Also, what advice would you give artists trying to enter the music
scene in naija?
Challenges, we don't have all day… but that is life. TC Records, my
family has made it easy for me to remain me and do what I do.. make
music. Ski, show me the money!

You were recently featured in the MTV Advance Warning competition and you won your competition against O.D. How did that feel?
Like I said in my song "In the zanga", hey Ski, right now I am on the
right track, TC-Records representing. The win on MTV AD, showed that we
are still on the right track.

When is the album coming out and what is it called?
My album: The King of the Zanga, will be out on the 17th of November… nothing do you if you buy 25.

1. Killz, your first single ‘My Name Is’ was fresh in that it was
   different for Naija music. You performed it at the channel O awards and
   you were even nominated for an award. Did you anticipate the type of
   response you received from not only the single but the album as a whole?
   No I didn’t expect that kind of response to be honest. I knew I had something and it was something I had cultivated for a bit so it just needed to be heard. There was so much backlog at the time that all that shit needed to just go. A lot of the songs on the first album were songs that I had recorded years
   back and some of them like “my name is” and “legal representah” were
   turned down or rejected as worthy material in the States, but that
   didn’t stop me. I knew that I had something; which is why when I got back to Nigeria, my grind was on a whole new high and the results are naked to
   the eye. Talk about at an accelerated rate and It is safe to say that I expedited
   my own route.
2. Prior to even thinking about bringing out an album, at what point
   did you decide, “Ok this is what I am going to do and I am going to put
   a 100% into my music”. What led to that light bulb moment?
   Meeeeehhhnn,
   that light bulb moment came years ago. It must have been right before I
   moved to New York in ‘96. I was still busting and all that but the crew I was
   running with didn’t really show that much interest for prioritizing me. I think I “was too deep” is what my boy used to tell me, but then I was
   like if I don’t get this done right now myself ain’t no body gonna do it. At the time, I was at odd ends with family because they couldn’t see any
   progress in my life. I was in and out of the University, working jobs all over the
   place and it just looked like there was no direction, but I was
   grinding in a world where I didn’t expect them to understand. Then I was
   like if I don’t focus on it all the way then whats the point? That is when I started paying more attention to the way things worked and how things
   were run. That must have been ‘98/’99.
3. Your presence in the Nigerian music scene has contributed to the
   acceptance of rap music in Nigeria. Where did the inspiration for your
   1st album come from and where was it recorded?
   My first album was
   recorded all over the globe. As a matter of fact just based on the
   places, the album should have been entitled International Killz, ’cause some
   of it was done in Washington D.C, New York, Vienna, Paris and Lagos. Thus the inspiration came from places and the state of mind at that
   period. I have been through a lot in my life; highs and lows and believe
   me when I say to you that this is one of the few highs there has been. That on its own is another infinite source of inspiration.
4. Now you are 2 albums deep; typically in a music career once you pass
   your sophomore album and you are still relevant, it is a good sign of a
   good and long career. How did the direction for your 2nd album differ
   from ‘Son of the Soil’ and did you feel any pressure recording it?
   Truth be told, going through the process of introducing my album and
   pushing it etc, schooled me as to what the people were looking for and
   used to hearing. Regardless of whether I felt like I made progressive
   music or not, I realized that I needn’t change who I am just change my
   attack mode. I really didn’t want to go in the studio just because I knew what
   was necessary. I had to give them real life happenings in a better
   light for them to get it without even noticing they did. Mixing the
   dark with the light, but at the same time exposing your insides; which
   is why I came up with the trilogy. Life and times is a three part series; this first one will give glimpses into my life just like the following
   two will do. That way, at the end of the trilogy you will know Ikechukwu
   inside out, thus sealing the bond made between me and my people.
5. I noticed that your 2 singles from the new album have had features
   while all your singles from the debut did not have one feature. What
   was your reasoning behind the decision on the 2nd album?
   I had Dbanj
   , Naeto C, Big Lo, Dare, Zeal and Alaye on the Son of the Soil album, but
   due to the overwhelming persona of “my name is Ikechukwu” all other
   tracks we rendered invisible. Now, these first two singles, ‘Wind am
   well’ and ‘Like you’, were recorded simultaneously and are supposed to be
   part one and part two. There are songs called ‘Girlfriend’ and ‘Back to
   you’ that are also linked to that part of the story; Ikechukwu’s
   different experiences with women. In the summertime meet a girl who
   winds it well, you toast that she can be your girlfriend, she agrees
   and you let her know that nobody can love you like her, then you mess
   up on the road and let her know that you are always trying to run back
   to her. I get carried away with the cohesion of this album but its just
   because of that, that I do. The story goes from beginning to end and
   leaves you wondering ‘dam what is he gonna tell us on his second album?’
6. You have been doing this for a few years now and I am sure you can
   answer this question. How does the above average Nigerian artist eat.
   Album sales or shows? How attractive is the financial gratification for
   the guy/girl who has the talent and passion for music in Nigeria?
   It is because of this question that I thank God for education, that is; higher education. If I never went to college I would not be the person I am now.
   I would have barely survived or gone back to the states because for the
   longest and even up till now, artists income is based on shows. Some
   get lucky and get approached by some corporate body and get some form
   of endorsement, but for you to be that lucky you have to have had
   several overwhelming hits. So it is bleak. However, since guys like Dbanj, Naeto C and myself got in the game it has taken a turn for the
   better. We are educated in every sense of the word. Upcoming artists
   who want to do this for real, don’t dump school for this, do them
   together and they will help each other and believe me an educated
   artists is miles ahead of an uneducated one. Secondly, the government
   and the economy, letting them know that we can help elevate and are a
   major tool in the progression and growth of the country’s economy. With
   that said I guess it is safe to say that the future is looking very
   sweet and there is a future in the entertainment industry in Nigeria
   especially because it is just coming of age.
7. World Famous Akademy, is made up of you Naeto C and Uzi your
   brother. Is Uzi going to drop an album anytime soon (I heard some of
   his mix tape tracks). What is the future of WFA and is it strictly a
   rap label?
   Uzi’s album is in the works, he will be in Nigeria by Gods grace this Xmas and his single ” Ridin on my Suzuki” is on Facebook, Youtube and
   about to go exclusive on MTV Base. The P is too heavy!
   WFA
   is not just a Label, Fashion house, production unit, entertainment/marketing consultant, talent scout and developer, content provider/developer, but it is also a movement. These are not things we are
   looking to do, these are things that we have already done, just looking to
   do it on a bigger, grander, global scale.
8. Where can people outside of Nigeria get your music and pay for it?
   All WFA music can be found on iTunes, yahoo, orchard etc. Back logs are available now and new stuff is being activated as we speak. Its a new day people we are not only accessible but very available. New music is always available on myspace and storm sites
   www.myspace.com/internationalkillz
   www.myspace.com/son_of_the_soil
9. Anything else you want to add or say to the people?
   To all my fans
   and people out there, I really love y’all . Keep supporting the
   realness. Peace love and God speed to your destinies P.S
   Naeto C album “You know my P” out now
   Life and Time of Killz vol.1 coming August

