D'BANJ ON A MISSION

                  MOHITS and others present: OUR TIME

"OUR TIME" is a youth targeted initiative put together by United Nations Youth Ambassador D’banj.

D’banj is a leading artist and entrepreneur in Nigeria.

D’banj has formally announced in a press conference on the 2nd of February, that he will be leading a group of artists in Nigeria, with the support of icons and professionals to engage Nigerian Youths in the ongoing voters registration.

While various organizations have been formed to support this cause, this is the first time in Nigerian Entertainment History, that artists have formed a coalition, to encourage the Youth of Nigeria to register to vote, vote, and have a voice in the future of Nigeria.

At a time of political unrest in the African body polity, Nigerian youths demonstrate true democracy.

OUR TIME ensures the participation of the youths in the ongoing Democratic transformation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It is the findings of OUR TIME that only 8% of eligible youths are registered to vote and it will do the ongoing democratic

transformation harm if there is a low turnout of the youths in the forthcoming elections.

It is the belief of OUR TIME that a strategy is devised to ensure youth participation in the ongoing voters registration and in the forthcoming elections.

OUR TIME demonstrates the vision of progress and change in the Nigerian body polity and positions the leadership as a beacon of hope and a shining light at a time when parts of Africa are in turmoil.

The Intentions of OUR TIME is to utilize a unique platform to create a campaign that will mobilize the youths to participate in the ongoing voters registration exercise via radio jingles, television ads, printmedia, online marketing and concerts in six geographical regions in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Led by D’banj and Mo Hits Records, a 6 state concert is being planned which will feature top international African and Nigerian artists.

Entry to the concert will be strictly by showing your voters

registration card.

The advantages include positioning Nigeria under the present

leadership as a true democratic country, ensuring the massive

participation of youths in the democratic process, initiating change through positive social interaction, worldwide media coverage of the positive changes thereby showcasing a new Nigeria and the power of the youths to decide their leadership.

D’banj, Musical Artist and UN Ambassador for the youths and foremost voice of the youths in the federal republic of Nigeria alongside leading artists (MOHITS CREW, P SQUARE, NAETO C, SASHA P, M.I., DUNCAN MIGHTY, TERRY G, TIMAYA, TIMI DAKOLO etc) embark on a series of free concerts in Six geographical regions of Nigeria in a bid to ensure youth participation in the ongoing voters registration.

Entry into these concerts will require no gate fee, only your VOTERS REGISTRATION CARDS.

It has been proven that the entertainment industry is the fastest growing and most vibrant industry in Nigeria and entertainers have the ability to motivate the youths to perform their civic responsibilities.

D’banj and all supporting artists, hereby formally announce that it is OUR TIME; we must register, participate and vote.

NNEKA IS "HEAR FOR YOU"

NNEKA - THE NEW FACE OF STARCOMMS

STARCOMMS ‘The Listening Network’ endorses NNEKA for their “Hear For You” Campaign.

Nigerian born artist NNEKA is now the new face and brand ambassador of Nigeria’s 4th largest telecommunications operator and leading “triple-play” (mobile, fixed wireless voice, wireless broadband) Starcomms.

In a press conference on the 31st of January, 2011, Starcomms revealed the soulful singer as its first ever brand ambassador.

Starcomms has stated that the brand endorsement is not a re-branding of Starcomms but an affirmation of what Starcomms is really all about.

Starcomms fresh new campaign comes with a new payoff line “Hear for you” emphasizing that Starcomms is truly a listener of its users and clients.

Starcomms described NNEKA as one of the most talented Nigerian singers and also described her as an artist that aptly represents a listening ear which is true to the new Starcomms tag line.

Artist NNEKA who recently won “Young Person of the Year” at this year’s Future Awards is truly an artist on the rise and is the first woman to be chosen solely as an ambassador for a telecoms company in Nigeria.

NNEKA’s music range from deep soulful ballads like her “Confession” tune to modern reinventions of the UK sound to funk-driven Hip Hop.

Even though she sings more than she raps, she claims Hip Hop as her primary musical roots and an important source of her inspiration.

