The latest track to come off Rihanna‘s album Talk That Talk is called Where Have You Been. The video dropped last week and since its release it has been viewed over 20 million times. Understandably so, it’s a great song and the video is tight. Love it!
The new season of Big Brother Africa is here. It’s called Big Brother Stargame and it officially kicked off last night. The show, in its seventh season, went live to the continent from its Johannesburg headquarters. International rapper J.Cole was on stage for a performance, as were some of choreographer Somizi’s dancers. I got to interview Cole yesterday too, nice guy and very friendly. I’ll have more from that interview this week, but for now, here are the housemate profiles for this year’s season:
UPVILLE
BARBZ
Age: 34
Country: South Africa
The following housemates from across Africa entered the Big Brother StarGame House tonight (Sunday, 6 May) in the hope of winning Africa’s biggest reality show. They are:
Babalwa entered Big Brother StarGame because she loves competing in challenges, both physical and intellectual. The model, events manager and hair salon boss from King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape says the fact that she will be pushed to the limit in the house excites her and that she loves winning – “losing ain’t for me!” she says.
Barbzis single and says that she won’t sell her morals short for money – viewers shouldn’t expect any hanky panky from her in the house, but she’s game for anything else! She loves samp & beans with oxtail and her favourite books are “Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich” and “The Secret”. She enjoys most reality TV – she’s a huge Big Brother fan – and also likes watching news channels like CNN and Al Jazeerah.
She says her favourite places in the world outside of her home country are Miami and Lagos – the former for the parties, nice people and great shopping and the latter for the “fun”.
Barbz is inspired by a lot of people, but picks her Mom as the most influential because she moulded her into the person she is today. She says her parents influenced her life most because they made sure she went to good schools and their strict nature kept her out of trouble. The qualities she likes most in other people are respect, openness, friendship and “people with backbone” while she dislikes lies, false accusations, bad-mouthing, laziness and spitefulness. She entered Big Brother StarGame to market her brand and her business, to create awareness around xenophobia and to spread love amongst Africans.
dkb
Age: 26
Country: Ghana
Comedian, TV presenter, event organizer and talent manager DKB hails from Accra. He entered Big Brother StarGame because it’s a platform for people from different cultures and socialization to meet and bring the best out of themselves. Hedescribes himself as sociable, kind, trustworthy, entertaining and adaptable and promises viewers “non-stop entertainment”.
DKB’s role model is Tyler Perry because of the way he’s used his talent to empower black people. He says his Uncle has had the biggest influence on him “because he has taught me how to be a responsible man”.
His favourite part of Ghana is the Cape Coast, while the best thing about Africa is the culture. He’s a huge fan of Ice Cube and Tyler Perry and enjoys the music of Sarkodie, M.I.m Jay-Z, Eminem, HHP, Busta Rhymes, Usher and Freshlyground.
If he wins Big Brother StarGame, DKB would use the grand prize money to improve his life and that of his family. He would also start a business and create a charity investment that would sustain the outreach for a very long time. Hehopes that participating in Big Brother will better his interpersonal relations with people from other parts of Africa and boost his image as a formidable showbiz personality.
The seventh season of the big beast that is Big Brother Africa is just around the corner. It was announced earlier that the new season will be more known as Big Brother Stargame. In addition to the name for this season, international superstar J.Cole is set to officially open the house by performing on the stage at the launch of the show on May 6. Read the full press release for more details:
With auditions on track, season 7 of M-Net’s reality super-series Big Brother Africa is already generating excitement with fans looking forward to the May 6 return to DStv of Africa’s biggest TV show.
With contestants doubling up to enter the series in pairs this year and with a USD 300 000 prize for just one winner, the stage is set for 91 days in which human emotion, attitude and action is put to the test!
Singer Selaelo Selota performed a special story-telling set to a few select Kaya FM listeners in Zambia last week. Jason Von Berg went along and caught up the star. Watch this week’s episode of The Von Vodcast for more.
Thys Dullaart
Local muso and lyricist, Zubz has just released his new album Cochlea- One Last Letta. The 16 track album is climbing the charts, and that’s also partly because of the smash hit, Part Time Lover- Full Time Freek…. heard it? Love it? Well stay tuned, I’m hooking y’all up with the video to the song in the new week.
In the mean time, check out this week’s episode of The Von Vodcast
PEOPS Looking for tickets, check this out:
Sunday Times, ARISE Magazine and the THISDAY Music Festival 2009 starring R. Kelly are giving you and your partner the chance to meet & greet R. Kelly at Sun City Superbowl. The multi Grammy Award winner will be performing at Sun City Superbowl on Saturday June 27 and at the Grand West Arena on Monday June 29 2009.
