The Bank Statements

The Song That Nigeria Wrote...

2012-01-30T11:42:00.000-08:00

"Every Country has the Government that it deserves" - Joseph Marie de Maistre (French Philosopher)

Despite the fact that more than seventy percent of Nigerians live on less than $2 per day; the first thing the Government did in 2012 was to make life harder by almost tripling the price of fuel. Invariably, the cost of food, transportation, etc.. all went up, and yet the basic income/salary of the average Nigerian stayed the same. No matter how you look at it, it's unfair. If the Govt took steps to make life a little better for its citizens; if we had electricity, or Security, etc.. it wouldn't be so bad. If they invested in refineries, so that we could refine/produce our own oil products, we wouldn't be buying our own oil back at exorbitant prices, and there would be no need to subsidize fuel.

For some of us, the Fuel Subsidy Removal was just the straw that broke the camel's back. In a Country already plagued with decades of unresolved problems, the Government, in one fell swoop, made a decision, that at least in the short term, made life harder for the majority of its citizens; most of whom already had it hard to begin with. There's still nothing close to constant electricity for most of Nigeria; nothing close to quality basic education for all, healthcare, clean water, good roads, etc. In a country already dealing with tribal strife and armed robbery raining terror on citizens, we entered a new year now also having to deal with organized Terrorist Groups like Boko Haram claiming the lives of so many innocent citizens on an almost weekly basis, with the Government showing no signs of slowing them down.

But the blame should not go to the government alone. If Nigeria’s leaders are guilty of consistently providing failed, corrupt leadership, the citizens, on their own part, are guilty of consistently supplying apathy. We vote our leaders into power (or we sit at home and let others decide who should lead us). We see them inflating budget numbers, stealing, disrespecting the offices they hold, trampling on the citizens they are supposed to protect, and blatantly refusing to do the jobs we elected them for; yet we respond by saying "God dey" and "its Naija". And every election cycle comes and goes, yet the story remains the same.

We can no longer accept this of ourselves. We are to blame for the leaders we put in office. We are to blame for the state of Nigeria. We owe it to future generations, not to hand them the same Nigeria we are seeing today, or one that has deteriorated further. Change comes when we decide it should. We have two powers as citizens; the power to vote, and the power to protest. I was encouraged by the thousands of Nigerians that FINALLY took to the streets to speak up for what they believe in. This is just the beginning. We must continue to protest, non-violently, in every medium possible, until the Government starts to do a decent job, or until we are angry enough at their actions, that by the next election cycle, we change the Country by voting for the kind of people who actually deserve it, and not the status quo.

It is with this in mind, that I'm teaming up with fellow associates of the October 2011 Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI), to create a song and music video, that will hopefully inspire Nigerians worldwide to be a part of the Change they want to see in the country. The song is supposed to express the expectations we have of our Leaders, as well as what we expect of ourselves; the hope is to create a song that inspires each person to believe in the dream of a brighter future for Nigeria, and to play whatever role necessary to make that dream a reality.

However, instead of just creating a song to preach to Nigerians, we've decided to give every Nigerian a chance to be a part of it, by allowing everyone to contribute lyrics to the song. The idea is for this to be the song created "by Nigerians for Nigerians about Nigeria". We will upload an incomplete draft of the chorus idea for the song, so that everyone gets a feel for where the song is going musically. We'll then open up online mediums (Twitter, Facebook, email etc) to Nigerians all over the world to send in suggestions for lyrics. The lyrics will be collected and vetted by members of the NLI class; the final lyrics will be used to craft the verses and the final chorus for the song... and the hope is that this song, created by Nigerians for Nigeria, will travel far and wide; and the message will be communicated to every leader and citizen of this great country...

We will continue to protest by speaking up; we will continue to stand up for ourselves and for our country. And if our issues continue to be ignored, when the time comes, we will Vote for Change on EVERY level. We must, because Nigeria must change. Nigeria WILL change.

~ B.W.

PS: Step-by-Step Instructions as to how you can submit lyrics to be a part of this project will follow shortly... please join us and be involved. Thanks!!

P.P.S: Special Thanks to Segun Demuren and Tolu Ogunlesi for their guidance, suggestions, and editing in this write up.

Random Thoughts: The Rebirth

2011-07-12T03:21:00.000-07:00

Hey BlogWorld...

Lonnnnnnnnng time no see/post :o)

It seems like I start off every new blog with an apology now, because I just get so caught up being busy that these days, I rarely take the time to sit down and write full blogs. I blame twitter. Seriously. I've become addicted to tweeting instead of blogging... so instead of writing full articles/posts, I've become used to cramming my thoughts and expressions into 140 Characters or less. Somewhere in his office, My HighSchool English Teacher Mr. Oke is cringing in shame. Heheheh.

Anyway, I intend to blog a little more this 2nd half of the 2011 year. I figure what better way to kick start this by bringing back the "Random Thoughts" feature I used to do. These are all essentially little thoughts/topics I want to share, which may not be of any real significance to anyone, but you may find them entertaining. These may also end up as tweets on my Twitter Timeline (@BankyW) at some point.

* The Home to your boys WizKid, Skales, and I, as well as a few other people (Managers, PA's, Friends, etc) who would CLAIM they don't live here (*side eye*) has some serious issues to tackle. One of which is Caffeine Addiction. The Caffeine Dependency in my house is alarming. U name it, they drink it... like its going out of style. Coffee. Redbull and/or all energy Drinks. Cocacola/Pepsi/etc. They're so hooked on it, you'd think it was crack. Mind you, I don't drink coffee. I also only drink Coke/Redbull when I'm mixing it with Hennessy (but that's a different addiction story for another time). One evening, I sent for a few thousand Naira worth of coke and redbull. By Noon the next day, it was totally finished. And I didn't touch ONE can. I'm just saying.

* The other issue we have is that... how do I even start to say this... There's a rat that gets high off of Cooking Gas in our crib. I shit you not. We've done everything to kill/capture/paralyze this rat, but it's not working. And the only thing it seems to actually enjoy is eating a hole in the pipe that connects the gas cylinder to the stove and then just get high off the gas. At least 4 or 5 times we've had to replace this pipe; so much so now that we've started inserting the pipe inside a metal rod to keep the rat from having its way. Sooner or later, I vow that this rat will meet its demise. The last time I woke up to find the kitchen filled with gas fumes I just started randomly screaming "COME OUT AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!!!!" with rat poison in my hands. We've tried rat gum, poison etc. At this point my only hope is that it one day dies from a drug overdose. I wish I was joking about this.

* One fun thing about the house is that we have pet monkeys. Technically, they don't really belong to us. We live in a very nice estate, but on the backside of the estate is a swampy/forest-type land where the monkeys live. So they take the liberty of walking on top of the fences/walls of all the houses without a care in the world. I guess they feel like they own the place. Anyway, the people in my house started occasionally feeding the main Monkey in charge (whom we named Emma, short for Emmanuel, after our cook). One night, Cook Emma hooked up Monkey Emma with some correct dinner before locking up and going home. The next morning, Monkey Emma showed up at the back of my house with SEVEN other monkeys of different shapes and sizes. Literally, their whole clan was there talking 'bout "aiyyo whats up with breakfast..". They still pop by every once in a while for food. I keep warning the house that one day they'll just decide to break into the house and take off with our fridge but nobody listens to me.

* I'm going to Miami with my partners in crime, Tunde & Kunle Demuren. This is our 2nd Annual, "TheHangOverMovie-aint-got-shit-on-Us-Vacation". Last Year was Las Vegas. This year, we'll be in Miami rocking from July 21st to July 25th, along with some other friends. I'm REALLY looking forward to this; been working really hard lately so I can't wait to let loose.

* I'm on a mission to find a city that rocks as hard as Lagos. When I sang "Ain't no Party like a Lagos Party", I was speaking the gospel truth. There's absolutely nothing like partying in Lagos Nigeria. It's Legendary. Ask around you'll find it's true. Vegas came close, but that's cuz of the crazy factor; we were partying with pornstars and Micheal jackson Impersonators... hard to top that. But Lagos is out of control. If you've never partied here, put it on your list before you get too old to keep up.

*Whatever happened to Hotmail?

*Whatever happened to AOL Instant Messenger?

* Thanks to everyone that has supported the WizKid project, and EME as a whole. We're very grateful. Wiz is blowing up so fast and I'm so proud of him and the work he put in; this is only the beginning. The album Launch in Lagos was a tremendous success so I gotta give it up to everyone that worked to pull it off. IF you still don't have his "Superstar" album, do yourself a favor and stop dulling. Stay tuned for our next Superstar-in-the-making "Skales". We're working on his record now so you'll see his new videos in a few weeks. And then you'll get new music from yours truly at some point in 2011; probably in the 4th quarter.

* While we're on the topic of music, I gotta let y'all know that I'm really feeling this Frank Ocean guy's songs. There's something incredibly soulful-yet-laidback-and-deep about what he does with his music and its great. Right now I have songs like Swim Good, Novacane, and Strawberry Swirl on repeat. Look him up if you haven't already. I strongly recommend it.

* My schedule is as insane as ever.. which is weird seeing as I haven't put out a new album in like 2 years. I leave for Joburg in 2 days to shoot a Video for the Samsung Theme Song, then back to Lagos for less than 24 hours, then off to NYC again, then Washington DC, then Miami, then NYC again. And all this is in the span of 11 days AND before our Empire World Order Tour starts. All I can say is, love y'all very much, thanks for the support and for believing in us. We'll continue to try our best to never let you down...

Till the Next Time I blog...
Peace, Love & Chicken Grease.
~ B.W.

BB Rules of Engagement...

2011-02-28T10:02:00.000-08:00

PING!!!

It's safe to say that almost everyone reading this is familiar with what that word above means... and if you aren’t… welcome to Earth! The Blackberry is one of the most common and most used communication devices today among young people. I love Apple as much as anyone, but let's not even get into the #teamiPhone versus #teamBlackberry debate. Until you can BBM with an iPhone, we're not hearing it.
This post is mainly directed at current BB users across the globe. I think the time has come for us to establish a simple set of rules for people who choose to use this device (I'm sure some of these rules will not work only for BB's. Feel free to use where applicable for any other smartphones).

1) Broadcast Messages - I figure we should start here because this might be the singular MOST ABUSED feature on the Blackberry device. Ladies and gentlemen, there's an occasional need to Broadcast a message to some or all of your contacts... however I must stress the word OCCASIONAL. It is supposed to be used sparingly, and only when it is important; infact, let's break broadcast messages into three permission-categories. Yes, No and Maybe.

YES: Broadcast Messages that are permissible SPARINGLY, include (but are not limited to) the following contexts: “Please check out my business/website/Product”, “Vote for someone for this competition”, and the occasional Breaking News Fact that you need to share (but which you have verified) e.g. the Deaths of Michael Jackson and Da Grin. RIP.

NO:
Spam –
You should have to be smart to own a smart phone. For goodness sake, I beseech you to realize once and for all, that you pay a certain amount of money for BB service every month. Please note, this is ALL you will EVER have to do to show the Blackberry server you are active. I must emphasize that THERE WILL NEVER BE A MESSAGE THAT YOU MUST SEND TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS OR RISK DELETION. EVER. EVER. EVER. Every couple of months, the same stupid spam resurfaces, and the same people fall for it over and over again. This nonsense must stop.

Religious (or superstitious) Threats – “Forward this message to 10 people or else blah blah blah”.

Random greetings like “happy Sunday”, “happy New Month”, “Happy Monday”, “Goodmorning everyone”, etc. While we can appreciate that most of these have good intentions, they generally just come across as annoying. You don’t walk into a building and yell Happy Sunday/Goodmorning/etc on a loudspeaker to every occupant. The same principles should be applied the next time you have that urge to broadcast this.

Random facts about your day like “I’m about to board a plane”, “Just waiting for take off”, “Just Landed”, “About to have lunch”, “what Movie should I watch?”, etc. I shouldn’t have to explain this. Just stop.

SERIAL BROADCASTING: please note that sending one broadcast per day is too much, even if it falls under the YES category. A couple per week is plenty. No matter how important the message is to you, the chances that we want a broadcast from you every hour, or every day, are slim to none. Again, you just come off as annoying. Failure to adhere to this can and will result in your being deleted.

MAYBE:
Musicians, Managers and their Entourages: It’s okay to send a broadcast message every once in a while about your new single/album/video. It’s NOT okay to send one every time the song is playing on Radio, or the Video is on TV. It’s also not okay to abuse the privilege by sending the same messages repeatedly in a short amount of time. One or two is enough. Trust me we saw it the first time.

The occasional Joke that is REALLY funny. The danger with Jokes is that these days, many people have MANY contacts. So when you get the same joke 5 or 10 or 50 times, it’s annoying. So whatever joke you choose to share, please make sure it’s original, relatively new, or so damn hilarious that we won’t mind seeing it repeatedly.

Traffic or Emergency Alerts: These are always sent with good intentions, so we appreciate the thoughts behind them. However, too many times, there are no quantifiable measures in the messages, so they become spam. For instance, if there is a major roadblock (or an emergency situation), please also include the DATE AND TIME that this is occurring. I’ve gotten the same traffic/armed-robbery alerts for a week from different contacts… it’s either people are just resending the same messages days after the unfortunate incident occurred, or we’re witnessing record breaking traffic/robbery times. No armed robbery lasts for a week. Even Anini wasn’t that brave (inside joke to my Nigerian Friends).

2) Display Names
Your display name is totally under your control; feel free to call yourself whatever you like; it is your right as a blackberry owner. However, please be considerate of some of us who are trying to get a hold of you, but do not realize you’ve now spelt your name in Arabian or Greek Symbols. Some of us have a lot of contacts, and it’s really annoying when we’re trying to find you, only to discover you’ve changed your display name from.. say… Jane… to Jane spelt in Chinese, or “My luvlies”, or “a woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets – Mexico – madly in luv”. Henceforth, please try to ensure that your display name at least contains the name we know you by, in some form that is type-able when we try to search for you. Please note that the examples I listed above are actually 100% real, I did not make them up. Also, we realize that everyone can re-name contacts; but we shouldn’t have to do it just to keep track of you. Afterall, it’s just easier to delete your over-expressive self.

3) BBM Add Requests
The BBMessenger should not be mistaken for Facebook/Myspace/Twitter. Your BB Pin is actually specific to your phone, and thus should be viewed more like a phone number. It is private and should only be given out with your consent. You also probably shouldn’t attempt to add people who don’t know you and haven’t directly given you permission to. If you’re interested in someone, it’s always better to get their phone number directly from said-person, rather than to stumble on it somehow and call them out of the blue. The same principles should be applied with Pin Sharing.