Dr Seyi Oyesola speaks at a TED talks conference in 2007 about the state of health care in Nigeria, particularly about the environment, obsolete equipment and hygiene. He then goes on to talk about some of his solutions (sustainable) to the problem and more… Watch the video in its entirety.

I had the chance to send some questions to the founder of sturvs.com, Temi Kolawole, and he replied me with some answers.

1. What is sturvs for those who don't know and why the name 'sturvs' (cool name by the way)?
   Sturvs is a website for Nigerians to share links, articles, videos, music and anything else on the internet. Apart from the wealth of content it  serves, Sturvs is also getting stronger as a marketing tool. So it works two ways, firstly for users looking for Nigerian content, and secondly for users promoting Nigerian content. “Sturvs” is a slang that became popular over the last few years among Nigerians, and simply means “stuff”. That’s a perfect name for what the website does now.
2. Is sturvs a social networking site, if not what is it?
   No Sturvs isn’t really a social networking site, as the focus isn’t as much on user interaction as it is on content sharing and storing. I would call it more of a social bookmarking site. Sturvs also has a bookmark tool users can place on their website to help share their content on Sturvs.com. But we have adapted this social bookmarking service to serve Nigerian news & entertainment.
3. Prior to starting sturvs what were you doing?
   Prior to Sturvs I was doing what I’m still doing today, which is run Antigravity Inc., a web design & development company with my partner Bode Ojo. We’ve been running the company for 4 years now, and have clients in the USA, UK, Nigeria and in the Caribbean.
4. What made you start sturvs? What inspired sturvs and when did you officially start?
   I had been brainstorming for a while on creating a new Nigerian website which would be different from anything else out there, and the idea came to me one weekend in April 2007. I got to work immediately and not long after, I launched Sturvs, but it was very bare at the time with minimal features. It has grown a lot since then.
5. If you asked me 4 years ago, I would have said that no African/Nigerian social network/online community site will work or be successful. I would have been wrong. Personally, I think Sturvs is working very well. People are participating willingly, why do you think that is?
   What is the incentive to the user to add or post on sturvs?
   I feel the African and especially the Nigerian Web 2.0 era is just starting, and our people are beginning to realize that there could be potential here. Everything before now has either been a fluke or not done right. With news of Facebook and other internet companies being worth billions of dollars, I think Africans and Nigerians have started asking themselves how this could work for them.
   I think the first plus for Sturvs is its name. Users can easily relate to it and it’s something fresh and different. It’s also not the regular Nigerian website with the word “Naija” in the domain name. I don’t have anything against that, but I think Nigerian webmasters have been a bit lazy when it comes to naming websites. Secondly, the fact that users can control content is a big incentive. Right now users might not yet know the weight Sturvs carries, but items posted on our home page get crawled by search engines within hours. Sturvs has and is gaining more leverage with search engines, as searches for most of the latest Nigerian music have a Sturvs link on the first page. Basically, Sturvs gives very good exposure to submissions.
6. In your opinion and from your results, what are some of the things that you think has helped sturvs get to where it is right now?Sturvs might have come a long way, but it still has a longer way to go. There’s many more areas we’re going to reach into. There’s so much more we could do. Some of the things that might have helped are the Facebook application, the easy to remember name, and search engine optimization that we continually do.
7. I see you just added the Sturvs search engine. Are we going to see any additional tools or enhancements to sturvs anytime soon? What does the future of Sturvs look like?The Sturvs Search Engine is part of the next phase of our strategy for the year.
