The most complex project I have undertaken!

Yaayy! I can't keep calm!!! The third edition of Rhyme and Reason, which we have tagged Eversion is here. Last year's own, Excision is the dopest event I've attended, and I say so, not because it is my event, but because it is true.

I believe, by the grace of God, that Nigeria is about to experience something like it has never before experienced. This is because Eversion will be the first Rap and Spoken Word Musical in Nigeria. Just think about being on broadway, watching Phantom of the Opera, but instead of the dialogue to be in music and normal speech, it is Rap and Spoken Word instead. The whole production started in January, and a lot of work has gone into it.

This is by far, the most complex project I have undertaken. From sourcing for sponsors, to running a very large organising team (the best ever). As you can tell, it is one storyline, typical of a musical. Eversion focuses on child sexual abuse in the family, which is something that's very rampant, but very hush hush (yes, it is PG13).

It is happening at The Lekki Coliseum next Saturday, 15th July, 2017, and I hope to see you all there.

Here's the trailer below. I just couldn't keep you away from it's dopeness

Lagos! Are you ready?! Rhyme and Reason 2017 presents #Eversion A Spoken Word and Rap Musical Show featuring @wordsbyezekiel, @itsgamie, @ami_thesign, @daboomsha and many more artists! Venue: The Lekki Coliseum Date: July 15, 2017 Two shows 3pm - 5pm 6pm - 8pm Tickets: Students - 2,000 Regular - 5,000 VIP - 10,000 Get your tickets online by clicking on the link in our bio!!! #Eversion #RnR2017 #RhymeAndReason #Rap #SpokenWord #Music #Anticipate #Poets #Rappers You don't want to miss it!

A post shared by Rhyme And Reason (@rhymeandreason_ng) on Jun 22, 2017 at 8:07am PDT

Some pictures of our boot camp

The film director and his crew

Some of the back up singers

Some of the rappers

Some of the dancers

Some of the instrumentalists

As you can tell, it is quite a robust production, but I won't be able to let the main cat out of the bag.

In order not to make this post a very long one, I will stop here, and end by giving us a list of where we can get tickets for now.

1. All Filmhouse cinema (IMAX) outlets in Lagos

• Filmhouse Surulere, Leisure Mall, Adeniran Sreet, Surulere, Lagos
• The Rock Drive Off Bisola Durosinmi Etti Drive Lekki Phase 1

2. Terra Kulture (the bookshop)
Plot 1376, Tiamiyu Savage, Off Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos

3. The following Tastee Fried Chicken Outlets

• TFC Head Office, Plot 1672, Oyin jolayemi Street, VI
• 106, Awolowo Road, Oando Filling Station, Ikoyi 
• Oando Fuel Station, Chisco Bus Stop, Ikate, Lekki  
• 49C, Marina, Lagos
• 21, Opebi Road, Ikeja, Lagos
• 22 Road,2nd Avenue,Festac Town
• 16, Catholic Mission Street, Opposite City Hall, Lagos Island

4. Lekki pickup zone
Lush Mall. 26a, Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos.

5. University of Lagos
Call Mayowa on 08121582434

6. Ariiya Tickets
https://www.ariiyatickets.com/new/event-detail.php?eid=366

7. Spiricoco
https://spiricoco.com/events/gig/rhyme-and-reason-the-eversion/

8. We also deliver tickets to your doorstep in Lagos (not outskirts). Delivery is free!
For more information on ticket purchase, please call 07061141501

See you all there next Saturday. When you see me, make sure you shout my name, so I can meet you up. :)

My Experience at the BBNWonderland by Bella Naija and Baileys Nigeria

Wow. So we are back to regular blogging.

My last vacation as a single woman is coming to an end today… so so sad. No more impromptu vacations, jetting off and leaving last minute. It is now the phase of checking in with your spouse’s schedule, traveling with kids and colourful bags, something I've never been used to.

Another phase of my life officially begins today because as soon as I step into town, I begin wedding preparations. Speaking of stepping into town, I'm going to be going home to meet all the freebies I got from bbnwonderland. Basically, I left bbnwonderland and went straight home, where I dumped all my things and headed straight to the airport so I've not really had time to bask in the euphoria.
Speaking about the event itself, I have mixed feelings about it. From what I have gathered so far, It was different from last year’s own in many aspects. It was bigger, more hyped and not just about the brides.

I was very glad to have been one of the 30 brides to get in, especially because the month of September wore me out physically, and I needed to wind down.

Pros
There was so much food
We got to make new friends with other brides.
Even if you don't get one of the major prizes, you go home with a lot of freebies
Baileysnigeria spent mad money on that event. It was an ‘appearance’ of excellence. Note the inverted comma.