4) Contact Deletion
People delete contacts for a bunch of reasons. Maybe they have too many contacts and are trying to clear space by removing people they don’t keep in touch with. Maybe they are tired of the 5,000 broadcast messages you send per week. Maybe they just don’t want too many people, or just you specifically, on their BB anymore. It’s okay to delete, and to be deleted. Times change; contact lists do as well. NO harm, no foul. There are many more people to chat with.

5) PING’s!!!
A conversation should NEVER be started with a PING!!! It is supposed to be used as a tool to gain attention when someone is not reading his/her messages. The proper protocol is to send one or two messages and THEN PING when your messages have not been read. Not the other way around. I realize this might not be a big deal to everyone, but it’s just… chat courtesy… if you will. It’s like typing in CAPS LOCK. It just feels like you’re shouting on line. Not necessary, and annoying.

There are many more rules we can add, and we may choose to revise this list as time goes on, but hopefully this is a good start to a more pleasurable experience for us all. Please spread the word. And Delete a Serial Broadcaster today.

Signed,

Banky W. and other like-minds.

PS: Sooner or later, we’ll have to do a “Rules of Engagement” for Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned. :o)~

PPS: Please never take me too seriously in these matters. I'm kinda just kidding. Kinda. But it's food for BBthought. I didn't mean to get anyone upset or offended. Just having fun AND trying to reduce the number of broadcasts I get everyday. Love y'all!

Keep The Change (A PMAN Tale)

2011-01-27T22:59:00.000-08:00

"When you're finished changing, you're finished" - Benjamin Franklin

PMAN (The Performing Musicians' Employers Association of Nigeria) had their Annual Delegates Conference to Elect New Leadership for the next two years on Wednesday the 26th of January. The Conference was held in Osogbo, Osun State and hosted Delegates, Members and Representatives of PMAN from all over Nigeria who were present to decide the future of the Union. The conference also saw the brief attendance of PMAN's founding President, the Legendary King Sunny Ade, current Governor of Osun State Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola, as well as Former President Chief Tony Okoroji.

The truth of the matter is that, over the years, there has been a major disconnect between PMAN and the very professionals it is supposed to represent and/or protect. At its inception, this is a snapshot of who the founding members were: Chief (Mrs.) Christy Essien Igbokwe, King Sunny Ade (KSA), Evang. Sunny Okosuns (late), Chief Ebenezer Obey, Lemmy Jackson, Tee-Mac Omatshola Iseli, Emma Ogosi, Laolu Akins, Funmi Adams, Oby Onyioha, Maliki Showman, Harry Mosco, King Pago, Bobby Benson etc. Anyone remotely familiar with Nigerian Music History will agree that this was in the very least, an excellent representation of who were the significant PERFORMING MUSICIANS of that era. Part of the Union's Constitution that these great artistes put together can be found online at http://pmanonline.net/about.html.

Fast forward to today; PMAN is now a shadow of what it used to be, and essentially a disgrace to the legacy those that came before us put forth. Nigerian Musicians are achieving worldwide success in leaps and bounds, yet a snapshot of today's union shows that absolutely NONE of the significant musicians representing Nigeria are involved in the runnings of PMAN. Nigerian Musicians have accomplished great things in spite of a Union that no longer cares or caters to their needs; in spite of a Union that has been run down by greed, poor leadership and an archaic mentality; in spite of a Union that has alienated the very Professionals it is supposed to care for.

They say you should "be the change you want to see in the world". It was with this in mind, that today's crop of Nigerian Musicians attempted to rejoin PMAN en masse, and get involved in its leadership. We heard through the grapevine that the current administration's leadership term had come to end, and that the Organization was as frustrated as we the artistes were about the state of things. There were tales of offices shutting down, of staff salaries being unpaid, of rundown or nonexistent studios around the country and a total lack of organization; and so the artistes held a series of meetings. We all came up with a team of executives amongst ourselves, that we felt represented a cross section of Nigerian Music today. A team that did not necessarily comprise of the most popular musicians, but a team that on the one hand represented a solid cross section of Nigerian Music, as well as one that would be willing and able to put in the work necessary to right a sinking ship. The team included names like: eLDee The Don, Mr Cool, KSB, M.I., Sound Sultan, Ed Jatto, Efe Omoruegbe of Now Music etc.

The team made the journey to Osogbo along with other people including D'banj, Don Jazzy, Jesse Jagz, Wande Coal, 2Shotz, Dr Sid, D'Prince, Ice Prince, Baba Dee, and yours truly Banky W. Other artistes who were part of the meetings but did not make the trip included P'Square, 9ice, Tuface Idibia, WizKid and Skales. That we were able to assemble such an incredible cast of people under such short notice was a miracle in and of itself, but it also goes to show the frustration with the way things are and the willingness to work to bring about change. The purpose of our making the trip was to appeal to the powers that be at PMAN to vote for and put in the new team of leaders, and give them (us) a chance at resuscitating a failed Union; a chance at restoring PMAN to its glory days; a chance at restoring it to a place of relevance and a chance at Uniting the Body with the very members its supposed to comprise of. Safe to say I believe even the founders would have been proud at the Contingent of Artistes behind this movement, as I'm sure that's what they envisioned when they started this years ago.

What we found when we arrived in Osogbo was heart breaking. A system that is in rot and decay; a mindset that is so stuck in the ways of the past and an unwillingness to accept the realities of the present, much less step into the future. One would think that PMAN officials and delegates would accept the appeals coming from its Musicians; if they had accepted us, PMAN would automatically become a force to be reckoned with overnight as it would now TRULY represent all Nigerian Musicians, young and old; those in the limelight and those in the twilight of their careers.

Sadly, this was not to be. We came with respect on our minds, appealing to those that had been in the rundown system for years, to let us help rebuild it. We came "dobale-ing"; we pleaded, begged, offered all kinds of opportunities and the resources at our disposal. We offered to lead but to do so by serving. We offered to help restore relevance; to empower PMAN Nationally and at the State levels and so much more.

We were met with resistance, bitterness, slander and ignorance. People so afraid of any kind of change that they would rather cling on to a sinking ship than reach out and get on to a helicopter. And those that were apparently willing to accept the change, expected us to play the same old ignorant tactics that our corrupt Politicians play to get there. Ironically, what we saw yesterday was reflective of what is wrong with Nigeria as a whole.

We have one message to PMAN, and to Nigeria as a whole. Change will come. It will. They say the only thing that remains constant in Life is Change. The fact that Change will come is inevitable; we can choose to embrace it or evade it, but it will be to our progress or peril.. our development or demise. History is rife with instances where people were given an opportunity to choose either of these options, and the consequences that followed. PMAN was given an opportunity to choose to make History and to choose to change the failed ways of the past, and it declined, because we refused to stoop to reducing our standards. Dear PMAN Delegates (and Nigerian Politicians), please understand that we will NOT buy (or sell) Votes. What we are working for is so much more long term and the payout is infinitely greater than the here and now.
What they refused to realize is this: the ACTUAL Performing Musicians and Recording Artistes in Nigeria are determined to right the wrongs of our industry, with or without PMAN. That they declined is inconsequential to us. Our journey continues, but we strongly believe that they will remember and regret this day.

Our message to PMAN is as Benjamin Franklin once said “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished”.

- Banky W.

Banky on Bella...

2010-08-24T00:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a little hectic lately because I have so much to do in terms of collaborations in the studio and a host of videos we're about to start shooting, so I haven't had much time to do any writing. In any case, I recently did an interview with Bella Naija that turned out quite nice. Shoutouts to their reporter Glory Edozien who did the interview and the entire Bella Naija team. I've decided to copy + paste the interview here for your reading pleasure until I return with more random rants. Hope u enjoy it. (The original link can be found at http://www.bellanaija.com/2010/08/19/my-banky-w-experience-the-interview/ ) Lemme know what you think... cheers!!

My Banky W Experience: The Interview! (by Glory Edozien)

I personally believe I was the envy of most women as Olubankole Wellington, aka Banky W and I sat down for a quick repartee at Sway bar. In my mind, I imagined it was a blind date that would somehow end up with Banky going down on one knee, confessing undying love for me and eventually proposing marriage. Alas it was not to be! This was strictly a BN correspondent/musical artist relationship. So there I sat beside one of the hottest men, both musically and physically, ever to grace the Nigerian entertainment scene behaving like butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth, while my mind focused on other things not entirely print worthy☺.

With 3 albums under his belt there is no doubt in our minds that Banky is Nigeria’s, and perhaps even Africa’s answer to RnB. From sultry songs like Ay Mami and Strong Thing to party stoppers like Lagos Party, we can categorically say that Banky has mastered an art that some people have been struggling to achieve for years.

The Interview itself lasted about 50minutes. Banky and I chatted freely about his love for music and even shared some stories on the challenges he’d overcome so far. Without doubt he was easy to talk to, confident and incredibly knowledgable about his craft, definitely one of the best interviews I have done…..

The music in the man…..

We would then go to hair and nail salons in the neigbourhood, and beg the owners to let me sing for their costumers and if they let us we would do a little acapella.

BN: How did you get into music?

Banky W: I’d been flirting with music all of my life. I don’t remember exactly how old, but I know I was incredible young when I knew that I wanted to be a singer. What tends to happen is, as a child, you have dreams of what you want to do whether its being a policeman or a fire man but you take care of life. You go to school, work but you don’t do anything about the dream. Everybody who knew me knew that I sang because I was always singing in school or church. When I was in university in New York, I got together with a friend of mine and was like, ‘we are always joking about this music thing, if we don’t put money towards it, it will pass us by’. So at that point I hit the studio, I probably started recording seriously around 2002 and it built it from there.

BN: You’ve achieved so much in your career already, but what challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Banky W: For anyone in this line of work, there will always be rough roads. Everyone you see with a certain level of success has had times when they paid their dues. My story is no different. There are some years when you put in a lot more than you get out. The biggest challenge when you are starting is getting people to stop and listen to what you have to say because there are so many people doing music.
When I started, we started selling my CDs out the trunks of our cars. In NY, my two friends and I would put our money together and print a couple hundred CDs. We would then go to hair and nail salons in the neighborhood, and beg the owners to let me sing for their costumers and if they let us we would do a little acapella. My friends couldn’t sing so they would be in the background snapping their fingers and I would sing for the ladies and then we’d sell our CDs five dollars a piece. That’s really where my first income from music came from. Those are some of the challenges and they never really go away, they just get bigger and different.

BN: But that must take an incredible amount of Self confidence to do that

Banky W: Yes, absolutely. It definitely takes a lot of self confidence but it also takes having a support system no matter how small. There is no question, I wouldn’t have come this far if I didn’t have one or two or three friends who where like ‘Yo! This my guy can do this thing’! They kind of tap into the dream at an early stage when there is no payout from it whatsoever. And we were all spending our savings and drinking garri together.

I'll tell you this funny story, there was this time in Yankee in school that we were so broke! I used to go with my friend to his church in Brooklyn because they served food after the service. There were a couple of Sundays when we would just go there and pack enough food to last us a few days. God puts you through all of that, so you become a stronger person and you learn how to deal with not having everything. Shout out to my guys that really held me down. They know who they are. There are always moments of self doubt but when you see your guy put in his own hard earned money, you are like well, if I don’t believe it for myself , I better believe for this guy. So shout out to Tunde, Tino and Segun and everyone else.

BN: If you weren’t doing music what would you be doing?

Banky W: There are quite a few things that I have always been interested in and might have been good at. I studied industrial engineering, so when I graduated I was working for an engineering company and at that point I was doing pretty well. I could have continued and would still be doing okay. So I actually took a risk quitting that. I have always been interested in teaching. My only problem with teaching is that I feel they don’t make enough money for the incredible job they do. I am very success driven so that was the draw back. But you never know when I am done with all this I might decide to go and start teaching somewhere. I was also pretty good at drawing, so I could have been an artist. I am also very much an entrepreneur. So anyone of those things could have been my other job but I am glad that music has worked out so far.

BN: SO are we! Your love for music is evident but are there things in your life that have suffered because of that love?

Banky W: I think there are positive and negatives in everything you do. Now I thank God for the success that I have and I am very grateful for it. But you end up in a situation where your relationships suffer and not just with your girlfriend but really with family members and friends. You are always on the road and when you are not on the road you are so tired. Eventually you are not as in touch with people as you should be. It comes with the territory, you try not to let too many people down along the way and you pray for the wisdom to balance it; Because at the end of the day you don’t want to be old and successful yet unhappy. My family is the most important thing in my life, so for anyone to loose that or never have anyone to love it’s really sad. If you have everything in the world and you don’t have that it doesn’t mean much.

BN: The Nigerian music industry has doubtlessly come a long way, but how do you see it progressing?

Banky W: I think the BET nominations are yet another testament to how far Nigerian music has come. To see two of our home acts nominated with best international acts around the world and you still have Shade and Wale who both have Nigerian roots. I think it’s a beautiful thing and I am proud of where we are.

But I think what we need is to really bring the music industry up as a whole. We need to enforce certain laws and put certain things into effect, it would automatically elevate our music. That is what is holding us back. When you can start paying royalties you will see a significant number of investments from record companies around the world and from those of us that have record companies locally too. The whole infrastructure would make more sense and you will be able to do more and achieve more musically. It will no longer be an industry based on shows.

He does the Ladies Strong Thing

I am the kind of person that would surprise a girl with flowers at work, pull a spontaneous trip out of no where or the quiet dinner on the beach. For me romance is spontaneity.

BN: Are you single?

Banky W: Yes. It’s tough. It is a question of time. I literally have very little time on my hands. This has been the busiest year so far in my career. Within the next 30days I will need to travel to Benin, Abuja, Yola, the States, Dublin and South Africa. My schedule is hectic and to be able to build a relationship you need to commit a certain amount of time and energy. I’d like to think that I will eventually make a great boyfriend and husband. I try to be a romantic guy. I am very spontaneous. I like to enjoy my relationships. When the time is right I will be able to do all of that.

Also, apart from time, there’s the question of trying to find the right person which is the million dollar question. Because in my line of work you tend to meet with either real big fans or people that you just don’t really identify with. There is always the question of whether this person will love the real me. Everything is so jumbled together because my music personality and my real personality are kind of the same... So I don’t want them to hate the fact that I do music but then I don’t want them to be consumed by it either. There are so many uncertainties that having a relationship becomes so much harder. Also being in a relationship with me will definitely take a toll on whoever is with me because my job comes with a lot of female attention and that is hard for anyone to deal with. But I believe that God still loves me enough to give me the right person to settle down with.

BN: What sort of girls do you find attractive?