R Kelly released his debut solo album ’12 Play’ in 1993. In 1996 he released one of his most successful singles ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ which reached No 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No 1 on the UK pop charts.
Prizes include:
Main Prize for a winner and partner valued at R3920:
2 x tickets valued at R405 / Dinner at the Palace – Villa del Palazzo valued at R650 per person / Transfer R500 per person / Robert Kelly exclusive meet and greet / 1 x Hamper valued at R630 which includes a “Light it up Tour” DVD and a Greatest Hits CD valued at R180 and 3 x “Arise” Fashion Magazines valued at R150 each
One of the following Sub Prizes are also up for grabs:
4 x double tickets / 4 x CDs / 4 x DVDs / 4 x Hampers valued at R630 which includes a “Light it up Tour” DVD and a Greatest Hits CD both valued at R180 / 3 x “Arise” Fashion Magazine valued at R150 each.
To enter, go to http://www.thetimes.co.za, click on the competitions page and stand a chance to win big!
The new season of Big Brother Africa is coming back to a television screen near you. This time it’s a lot bigger according to the peops at DSTV and M-Net. Coming this September? Big Brother Africa: The Revolution and this time the prize money has doubled. It now stands at a phenomenal USD 200 000. Castings will take place in 18 cities around the continent, which means they’re looking far and wide for the wildest, the wackiest, the most fun and entertaining housemates who will be at Africa’s viewing pleasure. Speaking of viewing, there is no escaping the cameras. This year there are 40 cameras and 100 microphones. So you will hear and see everything… EVERYTHING.
Here’s what else is different:
- Housemates are now allowed to conspire and form alliances. Strategy is and will be key in this season.
- You will be voting for the housemate you want to keep there as opposed to who you want out. Let’s hope voting will be smoother now… We’d hate for a mishap in the voting as we saw in Idols…
- In addition to seeing housemates from Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, entries are now open to Mozambican nationals as well as those from Ethiopia.
In order to be eligible for the programme you
> Must be over the age of 21
> Be fluent in English
> Have a valid passport and be a citizen of any of the 14 participating countries.
For more information on entries and details on the show go to http://www.mnetafrica.com
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<a href="”>Big Brother Africa III kicks off
Today is Africa Day. It’s one where the people of Africa commemorate the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)- now known as the African Union (AU). So in celebration of Africa Day, there’s a whole host of things happening in South Africa. The annual Africa Day concert took place at the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, Johannesburg: Check out some of the highlights below:
At the official press conference the artists expressed their dissatisfaction with the xenophobic attacks that happened in South Africa a year ago. They urged people to tolerate each other and accept differences:
Now in celebration of Africa Day I’d like to turn your attention to Channel O’s new campaign. It’s called Young, Gifted and Black and it’s forming part of the DSTV’s new campaign. The creatives behind the campaign are from ad agency Ogilvy and they best describe YGB as a movement. So in addition to the music video, which features the likes of Lira, Loyiso, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Da L.E.S, the team have come up with a line of T-shirts, among others things to push the point. Find out more about the campaign below:
Check out the music video:
Channel O, Young Gifted and Black from Nice Work Ross Drakes on Vimeo.
Now speaking of music videos, here is another Africa Day-focused one, in which Namibian artist Gazza has teamed up with SA star Zola on a song called “Hold On”. The song is sponsored by UNICEF and Standard Bank Namibia and it calls on all Africans to unite against the atrocities and conflicts that damages the African image, Check out the video:
Go behind the scenes of the video and find out more about the campaign here:
What does being African mean to you? How will you be celebrating this day? Holla…
Monday night, MTV Base is where you wanna be. The network has announced it’s exciting new show called ‘represent’ which premiers at 20:00 CAT. The show is hosted by my friend, the fabulous Fix. Wondering what it’s about? Well ‘represent’ showcases the similarities that unite us, while celebrating the things that make us different. So you can expect to see what word is on the streets, and according to the official press release you find out “What’s the scoop on the politik of handshakes, aiming the spotlight on the latest dance moves and best of all, the real deal on how ‘macking’ works across the continent.”
The first episode was recorded at the South African Music Awards two weeks ago and you can expect to see the likes of Lira, Da LES, Rhythmic Elements and more… so get your Fix on Monday, MTV Base at 8pm sharp!
Pay channel M-Net will launch its new show “All Access” next month and Mark Bayly is one of the several famous faces involved in the show. Jason Von Berg caught up with him on the Royal Express Train in Zambia last week to find out more about the new show and how presenting a show such as this differs from that of Survivor. Watch this week’s episode of The Von Vodcast