Cons
Firstly, information dissemination was poor and conflicting. Gosh. One minute, someone is telling you to pack your bags cos you need to go home that night, the next minute, another person is asking you why you are packing your bags. We were particularly pissed when they interrupted our makeup sessions just so we could quickly check out by 12 noon. Meanwhile, they didn't inform us of having to do this before so it wasn't our fault. See some brides running around with half made up face only to find out that we had been locked out of our rooms and had to revalidate for extra 30 minutes.

So many teams worked on making that event a success, but the different teams were speaking

Secondly, it was all about the social media hype, such that the comfort of the brides was sacrificed at the expense of perfect poses and pictures. No jokes, we were on our feet from about 12 noon till past 7. No food or water, taking pictures all around, shooting videos, etc. brides were complaining about their feet and hunger (though I wasn't hungry cos I filled my stomach well during breakfast). When we got to the evening event, they didn't consider that we had been on our feet all day. We still stood out for like 2 more hours, taking pictures and networking. At least, this time we had water and canapés.

After a while, brides were squeezing their faces, they probably couldn't take it anymore. It was supposed to be a relaxing experience. But the thing is I didn't feel pampered. I felt stressed, and I think that defeated the whole purpose.

Finally they let us in, and the main event started. From then on, there was food and even more food for the after party than the whole party could finish, that you begin to wonder why the food galore wasn't spread throughout the day.

Anyway, I didn't stay for the after party cos it was almost 12 midnight and I wasn't planning to sleep there.

In all, I'm glad for the experience even though some people have commented that they don't see someone like me fitting into such setting. I'm glad I went.

I'm glad I saw the extent to which Bella Naija and baileysnigeria went to pull this through. It was really classy... with the likes of basket mouth, Toolz, Omotola and her husband, Banke Meshida, Noble Igwe, Klala Photography, etc anchoring the main event.

I'm also glad that they brought Betty Irabor and Aunty K to talk to us about marriage, and not just wedding celebrations, on the first night of the event.

If not for the poor communication and the sacrifice of brides comfort for social media hype, the event would have been perfect.

So will I advise anyone to go? Absolutely! I believe the next one will even be bigger, and the organizers would have seen the things that went wrong in this one, and improve on it next edition... hopefully.

The Success called The Excision

Right now, words fail me to describe how I feel. It has been six months of pain, sacrifice, extreme sacrifice, sweat, doubts and fear, hard work, running from sponsors to sponsors, Friday night prayers, and so much more than I can begin to mention. In the end, God came through for us.

The Excision was a success!!!

It was all God.

At a point, we went down, things were not going as fast as we wanted, but we forged through in the midst of darkness, while putting on brave faces, and God came through in the end. I had the best team in the world. Mehn, those guys were great. The quality of the artists was great.

Will you believe even when you do not see? Will you have faith? Be encouraged. If it is from God, He will see you through it.

We did a live stream of the event, and you can watch the event by clicking here. The whole event was about three hours 30 minutes, so it is safe to scroll forward.

See some pictures below

Ezekiel singing Nigerian worship

Or.Raw.Day doing 'That Girl'

Janette...Ikz live

Preston Perry and Jackie Hill Perry in 'The Fall'

Ezekie and Janette..Ikz in 'Ready or Not'

Me and Plumbline performing 'St Jones Gospel'

Plumbline performing Bloody Kingdom

Gaise Baba thrilling the crowd. I love this guy

Jackie Hill Perry doing 'My life as a Stud'

Me and Plumbline

The crowd: Can you see me on stage? Lol

Cross section

Preston Perry doing 'Jesus is God'

Cross Section

Ezekiel performing 'Letter from Satan'

IBK Spaceship Boi performing 'Sticks and Stones'

The hall... before it started getting filled up

DJ Mordu. DJ with a good heart

At the press conference a day before the event

A reporter asking questions

 

Answering questions from the reporters

For more pictures and information on how the event went down, you can follow us on Instagram here, Facebook here, and twitter here.

Rhyme and Reason is finally here!

Have you heard? That come June 11, 2016, We would be having our second Rhyme and Reason concert in Nigeria, tagged The Excision.

Now, this is not a hype post or campaign post. This is my own event, as in the one graced me to do with hands and intellect. In short, na my event. So you must to come, lol.

As you know, I am only associated with quality, so we are bringing world-reowned Spoken Word artists, Janette...Ikz, Ezekiel, Preston Perry, Jackie Hill Perry, and quality domestic acts (me included). You do not want to miss it. 

Please see the trailer below.

You like it right? The good thing is that attendance is free, but you have to register to attend by going to www.rhymeandreasonng.com. Venue is The Dome, Freedom Way, off Admiralty way, Lekki, Lagos. Time is 4.00pm

For more details about the event, you can check our website here, hit us up on facebook, follow on Instagram, or follow on twitter

See you all there. And when you see me, please shout my name, and say hi to me. Thanks.