Banky W: Physical beauty is important to a certain extent because you have to be attracted to someone to want to get to know more. I like girls that are independent and ambitious, that I can have a real conversation with. Because if you are beautiful and dumb when we get past the physical intimacy there is nothing more to be said. I like fun girls; girls who love music and can dance because I love to dance. If you can cook it’s a huge plus because I am a sucker for good food. I am not a sweet tooth; I don’t eat cakes, candy, chocolate etc. I will eat ice cream once in a blue moon but if you give me goat meat, rice, chicken or beef, I am VERY happy. I also like friendly, go-getter girls that have their own thing going on. So I can be inspired by what they do as well.

BN: What Physical attributes do you find attractive?

Banky W: I’m not into ridiculously skinny or ridiculously overweight. I like the grey area in the middle where they is ample supply of everything. In terms of height I could go either way I have dated girls that are taller or shorter than me. I am attracted by girls who have a semblance of the whole package. You carry your self well, you know how to dress, and there’s a kind of x factor kind of thing. I have been attracted to all kinds of women, it’s difficult to explain but I know that thing I like when I see it.

BN: Would you describe yourself as romantic?

Banky W: I am the kind of person that would surprise a girl with flowers at work, pull a spontaneous trip out of no where or the quiet dinner on the beach. For me, a big part of romance is spontaneity. For example, there was a time over Valentines Day where instead of just celebrating it the one day, I did like a three-day thing just to vary it up otherwise it gets boring. I think one of the keys to having a good relationship is to keep it interesting.

Keeping it Grown and Sexy

I am a grown man, so I decided to keep it sexy grown and sophisticated.

BN: How would you describe your sense of style?

Banky W: I don’t know how I would define it. I think it is very much who I am and how I feel at that particular moment. When I moved back from New York, it was that point in time when it was fashionable to wear the Arabian scarf around your neck, So I had a lot of that; but then I went to a show and it seemed like 95% of the Nigerian music industry was in that show, dressed alike. It was like we were in some huge boy band. Just crazy! It looks nice, but we can’t all be on stage in a t-shirt and jeans and an Arabian scarf. At that point I realized I had to do something different.

I am a grown man, so I decided to switch it up and keep it grown and sophisticated. From that time I switched to ties and suits consciously. I mean shout out to everyone that dresses that way, there is nothing wrong with it. I just wanted something different. Nowadays I vary it up between dressy and casual, but it depends on my mood and what’s going on at the time. In any case it’s the same issue with music; if you make the same music everyone is making you won’t differentiate yourself and you could get lost in the crowd.

BN: Who are your favorite designers?

Banky W: Mai Atafo, Okunoren Twins, Muyiwa Oshindero and Babs Familusi. I rarely buy suits from outside the country now. Those are the people I patronize.

BN: You’ve done so much already this year, but what’s next on your agenda?

Banky W: Right now I am doing a lot of shows and on some tours but I am also going to be shooting a few more videos for some songs off the W experience album. The ‘Thief My Kele’ video is next on the list. I have two new artists, which I am incredibly excited about. I think they are two of the most talented young Nigerian men I have seen in a long time-Wizkid and Skales. So I am executive producing both their albums. We should be shooting WizKid’s ‘Holla At Your Boy’ and “Tease Me” videos anytime now. The same goes for Skales with ‘Heading for a Grammy’ and ‘Be Mine’.

I have a charity organization, which provides university scholarships to Nigerian universities called The “I am capable” Scholarship Fund. I am also involved with the Light Up Nigeria and Enough is Enough Nigeria campaigns. In addition, I have an initiative with MI and Eldee to get young people to go out and register to vote. It aims to get young people involved in the future of Nigeria. At the moment the initiative is called ‘ready for change’, but that name might change. Its kind of like a vote or die thing because you see people like Barack Obama become president and you know that was possible because the young people were interested in the future of America and I think young people should be interested in the future of Nigeria.

I'm Back... But you probably shouldn't bother reading this one...

2010-08-04T03:49:00.000-07:00

Sooooooooooooooooo.... guess who's back? It is I... King of the Lagos Party. Hehhehehehe.

I realize it's been AGES since I last wrote anything new on here, and I apologize. It's Twitter's fault. Someone once told me "people are starting to realize that twitter is to blogs, what emails were to letters"; and it's soooo true. It is ridiculously convenient to just vent in short paragraphs on Twitter and engage people in their responses, and walahi (talahi gimme lighter) it has totally murdered my blogging habit.

In any case, I'm on a mission to attempt to fix this. I refuse to let go!!! Blogging/Writing/etc is a huge part of my artistic expression!!! (That sounds way more impressive than it actually is). Seriously though, I do hope to try and blog often again, because I enjoy it, and apparently some of you do too. (Sidebar: Thanks so much for all the comments on here; and a HUGE Thank you to everyone that follows the blog and has taken the time to read my random rants. I appreciate you guys, you're the best).

This particular post isn't anything special. Primarily, I just wanted to apologize for being missing-in-action. And now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'd also like to vent about something very serious. No it's not politics or corruption (feel free to scroll down and read my last 2 or 3 posts for that). It's about my househelp/caretaker/etc. Let's call him "Simon". Feel free to stop reading now. Really.

I moved into my new house about 4 or so months ago. I hired Simon shortly afterwards. I'm now convinced about a few things. For one, Simon's main mission in life is to torture me. Really. I shall explain. Simon almost definitely has a severe case of A-D-D and SEVERE language/communication problems. I understand that he hails from a French Speaking African Country, and thus English is something he's picked up along the way, but damn. How he has survived in Naija this long without being able to properly communicate is nothing short of amazing. You tell him something and he turns around and does the EXACT opposite; and if you call him out on it, he gives you what can only be described as the best "deer-in-headlights" look you'll ever see.

Me: "Simon, abeg, only use water from these bottles to fill the ice-cube tray. No dey use water from tap oh! Because e no clean. U Understand? Na only this bottled water u go use oh! ONLY bottled water!!!!"

Simon: "Yes."

PS: I think he answers every statement with "Yes". But that's another story.

Two mins later, I come downstairs and guess what? Yes. Simon has fetched tap water in a bucket and is now filling the ice cube trays with it.

He's also either incredibly inept at budgeting, or he thinks he's incredibly smart at duping. Allow me to give you an example (there are so many to choose from)

Simon: "Oga, we need fruits. And shoe Polish"
Me: "Okay, pls write out the list and the total price"
Simon: "Yes"

Simon comes back with a list as follows: Bananas, Apples, Oranges, Pineapples. Black and Brown Polish. And a brush. N10,000.

Yes. TEN THOUSAND NAIRA for fruits and shoe polish!!!! You'd think the fruits were coming with a supermodel to feed them to you. You ask him what the hell he's thinking and yes, you guessed it... "Deer-in-headlights" again. And these are just two of MANY examples. Don't get me wrong though, he has his good sides. He's a nice guy... and I think he generally means well. Oh! And he's great at ironing. (That's if the clothes actually make it through the wash without discoloring or disintegrating. And... okay.. I'm reaching here... Okay I got nothing else at the moment.

But with Simon, I've come to realize that this is just who he is. He's a terrible cook, thus the meat will ALWAYS be too hard, or so soft it shreds into the stew. And it's either the food will be absolutely saltless or WAY too salty. The Jollof Rice will never ever ever be quite the right color. And every month, after receiving his salary, he comes to ask for a raise.

Luckily for me, now that I've moved into the new place, my folks flew in to visit for the first time since I moved back to Nigeria. So I have Mom's home cooking for a couple weeks before they head back out. I'm seriously hoping that some of her cooking skills rub off on Simon, otherwise we will have to end our business relationship. Because in the wise words of great songwriter/poet who's name escapes me at the moment, "I can do bad all by myself".

Good to be back. Now log out and go follow @BankyW on twitter.
~ B.W.

What are you capable of?

2010-04-29T00:29:00.000-07:00

Certain people feel like young people are incompetent, and incapable of leading Nigeria.. My natural reaction would be to rush to our defense, by referencing all the incredible things young people have done. History is full of instances were young people were the catalysts of change and victory all over the world... From the Biblical days of David & Goliath, to recent times when it was the youth that voted in President Obama.

But instead of trying to defend the youth, I choose to challenge us. What are the youth in Nigeria capable of? The time has come where there is no tomorrow. 60% of eligible voters in this country are classified as young. We can either choose to take back the power that has been taken from us or we let sleeping lions lie. One thing I know for sure is this: if we choose to, as in times past, tolerate the way things have always been; if we choose to do nothing... if we choose to say "God dey" and "it's Naija"; one thing is certain...NOTHING will change.

Albert Einstein said "insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. Nigeria, is and always will be, a sorry shadow of its potential if we choose to let her remain that way. An unconscious/sleeping giant is less effective than a hardworking ant. The time is now. There is no tomorrow. We must collectively decide to change Nigeria. Now. Today. This very moment. The bad news is, big wheels turn slow. I don't expect PHCN/NEPA to give me electricity when I get home tonight. The good news is, while big wheels DO turn slow, they will turn. Or they'll get replaced.

America moved from being the chief proprietor of slavery to electing a black man of African descent as its President. This is no small feat. Call it blind optimism, but I believe Nigeria can achieve similar results with our Nation's historical problems. We can move from being a country rife with corruption, where power and governance are seen as a birthright, to a real true progressive democracy, if the young and young at heart collectively decide that enough is enough. Change begins when we decide that it should. Its about me. Its about you. Its about Us.

If Martin Luther King and Malcolm X (RIP) didn't decide to do what they did, America wouldn't have come this far; if people like Chief Gani Fawehinmi didn't stand up against all odds when he did, we wouldn't be here right now. Chief Gani Fawehinmi, after decades of fighting for justice, rejected one of Nigeria's highest honors in protest of the many years of misrule since Independence. These are people who believed in our freedom and potential so much that they paid with their lives. May we not let our passiveness result in their fighting and dying in vain.

If we do not stand up to become the architects of Nigeria's future, the opportunity will pass and we will have failed future generations. I don't want my unborn children to witness the same Nigeria I'm seeing now. Change begins with us, if we want it bad enough. If we really feel like enough is enough. If we believe and work hard; if we we sacrifice some of our convenience for the greater good, we can do this.

We must register to vote. We must select and vote for the right candidate. We must vow to defend and protect our vote. The ball is in our court. If we choose not to take back our power by not voting, then we have no right to complain when the same old villains loot and steal from us. We give up the right to complain about the problems later, when we choose not to vote in the first place.

To paraphrase an ancient proverb, we do not inherit Nigeria from our parents. We borrow it from our children. It's time to pay with interest.

~ B.W.

PS: I'm teaming up with some friends and colleagues (M.I., eLDee, #EnoughIsEnough, #Cool2Vote.org, #LightupNigeria etc) to put together youth voter registration rallies and efforts. As soon as its in order we will announce them everywhere. Please spread the word. It's not only cool2vote, it's necessary. Let's do this.

Hell is empty, and all the devils are here

2010-03-11T04:19:00.000-08:00

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here." - Shakespeare

First, please read the quote pasted above. Let the gravity of those words sink into your system. Then, if you haven't already, and if you're strong enough to stomach witnessing sheer and absolute horror, please click on the following link: http://www.anglicandioceseofjos.org/dogo.html

There is no other quote that better describes the recent inhumane attacks in Jos, Nigeria. If "a picture is worth a thousand words", then what do we say of pictures like these? It's unimaginable. Each picture represents a horrific, gruesome murder. Innocent women, children (and men) were brutally ambushed, attacked, maimed and murdered worse than animals. It's unthinkable that in 2010, after the world has gone through so much progress and development, some of us in Nigeria are still living like this. It's heartbreaking to witness these events. It's heart-wrenching to think of what happened on the morning of March 7th. It's unfair and deplorable. It's mind-numbingly sad, pathetic, and downright insane.

But this is the Nigeria we live in. A country full of extremes. Extreme wealth and extreme poverty. Extreme Joy and extreme pain. It's hard to imagine that this is the same Nigeria that just hosted the U-17 World cup; that just celebrated it's 50th Year of Independence and boasts of some of the most expensive luxurious lifestyles in the world.

Nigeria is the most populous Black Nation in the world; it is also very much a melting pot. It is home to 250 to 400 different ethnic groups, and is almost evenly split amongst Muslims and Christians (not to mention various other traditional Religious Belief systems). However, while in some metropolitan areas of the world, vast diversity is generally a positive attribute, in Nigeria that diversity is ripping us apart. We are different, but that should be a strength.. not a disease. Instead of learning from each other we resort to fighting. Instead of maximizing our varying degrees of potential, we resort to killing each other.

How men can devise this kind of terrible plot is beyond me. News reports have put the death toll anywhere between 200 and 500 people. Probably More. Innocent lives snuffed out for absolutely ignorant, ridiculous reasons. Mothers and children. Families destroyed forever. All because of some ethnic disputes, disagreements over land, or even religious differences. What's sad about occurrences like this is the fact that usually, there's some underlying resentment towards policy, authority, Government or the powers that be. But instead of finding some other way to address these issues, people resort to killing other innocent (and probably-frustrated-as-well) human beings. Maybe you're justifiably upset at the way things have been... is that reason enough to take the life of someone else who is innocent, and like you, probably just trying to get by in these harsh times?

The worst thing about the Jos attacks is the fact that this is not the first time that we've witnessed such horror, and conventional wisdom says it won't be the last. There's a song on my last album called "Why", where I tried in my very limited capacity to speak from the heart on situations affecting our Nigeria. I specifically mentioned "fighting in Jos, killing one another no remorse". This song was created by Cobhams Asuquo and I over a year ago; I was inspired to write, when similar killings occurred and a friend of mine lost 2 immediate family members. Little did we know that the song would prove to not only be an account of times past, but a prophecy of things to come as we are now witnessing the same evil history repeat itself.

My heart aches for those that lost their lives in Jos and for the families that mourn them. My heart aches for the present state of Nigeria. My heart aches for the future of Nigeria, but it shouldn't have to. I once read that the definition of Insanity is repeating the same actions over and over, while expecting a different result. We are all frustrated with the political and economical climate in Nigeria. We all complain and we are quick to point out everything that has been so wrong for so many years, and rightfully so, because it's just pathetic. But if we decide as a generation to do nothing about it; if we decide to turn a blind eye and ignore the need for change, then our future generations will inherit the EXACT same issues. And that will mean that we have failed them.

We all witnessed the inauguration of President Barack Obama in the not too distant past. The whole world watched in awe, as America, once the chief criminal in slave trade, voted in its first Black President. We all know the U.S.A. still has issues its dealing with, but President Obama's swearing-in is a day that will forever go down in history as a day that changed America. Prior to Obama becoming Commander-in-Chief, most people thought that there would never be a Black Man voted in as President of the USA. Prior to Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and co, most people thought black people would never be able to vote in America and that Segregation would never be demolished. I put it to you that we CAN change Nigeria's future, using similar formulas. Obama became President largely because the younger generations (and those young at heart) decided to exercise their God-given rights by voting for change. We can do the same here in Naija.

