R.I.P TATA MADIBA

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

 “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered

“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

 “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.

. “A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”

MEET KIMBERLY ELISE

Kimberly Elise Trammel (born April 17, 1967), professionally known as Kimberly Elise, is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her roles in such films a Set It Off, Beloved, John Q, The Manchurian Candidate, Woman Thou Art Loosed,Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and For Colored Girl

Elise was born as Kimberly Elise Trammel in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Erma Jean (née Johnson), an elementary school teacher, and Marvin Trammel, who owns an executive search firm. She has three siblings. She studied film and acting at theUniversity of Minnesota and earned a BA in Mass Communications. She was married to Maurice Oldham (1989–2005). The couple had two daughters, AjaBleu Oldham (born June 25, 1990) and Butterfly Rose Oldham (born October 19, 1998). Maurice Oldham died from a "massive blood clot" in 2007.

Elise's maternal descent is of the Songhai people.

Elise's first film was Set It Off (1996), in which she played one of four women who resort to robbing a bank for money. Her big break came in 1997 when she was cast in the Family Channel original television movie The Ditchdigger's Daughters, based on the Pulitzer-prize nominated and critically acclaimed 1995 memoir The Ditchdigger's Daughters: A Black Family's Astonishing Success Story, written by Yvonne S. Thornton and Jo Coudert. She received critical acclaim for her role in this film, and in 1997, she was recognized as Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries at the 19th annual CableACE Awards. A relative unknown at the time, she conveyed her anonymity upon receiving the award by saying: "Who is Kimberly Elise?" Her performance helped her land a role the next year in Beloved alongside Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. She is often compared to a youngCicely Tyson, whom she resembles.

Kimberly Elise and daughter

In 2004, she appeared in Woman Thou Art Loosed portraying Michelle, an abused young woman who finally got the help she needed behind bars. This role won her a Black Reel award for Best Actress. She also appeared in John Q, The Manchurian Candidate and Diary of a Mad Black Woman (she won a NAACP Image Award for the latter). From 2005 to 2007, she was part of the main cast of the CBS crime drama Close to Home, playing the Marion County, Indiana (Indianapolis) prosecutor Maureen Scofield. Her character was killed off in the last episode of the series. The series was cancelled on May 2007.

She has since made a guest appearance on the situation comedy Girlfriends, in which she played an HIV-positive woman.

Her most recent film role was in Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls (2010), as the battered wife Crystal. While the film itself received mixed to negative reviews, her performance was praised by many critics. One journalist described her as "the great lost Best Supporting Actress contender of the 2010 season

TIWATOPE SAVAGE BALOGUN

 Tiwa and Tunji "Tee Billz

Tiwatope Savage Balogun Born February 5, 1980, known under the stage name Tiwa Savage, is a Nigerian singer-songwriter,recording artist, and performer. She is currently signed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing  and Mavin Records. She co-wrote the track "Collard Greens & Cornbread" on Fantasia Barrino’s Grammy-nominated album Back to Me. Savage is also signed to Sony Music Entertainment. She released her debut album on July 3, 2013. Savage sings in English and Yoruba.

Tiwa Savage was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Her family relocated to London from Nigeria when she was 11 years old. Whilst attending high school, she was a trombone player for her school's orchestra band. When asked about her childhood, Savage's response was "Growing up was very interesting. There were no barriers, I was just free. I had a very healthy upbringing. My parents ensured that I was grounded and I had lovely brothers." After graduating with a degree in Business administration from the University of Kent, Savage started working at The Royal Bank of Scotland. Savage did backup vocals for George Michael at the age of 16 and lent vocals to other musicians such as Mary J. Blige, Chaka Khan, Blu Cantrell, Emma Bunton, Kelly Clarkson, Andrea Bocelli, and Ms. Dynamite among others.^[4][8] Furthermore, she has performed on stage with Sting, 50 Cent, The Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, Robbie Williams, and Destiny’s Child to name a few.^[4]

Not wanting to be a backup singer, Savage enrolled at Berklee College of Music and graduated with a degree in professional music at the age of 27. While reminiscing about her experiences there, she said "When I came to Berklee and saw a lot of the younger students, their drive and their passion, it recharged my batteries...[They're] not thinking, 'I'm going to save about $10,000 before I move,' no, 'I'm just going to get my backpack and move.' I needed that fresh air, that atmosphere. I kind of felt like a 19-year-old." Speaking on the challenges musicians face during their transition from backup to lead, Savage said "It's a whole different ballgame. Doing backgrounds, you just turn up at the gig and if it gets a bad review, it had nothing to do with you. If you're the artist, you take a lot of stuff personally." Tiwa's business background has helped her fully understand the scope of the Nigerian music industry. Speaking about her business background, she said "It's helping me now with my band, when we get contracts, when we have to pay people, when we have to be professional in dealing with people...Sometimes when people see that you're educated and you know what you're talking about, they don't really want to mess with you, swindle you or something."

In 2006, Savage participated in UK's X-Factor and made it to the final 24 while attending the aforementioned music school.^[8] While participating in UK's X factor, she had difficulty dealing with the limelight. "You have to always realize that people are watching. When I got the bad news that I wasn't getting through [to the final 12] it was a really painful time. But you still have to learn how to hold that until you get home. Because you don't want to just let everything out. People admire you and want to see that you're strong; they don't want to see you breaking down" said Tiwa.