NNEKA’s accomplishments in 2010 ranged from television performances on the David Letterman Show, to Performances at the Lilith Tour, to touring with Nas and Damian Marley to performing all over Europe and Africa. She was also nominated Best Female at the MAMA Awards 2010.

NNEKA and her music have been featured in high profile publications both locally and internationally.

Starcomms chose NNEKA because she represents a new & progressive Nigeria that needs to be heard; a Creative, Innovative and progressive new youthful generation who are the future.

NNEKAs year has kicked off fairly well with her new endorsement and has a lot more down the pipelines for her listeners and fans.

NNEKA wishes to use the Starcomms platform as a vehicle for the better good of Nigeria including her foundation (ROPE) which seeks to tap into creative qualities of disadvantaged children in Nigeria/Niger Delta Region and Starcomms will be supporting NNEKA in this endeavor.

FAB MAGAZINE COMPETITION WITH YEMI BLAQ (STAR REPS)

It's Competition time starting TODAY & will end on "Saturday 26th Feb"  where 2 lucky Winners will get to win N5000 free phone credit (or the equivalent in local currency) on any network.

All you have to do is follow these 2 EASY steps :

1. Invite 10 friends to like the respective fan pages (FAB & Yemi Blaq) in order to qualify for the competition prize and send through the names with the answers to the questions below to: info@starreps.com

The link for Yemi Blaq's fanpage is:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yemi-Blaq-Official-Fan-Page/178345122185918

The link for FAB Magazine fanpage is:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/FAB/174597073617

2. The 3 questions are:

. Name the character Yemi Blaq plays in the Hollywood-Ghanian blockbuster movie "Sinking Sands"?

. Name 3 singers Yemi Blaq considers FAB?

. What is the profession of Yemi's wife aka Mrs Blaq?

DON'T FORGET to send your answers to the email address: info@starreps.com before Saturday 26th Feb !!!

Good Luck!

FASHION POLICE - FUTURE AWARDS GREEN CARPET

WALE IN THE FAB HOUSE!

After so much hustle and preparation for the Future Awards by fashionistas, here are a few of them who caught my attention even though I actually couldn't make it to the awards - trust me, I was saving my energy for this post.

First on my list is Toni Tones' Lanvin inspired look. I had no choice but to fall in love with this piece by Bridget Awosika - the designer who recently launched her SS2011 collection - cinched at the waist for modern definition, and accessories were perfect..... love!

Banky W kind of left me uninspired... I wont die to get this look!

Bayo Oke Lawal was able to pull the ultra skinny jean look from high street on to the red carpet; perfect proportion!

Bridget Awosika who actually won the Designer of the Year Award here looks like she would have preferred to be awarded the Perfect Doll of the Night. Don't worry, Bridget, I understand a lot goes into making other peole beautiful.....love the dress!

Love everything about Bubu's look - very good to know your proportion and dress accordingly.

There is something about black that would never make you go wrong, Dimeji looks like a blank canvas; you can neither talk much about his look nor judge him. Consider black on black when you are out of options.

Eku Edewor sticks to tap shoes... Really? I love the dress, but I just can't get over those shoes.

Love Makida in the blue dress by Uyai.

Love Vonne's cut out sheer dress.

Perfection sometimes gets to a fault. It's time for Omowunmi to be a little less predictable; I actually saw this coming. Love the dress no doubt, but get a little more practical.

Love Pepper's multicoloured mini dress, dressed with a vintage tote to give the total look a polished feel... It's like the past meeting the present.

.I'm a huge fan of jumpsuits so it's hard for me to see any wrong in this; I think this look is cool... No wow factor though!

A round of applause for the queen of the carpet....Yea, it's a gown. It's chiffon. And it's got train. Any reason why she shouldn't be qualified?

Uche Jumbo draws inspiration from trash bags... A dress that adds instant volume to one's body weight, makes one look short and stout with legs barely there... Who wears that? A simple belt to define your waist would have saved you the stress of changing your stylist - if there's one.