Change does not happen overnight... Some will recall that in the USA in 1994 there was a revolution of sorts, but partly due to somewhat dubious circumstances (Florida, etc), the Bush Regime lasted an additional four years. We are used to Politicians in Nigeria treating Power as a birthright and votes not counting, despite our calling it a democracy. But in the same breath, how many of us actually turn out to vote? 2011 might be the year that changes our country forever. We may or may not succeed in toppling the "birthright-mindset" of our leaders immediately, but we MUST, in the very least, get the ball rolling. We the (young) people must decide that we are fed up of the nonsense we've seen for years and vow to change things.

We still have no constant power supply. We must vow to do everything within our power to get our government to #lightupnigeria. We have leaders that are complacent and corrupt. We must vow to register-to-vote and to actually vote. We can, possibly, abruptly change and take charge of the future of Nigeria in the 2011 elections. Or in the very least we can IMPACT it so that it never stays the same. We are fortunate enough to not have to deal with any Natural Disasters, like the recent earthquakes in Haiti, or the Tsunamis in Asia. It's time for us to stop BEING the disasters, and to start being part of the solutions. I will be one of many young people completely devoted to bringing about change in this country because I believe we deserve it and it's long overdue. I hope you will too.

Lastly, my heart still bleeds for Jos. I will never claim to be an expert on the problems that the region is dealing with, or the solutions. I do know however that we must all decide to collectively be a part of the change we all desperately hope for and deserve. May those who died Rest In Peace. May their deaths not be in Vain. May Peace reign in all parts of Nigeria and Africa. And lastly... May Change Come. Enough is enough.

~ B.W.

I will try and update this blog post with any relevant links for people that want to get involved, for now please check out:
http://www.lightupnigeria.org
http://www.enoughisenoughnigeria.com

"Thank You"

2009-11-26T01:40:00.000-08:00

Earlier on this week, I was driving home from what constitutes a “long day” in my new line of work. I had been to the gym, choreography rehearsal, done an interview with a magazine and spent hours in the studio working on the final mixes for my new album. Suffice it to say that I was pooped, so the drive back home through the intense Lagos traffic was tough to stomach.

I’d also made the mistake of not bringing along any cd’s to listen to, so I was stuck flipping the radio from station to station, trying to find something to keep my mind off of the road, while honking my horn and cursing underneath my breath. Lagos drivers probably know what I mean. Let’s just say I wasn’t in the best of moods.
Anyway, while I was there, something… or someone caught my eye. There was this little boy running alongside the danfo bus in front of me, trying to sell oranges. He went through the whole process: first balancing the tray of oranges on his head while giving his sales pitch, trying to court customers. Then one of the bus riders showed enough interest for him to set his tray down and run back with a bag of oranges. The customer liked the bag but asked the boy to go back and peel them. So off he ran, back to his tray, peeling the oranges at lightening speed and cutting each one at the right angle; all while traffic inched along. When he finished he dashed right back to the bus and completed his sale. Total value of goods sold? 200 Naira, maybe (about $1.25 USD).

This is an everyday occurrence on the streets of Lagos, or any similar metropolis around the world. It happens all the time, and we think nothing of it. But I think God may have just used that moment to remind me of all the things we take for granted, everyday. This boy could not have been more than 10 years old, and here he was, working his butt off for a dollar at a time. At his age I was probably mostly concerned with my next toy or next pair of sneakers; this kid was already a “breadwinner”. I was sitting there grumbling in my air-conditioned car, while he had probably been on his feet all day long under the hot African sun. I didn’t like what I was listening to on the radio, but the soundtrack to his day was the blaring of horns and the screeching of tires. I’d probably spent on lunch what he makes in a week of hard labor.

This weekend in the U.S.A they will be celebrating Thanksgiving; essentially it’s a time when families will get together and celebrate. During my time over there, every thanksgiving, I’d get together with my siblings and my closest friends. None of our parents lived in the States, so we’d create a sort of extended family-friend ritual: all 15 or 20 of us young people in a house, hanging out, cooking, eating, and going out together. It was my favorite time of the year there because that was the one holiday we all managed to be together… and the highlight of it all was definitely the food. And of course the parties, etc. But right before we devoured the feast, we’d go around the table and each person would say what we were thankful for.
Fast-forward to today. I’ve relocated back to Lagos, so no more family-friend thanksgiving dinners for me. But after seeing that little boy this week, I’ve decided I still need to take the time to say what I’m thankful for, and ironically, just last Sunday my Pastor in Church preached about having an “attitude for gratitude”.

So here goes, in no particular order… I’m thankful for my parents and siblings, and all my relatives. I’m thankful for my friends, my business partners and colleagues; for my role models and support system. For my job and being able to do what I love for a living. For my nieces and nephews and for the joy I get in watching them grow. For being blessed with the gift of music. For every school I ever went to and the people that were a part of my life there. For Corona Primary school, Home Science, ADRAO, Colonie Central High, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For the friends and coworkers I had at Johnson Controls Inc, and General Electric, McDonalds’, Guess, Eddie Bauer, JC Penney, and for my time at TREM, FOLC, and LFMIC. For my Empire Mates Entertainment family and for the industry I’m now blessed to be a part of. For anyone I’ve ever considered a close friend. For anyone that has ever been a fan of mine. For the rough times I’ve had this year and in years past that have made me a stronger person. For any ex-girlfriend I’ve had that made me a better man. For my favorite sports teams and my favorite Artistes, home and abroad. I’m grateful for the gift of family, friendship and love and for the precious gift of life and good health. For all this and for so much more, I’m eternally thankful and grateful.

Because the truth of the matter is, no matter how bad you have it or how rough things may be right now, there’s always someone who has it much worse. And by God’s grace it’ll get better anyway.

So there it is. Happy Thanksgiving folks! And Barka de Sallah to my Muslim friends!
~ B.W.

And finally... drumroll PUHLEEEASE...

2009-09-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

Okay ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, allow me to present to you the
"Strong Ting" Video, FINALLY...

I really hope you like it, Lord knows we worked real hard. Check it out, feel free to share with your friends... all that good stuff.

Next up, Lagos Party. And then "the W Experience".
Thanx for coming along for the ride. Hope you're enjoying it as much as I am.

~ B.W. for EMEaaazzyyy

They say "You are what you eat"...

2009-08-30T10:46:00.001-07:00

It's part of my job description now to do interviews... unfortunately most of the time they're boring and redundant. U get asked the same things over and over again, and it's hard to stay motivated to actually answer the questions. In any case, I got hit up this week with a set of interesting questions by a magazine called "Food and Country". It ended up being kinda fun, so I'm posting 'em here for you incase you want a good read. Enjoy...

FOOD & COUNTRY CELEBRITY QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Do you consider yourself a good cook?
- I have a limited menu that I’m pretty good at, but anything outside of that menu and you’re on your own. As a bachelor you learn how to make certain things just in case, you know, desperate times. I can make a variation of stew, efo riro (I think), pasta and chicken, breakfast food, plantains, and sandwiches. And then there’s the typical easy stuff like boiling rice, eggs, making eba, etc. That’s about it. But those that have tasted my pasta and chicken or my breakfast sandwiches will testify that they are very good. No accounts of food poisoning just yet.

2. What’s your favourite food?
- Any kind of rice with an assortment of chicken or beef.

3. Do you cook it? If yes, describe how.
- I prefer to have it cooked for me. I’m lazy.

4. Favourite drink?
- I drink mostly juice and water. My favorite juice in Nigeria at the moment is Five Alive’s Berry Blast. For a second they took it out of production and I actually ignited a series of complaints with my fans and friends on Facebook, Twitter and my blog (bankyw.blogspot.com). I don’t know if that’s the reason they brought it back, but that’s what we tell ourselves. There’s Berry Blast back on the shelves now so all is well with the world.

5. Favourite restaurants.
- Anywhere they sell rice and chicken/beef in big portions.

6. What’s your idea of good food?
- It’s good if it tastes great and is filling. That’s part of my problem with French Food. It’s not filling. And the one or two French restaurants I’ve been to in the past were also lacking in the taste department.

7. Food you’ve never tried out but would like to?
- I’m open to try just about anything… never gave it much thought. The only thing I’m not into is seafood, much to the chargrin of my mom, because it’s her favorite.

8. Worst culinary blunder.
- This is horrible to admit, but I once set a kitchen stove on fire. I was living in Upstate NY at the time, and I was about to fry plantains to eat with some rice and stew, and then an artiste was appearing on television I really wanted to see… so I left the kitchen and went to watch the tv in my bedroom, not realizing that I’d left the frying pan with oil on the fire… Needless to say the oil over-heated and set the stove ablaze!! I just realized there was thick smoke coming into the hallway… by the time it was said and done the fire department even came. Luckily my landlord was real cool about it, especially because his insurance company gave him a big fat cheque to cover the damage so he actually ended up throwing us a small pizza and beer get together. True story.

9. Funniest joke on food.
- Someone just sent this to me, so please don’t persecute me because I didn’t write it. “Someone went to a Naija Restaurant recently and asked for 5 Wraps of Eba, 2 Meat, 4 Pomo and 3 Yar Adua. The waiter serving asked the customer what he meant by Yar Adua, and the customer responded… Snail.”

10. Strangest food ever eaten.
- I went to a restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya a few years ago called “The Carnivore”. It was set up like the Brazilian all-the-meat-you-can-eat restaurants, except they brought everything from beef and chicken to zebra and alligator. Some of those other types of meat were “interesting”, to say the least.

11. Your position on the World food crisis.
- It’s something we need to pay urgent attention to… and by “we” I mean everyone from the Governments of Countries on downwards. Part of the problem is that in places like the U.S. and Europe, they don’t know what’s really going on because it’s mostly affecting poorer countries in places like Africa. But it’s terrible.

12. What’s vegetarianism to you?
- Torture. Plain and Simple

13. The last time you ate out; where and what did you eat?
- I ate out yesterday at a restaurant in VI, and I had a chicken and mushroom pizza.

14. If you were to eat a ‘last meal’ what would that be?
- I’d rather never be in a position where I have to choose my last meal.

15. Any culinary quirks that describe your person?
- People find it surprising that I’m not much of a sweet tooth. So I’m not into eating cakes, chocolates, candy, etc… And I eat way too much rice for my own good. I eat rice at least once a day (sometimes more). My mother would cringe at my current idea of a “balanced diet”.

16. If you had a opportunity to run a column in a food magazine, would you take it?
- If I did, it would probably be a disservice to the subscribers… I’m not an expert cook, and I’m not nearly knowledgeable enough in the field to offer any enlightening commentary. However, I’m an excellent top-of-the-line consumer.

~ B.W.

Strong Ting Teaser, Music Video Pleaserrrr... :o)~

2009-08-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

So it's been over a month since my last blog... I've been locked up in the studio trying to put finishing touches on my new record "The W Experience". I'm kinda obsessive about making an album; I thought I was done with it a month or two ago, but then I decided it was missing some elements... so I've been back in the studio real hard... and it's coming together nicely... can't wait for everyone to hear it.

I promise I will return to blog-mode shortly; just need another week or two to wrap up the album and then we're home free. In the mean time, if u haven't already (shame on u!!!) please check out the trailer from my soon-to-be-released video for "Strong Ting"... I think you guys will really like the video. This is officially our attempt to enter the video-of-the-year-out-of-africa conversation :o)~

Banky W - Strong Ting Video Trailer... check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTJSoLvKfA4 (the vid refused to load on my blog so pls just copy and paste this youtube link in ur browser)

Rumor has it that the video may or may not debut in a private exclusive invite only screening in Lagos Nigeria on or about the 20th of August, after which it will be officially released world wide.

Lemme know what you think... also there are pictures from the set on http://www.facebook.com/BankyW

The video was shot in Pretoria South Africa and directed by Eban Oliver of Production Militia Studios, currently arguably the best director in Africa. The next video shoot will be in September for "Lagos Party". Stay tuned for more on that. "Strong Ting" video coming so soon like a one minute man :oP The W Experience is on the way.

Cheers
~ B.W.

My response to the recent Guardian Newspaper Article by Mr Reuben Abati

2009-06-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

This is my response to the article entitled "A Nation's Identity Crisis" that recently ran in The Guardian Newspapers. It was written by Dr Reuben Abati, a well respected name in Nigerian Journalism. His original article can be found here: http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=210609&ptitle=A%20Nation
Please try and read the original article before commenting on my response. As Dr Abati has stated his opinion, I felt it neccessary to state mine. If anything I'm sure both pieces are at least food for thought.

Dear Sir,

In the immortal words attributed to P.T. Barnum, "I don't care what the newspapers say about me, at least spell my name right." My name IS Banky W, full name being Olubankole Wellington. Not Willington, as you stated in your article entitled "A Nation's Identity Crisis". I read the piece repeatedly, and found that misspelling my name wasn’t the only error. At it's worst, the article seemed like an attempt to discredit and slander an entire generation of artistes and consumers, and at best it came across as having some valid points but being grossly misinformed, prejudiced, and hypocritical; definitely not what we would expect of a highly regarded publication as The Guardian, or from a person in Mr Abati's position.

In the very least, the article warrants a well-informed response. I have little doubt in my mind that it will generate a slew of responses, positive and negative, and as one of the many subjects that was mentioned in the write-up, I feel compelled to voice my opinion (with all due respect) on some of the issues that were raised in your piece. What I'm going to attempt to do is to directly address issues that stood out and resonated most with me.

The writer asked "What's in a name?" and went on to honor a "...generation which sang music under its real names, not abbreviations or slangs"; this would have been a valid point if he had not himself mentioned Greats like King Sunny Ade (real name: Sunday Adeniyi), I.K. Dairo (Isaiah Kehinde Dairo), and Ebenezer Obey (Real name: Ebenezer Remilekun Aremu Olasupo Fabiyi- Wow!!!). We could also point out other legends like Ras Kimono and Majek Fashek as others who, for creative or other reasons, saw it fit to have stage names that happen to differ from what's on their passports. Shortening of full names and/or the crafting of stage names is not something new from our generation of artistes that "lack the discipline or the patience to write complete sentences" as you said; rather, it's the creative right of an artiste to go by whatever moniker he sees fit. And if we want to talk about the names of today, we can highlight a few: Eldee - actually L.D. which stands for Lanre Dabiri, similar to Isaiah Kehinde Dairo's transition to I.K. Dairo. Naeto C and Banky W are simply short forms of their full names. In my case, my father's nickname among his friends is actually Banky as well.

