11.03.08 M.I WINS HIP HOP WORLD AWARDS For BEST RAP SINGLE 2008!
M.I won the highly coveted HHWA category Best Rap Single of the year, other nominees included Stylee by Jimmy Jatt Feat Tuface, Modenine and Elajoe, Lagi Mo- Rooftop Mcs, and U know my p- Naeto C ft ikechukwu. We at CC want to thank everyone for the support we have enjoyed and we promise the much-anticipated album will be worth the wait. A welcome home party will be held for M.I in Da Makumba Nite club , Jos ,Plateau on the 11th of April 2008.

20.02.08 CHOCOLATE CITY/LOOPY BAND JAM AT THE BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER'S BASH
On the 20th of February 2008, the Loopy band consisting of Ruby, Lindsy, Eve , Jesse Jags, Ice Prince rought the house down at the reception held by the new British High Commissioner at his residence  in Maitama,Abuja.

The event featured a roll call of distinguished personalities and guest including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aliko Dangote, Hon Nazif, Justice Uwais, Olujinmu SAN, Dora Akinyuli among others. The Chocolate City band jammed to the delight of the excited audience, who only just restrained themselves from breaking into a dance!. At the end of the evening the High Commissioner applauded the band and gave a toast to Chocolate City.

18.02.08 THE NIGERIAN MUSIC LANDSCAPE CHANGES
Hello everyone, a series of key events are taking place in the Nigerian music scene. Events that will no doubt change the landscape of the creative industries in Nigeria, especially the music industry. This industry has witnessed phenomenal leaps and bounds over the past 5 years and is set to move to the next level. Next month, the Hip Hop Awards hold in Lagos on the 10th of March 2008 and in April the Sound City Video Music Awards will be held as well in Lagos, Nigeria.

12.02.08 THE JAM SESSIONS
The Jam Sessions will commence in the second quarter of 08. The jams sessions is going to be the first live only monthly show that will showcase artists from jazz, hip hop, poetry, spoken work e.t.c . The kick off of the program will be at Abuja, then Lagos.

25.01.08 IYMEY UPDATE
Chocolate City CEO invited to speak to Albanians on the creative Economy. The CEO ,Chocolate City Mr. Audu Maikori, has just returned from an International Workshop organized by the British Council And the Ministry of Youth ,Culture and tourism ,Ministry of Economy in Tirana, Albania . The event was supported by Vodafone and Pepsi. Mr Maikori was there to present a paper on the “ A successful Business Model for the Creative Entrepreneur” as well as discuss Intellectual property rights with a team of distinguished professionals and entrepreneurs within and around Europe.

The Creative economy has been defined as “ those activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have the potential for wealth and job creation though the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. The creative economy is the fastest growing sector of the UK economy and in Nigeria has the potential of generating over 30 percent of our revenue if harnessed  properly. In fact if the government can get involved in setting up the necessary policies to guide  the creative industries in Nigeria ,an estimated 2 million people will be taken off the job hunting market within the two years” says Maikori. The activities include music, film and video, publishing, software, antiques, arts and crafts and radio.  

He further stated that Chocolate City in collaboration with the British Council would be hosting an international  project aimed at harnessing the potentials of the creative economy in Nigerian mid 2008 as well as taking Nigeria to " London Calling 2008"

14.02.08 SUNDAY JANUARY 13TH -LOCATION- LAGOS- THE FUTURE AWARDS
M.I returned from Ethiopia and headed straight for the awards ceremony. I also flew in that morning for the event where CC acts M.I and Christine Ben Ameh(Winner Nokia First Chance 2007) were performing. MI's performance was brilliant to say the least and had the audience enraptured with his freshly cut  (unreleased) track “Oooohhh ”

.It s was applause galore for M.I from start to finish! He rounded up with his smash hit "crowd Mentality". Oby Ezekwesili of the World Bank in her keynote address that night, quoted M.I "when i say fly, dream" stressing the need for Nigerian youth to learn to fly, to dream to break new ground, which incidentally is what the awards are about- Nigerian youth who dared to dream and made it happen! 

Yours truly presented two awards- Best use of technology and Best Use of Advocacy, with my co -presenter the pretty Ronke Apampa. In all the event was a flaming success, my men Baba Aminu and Bayo Omisore also did us proud by winning the Journalist of the year and Best Magazine awards respectively. So is there really hope for our great nation? Yes and guess what it lies in you-- the future of Nigeria, so be yourself, be yourself, be yourself!!

06.01.08 WAPI TAKES OVER ABUJA
The British Council ‘s WAPI(words and Pictures) a visual and verbal creativity series of events that runs in east & West Africa as well as the UK. The debut episode Starts on the 12th of January 2008 at the British Council premises,Abuja

06.01.08 CHOCOLATE CITY DOES WAPI,M.I, JESSE JAGS AND THE FUTURE AWARDS
Last week was a pretty hectic yet fulfilling one for us at C.C. M.I was off to Ethiopia for the Bring The Noise tour. Meanwhile in Abuja the inaugural edition of the British Council's WAPI ,(words and pictures) took place on a very high note, on hand was Emem Ema(the WAPI event manager for WAPI Lagos) to help coordinate and support The launch WAPI event, which included dances, acrobatics ,arts exhibitions, poetry, book readings, hip hop, freestyle battles and pure soul music!

The Host for the event was the incredible Jesse Jags and Katung(K bLack). The Minister of Culture and Tourism - Prince Adetokunboh Kayode dropped by and had so much fun he decided to stay for almost and hour, chatting with the youth and interacting with the CC Crew. The freestyle lyrical battle had Jesse Jags and Ice Prince up against the Krock and a few other MC's. The battle was mad fun and got every one in the crowd up on their feet applauding! Other artists at the event included Byron, OB Jazz, Seun, Ekene the Poet,

 The press were fully represented AIT, NTA,DBN,234 Media and it was nice to see so out of towners Ebun Olatoye( True Love) Bibi(Salamander),Lydia(Taruwa). Our friends Victor Anieliefo (ALS), Danny Kure(Blake and Harper), Ifeanyi, OJ, Oj of Cool FM, Gang, Nike Coker,  and a host of others were also in the house. The event ended (reluctantly) at around 6.30 pm. The Graffiti work done outside the British Council premises was another key attraction of the day. In all WAPI had  over a 120 attendants(not bad for a first launch).