SHERIE DOES HER FIRST SHOOT FOR FAB

SHERIE IN THE FAB HOUSE!

I styled my first ever editorial shoot last Monday and I was totally over the moon. Although we ran behind schedule due to certain minor issues,  as soon as we got the ball rolling it was amazing - I felt at home. Like a child in a candy store, I was very much happy. The team was amazing and my FAB family was more than helpful and I have to say I am proud to be Team FAB. I honestly can't wait for the next issue, it's looking amazing already.

I was soo excited about how successful the shoot was, I decided to celebrate by treating myself to good Brazilian food and salute it down with a large glass of margarita. I got to the restaurant which happens to be owned by my mate and he decided to treat me too, so my bill was on the house. I was like "Wow could my day get any better?" but I glady refused though I didn’t want to, - you know how it goes, till he insisted and as a lady I took it in my stride and if he insisted on me not paying, I wouldn’t mind... I'm sure you get my drift. 

After munching on beautifully made rice with grilled steak, Brazilian sausage, chicken all washed down into my system via a beautiful but lethal glass of Margarita, I was feeling over the moon.

On a high, I headed down to Tina, my lovely Thai eyebrow lady to sort my bushy eyebrows out. Thinking nothing could go wrong. This woman brought me right back to planet earth by giving me one hell of a wonky eyebrow... sigh. As in I look like I went to a dodgy surgeon and had botox on one brow and couldn’t afford one for the other brow. All I can say is thank God for make up, but to be completely honest with the amazing day I had nothing could really spoil my joy so I laughed it all in good spirit thinking to my self you cant really have it all, can you?

WALKING DOWN NOSTALGIA LANE

LARA IN THE HOUSE! 

This week, I'm buckling down into work mode. I have too many balls in the air, so I have to be focused. As we are ramping up for the music issue and as I've needed to concentrate, I've been listening to a lot of music. 

Yes I'm one of those people who needs to listen to music to concentrate and zone out the world. Some people might find it strange, especially if you need to study or have a lot of reading to do, but I guess my brain is wired that way. I constantly need a different stimulus to keep my brain active and ticking. It's all about the right kind of music as well.

My slant on music this week is actually going to feature on the gizmos. I remember listening to the radio as a child and dubbing my favourite songs on to cassette tapes. I had a collection of my favourite tapes and kept them with care so the brown sticky tape wouldn't rip. Back in those days, you had to flip the tape to the other side to listen to the rest of the album. If you were a little hasty or hadn't let the cassette finish playing/rewinding, you could end up with that dreaded chewed up tape sound, skipping past your favourite bits. (If the tape even played at all after that!)

I remember my first Walkman. I really felt like the shiznit! Lol. I kinda got in late so by the time I was rocking mine, people had moved on the Discman! Whoa! The invention of CDs! Who remembers their first CD? I think the first disc I owned was Celine Dion. My mum bought it for me with the Discman so I couldn't complain. However I rinsed that disc and played it to bits! "It's all coming back to me now..." Lol. I wish I could claim I was cooler and say my first album was Tupac or Biggie or something classic. Years later though, I finally started buying my own music and my first purchase was the Destiny's Child Album. 

Then came the invention of CD writers and MP3s! One of my guy friends bought the early first generation MP3 players - which used a mini disk! Hahaha! He paid the earth for it and it never quite caught on! I learned a valuable lesson that still holds me till now: Never buy first generation toys; they are always super expensive and the technology gets old very quickly! 

It's funny we've moved from Walkmans to Discmans to mini-disks and finally proper MP3s and iPods. I am not even going to talk about those big 10/12 inch record players. I'm way too young to know about those things beyond seeing them in a museum (Erm, have I said I'm 24? Lol). I kinda feel sorry for the industries that got left behind. Who buys CDs anymore? And what do you play them on these days? Do DJs still use them? Let's not even talk about other MP3 players - iPods have taken over and are now a new genre in themselves!