   Yes  you will definitely see additional tools and enhancements soon. We have embarked on a constant development mission. Since there will always be a way to improve the experience for users, there will always be changes and enhancements to make. Any serious web startup should realize this fact, that launching a service is just the start, but overall success depends on how you respond to user’s needs. Some websites get popular then after a while the buzz dies down. Hi5 was once the foremost social networking website, and everybody had a profile there. Right now I can’t even remember when last I visited the site. We plan to never die down on the Nigerian scene, and to keep innovating & creating. Even with competition, we plan to still stand strong as a unique service dedicated to the Nigerian internet.
8. Sturvs.com is 154,757 on Alexa ranking. Does high ranking typically translate to high revenue from Ads? How is the financial reward so far?Quick correction, as I type Sturvs is currently ranked 148,288. Yes high ranking shows high traffic which in turn could (not for sure) mean high revenue. It’s possible to have high traffic and not convert it into revenue effectively. It all depends on strategy.  Ad types, ad placement, ad visibility are all factors involved. If you bombard a website with too much advertising, you will get on your users’ nerves, and reduce your traffic. An example of this is OnlineNigeria.com, which is packed full of popups, and has had dropping traffic for a while now. On the other hand, if you don’t put enough advertising, you could be short-changing yourself. So it all depends on strategy.
   I won’t give any figures right now, but income from Sturvs is good. It takes care of server infrastructure costs and more, but we’re working on a strategy to quadruple our advertising income, even if we don’t get an increase in traffic (which we most likely will). Our traffic has been on a steady rise since we started aggressive marketing in March this year and is still rising.
9. Does sturvs have any employees right now? If so how big are you?I’m the only permanent employee right now, and 4 more people working part time. We are currently in a development phase, where we want to add to and perfect what we have up to a particular level, then begin to hire people to run the service.
10. Would like to add anything important that I may not have asked?Hmm…well, I’d just like to say thanks to NotJustOk for this interview, and all the Sturvs users. In the internet industry it’s all about the users, so we have to keep them happy. A few times when we had server glitches, users send us emails asking us to please restore service and they thank us for all the hard work. That’s where we want to be, at a place where users need us and rely on us for Nigerian content. We also want to make sure we don’t disappoint our users and live up to the task. Imagine what will happen if Facebook was down for a whole day.

1. So what inspired this organization. How was it birthed?

The inspiration for this
initiative was a culmination of a number of factors, primarily
 

· A desire to begin
to give back to Nigeria today as opposed to waiting until we have amassed
wealth and influential professional status

· Knowledge that
peers with similar academic and societal privileges were frequently
inadequately positioned to obtain stellar professional opportunities

· The disheartening
fact that the education system in Nigerian is suffering from major
underinvestment in both human and capital resources

· The limited level
of community activism among privileged youth

· Belief that the
establishment of credible organizations that provide academic guidance, career
planning and professional support can serve as a viable mitigant to the human
capital challenge plaguing
Nigeria

2.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears that your organization is
mainly focused on helping the youth maximize their personal and
professional experience? If so, can you expand on how you do that?

IMPACT aims to build a community of activists with a strong commitment to leadership, self improvement and drive to positively impact their environment.

3. What are some of the things or systems you have or are currently
working on to actually realize your the mission of your organization?

On January 5, 2007, the IMPACT Initiative
hosted its inaugural event, “The Annual IMPACT Youth Forum”, targeted at senior
secondary school and A-level students.

The focus of this
event was equipping students with the necessary tool-kit for becoming
well-rounded students and leaders in the community. Through our panels we
tackled various issues to increase student awareness of how to seek out and
take advantage of opportunities in the school setting that enable them to
broaden their non-academic interests; and how to set career goals for
themselves early on in the game.

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