Furthermore, on the topic of Names and abbreviations let's set a few things straight. Nigerzie is actually spelt Nigezie and is not an abbreviation for Nigeria. It's a TV Show, much like Soundcity or Hip TV, except they choose to incorporate "representing Nigeria" in their name. It's like the "United Colors of Bennetton", or DKNY, both companies that choose to represent their locations or origins in their name. Also, for the record, Gidi doesn't mean Nigeria either. It's a term for Lagos... coined from "Las Gidi". And as far as the popular term "Naija" goes, who remembers Shina Peters singing "♫ Naija lo wa yi o o o, wa jo, afro juju lo gb'ode ♫" I hate to point out that our generation did not come up with that term... the "golden age" that you long for did.

As an editorial head of a National Newspaper, you owe it to your public to at least do proper and accurate research before printing an article. The risk in not doing so, is you might unknowingly mislead your readers, and you might actually come across as being ignorant or out of touch. A quick look at all the reference names of artistes and songs mentioned in the article goes to show that the author was sadly way off base in his accusations and examples. For instance, to make a point on how today’s Nigerian artistes lyrics are meaningless and prurient, he referenced the Rooftop MC's song "La Gi Mo". What he failed to realize or crosscheck, is that the said song is probably one of the most meaningful and important songs that have been released in the last few years on the Nigerian Music Scene. The Rooftop MC's are actually a Rap Group that leans to the Gospel or at least Socially Conscious side of music, and their songs always have a positive message. That song itself talks about the errors we make by trying to take God's glory for our success... getting caught up in the limelight and asking God to bring you back to reality to know that HE deserves the praise for where you are.

The author mentioned other songs like D'banj's "Fall in Love", and doesn't realize how hypocritical he sounds by attempting to ridicule some of our most popular love songs. Felix Liberty sang "Ifeoma, ifeoma, I want to marry you", D'banj sang "Omo U don make me fall in love" and Banky W sang "Till my dying day, I'll love you". Barring a difference in musical styling, are these songs not cut from the same cloth? Why can't someone in Mr Abati's position be proud of the fact that at Nigerian and African Weddings nowadays, couples are choosing these songs to mark their first dances instead of previous choices like “Endless Love”? Why can't we appreciate that the days of going to Nigerian Parties and clubs and celebrating to foreign music “all night long” are long gone? Despite these facts, you still see International festivals and concerts being held in Nigeria where the foreign acts are paid 30 to 40 times what some of our biggest stars are allowed to charge.

I have to disagree with the author's views. We are not all one and the same, but we ARE artistes. We may sing, rap, dance, mime, perform, play instruments or whatever else; but we are artistes. And Composers. And musicians. We may not all play the piano or the guitar, but neither does Michael Jackson, arguably the world's greatest artiste/entertainer. That's why he teamed up with producer Quincy Jones to create some of the best music anyone had ever heard. We have our own producers that have shaped Nigerian sound...people like Cobhams Asuquo, Don Jazzy, I.D. Cabasa, Dr Frabz, Tee-Y mix, Eldee, Terry G etc. That list goes on. These music minds are no less credible than those of Mr Abati's time, like the great Laolu Akins.

Far be it from us to claim that we are perfect and flawless in our art... we know that we are still growing and have lots of areas to improve, but the truth of the matter is we have worked very hard to create the industry we have now, and some people choose to criticize and lambaste most of us, instead of helping and teaching us. That is unfair. Yes, some artistes sag their jeans... however, a glance at the pages of THISDAY style or the recently concluded awards shows will show you very clearly that others wear three-piece suits and traditional attires just as proudly, myself included. This music industry that you have very clearly disapproved of has partnered with and given rise to the fashion industry in Nigeria as well. Just ask Designers like Mai, Babs Familusi (Exclamations Couture), the Okunorens, Muyiwa Osindero and countless others. Everything from the t-shirts and jeans rappers wear, to the shoes and suits are made by young Nigerians, where in previous years people preferred to shop in London. The youth-driven industries in Entertainment and Fashion have teamed up to thrust Nigeria into the world's positive spotlight, when for many years our dear country was mostly known for corruption, lack of infrastructure, and security issues.

Our country has not yet given us steady electricity, adequate education, safety from armed robbers or standard healthcare, yet artistes have risen like the Roses that grow from Concrete... and these very artistes love and represent their country proudly on a global stage. This music industry has given hope, jobs and income to countless youth of today. We are Rappers, Singers, Producers, Sound Engineers, Managers, Promoters, Marketing Consultants, Record Label Owners and we will not apologize for making the best of our circumstances; and all this in spite of the fact that we have Marketers that exploit but refuse to pay for our Musical pieces, Royalties and Publishing income that hitherto has been non-existent, a Government that is just now very slowly starting to enforce anti-piracy laws, and Event Organizers that would rather pay 50 Cent One Million US Dollars than give D'banj or P-Square 5 Million Naira.

You were right on some counts. We ARE businessmen and women, and we ARE interested in extending name recognition and brand extension. You were also right in that we look up to people like Jay-Z, who took their music and created multimillion-dollar empires. Since when did ambition and desire to succeed against all odds count against a person’s moral character? Shouldn’t we be encouraged to pay more attention to the business side of “Show Business”? Shouldn’t we want this music industry to provide for our future and the futures of our children?

We know we have a moral responsibility when it comes to our Creative works. Some of us pay more attention to it than others, and there is lots of ground to cover up. But how about a little appreciation and help, instead of trying to tear us down and discredit us? Time will tell whose music will last and become evergreen, but it is not in anyone's place to judge; and for the record, can we just accept that fact that hip hop music is an artform that is probably here to stay... I mean for goodness sake the Grammy's has!! Instead of fighting the change, we should learn to embrace it. I thank God for people like the great Adewale Ayuba that have reached across to our generation to collaborate with, bridge the gap, and help us improve.

We want to learn but your generation has to teach. We want to read but the Government must provide libraries. We want to go to school but the lecturers keep going on strike. We want to travel but previous generations messed up so they won’t give out visas. Most of prefer having our own live bands but the income needed to support that is not forthcoming.

You speak of meaninglessness and prurience, identity crisis and moral turpitude. You praise Legends like Fela Anikulakpo-Kuti and you ridicule us. 9ice does not drink or smoke. eLDee is married to one wife. Olu Maintain does not drink. Naeto C is currently obtaining his Masters’ degree in England. The ironic thing is, we look up to and praise your generation too. You seem to forget that Baba Fela had 27 wives, smoked marijuana in public, was himself half naked at shows (as well as the women around him) and allegedly died of HIV. However we look past what some may consider shortcomings and respect and emulate the immense contributions he made to our history. We are in awe of him despite personal choices that some may or may not agree with. All we are asking for is to be appreciated and afforded similar tolerances.

You danced to Shina Peters. Let us dance to our music. And for the record: for every "Anoti" by MI, he has a "Crowd Mentality" or a "Talk about it". For a Naeto C's "Ki Ni Big Deal", he has a "The Devil is a Liar". Just because an artiste uses a particular song to promote his album for commercial reasons, doesn't mean they should be judged on that alone. Anyone that is familiar with the cost of promoting an album (videos, press, etc) would know that you end up making hard decisions in terms of what you have to push and promote, for your best chance at success. I suggest that you buy whole albums and look at the body of work. Listen to the entire CD’s. I think you'll find that more often than not, Nigerian artistes are doing a pretty good job of representing this great Country of Nigeria. Naija Till We Die. Yes Boss.

Sincerely,
~ Banky W.

The Bank Statements are baaack... random thoughts encore

2009-06-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

Aiight blogworld... it's been almost a month (Yikes!!) since my last mind-venting session, so I figure we are long overdue for more random thoughts. Here goes:

* I've been eating too much Gala/Meaty lately. It's a good roadside snack joh! And the traffic doesn't help. Yesterday, a 20 min drive to the island took me 3 hours!!! Mostly because of the rain. Lagos traffic is INSANE.

* I eat wayyyy too much red meat. Dear God, please help me like fish and seafood, it's for my own good.

* June 12th is a sad but important day in Nigeria's history. Moment of silence for Chief MKO Abiola. I'd like to think Nigeria is a better place now, and that things will continue to improve, by God's grace.

* This has been a horrible year sports-wise for me. Just. Absolutely. Brutal. Arsenal didn't make it, again. My Beloved Yankees are being assaulted, molested, and insert-any-other-torture-relate-ed-word-here by the Red Sox. We haven't won ONE game against Boston all SEASON. God please, if there's any justice in the world, please make it stop! Stop the bleeding. What else... the Giants didn't repeat as Superbowl Champs. The only silver lining right now is the recent play of the Super Eagles of Nigeria (yay! whose going to the world cup with me next year?) annnnd Kobe Bryant & the Lakers being one win away from the championship rings. I'm sorry Kobe-haters, I'm a fan, and I know what it's like to fight to try and succeed inspite of hate and turmoil... so I wanna see him win this one. I actually wanted a Lebron vs Kobe final, but I'll still be happy if/when the Lakers win. Hopefully I didn't just jinx it.

* I change my nickname on my Blackberry at least once a week. I dunno why, it's just fun. And most people on my contact list find it entertaining... So far some of my nicknames have been Banky W, Barack O'Banky, Central "Banks" of Nigeria, The Duke of Wellington, Banktastic W, and as of this morning... Ban Ky-Moon W. This last nickname has a lot of people confused... and that just goes to show how much attention you people are paying to the world!! The frikkin Secretary General of the United Nations is Ban Ki-Moon. Google it. :o)
Anyway, I'm hereby soliciting more suggestions for nicknames so that I can keep this trend going. Thanx to everyone that has contributed so far.

* Thanx to everyone that came out last weekend to rock with us at Caliente. It was NUTS!! As in, absolutely BANANAS!! And any other food-word I can think of to show how crazy it was. Shout outs to Kel, Lami, Jesse Jagz, Sauce KiD, eLDee, Oladele, MI and everyone else that came thru and repped. Ain't no party like an EME party abi no be so? Anyway this week the promo parties continue @ Bacchus, Saturday the 13th. We gonn do them Strong Ting and have another crazy Lagos Party. Come through!!! 10pm. I think.

* Music I like and think u should look up right now: Femi Jacobs "Free to Fly", almost every song on the Wande Coal CD, Lamii feat MI - Know. And i'm still bumping MI's "Illegal Music" hard. And of course, Strong Ting & Lagos Party. Word on the streets is there's a Lagos Party Remix in the works with a couple of heavy artistes... I'll give you a clue, one of them is a rapper who's "P" u know very well :o)

* The recent X-men/wolverine movie was probably my favorite movie thus far, this year. Go see it if you haven't. It's goooooood.

* The gym chronicles continue. Eldee, MI, Lami and myself have been working hard @ Eko Gym in VI. The goal is the ultimate "singlet" show before the end of this year. Wish us luck. Although I can categorically say I'm the most hard working of the bunch, no matter what they might tell u.

* I'm looking forward to the new Jay Z album. I've bought every album he has ever put out.
- Sidebar: there are a handful of people that can almost never do any wrong in my eyes. Jay is one of 'em. Lauryn Hill is too. Like if they cough on a beat for four mins, I will probably turn around, look you straight in the eyes and say it was genius.

* A dear friend of mine recently gave birth to a bouncing baby girl. And a shockingly high number of my close buddies have all recently gotten engaged or married. All of a sudden everyone around me's getting hitched and popping kids. It's a beautiful thing. Must be sumthin in the air/water. Na turn by turn I'll get there someday. In the meantime congratulations guys I love you! :o)

* There are plans to shoot a MAJOR video-of-the-year-type of video for Strong Ting in South Africa. After which we will follow up with another MAJOOOOR video for Lagos Party. And then comes ur soon-to-be favorite album "The W experience", hopefully. And after the W experience, I might just retire, who knows. Wish me luck, pray for us, and pls continue to support. We appreciate y'all.

Don't forget tomm night @ Bacchus the Lagos Party continues... throw our hands up, drinks in our cups, Lagos stand up.. u know the rest...

~ B.W.

Backstage at the Hip Hop World Awards... thoughts and questions...

2009-05-19T03:19:00.000-07:00

So, M.I. and I were supposed to have our first session @ the best gym in Lagos today, except it's raining, so I'm at home, bloggin instead :o)~
Since we just had a huge weekend in Abuja, I figure I'll blog on the Hip Hop World Awards and present you with my thoughts and random questions. If you would rather wait until it airs on TV, please skip this post in it's entirety.

* The awards should have been held in Lagos. Don't get me wrong, the venue was sick! The decor in the foyer is the best I've ever seen in Nigeria. And the hall was lovely. But the energy was missing in the crowd. And that's because if we'd had it in Lagos, it would have been packed full, with people who were actually happy to be there to see their favorite artistes. I love abj people don't get me wrong, but everyone in abj feels like they are vip and that they should be treated as such. And for an award show you need that CROWD factor. People that will go crazy, scream, cheer, boo...whatever... just actually REACT to what's going on.

* And if it HAD to be in Abj, shouldn't we have given out like 500-1,000 tickets on radio to ensure the hall was packed with that "CROWD" factor?

* It wasn't hip hop world's fault that it started sooooo late. There was some material that was supposed to run for the sponsors that wouldn't work, and they tried to fix that last minute b4 we could start the show. Trust me if you paid millions for the opportunity to run some ads, you wouldn't have let the show start either.

* Can anyone really argue with 9ice winning four awards? I mean, I know album of the year could easily have gone to D'banj, easily... however with the kind of year 9ice had coming out of nowhere and rising straight to the top of the music industry, didn't he deserve to have a Lauryn Hill/Alicia Keys-at-the-grammy's-type of moment where he picks up all the awards?

* Congrats and props to M.I. I truly thought he would win more than two, but two is major.

* I won one. I was honestly very mentally prepared to not win any at all. And the one I did win could have gone to Wande Coal or Darey or anyone else easily... I think that says something about the state of Naija music, R&B in particular. We're doing it.
- Sidebar... the problem with actually being surprised by winning is ur never fully prepared to give an acceptance speech. As such, you always forget someone :o( I'm sorryyyyy

* I think Omawumi stole the night. Her "thank you" after winning the "Next Rated" category was one of the most moving and memorable moments I have ever been a part of... she got down on her knees and belted out a worship song to God. Wow.

* Aren't Omawumi and Waje on some Beyonce type level with their vocals??? I mean DAYUM those girls can saaaaannnnnnnggggggggg.

* Naeto C definitely deserved Rap Single of the Year. They got that one very right.

* Tuface's entrance with the chains/bondage thing was MAJOR.

* Wasn't the Trybesmen reunion real sick?? Should these guys do a reunion record?

* I'm still salty that Big Boy didn't score a nomination. But didn't Jay martins & Co reeeeally deserve the award for Best Collabo? That "Good or Bad" song was HUUUUUGE.