In 2009, Sony/ATV Music Publishing signed Savage to a music deal. The deal solidified her to write for Babyface, Kat Deluna, Fantasia Barrino, Monica and Mýa, among others. She has received songwriting credits for her contribution to Monica's soul-tinged ballad, "Catch Me". Moreover, her collaboration with Fantasia on the song "Collard Greens & Cornbread" earned the American recording artist a grammy nomination in 2010. Savage wrote Jaicko’s "Oh Yeah" featuring Snoop Dogg, Kat Deluna’s "Push Push" featuring Akonand David Guetta, and performed background vocals on Whitney Houston’s album "I Look to You". She was featured on Flavour N'abania's "Oyi Remix". In December of 2011, she co-hosted Season 2 of the Nigerian Idol alongside IllRymz. Moreover, she made her film debut with Joke Silva and Ireti Doyle in the stage adaptation of "For Coloured Girls". Tiwa became the first African female artist to be associated with the Pepsi brand after signing an endorsement deal with them. Savage has been involved in many youth empowerment and breast cancer screening projects across Nigeria. She said "I’ve met with a lot of organizations and already put up something to fight breast cancer. Very soon, screenings will start especially for young girls. I also visit the motherless homes quite often but I don’t put it in the press because I don’t want to expose those kids.".

Tiwa... Traditional wedding dress

2010-2013: Once Upon A Time

Savage networked with Berklee alumni Keith Harris, Derek Pate, Scott Coleman, Radar Ellis, and Darien Dorsey while attending the school. During her interview with Brenda Pike, she said she collaborated with Chuck Harmony, Warren "Oak" Felder, and producer So Sick (Da Grin), among others. Moreover, she said her debut album will include records in her native tongue as well as R&B, Soul, and Pop records. On July 3, 2013, she released her long awaited debut album Once Upon a Time to the Nigerian public. The album was released on iTunes a day before the Nigerian release. During an interview with Vanguard Nigeria, Savage said

“

This album [Once Upon a Time] is straight from my heart and it’s something that I’ve worked so tirelessly for. A lot of people wondered why it took me so long a time to drop my own album. That’s because we had to go through a lot of legal processes to clear some of the samples that we used, and that took us some months. Also, we wanted to work with notable producers outside the shores of the country like Oak who produces Rihanna. So, we had to work around his schedule and waited for them to have our time. But this album is something that I really took my time with because I didn’t want it to be the usual Nigerian album that contains just party tracks from the beginning till the end.

”

When asked why she named her album "Once Upon a Time", Tiwa said "Once you hear 'Once Upon a Time', you know it’s story time. My life has been an amazing story and I wanted to reflect that on my album. Also, I wanted to motivate other upcoming artistes that, once upon a time, I was a little girl living at Isale Eko and I dreamt of doing this, and here I am doing it. So, I want their ‘once upon a time’ to turn into reality. It’s a 19-track album." 

“

This album [Once Upon a Time] is straight from my heart and it’s something that I’ve worked so tirelessly for. A lot of people wondered why it took me so long a time to drop my own album. That’s because we had to go through a lot of legal processes to clear some of the samples that we used, and that took us some months. Also, we wanted to work with notable producers outside the shores of the country like Oak who produces Rihanna. So, we had to work around his schedule and waited for them to have our time. But this album is something that I really took my time with because I didn’t want it to be the usual Nigerian album that contains just party tracks from the beginning till the end.

”

On November 23, 2013, Tiwa and Tunji "Tee Billz" Balogun held their traditional marriage at the Ark in Lekki.

323 Entertainment/Mavin Records

Savage established her own label imprint, 323 Entertainment with her manager Tunji "TJ Billz" Balogun whom she got engaged to on February 5, 2013.^[5] In as much as she likes writing for other artists, she finds writing for herself more rewarding. She said "I have political songs like ‘Middle Passage,’ which is about the struggles of African men in a foreign country". When asked about her experiences with relocating to three different continents, Savage said "Living in all three places—in Africa, in Europe, and now the United States—it's really opened my eyes. I'm really accepting of a lot of cultures. I feel a lot older than I am, because I've seen a lot. A lot of poverty in Nigeria, but people still smiling when they don't even have water...I kept saying to myself that when I made it I was going to invest millions and I just realized I have to do stuff now. People always say, when I make it...If you don't discipline yourself now, you're never going to do it, even if you do get millions." Tiwa helped raise money for an organization that builds schools in her hometown. Savage joined Don Jazzy's Mavin Records in 2012 after the label she co-owns teamed up with the executive producer. She was a featured artist on the record label's first compilation albumentitled "Solar Plexus".

The Nigerian music industry

When Savage stepped onto Nigeria's musical landscape, she didn't know what to expect. Moreover, she received a lot of ridicule and hostility from people who believed she wouldn't make it. She said "a lot of people tried to discourage me from coming home. They told me that people who came before me were not really welcomed home, and that it is even worse for a female singer. They even said there was no way I could be on the same stage with the likes of Tuface, Wizkid and many others. I got discouraged somehow." Savage didn't allow people's negative connotation of her discourage her from doing music. She released her debut single "Kele Kele Love". The song made its way to the top of several Nigerian music charts. Tiwa's sultry tones, pulsating dance moves, and electric stage presence immensely propelled her to the top of the Nigerian music industry.