This is exactly why you don’t want me at your event

I was invited to a game day event by my friend, Jumoke, of Artrubic ( (Everyone really needs to check out artrubic.com mehn. It is all things artsy, a website where people go to upload their writeups, paintings, poems, videos, and many other artworks, and they are currently running a giveaway). I had been looking forward to the event, and decided not to miss it for anything, because I am generally a boring person who likes to keep to herself. I recently decided to change this aspect of my life, and socialise more, so far I don’t have to be buying aso ebi and go to weddings. I am not a fan of that at all.

So on Saturday, jumoke hits me up on BBM, and the conversation goes this way…

Jumoke: Hi dear

Me: Hey Wasup?

Jumoke: So I need to confirm if you are coming on Monday and what you would be bringing and who you might bring with you, etc.

Me: I’m not bringing anyone. I might bring bananas, biscuits, or groundnut.

Jumoke: Ok. Biscuits please.

Me: Hmm. You k now I’m into healthy eating, so biscuits were actually my last option (devil smiley). Can’t I bring garden egg and broccoli?

Jumoke: ABEG OK. BIKO! EJO! NOOOOOOOOO!

Me: (ROTFL smiley) Ok. Cauliflower nko? We need to eat healthy.

Lamide: Atilola this is Lamide (boxing smiley)

Apparent, Jumoke had given the phone to Lamide, her sister, to talk sense into my head.

Me: You pipu want to be eating marshmallows? And be getting fat? Lamide

Lamide: No try am o

Me: I thought you said you want to lose weight

Lamide: Ehn not in one day

Me: I’m helping you achieve your dreams na. You should be thanking me.

Lamide: Monday is a day cheat o

Me: (devil smiley, mischief smiley)

Lamide: No try am
Me: Ok then, let me bring agbo jedi to balance out the sugar. As you don’t want to accept my fruits and vegetables

Long silence

Jumoke: Back to Jumoke. Erm see I don’t mind biscuits. I’m not even picky, even crackers are fine. But hob nobs are better, and chocolate chip cookies. (grinning smiley)

Me: No! Digestive biscuit. It is whole meal, so it is healthy (ROTFL smiley). No chocolate o (Tongue out smiley)

Jumoke: Digestive ke? You don’t plan on eating rice ba? Or chicken?

Me: I am eating rice o. I am not on a diet.

See, my issue with these two ladies is that they always talk about how they want to lose weight. Lamide is very slim, while Jumoke is slightly bigger. They both aren’t what you will call fat, though Jumoke is bigger.

As for me as a person, I’m not the kind of person that would buy cake and ice-cream or any other of those things for myself or to an event. I eat them once in a blue moon if I come across them, but I wouldn’t buy them. So why would I buy them to an event when they are

• More expensive?
• Less healthy?

I find ways to incorporate fruits and veggies into all my meals. I don’t joke with my fibre at all. The fact that I hardly eat out makes it easy for me. In fact as we speak, I am fully stock with banana, orange, potato, plantain, avocado, garden egg, carrot, etc. And trust me, I am not a diet. If I try dieting at all, I will just disappear in 5 minutes.

Source

Left to me, I wanted to take banana, orange, or garden egg to that event, but I knew they would give me a BBM slap, so I met them half way to say, banana, groundnut, and biscuit. Abi, I no try, even though I don’t eat groundnuts because of acne? I also don’t take dairy products because they spike my sebum.

You might say that the event is not about me or what I want, but what others would enjoy, but remember that others will most likely be bringing all the sweet unhealthy stuff, so I am allowed to tilt the balance a bit, abi. Plus all these ladies always talk about how they want to lose weight.

So here is my grouse. I strongly believe 80% of the ladies at that event, including Lamide and Jumoke, always talk about how they want to lose weight, but when I offer them the way to achieve this dream of theirs, they turn around and throw my offer back in my face.

Abi did I do wrong?

Anyway, I will be taking biscuit to the event, and it will be whole meal digestive. I am doing it out of love, lol. They will thank me when they are 70 years old, and still competing with Usain Bolt.

Please, support me before I faint

I don't even know where to start from. It has been a hell of a rollercoster ride for me, from the month of September till the very moment I am typing this. Remember when I wrote this post? 2014 in general has been the most hectic year of my life, but it took an entirely new dimension in September. I just can't wait for Sunday to come and go. Real bitter-sweet for me

I am organising the biggest event of my life yet, and it will be happening this Sunday, 14th December, 2014. We are bringing Da Truth, who is arguably the biggest gospel rapper worldwide, today, and Ezekiel and Janette...ikz of P4CM, the biggest Spoken Word Ministry worldwide. We have local rappers and Spoken word artists in attendance too.