* I really enjoyed the hosting job. Although what sucks is you actually miss most of the show because you're spending the entire time figuring out what you need to do next.

* Didn't Nikki Laoye totally surprise everyone by totally RIPPING her set??

* Isn't Darey a class act?? And doesn't his band ROCK? I want my own joh I'm jealous.

* Basketmouth is in a class all by himself. Julius Agwu is too. Infact, major props to Naija comedians. I mean, really. You had to have been there.

* Some presenters just shouldn't be given scripts. And some people shouldn't even be presenting.

* Truth be told, doesn't Hip Hop World get an A for effort, at least? I mean, compared to some other awards show that was held late last year, whose name we shall not mention... didn't they really try to do a good job in accommodating and transporting as many people as possible, with probably half the budget of that other show?? I'm just saying. If I recall, that other show didn't give a rats ass about our industry. Just a handful of people. Can we call a spade a spade or is that ruffling too many feathers...

* Wouldn't you deem this 2009 a show a success? I thought it was great. But I could be biased as the host. I'll let you tell it.

Just random thoughts and questions from the Hip Hop world awards... Speak on it.

~ B.W.

Auditioning female dancers for Banky W's "Strong Ting" tomorrow May 11th @ 3pm

2009-05-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

Auditioning female dancers for Banky W's "Strong Ting" tomorrow Monday May 11th @ 3pm in Ikeja. No African time. Must be pretty, flexible, have good skin and a great body, and able to dance in heels. U must also be available to travel for shows and video shoots. Please call 08055805211 to rsvp.

Breaking News!!!!

2009-04-29T05:32:00.000-07:00

Breaking News!!!

If you were lucky enough to have been in Lagos and tuned your radio in
to 93.7 fm yesterday afternoon, you would have caught the radio
premiere of the first two singles from Banky's "The W Experience"
album. It's official "Strong Ting" and "Lagos Party" have made their
debut and everyone's loving it.

The reviews thus far have been off the charts. Trust us the songs will
be coming to a radio station or ipod near you real soon, however if
you can't wait, you can hear both songs online now @
http://www.notjustok.com/2009/04/26/banky-w-lagos-party-strong-ting-official-leak/

Or go to underdarock.com, or TruSpot.com and search for Banky W's
profile to listen in. I can tell u that we here at EME are feeling
really excited about the feedback thus far... 'Gun says we're right
where we need to be. Hopefully y'all will feel like it was worth the
wait.

Plans for the videos are in full swing and Banky W will be shooting
"Strong Ting" any day now, no worries we'll keep the fans family in
the loop on everything going down.

For now please check out the new material online and give us some
feedback and support! Also please take 5 mins of ur day to vote for
Banky W on the following links:

Nigerian Entertainment Awards -
http://www.nigeriaentawards.com/#awp::nominees/ - Scroll down to where
it says Vote Now! at the bottom of the page and vote for "Banky W" as
the Best International Artiste

Hip Hop World Awards -
http://www.hiphopworldawards.com/nominees.aspx?action=vote
Enter ur email address and vote for Banky W in "Best RnB/Pop Album",
"Best Vocal Performance (Male)" and "Hip Hop World Revelation"
categories.

That's all for now folks!!
~ E.M.Eazzyyy Representers.

April Fools Quickie

2009-03-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

* Welcome to April. For the record it's 524am on April 1st... I couldn't sleep much tonight (again), so I figure why not spit out another random thoughts episode... since it's late and I'm not feeling too creative, we'll make this a quickie.

* It was my birthday on the 27th of march. I didn't plan to celebrate it per se... but it ended up being a lot of fun. Was originally supposed to be just dinner wit family and cousins but one thing led to another and before u knew it we had Club No. 10 rocking. Thanx to everyone that made the day special I appreciate u.

* Here's a quick run down of birthday presents I got: 4 cakes, one VERRRRY fly shirt with swaroski (spell?) crystals on it, 2 traditional outfits, 3 bottles of hennessey, 1 bottle of vodka, 2 cards, and a million facebook msgs/calls/texts.. I feel special.

* U know u might have a problem when more than one person gives u a bottle of alcohol as a birthday present without thinking twice :o)

* It's April fools day. Please refrain from making any startling announcements or facebook status changes until tomorrow. These include but are not limited to getting engaged, breaking up, getting married, pregnancy, death, random traveling, retirement, relocation and winning the lottery.
- Furthermore, a good April fools prank should be set up in advance. U gotta build up to it. Can't just call on the day and shout that ur pregnant/engaged/dying. U will get noooo sympathy from me. At least not until April 2nd.

* In no particular order, shout outs to Caliente, Swe Bar, and Club 10. Ain't no party like a Lagos Party.

* Since moving back to Nigeria last year, I've met quite a few celebrities/famous personalities. Usually this doesn't faze me. But two people that had me star struck were Richard Mofe Damijo and Jay Jay Okocha. I grew up watching them on tv... RMD was like our Denzel... and Jay Jay was our Maradonna (he's still got it too, watch last year's MTV Base Awards). So meeting them was HUGE for me, and I don't care if u think it's corny.

* Still haven't fallen asleep partly due to stress and partly due to not feeling well. I have this gaaaangster cough syrup that knocks u the f*** out, except I didn't take it last night when I should have and now it's already past 6am. If I take it now I probably won't be up before 1pm, which would mess up my schedule but if i don't take it i may not sleep at all which would make an unproductive day anyway, right? Soooo therefore, here's a toast to all you beautiful people out there as I sip on my sizzurp and pass out.

On that note...Goodnight world... Goodmorning Naija...

~ B.W.

Shameless Friday Night Thots, Confessions, and Rants

2009-03-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

* I'm up for 3 and a half Hip Hop World Awards. Best RnB/Pop Album, Best Vocal Performance, and Hip Hop World Revelation of the year. The half is for the song I did for Mode 9 "Talking to You". It's really his song and nomination not mine; it's up for Best Rap Single, but I'm greedy because I coproduced it and did the hook etc, soooo bite me. Thanx to God, family, friends and fans for the wonderful year I had.

* "Pure Water" is an oxymoron on the streets of Lagos. Only Nigerians will feel me on this. Heheh.

* My first shameless confession: My guilty pleasure is Gala. There, I said it. I like Gala. Well not Gala, but Meaty. I don't care if you think it's razz, it's the best Roadside snack EVER. It's 50 Naira, which is like... 25 cents, and it's poppin. I like Gala and I don't care what u think of me :o)~

* My other shameless confession for the evening is my love for TFC. I'm sorry but their Charcolite chicken is seeeerious.

* Everyone of my friends should own a BlackBerry. The BB chat thing is just heaven sent. It's like.. instant messaging on your phone for FREE. U don't get charged like texts or phone calls, and it's free all over the world. I think if the networks knew how much money they were losing in texting fees, they'd ban BlackBerry's period. Infact, if any phone companies are reading this, pls forget everything I just said.

* Oh, and if your blackberry isn't "bold", it's afraid. Stop slacking. :oP~

* I need a Pool Table at home. I hadn't played in years, and then a month or two ago I played in PSquare's crib, and got my ass handed to me a couple times. Not kool. I need a pool table.

* One more shameful confession for the road: I don't know how to play poker. This is unacceptable.

* One more thing on the awards: I'm hosting this year's Awards, alongside Kemi Adetiba, and it's in Abuja on May 16th and it's going to be a greeeat show. For the record, I have no inside scoop on who's winning what. Infact I found out about the nominations like everyone else. They're doing a good job keeping me out of the loop so that way in case I'm not supposed to win, I won't Kanye-West the show. Heheheh.

* Things that SHOULD be against the law: Body Odor and Bad Breath. If only I was President.

* Songs that sound EXCELLENTTTT in a club when you're tipsy as hell but not anywhere else: "Arab Money", "Pop Champagne", and probably anything else from Ron Browz production catalogue.

* A lovely young lady helped organize my room this week.... as in I don't think my stuff has ever been this well put together in the last 2 or 3 years. My room was starting to look like a war zone. Anyway so now it's GREAT, except it's so good that I'm lost; I don't know where things are... that's bad when you are soooo used to chaos that neatness messes u up.

* MI's my favorite rapper at the moment. He's probably yours' too. He's in London this weekend, so if ur out there, u should go see him live.

* Eldee's my favorite artiste/producer, and I'm probably biased becuz he's my brother from another mother, but whatever. Anyway eL and Oladele are in Canada this weekend, so if ur out there look 'em up and go rock out.

Weekend Rant:
It's a friday night and I'm indoors. Crazy, right? Well technically not reeeeally, cuz I've spent the last month or two mostly indoors working on the new record. I'm 70% done, and I'm feeling real good about where I'm at with it. The first single is a song called "strong thing" (the other working title was "push my button"); it was produced by the legendary Cobhams Asuquo and should hit airwaves before the end of this month. I'm hoping we get to release the audio and the video at the same time; it'll be bananas truuuust me!

Anyway, I'm indoors for a combination of reasons. First of all I've been kinda sick since last weekend. Nothing crazy... just the case of the flu/cold/coughing up my lungs/etc. Anyway so I'm headed to Kaduna (Northern Nigeria) for a show with Etisalat on Sat Night (14th), and I didn't want to risk getting worse and not being able to deliver a good performance, so I finally gave into some wise advice and went to see a Doctor the other day.

People that know me well know I hate going to the hospital. In fact, I hate the whole process... getting sick, going to the Doctor, the smell of Hospitals, pills, syrups that taste like ass (no, i don't know what ass tastes like), the sight of blood, injections (needles make me queasy)... etc. But I did go, because I care about my fans, and my money. And they're paying me to perform for fans so I gotta be as close to 100% as possible.

So I did go, and the Doc was kool, except I went in with a cough/flu and came out with enuff medication to cure cancer!! Seeeriously, I'm on like 6 different pills, cough syrup that tastes like u-know-what, and I hate it. I think that Naija Hospitals give so much medicine because they don't know what's really wrong with you, so they just give you maaad pills to be on the safe side; they figure u throw enuff sh*t against the wall and something will cure ya right?? Heh. I kid, although the healthcare system in Nigeria needs quite a lot of improvement - we'll get there.

That's all folks. Performing at Etisalat's show in Kaduna Sat night, AY's comedy show on Sun Night in Lagos @ Oceanview, and then it's back to the Studio.

~ B.W. aka Alhaji Capable (u'd have to see my fb profile pic to understand that)

Random Thoughts... and Updates...

2009-02-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

* I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like I'm going to Brazil this month, and you're not. Feel free to officially be jealous of me :o)~

* Shout out to Noble Igwe. To put it lightly, Mr Igwe is unlike anyone I have ever met in my life. And if you don't know him, feel free to officially be jealous of me, again.

* Due to a recent rediscovery I made in a moment of pure genius and creativity, I have expanded my weekly menu to include Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches. Shout out to whoever came up with that combo. The rest of the menu still includes rice, beef/chicken stew, indomie, plantains, pounded yam, egusi soup and garri & groundnuts. U would think I'm complaining but I'm really not... I eat what I like, everyday, without fail. Who gives a hoot about a balanced diet I mean really.

* That being said, we need better restaurants in Nigeria. One visit to Jo'burg will convince you of this. The food there is orgasmic.

* I think I like food too much.

* I miss NYC. 'Nuff Said.

* For artistes in Naija, you almost live for the Christmas period... cuz it's your busiest time, and that's when you get to make more money. Being an R&B singer, Val's weekend is like the 2nd coming of Christmas... with that being said, I'll be at UNILAG on Friday for 2 events... (Genevieve Mag's forum and Etisalat's event), and on Saturday Night I'll be @ Club No. 10 alongside Eldee, Oladele and Jay Martins. If you're looking for what to do, come through to any or all of these venues, I promise to deliver a great show - u knowwww how I do.

* Thoughts on Slumdog Millionaire - best movie I have seen in the last 12 months, maybe longer. I originally didn't want to watch it because it felt like the hype around it was a little out of control, and those types of situations usually disappoint... but this did not, at all. If you haven't seen it, you're seriously slacking, and on a looooong thing.

* Eldee's song "Big Boy" feat Olu Maintain, Oladele and myself is my favorite Collabo, ever. I can listen to it a million times over. Oladele's verse is my personal favorite, although we all came correct. Watch out for that guy. Oh, and Get eL's album.

* My Favorite rap albums of 2008 - M.I. and Naeto C. And that's including Rap music from any part of the world.

* On the music tip, I've been laying low from the public life, burying my head in the studio and putting together my new record. And I'm excited. You should be too. I should be done with it by the end of the month, and I think I know what my first single is going to be. And it's bananas.... BANANAS... as in, freshly-peeled-just-ripe-enough Bananas. Watch this space.

* Nepa/PHCN *still* sucks. As I sit here I'm in Cobhams studio where we had an overnight session, but we've been running on inverters for God-knows-how-long, because there's no power. This is worse than when I was a kid, 20 sumthin-odd years ago. I mean, I met an artiste from Ghana, and she told me they have unlimited power supply there. How is it that Ghana, South Africa, etc have unlimited power but we can't figure the sh*t out??? PHCN is a poor excuse for a public service. It's ridiculous. Riiiiiidiculous.

* On the other hand, Fashola is cleaning up Lagos like u would not believe. It's insane. At this point it's safe to say he could have 5 more terms if only the law allowed it. Funny how when someone in office actually does their job out here, it's like... mind blowing... because we're so used to being sh*t on. Anyway, thank you to Governor Fashola for the excellent work he's doing. May God bless and reward you Sir.

That's all for now folks. I promise to do a better job of posting more...
Much Luv,
~ B.W.

If U missed it, I warrrrned U... :o)~

2008-12-21T00:59:00.000-08:00

Word on the street is last night was probably one of Banky W's top 3 performances... maybe the best, ever. Not to mention incredible performances by Timi, GT the Guitarman, Tosin Martins, Etcetera, Jay Martins, Yinka Davies, MI, Oladele and Eldee the Don.... while DJ Humility and DJ Zimo ripped it on the 1's and 2's

If u missed it, I warrrrned u :o)~

Just wanted to say a BIG thank u to everyone that came out and made last night special. It's almost 10am and I'm still overcome with gratitude...

Special shouts out to the EME family, X3M music, and Storm Records.

