JASMINE’S JUICE featuring MARY J BLIGE, GOLDIE and MARK JENKINS!


JASMINE WITH MARY J BLIGE

Wow it’s a month until Christmas and I really need to get it together! I’ve only bought 3 gifts so far and they’re silly stocking fillers for my godson, Nick Cannon and my mum!

Aside from that its been about reflecting on lovely things in life like being happy for my girl Mariah and her hubby Nick on their impending new spring arrival, attending friends wedding vow renewals, girly cook-offs and slumber parties, sleep overs and watching my cousin from Orange County, LA play international tennis at the 02! (The Dotiwala genes- they run globally!). Its any wonder that I’ve managed to get any work done.

The week began with a run of real hip hop shows in London by Redman, Methodman, KRS-1 and Public Enemy and even though you already know I respect the new skool of young music acts immensely, having been reminded of the old skool talent, lyrical skills and articulation I have to say……old skool really does out shine the new skool acts. The level of articulation, subject matter and stage presence can’t be touched. Young uns-You can’t know and respect hip-hop and R&B music now if you don’t know about the past history. Some acts actually don’t know who the Isley Brothers or Mobb Deep are and they think So Solid Crew are old skool LOL.

It was a full American run as the queen of hip-hop soul Mary J Blige then arrived for her UK dates too. I’ve seen her perform from the early days (since that legendary gig where the London crowd booed her offstage) and this time around her personal fitness trainer Mark Jenkins called and asked me if I wanted a work out. Every time Mark’s in town he reaches out and we have an army boot camp-like training session in Hyde Park where I try not to throw up after he’s put me through my paces. You can see he’s in Mary’s life when you watch her onstage. Her body is ripped and when she moves her grace and strength is apparent for all to see. There were so many hits! The 02 Arena was packed from top to bottom, Jay Z and Beyonce were in the house and Mary was belting out hit after hit and running the show like a ragga dance. Verse, chorus, NEXT!. I spend a lot of time in the gym myself and consider myself fitter than most but Mark has me doing sessions that take me right out of my comfort zone and freak out all my comfort senses. He had me doing special awareness exercises with hoops, medicine balls, and an array of equipment I’ve never seen before in my life! Mark explained that when his acts like P Diddy, D’Angelo and Mary are onstage they need to focus on the audience and their music and so special awareness and stamina are paramount which is why we never see Mary looking hesitant or meek as she struts her stuff nightly to packed stadiums. Mark credits Mary for his marriage and kids. He met his wife when he first began working on Mary’s tour over a decade ago after he’s spilt up with his then girl friend. He stood stage side one night and got really sad thinking about her as Mary sang one of her classic love ballads. Apparently Mark was looking woeful when his wife to be walked by asking ‘’what’s wrong?’’. Mark apparently said ‘’I’ve just split up with my girl, all I want to do is get laid, and Mary keeps singing these love songs depressing the hell out of me!’’. Clearly his wife to be scarpered after calling him a pig. 3 weeks later they got together and married in Vegas. Mary kept her eye on the couple and couldn’t be happier for Mark that its lasted long term. For that Mark stated he was forever indebted to his boss-the Queen of hip hop soul.

JASMINE WITH MARK JENKINS AND GOLDIE.

The next day after singing ourselves hoarse at the show alongside Mary’s dulcet tones, I invited Mark to lunch with myself and drum&bass legend Goldie. Goldie was just out of Strictly Come Dancing and back on his daily early morning bikram regime. We hadn’t caught up since he got married last Christmas and so we met at a great Japanese spot where Goldie ordered 2 massive beef lunches, another for me, and Mark had a salad LOL. I have known Goldie for 20 years after he used to date a girl fiend of mine. My earliest memory of him is from a flat in Shepherds Bush where he made us all dinner and burnt the rice! Back then he was an out of control, crazy, wild, creative type. With his roots in graffiti art, break dancing, making music and much much more he used to bounce across from the states and back to the UK and eventually channelled his talents and became known as nineties drum  & bass king Goldie which led to worldwide tours and even a role in a James Bond movie!  These days his energy is more spiritual, he’s a father and husband and juggles TV shows, live music events and his art is exhibited at art galleries. That’s what you call getting back on the straight and narrow and turning your life around positively. Currently he’s working on a BBC TV show with the royal family and his new mate Prince Harry!

So it’s true what they say about life- you’re always connected to everyone else on the globe via the six degrees of separation theory- where everyone is connected to anyone else via 6 steps. So I guess I could state that I am linked to a Royal. Step back and curtsey as I make my grand entrance at Will and Kate’s impending nuptials!!

JASMINE’S JUICE featuring TQ!