If you love me, or pretend you do, this is the moment for you to step up, and rescue me. I need money, I need sponsors, I need publicity, I need all the support I can get. When I started this thing, I thought I would just spend like N2 million, but omo, wetin I don spend ehn, mouth no fit talk am. Abeg make una just buy ticket now now, before I faint for here. But first, see some flyers below.

If you like rap and spoken word, please buy. Even if you don't like it, at least you like me, so still buy. Take me as your personal charity project so I no go wreck.

But seriously, this is a good quality project to invest your N3500 in (N10,000 if you want to feel important, lol). I know you can buy tickets on that day, but I need money NOW! Thanks.

Have I convinced you, oya, click here to buy.

You can also watch videos of Ezekiel and Janette...ikz below.

Inside Wole Soyinka's Forest and other fun events

So I had the privilege to be one of the 70 spoken word artists/poets to perform at the WS80 project, Wole Soyinka's 80th birthday celebration, which took place at Lagos and Abeokuta between July 11 and 18, 2014. It was a real fun and eye-opening event, which culminated in some real sturves that looked like a scene from an Abija Awara movie, lol.

I did not really take pictures of the Day 1, which took place in Lagos, as I was too busy thinking of my performance. We moved to Abeokuta two days later, and enjoy the pictures below. And yea Wole Soyinka really lives in a forest, probably for spiritual inspiration from the heavenlies. Ijegba forest, to be exact. And no, you cannot go and visit him there. You will soon find out why, from one of the pictures below.

Day 2

I'm small. I know. No need to rub it in, lol

Wole Soyinka's birthday cake

Professor Niyi Osundare

Important people cutting the cake... where is the celebrant?

 Day 3

Famzing with Muta Baruka, a world-renowned legendary poet

Kuto cultural centre, Abeokuta where most of
the events took place

As we got to the movie reception, the first thing that greeted us were the faces of many important people in Nigeria, actors, actresses, corporate bodies, etc, (excluding politicians. I don't think they like Wole Soyinka or vice versa, lol). Unfortunately, I was too shy to go around and ask for pictures. The only drink was palmwine, which you had to drink with calabash. Even water was absent. And the snacks were kokoro and Adun, made with Epo pupa. It was at this point we knew we were in for some serious different stuff,

See this traditional centre mat

Yemi Sodimu: If you are one of those Nigerians who
wear Oleku, and you don't know this man, please
return our cloth to Tunde Kelani,

Do you remember the man on the right from
 all the Mount Zion movies you watch

And this picture below was the first message that greeted us at Wole Soyinka's forest residence.

Of course, since we are not trespassers, we all snapped pictures, and proceeded with confidence. And then...

Efun Worshippers started greeting us, and kneeling down for us. A lot of people were scared, saying "Hee, what is this?" lol. I even heard there was a lady around me speaking in tongues. As for me, I wasn't scared. Since I understand yoruba, I know there were just saying "You will live long, you will not die young, you will grow old..." basically traditional greetings they pass on to people who come to celebrate with the old. I was greeting the back with my simple "Ekale ma."

The below picture looks like I was transported into a scene of a babalawo shrine in a 1985 yoruba movie on NTA channel 7, lol.

Traditional lanterns. Forgotten what they are called.

We finally got to where we were to be seated, after walking through the forest for a while. The stage theatre was set up right in the middle of the forest. It was built my Zmirage. You would know that millions went down in setting up the whole drama. Colourful stage, colourful costume, excellent actors. Who said gret things don't happen in Nigeria.

I kid you not, Wole Soyinka was seated two rows behind me, watching his own drama, but you don't need the Holy Spirit to tell you not to approach him in such a setting, so I just pretended to be gentle, and not even allow the thought cross my mind.

Enjoy pictures of the stage drama, Dance of the Forest, written by Wole Soyinka at the age of 26 (@ilola, see your life). I wonder how he felt watching the drama. The drama was staged in the forest, as you know by now, and ran for about three hours

The actors ran away when the car drove in.
Don't be scared, it was part of the act

Can you see the tree spirit? lol

I tried to get a shot of the whole cast. They
were 203 renowned stage actors

Fireworks after the event was over

Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State.
The only politician who would not be eaten up in the forest

The governor and the people that put the drama together

We all got this gift bag by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism when we were about to leave the hotel for Lagos the next day. Guess what it contained... A calabash to drink palmwine, a traditional wrist bead, and a clay bowl lantern, that you would light up with Epo Pupa (called Fitila in Yoruba). I passed them all to my mum, lol. I was thinking I would get an iPhone.

I stayed at Green Legacy, Obasanjo's hotel, and actually saw him and his entourage walking around the premises, inspecting some things. I'd have taken his picture if he weren't too far from me. Oh well...

It was really a great event, despite the whole Efun stuff, babalawo scenes and all. I am glad I was part of this, and exposed me more the yoruba culture.