In no particular order (pls forgive me if i leave out ur name but I'm still hungover), thank you to Segun and Tunde Demuren (the Demuren brothers - don't blame me blame ur manager) Lamii Opere, Steve Babaeko, Noble Igwe, Obi Asika & Tola Odunsi, Tosyn Bucknor & the entire Unruly Family, Lanre Lawal, Bolaji Salami, Nelson Ononiwu, Ajibola, Dotun & the entire Swe Bar Family, Louise & Oona Priddy & the new and improved Bacchus family, Ruby Dabbour & the Caliente family, Mayowa from Bacchus, Gbenga, Ahmed & the Penthouse/Suite 18 Family, Protea Hotels, Asa Asika, DJ Humility, Bizzle, Chocolate City Records, Don Family Records, Trybe Records, Cecil Hammond, Salt of The Earth Band, Bobby Taylor, Cloth Sense (for making me look so damn fly), Etisalat, Cadbury, Amplifyd Records, NEA, Underdarock, Seun O, Yetunde Babaeko & Camara Studios, Babs Familuyi. The whole Silverbird - Rhythm family, The whole Cool fm family, Hip on TV, Nigezie, Sound city, Super Screen, Monster Music, Genevieve, and every media personality that found the precious time to spend with us.

Thank you to all my past, present and future Kele's for inspiring a lot of what I write, and for showing up to show love and support me. Thank you to all my aburo's and egbon's from Ebute Metta and beyond.

I'm forever grateful. This will hopefully be the first of huge things to come.

From all of us to you, have a merry christmas, a happy, blessed, successful new year, and we wish for u everything you wish for yourself and so much more.

God bless,
~ B.W.

PS: I mayyyy have forgotten to write about the show on my blog here on blogspot... sooo I'm sorry, don't hold it against me. I try to keep up with everything walahi talahi. I'm Mr capable but I'm still human :o)~
Love y'all, shout out to the bloggers I met last night. Much love. Catch y'all next time.

Halloween in Lagos...

2008-10-29T01:23:00.000-07:00

I used to live in New York City - shout out to all my new yorkers, much luv - anywho, I lived in a very "suburban" part of the Bronx. Sounds like an oxymoron, i know, u don't think of Suburbs when u think Bronx, but it's true. Look up "throgsneck" whenever u get a sec. Well in my neighborhood, halloween was big with the kids. They'd all dress up in their lil' costumes and come trick-or-treating...

Which was all well and good, cuz I'm a sucker for kids; like they'd all have me wrapped around their lil' fingers. So I'd go out and blow a ton of cash on wayyy too much candy, in preparation for when they'd stop by. The only problem is I'd blow through my candy supplies during the first hour because I'd just be pouring it into their containers, instead of managing it well. So the kids that show up during that first hour would looooove me. True story one kid actually said "WOW I love you mister!!!!". But then I'd run out of candy cuz I'd give away too much too fast, then I'd shut off all the lights in my apartment and hide from the rest of the kids in the neighborhood that came later :o)~

That's my halloween story. I know the christian arguments about the spirituality of halloween; momsie raised us to believe it's a demonic/devilish thing and not to get involved, but all i'm saying is it's VERY hard to turn down the little ones that come for candy.

Which raises another question in my mind; mostly for those of u in the states or europe, will u dress ur kids up for the halloween thing? Is it okay to use "non-evil" costumes? As in if ur child goes as superman, that's harmless right? Or no? I'm not sure if I'll let my kids dress up for it yet or not. I guess I'll cross that bridge when the time comes.

ANYWHO - now that I'm based in Lagos Naija, I was chatting with one or two friends last week, about possible costumes for the theme parties around town.

I'm sure world wide there'll be enough Sarah Palin and Obama costumes, and I'm sure u'll have ur typical suggestive outfits like the sexy secretary, french maid, nurse, etc (which I will *never* argue with)...
U could also go as Sikirat the market woman - tie a wrapper around ur body, wear some slippers, and a head tie, carry a bucket of water on ur head and tie a babydoll to ur back.

Me personally, I don't do costumes. I know, party-pooper. Never have, probably never will. BUT if I did rock a costume in Lagos, I'd go as a LASTMA* official. Rock the complete uniform, carry a torch light and stand outside the club. Soon as u pull up I'd say "oga park well, park well".... heheheh. I know my Lagos heads feel me on that...

How about y'all? Did you/are you dressing up? And what did/would you go as?

Have a great week folks

~ B.W.

Performing tomorrow for a noteworthy cause... COME THRUUU

2008-10-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hey folks...

Quick update. I'm sorry we haven't been doing the best job of keeping y'all updated on where Banky is performing, and I promise we'll do better. This is last minute, but Banky W, Rooftop MC's, and Owen Gee will all be on stage tomorrow night, Saturday the 25th for a VERY noteworthy cause. The event holds at Planet One in Ikeja Lagos, and will go from 3pm - 9pm. It'll be a great way to kick off your evening...

If you're in Lagos, roll through. All the details can be found by clicking here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=39105977525

Thanx for the support. More dates/events/thoughts coming soon!!

~ B.W.

PS: I'm sorry all my Abuja folks, I'll be catering to you very soon, and it'll be very special. For now just bare with me.

More random thoughts...

2008-10-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

* I'm hung over. Head aches suck.

* If I was God, I wouldn't love me so much.

* Thank God I'm not Him.

* I come on facebook chat for kicks. Not to conduct business or to submit/review proposals. We might be going too far with this whole facebook phenomenon.

* I miss my family. I have a new nephew. His name is Oluwatomisin. And he's adorable. And little. It's a beautiful thing to see. Makes me want to have some kids... but I gotta get married first.

* I think I should go to my mom's village and pick a wife. It's safe to say that it'd be hard to find someone to love you for you, after you become a semi-public personality. I figure I might as well accept my fate, go to my mom's village, and pick a wife that doesn't speak much english, is fluent in efik, can cook up a storm and work magic in the bedroom. Here's to me and Ekaete doing the jangorova on the kitchen table.

* I'm hungry. My stomach is screaming for pounded yam, egusi, and goat meat. Except there's no cook, and there's no way I'm getting off of this bed, or out of this house to order food.

* Things i miss about my old apartment in no particular order: 13ft ceilings, super high powered shower, and watching the nfl.

* I'm this close to tinting my car in Lagos, cuz it's getting harder to get around without people noticing. But I've always felt a certain way about things like that... like... you should never put rims on a crappy car, ur sound system shouldn't cost more than the car, etc. Same thing goes for tints, i figure if i'm tinting a car, it should in the very least be a new range rover, or sum'n like that. But I'm more into buying new houses than new cars right now. So maybe I will go ahead and do the tints. It's either that or I drive around with a ski mask on.

* I wanna go to cape town. And Vegas.

Catch me if u can... how to find Banky W.

2008-09-22T02:23:00.000-07:00

If u tryna get a hold of me, here's a quick rundown Banky W upcoming schedule... tune in, or come out...
Will blog later, i promise.

Radio:
Monday Sep 22nd: Unilag FM 1PM with Kamal
Tuesday Sep 22nd: Unilag FM 1PM with Kamal
Wednesday Sep 24th: Rhythm 93.7 FM 8pm with Wild Child
Thursday Sep 25th: Rhythm 93.7 FM 8pm with Wild Child

Appearances/Performances:
Friday Sep 26th: Cadbury's Stimorol Night Party @ Reloaded Night Club... Midnight.

Tuesday Sep 30th: Live performance with P-Square and Busta Rhymes in Asaba, Delta State

Oct 10th: Performing in Abuja, for the first time, details coming soon

Oct 12th: Performing in Lagos again, details coming soon

~ B.W.

Random thoughts (the politics version) and my new commercial

2008-09-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

* If the rest of the world could vote for America's next President, Obama would win in a land slide. It'd be something like 80% or more of the vote would be in his favor. But because it's Americans voting, McCain winning would not surprise me. It just saddens me.

* This Sarah Palin chic is built of teflon. If any of the other candidates had her kind of sh*t bubbling below the radar (the trooper gate investigation, the teenage pregnancy, etc), they'd be out of the game. As in Obama would be finished; I think the same goes for Mccain and Biden. Even Hillary wouldn't withstand it. But Sarah's untouchable. Incredible.

* "President Bush's approval ratings have fallen to around 33 percent from around 80 percent after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Yet, the big message in his party's recent convention went sort of like this: Washington is messed up, so if you're looking for real change, vote for the same party that put you in this mess..." - GREAT quote from an interesting article I read today about the campaign strategies. If u wanna read it, check out http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0917pagesep17,0,4802765.column

* Maybe Obama should have picked Hillary. But after the nasty primaries, I'm sorry but I wouldn't have picked her either.

* And now for some shameless self promotion... Here's the ad for a new commercial campaign I'm involved with. It's for Etisalat (the Telecomms company that's about to roll out their 0809 cellphone service in Nigeria). The song was produced by the legendary and talented Cobhams Asuquo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH8CpwKcwwo

The quest for world domination continues. Hope y'all like it...

~ B.W.

Random thoughts...

2008-08-30T10:33:00.001-07:00

* My parents have been married 30 years. That's a very long time...

* It's tough to be with the same person every day, for the rest of ur life. Sh*t it's tough to be with the same person a couple days in a row without a break... may God help all of us make the right life-partner choice, I know I'm gonn need serious divine intervention.

* Spent the last week and a half with my family, which was great. Turns out momma still loves me (like she has any other choice right?) Nah but, we had some really good long discussions about my life... i won't bother sharing here.

* I'm the least good-looking member of my family. And I'm okay with this. Heheh.

* It's Banky W., as in WELLINGTON. Not West, NOT Williams, or White. WELLINGTON.

* I lost my voice in frustration during the Nigerian Olympic gold soccer match... my throat hasn't been the same since. Still congratulations to the soccer team sha, they tried.

* Reviews on the new video have been very positive. Thanx to the critics too. See, constructive criticism is kool. Senseless hating is just amusing. And it's fuel for motivation.

* Hi Haters! Get comfortable cuz I'll be here for a little while.

* I'm hoping 9ice's album will help me with my Yoruba. I'm studying it very seriously.

* I need to quit eating so much rice. I eat rice in some form, every day. Jollof rice, fried rice, white rice, chinese rice... RICE. Seriously. EVERY day. And i love it. I think I need professional help, this might be an addiction. Plus momma says I need a balanced diet.

* Dark Knight was a good movie. I think I'm gonn focus on being a movie star next. Say hi to the Nigerian Will Smith, ha.

* I wish they never shut down Caliente. We liked that place a lot. Hope Ruby gets another one up and running soon...

* Cities I miss in no particular order: Jo'burg, NYC, Toronto & Montreal, London. Need to go perform again...

* If u don't have the Mr Capable album, shame on u. :o)~

~ B.W.

Don't break what's left of my heart...

2008-08-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

" Imagine you are so in love with this person, and they are your everything, but for whatever reason, they don't believe it, or maybe they just can't handle that much love and so you say to them, "You're the only one for me, why can't you see? I knew it from the start... DON'T BREAK what's left of MY HEART" - As reviewed by Tosyn Bucknor.
Written and performed by Banky W., the video was directed Jonathan "Josh" Clarke of Re:public Media Group and features the stunning Rachel Stuart of Channel O. Enjoy the love story...

The Run Down...

2008-04-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been quiet for a while and it's been hard to reach me... it's just that I'm on such a heavy grind right now, y'all are going to have to bear with me until the album drops in Nigeria (May 2008)...

Banky W got FIVE nominations at this year's Nigerian Entertainment Awards in NYC. Best International Single (either "Till my dying day" or "A ti de" with Ayuba), Best International Album for "Mr Capable", best International music video for "Ebute Metta" and best International producer (as part of the Muzik Men production group)...

First of all, WOW. Thanx for the recognition that's craaaazy.

Secondly, Please log on to: http://www.eSurveysPro.com/Survey.aspx?id=9ab15ff9-c4b5-466f-9a00-7fd12ea49d61

type in ur email address and vote for Banky in all these categories... it'd be nice to win some :o)~

Also, check out my homegirl Jojo Silla's new single "Right Here" - if u ask me this one definitely takes the phrase "make love in this club" very literally... who knew jojo had some freak in her? Listen to the song to understand what i mean: www.myspace.com/josephinesilla

The video for capable will finally make it's debut this week... shout out to DJ Tee.

Stay tuned folks... much love...

~ B.W.

Banky W's Top 10 reasons I may have just shaved my head :o)~

2008-04-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

10) Wesley Snipes fan base has been ignored since his disappearance. I felt the need to personally tend to his fans.

9) Samuel L. Jackson is a bad mutha f****. I'm not him, but still...

8) I felt the ridiculous need to test India Arie's "I am not my hair" theory

7) Raul, my original legendary barber, moved back to the Dominican Republic, and I absolutely refuse to downgrade to any other barber for a fade.

6) After a spiritual crisis, I decided to become a monk. I changed my mind halfway through, but the damage had already been done.

5) I am a huge Ikechukwu fan

4) Lagos is hot as hell, this was a desperate attempt to cool down a little

3) No hair means no hair cuts, which means more time and attention can be spent on the goatee shape up, the real star of the show

2) Won a very twisted bet with the other E.M.E. board members (you should have seen what would have happened if I'd lost)

1) Michael Jordan did it and look how he turned out

Let the games begin :o)~

~ B.W.

PS: Hair, or no hair, buy my album on www.cdbaby.com/bankyw2 or on iTunes. It’s really good I promise :o)~

PPS: I'm performing this Saturday night in Brooklyn NY @ Club Genesis. Ladies if u come out I might let u rub my head in person ;o)~ If nuthin else u get to laugh at or admire the brand new me.

Cop the new cd "Mr Capable" nowwww puhleeeeeeease

2008-02-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

Finally after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, the album is done and available for pre ordering NOW through Paypal. No worries cuz Paypal is as secure as it gets in terms of ordering anything online (they don't show me ur card information or anything like that)...

Anywho, if you'd like to support me by getting a copy of the album, please click on the picture below. It will take you to the Paypal website where you can preorder the record for 10 bucks, and we will ship it to you next week as soon as they arrive. I'll also be personally AUTOGRAPHING the albums to each buyer myself, so if you want that cd signed u have to preorder it. If you wait, you'll just have to get it off cd baby or iTunes, and there won't be any autographs on those ones, sorry...

So if you want it, or you just want to support me, please click on the link below and you'll have it in a week and a half.

Also, you DO NOT have to be a pay pal subscriber to buy it... just click where it says pay with your credit card (Visa, mastercard, etc) and follow the instructions. Aight folks, I'm counting on y'all to help a brotha break even.

Thanks for listening, and thanx for the support. The video for Ebute Metta will be online this week, next is the long awaited video for Capable. Now buy the cd and help me pay for all this sh*t :o)~

Love y'all
~ B.W.

Random thoughts... again...

2008-02-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

* So some people know I had a pretty intense battle with typhoid that left me in the hospital for a while... much better now thank God. BUT the silver lining is I just discovered the world's best weight loss plan. Typhoid, ladies and gentlemen. I lost 20 lbs!!!! In like 2 weeks. Crazy. Not that I had a lot of weight to lose, but still. Someone should tell Jenny Craig. Just ship the patients to Africa, have 'em eat and drink some random ish, then bring 'em back and hope they don't die first. Works like a charm.