I feel sorry for all those little record shops. They had such character! I would pore over different artists and records and spend ages discovering new music. Now itunes/bit torrent (shush - don't judge me) gives me super easy access that leaves me with a slightly disconnected aftertaste. Nowadays rather than racing out for new music, I wait for months before doing big downloads of albums for my iPod. Oh well... I save my appreciation and money for concerts. I would pay anything to see some of my favourite artists perform. I am still saddened that I never got to see MJ. I got tickets for day 5 of his O2 arena show. It would have been awesome. 

Apologies - I've sorta rambled on a bit. Please leave a comment and share your 1st album stories. Would be interesting to see if anyone else is cheesier than me. Next week if I'm still on the music tangent, I'll go over some of my favourite concerts/live performances ever. 

Have a FABulous week all! 

Lara. Xx

NICS GOES ON A JUNK FOOD RAMPAGE!

NICOLA IN THE FAB HOUSE!

Phew... What a busy week! FAB finally hits 1000+ WHSmith and other independent UK stores (hooray!), as well as FAB proudly winning Magazine of the Year at the Future Awards in Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday. I think I may have also publicly announced last week that I will be starting my 'New Years Resolutions' of eating healthy, staying in and no alcohol from the 1st of February, right? But did I? Did I really? Did you REALLY read that?

Because something cakey, usually something caramel/chocolate and creamy, a chocolate bar of some kind, along with a pack of crisps, maybe another cake and maybe something else at the end of the day is my vice - and I mean, ennnnnndd of the day, sitting in bed reading a book/magazine/watching a film before bed time... And that's bad, I know, they say you should not eat after 8pm and only sleep in bed... I eat, chill, work - do everything sitting or laying down in or on my bed. Maybe that's why I can do everything BUT sleep in it :/ 

But the point was that though I do work as a fashion model, hence I should actually NEED to steer clear off regular in-take of such bad things, I just CAN'T help it! It's my reward for my work day -  a treat or two, or three or four.. Shall we say:

I went and bought the drinks, Curly Wurly, the crisps and the chocolate cookie cakes, I didn't realise the sponge cakes were in my cupboard till i got back and looked! And they were bought for me... My mum knows what I'm like... I will eat all of the above... Tonight. I also got the red box of Family Circle biscuits - which my nan brought especially for me - just in case too. . 

Now I know, i should not be publicly showing how much of a secret junk food binger I am, but it's because upon taking this picture, I have decided: YES, I will go on that diet. YES, i will eat a bit more heathily. YES, YES, YES. Because as yummy as it is, I should not be making the above a regular. Okay, I'm lying, it's been a nightly occurrence for a while. If I carry on. come Valentines, I'll be indoors alone with only a six pack - of cakes.

The film, if you're wondering is not a rudey one (Suby, I'm talking to you, ha!); it's a comedy called Sex Drive - like a ruder and cruder American Pie. Lovely bit of wind down, funny crude trash before bed. If you haven't seen it and have a random, quirky, bit of a crude mind like I do, watch it. It's too funny. Like actually makes me LOL - not just in my head. Unlike the voices. Ha, jokes! I think... This film is the only bit of sex drive I'm gonna be getting tonight, so I thought: Yeh, lets do it; naughty the night up a bit more. No Suby, it is NOT a blue movie!

So wish me luck! No food, no alcohol, no men too (if you read my last post); have I just totally deprived myself? Watch me end up making myself go mad and end up on a heavy duty cake-man binge come Valentines, ha! Who knows? 

Night all... I'm now off to stuff my face and savour every last bite as if it was my last. Next week i could be showing me apples and peaches off! ;)

Catch up with me next week when we will be one week away from Valentines Day where I may actually have a date. "Oh really?" you ask. Well, yes! Thought I'd save that bit, didn't I?;) I know I'm saying 'No Men' - shall we say - but as I'm going cold turkey, I need an incentive to keep at it and that cake-man binge is sounding FAB... haha.. Catch ya next week!

Yayyyy again to all the TEAM for the past week. You guys are FAB. We ROCK!

And big up Oseyi Ikuenobe, one of our many FABulous USA FAB followers. See I told you! :)