* Thanx to everyone that came to see me in the hospital, or wrote, or called. I appreciate it. And I definitely appreciate all the juice. Apparently people bombard u with all kinds of juice when ur sick. And I LOVE it. Juice, flowers, and candy. I have plenty.

* Giants won. I will keep reminding u New Englanders of this, forever. Seriously. This will never end. At least not until the next superbowl. Ha!

* Anybody wanna sublet my beautiful crib in the Bronx NYC? Just asking.

* I really hope Obama wins the democratic nomination (and the presidential election later). Some people think that America will not vote in a black man. I don't know, maybe they're right. But I think it's bigger than him being black. In my humble opinion he's the most refreshing, inspiring candidate, and well equipped to bring about the change we desperately need. If he was white I'd still support him and his message of hope. Watch this video http://www.yeswecansong.com and see if u don't get moved urself. It almost seems like I'm catching a glimpse of how people felt when Martin Luther King or JFK spoke... i know that's a big statement, but it's how I feel. Hopefully y'all get inspired too.

* I think Lil' Wayne is gonn kill himself at an early age. He's too drugged up. Same thing goes for Amy Winehouse. I just don't see them living long lives... they living too reckless, there's only so much a body can take... it's sad, especially because they are incredibly talented.

* My sprint pocket pc blows. I shoulda just gone with the Treo.

* My sister's all married now. Too cute. I'm very happy for her and him. I think they make a good couple... like they compliment each other with their differences. It's cute. I'm waiting for my own better half. Mrs W where u at holla at me.

* I'm going to post most of the songs from the new album "Mr. Capable" on my blog: http://bankyw.blogspot.com for those of u that want to get a preview b4 u buy it. I'll also post pre-order links today. Hopefully y'all support ur boy and pick it up. It's a really, REALLY good album all around, I promise.

Yes we can...

2008-02-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

"we've been warned against offering people of this nation false hope... but in the unlikely story that is American... there has never been anything false about hope..."

Yes We can. This post is coming like a month too late, cuz if ur not already registered to vote in the primaries chances are it's too late in ur state... but if u are, go out and let ur voice be heard.
It's easier to sit back and not do sh*t. It's easier to sit back and complain.
But u see what's going on in the world around u... u see the economy, u see the fuel prices, u see the job market, u see the wars...

Be the change u want to see in ur world. Don't leave it up to everyone else.
Start by making urself and ur vote count.

Yes We can. 'Obama 2008. I believe.

Songs on Mr. Capable...

2008-01-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

I'm back in Yank, after my almost-2-months-stint in Naija. It was fun, did a bunch of touring and promo, and will post pictures soon... heading back to naija in february after we drop the album. Speaking of which, the album Mr. Capable will be dropping on or before Valentine's Day 2008.... we're sending it off to the duplicators this week, so we'll have the info up in case anyone wants to preorder it...

For now please check out the profile and listen to some of the songs. We just added a reworked "work you out" track featuring none other than Sauce Kid.... u can try to hate if u want but his verse is fire.

More music previews will be up over the next week or two.
Thanx for listening,
~ B.W.

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Mr Capable is comminnnnnnnnnnng......

2007-10-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

So the official title of the next album is "Mr. Capable", and I'm done recording, and almost done mixing and mastering it...

And I know I'm biased cuz it's mine, but trust me it's a collection of some of the most impressive songs I've ever written in my life. Hands down, this is my best work thus far...

Soooo stay tuned, and prepare for an eargasm :o)~

We might drop it around Thanxgiving right before I leave for Africa... or we'll hold off so that we can psynch it with the international release dates as well. Either way, "Mr. Capable" is coming. I can't wait for y'all to hear it.

Thanx for the support folks, I appreciate it very much.

~ B.W. a.k.a. Mr Capable a.k.a. Mr "I'm gonn do this, and I'm gonn do this very well" :o)~

Random ish... life in mi casa... :o)~

2007-09-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

So I moved into a new crib a couple months ago. Love it... 13 foot ceilings, beautiful hard wood floors, all that good stuff. Great Neighborhood, and no parking problems at all - which is priceless in NYC. The *only* problem is one of the neighbors has a car alarm that goes off unprovoked, consistently, without fail, riiiiiight around 2am. Every single night. I think it does that just to show us all that it still has a mind of it's own. And a very loud mind, at that.

The only other problem is this... I love dogs, and not in the Michael Vick kind of way... just period. Like, when I finally buy a mansion with the big back yard, I'm going to either cop me a labrador or a golden retriever (which will most definitely terrorize my sister, but that's another story). In any case, right before I moved in, I was seeing all these stories in the news about pit bulls mauling people and stuff like that... come to find out I move in and this very lovely spanish couple downstairs have a pitbull... and get this... his name is Castro. As in, Fidel Castro. Heheheheh. And Castro is hell bent on getting a piece of me, so I've decided to start studying the "dog whisperer show" to learn how to son Castro.

Lastly, Jay is coming out with a new album that is based off the movie "American Gangster" (starring Denzel Washington). The movie looks reeeeeally good. I bet it'll replace Scarface as the number 1 most imitated/admired/quoted movie in rap rhymes from here on out. I'm excited about the new Jay album. I think it'll be good - he's supposedly taking it back to "Reasonable Doubt" status, which should be refreshing. I'm ain't no drug dealer but what the hell :o)~

BUT I will say this. I heard the first single "Blue Magic", produced by Pharell, and I'm sorry but I don't like it. Anyone who knows me well knows that Jay is probably my favorite artist, ever, period, but I can't sit silent on this. For starters, Pharell needs to quit selling pipe dreams and calling them hot tracks. We still listen to them cuz it's Pharell, but the truth is they're not that good... or good at all... so he needs to fall back and cook something up. Secondly, as a Jay-Z fan, I need for him to PLEASE redeem the album with some sure fire bangers. Please. I can't defend mediocrity.

I'll only say this once becuz I don't wanna lose my status in the Young Hova Club. Jay, please bring the heat back. I mean, I refuse to believe that he's passed his prime. But then I think of the Michael Jordan comparisons, and even Jordan wasn't great forever, right? And that didn't diminish his status as the greatest ever in the game. I just hope this isn't Jay's "Washington Wizards" run, cuz I can't take it.

Oh well, at least we have a classic Kanye album to rock to in Graduation.
~ B.W.

P.S: Contrary to earlier reports, it's looking like I will be in New York City this weekend at the Nigerian Independence Day Parade/Events/Parties/etc. Sorry to my fans and friends in Houston and North Carolina... ur promoters just didn't make it happen.

To rock 'em, or not to rock 'em... stunnaz indoors?? what y'all think??

2007-09-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Question of the day... to rock shades @ a show/party/club/event, or not to rock shades... what do u think? People seem to feel differently about this "wearing sun-glasses-indoors" phenomenom, and I wanna get ur input.

Is it okay to rock shades indoors at a party/event, or are u someone who thinks that it shouldn't happen under any circumstance... as in... u see someone with shades on and u automatically wanna say hey buddy "there's no sun in here"...

I'm curious to know what people think. From an artist's perspective, I learnt really early on that it's almost necessary. Mainly becuz when ur appearing at an event, especially one where u perform at, after sweating it out on stage and having a couple cocktails, u can easily look reeeeally CRAAAZY. And in today's internet age, when everybody takes a picture and tags u on facebook, u can start spoling ur fine-boy-fine-girl-no-pimples status. And that's not kool holmes.

But some people feel like it's such a fronting move, and that it should never happen indoors period. Other people feel like it's okay - cuz it's all about fashion and whatever works for u, or whatever statement u make with ur style. Like my boy Tino, U can probably count the number of times u'll find him without shades, on one hand, and still have a couple fingers left over. Me, personally, I go either way. Sometimes I rock 'em, sometimes I don't. Depends on what my mojo is feeling like.

Sooo what y'all think? Are the rules different for artists/performers? Is it okay in some circumstances? Are some glasses more okay than others? What about the clear shades that are made for fashion, not sunlight? Or do u see someone with shades on and automatically roll ur eyes?
That's the question of the day, folks. Now hit me with answers and thoughts.
~ B.W.

What happens on my tour bus, STAYS on my tour bus...

2007-09-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

* I'm going, going, back, back to T.dot, T.dot. Yessir. Toronto was probably one of my most-fun shows, recently, cuz the people up there are just LIVE, and they get into it. Soooo I'm excited to be headed back there to perform, along side the E.M.E. Crew and my boy El Dee on Friday Oct 5th 2007 @ the Faith Banquet Hall. Will post the flyer soon.

* Wear black tomorrow to support the Jena 6 cause. If you don't know what it's about google it, sign the online petition and maybe even send a letter if you can.

* I'll also be performing in Houston TX on Saturday Sept 29th as well as on Oct 6th. Will post details and flyers on all these events soon.

* Also, for my east coasters, we'll be having the new album release party in New Yawk City in October - soon as we nail down the date and venue, I'll let y'all know.

* Speaking of El Dee, we just completed a remix to "Ur the Only One" with Del, which, permit me to say, is BANANAS. Y'all keep ur ears to the skreets for this one. We just need to mix it and shoot a video for it, and then it's a wrap.

* Furthermore, vote for El Dee's video "Champion" for the Channel O awards. Take a moment, register online @ Channel O's website, and vote http://www.mnet.co.za/ChannelO//shows/?id=98* Kanyeeezy won the first week sales battle against 50 Cent. It's the ROC, b*tches. * I'm kool with all y'all on facebook, right, but please I only wanna say this one time... fellas....refrain from getting too into the whole facebook-action things. Do NOT "poke" me on facebook; don't write in my honesty box, don't chest bump me, none of that. Not kool, holmes. Leave that to the females PLEASE. Thank you.

* I'm hungry. I need a chef in my life. For real. And a masseus.

* I'll be going away for a couple months - I'll ship out end of October and won't be back till January-ish. And no it's not because of immigration, stupid. I'm gonn go do some heavy touring and promoting... the world wide takeover has begun.

~ B.W.

PS: I ain't even got a tour bus yet, I just thought it was a GREAT title. :o)~

What happens on my tour bus, stays on my tour bus

2007-09-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

* I'm going, going, back, back to T.dot, T.dot. Yessir. Toronto was probably one of my most-fun shows, recently, cuz the people up there are just LIVE, and they get into it. Soooo I'm excited to be headed back there to perform, along side the E.M.E. Crew and my boy El Dee on Friday Oct 5th 2007 @ the Faith Banquet Hall. Will post the flyer soon.

* Wear black tomorrow to support the Jena 6 cause. If you don't know what it's about google it, sign the online petition and maybe even send a letter if you can.

* I'll also be performing in Houston TX on Saturday Sept 29th as well as on Oct 6th. Will post details and flyers on all these events soon.

* Also, for my east coasters, we'll be having the new album release party in New Yawk City in October - soon as we nail down the date and venue, I'll let y'all know.

* Speaking of El Dee, we just completed a remix to "Ur the Only One" with Del, which, permit me to say, is BANANAS. Y'all keep ur ears to the skreets for this one. We just need to mix it and shoot a video for it, and then it's a wrap.

* Furthermore, vote for El Dee's video "Champion" for the Channel O awards. Take a moment, register online @ Channel O's website, and vote http://www.mnet.co.za/ChannelO//shows/?id=98

* Kanyeeezy won the first week sales battle against 50 Cent. It's the ROC, b*tches.

* I'm kool with all y'all on facebook, right, but please I only wanna say this one time... fellas....refrain from getting too into the whole facebook-action things. Do NOT "poke" me on facebook; don't write in my honesty box, don't chest bump me, none of that. Not kool, holmes. Leave that to the females PLEASE. Thank you.

* I'm hungry. I need a chef in my life. For real. And a masseus.

* I'll be going away for a couple months - I'll ship out end of October and won't be back till January-ish. And no it's not because of immigration, stupid. I'm gonn go do some heavy touring and promoting... the world wide takeover has begun.

~ B.W.

PS: I ain't even got a tour bus yet, I just thought it was a GREAT title. :o)~

Banky W's VMA Recap Run down....

2007-09-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

* MTV may have ruined Britney's come back b4 it started. She wasn't ready to hit that stage.

* Kanye (and 50) should have performed on the main stage - if I was the show director... I woulda had them share top billing to open or close the show. Kinda like how they are both on the Rolling Stone cover... I mean that performance woulda been monumental, with both of them tryna out do each other, seeing who gets the louder screams.... cut back and forth from one song to another and then end it with them face to face, center stage with a bomb explosion. I mean come on. That SHOULD have been a no brainer. Instead of that party in the hotel suite crap they pulled off.

* Instead, they opened it with Britney, who I just feel really sorry for these days, and closed it with Timbo, Nelly Furtado, and Justin - who by the way didn't do their smash "Give it to me"; instead they did some other songs meshed together that really didn't do much for me in terms of excitement and entertainment.

* Fergie's hot, but not female-of-the-year hot, I mean come on. That's like when "my humps" beat out Gold digger and some other joints for hip hop song of the year. That's a bad joke.

* Say what u want about Chris Brown, but that boy is a monster. He ripped it.

* Shockingly, Timberland did not amaze me with his maestro skills. Yeah I said it. I dunno. When I heard he was scoring the show I was mad excited. I didn't walk away remembering anything though, which was... interesting. He's still the best producer in music right now, period. He (and we) may have been too much on his jock though.

* MTV is collectively on Justin Timberlake's jock.

* Why wasn't Jay-Z present? Or maybe he was and I missed it, cuz i was cutting back and forth to the giants getting their ass kicked by Dallas.

* Dr. Dre was looking like a WWE fighter, on steriods. Sheeeeet that man is HUGE. His tshirt/sweater was damn near begging for mercy. THAT was a shocker.

* All those performances in the suites must have been fun for the people in there, but I miss the banging performances on stage. Like Cee Lo ripping that Prince cover woulda been amazing on stage. The suites made things feel just... less explosive.

* Probably because of the suites thing, Lil' Wayne was forgettable. I hope he delivers on his album.

* I was wondering why Alicia Keys' performance seemed kind of strange, but it makes sense now. During her show, Kid Rock and Tommy Lee got into a scuffle over Pamela Anderson's jugs, and had to be escorted out. And people think it's the rappers that always start sh*t. :o)~

* The BET awards show is starting to look like it kicks MTV's VMA's @$$. I take that back. The BET awards HAS BEEN kicking MTV's @$$. Yeahhhh I said it.

* Cop Kanye's album tomorrow. Cop 50's too, but only after the first week :o)~

* I need to visit Las Vegas a.s.ap. Who's with me?

~ B.W.