JASMINE WITH TQ

My cashmere sweaters from Uni Glo (I only wish they were from Prada), have been attached to my skin since the beginning of October so now that the weather has stepped up the chill factor a few notches its all I can do to stop myself walking out of my crib with a hot water bottle!. Luckily there’s been a lot of work and multitasking keeping me warm on my toes and there have also been some hot events to balance out the ‘all work – no play’ fear factor.
Hip-hop godfather Russell Simmons was in town this week to host a charity event that raised a cool million pounds for his cause. The lovely Michelle Williams attended alongside a lot of very wealthy folk. Just being in the room made me realise that there really is a lot of money available and up for grabs if you know how to pitch correctly for it.
Michelle also invited me to the massive NFL American football game at Wembley stadium on a brisk Sunday afternoon where she was singing the national American anthem to kick off the game. She sang beautifully in that strong, grounded voice she has been blessed with and it was also a once in a lifetime experience for me to attend. At MTV I never got involved much with our NFL programming and when Trevor nelson would get very excited about it I would quite happily let the males in the production team take over producing the shows. The game was immediately fun for me with its huge razzmatazz of fireworks, marching drum bands, trumpets, cheerleaders, floating helium balloons and much flag waving on behalf of the san Francisco 49’s!. However having said that ,once this grand introduction and fanfare was over it was the most boring game ever. The action takes place for a few seconds at a time before stopping in a repetitive stop-start manner. For 3 hours!. My mate and I soon put our access all areas vip passes to good use by taking a wander around the stadium which took us into every nook and cranny you can imagine. The photo room, press room, bobby Moore dinner suite, players tunnel and even….the staff canteen. That was hilarious. Clearly not dressed as staff or looking like staff we strolled through as 100’s of pairs of enquiring eyes followed us. The security guards even assumed incorrectly that my mate was a footballer and gave us a personal escort around the venue! I knew we had pushed it though when we found ourselves pitch side standing right alongside the players bench. We attempted to look like personal trainers and physiotherapists but within minutes an official caught on and politely informed us that we shouldn’t really be so up close. We laughed , apologised and returned to our seats with our £10 fish and chips and enjoyed the rest of the game-all 20 minutes that were remaining.

Next I popped into the D&G store for their joint party with INSTYLE magazine which was attended my lots of fashion peeps, models and Dizzee Rascal and Alexandra Burke amongst others. The next day I returned to the D&G celebrity closet to join VIP stylists to the stars Ruth and Chandni for a posh afternoon tea which we were having at the uber posh Wolesley Hotel. As I arrived ROC Nation sweetie Alexis Jordan was just finishing her fitting for a gorgeous gold mini Alice in wonderland style dolly frock that she was going to rock to switch on the regent street Christmas lights that evening.

Finally I met up with former ‘’Westside’’ hit maker, LA based TQ who happened to be in the UK for a few days to shoot a video for a brand new exciting music deal he’s just signed. I recalled interviewing TQ at the height of his ‘Westside’’ fame about 10 years ago in the main front window set of the then sonymusic building in great Marlborough street. He corrected me and revealed it was way back in 1998! And that on his current uk trip it was trip number 33! His hit had us hearing his voice on the radio 24 hours a day both on urban and mainstream radio and then just as if dynamo the magician had waved his magic hand over him, he disappeared. Totally. So when he approached me to have a catch up I was intrigued. Who wouldn’t be!
TQ explained that his hit had been so big that it kept charting at different times in various countries all across the globe and so he  was travelling constantly to perform it for months and months as its success was a rolling stone. He admitted that he certainly made some money from that song and continues to do so till this day.
TQ revealed ‘’When I first started I was just a song writer for different bands like n sync etc and travelled around the world on business. Sony my publishing company and after so many of my songs were hits for other acts they asked me to record as an artist in my own right. Even though I was content being just a songwriter they made a great offer that I felt I couldn’t refuse. I’ve always been into business. With ‘’Westside’’ I sold 50 000 copies around the world. I was financially secure and selling on my own. Then I signed to a big label and performed in a lot of different territories. When I parted ways with the label I continued making music and since then my fans bought my music directly from me’’.
TQ has been putting out his work silently and contently making a living via his own website- proof that not every act needs a major record label to back them. However with his new album-his 7th ,He has a new type of deal with Bauer Media who run KissFM, 4 Music, Kerrang and many other music brands. He’s the 1st act that Bauer have signed! .His new single is released via bauer on Jan 10th which is why he’s been spending a lot more time here in the UK. Every time he’s in London town he stays in east London-he tells me he likes the eastside as he has friends down that way as well as a property he’s bought for himself as his UK base.
With his new material TQ admits he ‘’ wants to break the genre as people keep labelling me rap and R&B, I listen to music now and I don’t even wanna be connected to R&B music right now’’. With that strong statement I pushed him for an explanation.
TQ expanded ‘’One of my biggest problems is people don’t write their own music and therefore I don’t respect them. If I wanna listen to an artist. I like Anthony Hamilton and artists from the nineties.Most people don’t wanna be put in a bracket. It’s all about breaking the mould’’.
TQ himself hopes to break that mould with his new album “I am legend” which for now is just a working title. TQ revealed that he worked a lot with a uk producer called ‘steel bangles’. He elaborated ‘’A friend picked me up and introduced me to him. I had only come here to shoot video for a couple days. But after we met musically it was a great relationship and so I stayed longer to work with him on my new material’’.
TQ’s first single is a toss at the moment between 2 of his new tracks ” I wish” and “no better love”.He says ‘’No better love’’ is a club joint whilst ‘’I wish’’ is a break from the norm- a positive song about the future and freedom of speech’’.
The new album is full of touching concepts like defiance. He added ‘’there’s a lot of heartache from where I come from. My message is keep on fighting’’.
The video that TQ popped over here to shoot is called “Oh oh” and it’s the 1st of his 3 single dealand features artist Danielle Senior who is the second artist that Bauer have signed. He describes the track as ‘’a duet, a dance record. Pop and club orientated, its a catchy joint. The video is a simple performance video’’. Describing the video concept TQ said ‘’the vibe of the song is that we are in a club with our significant others catching each others eyes-its just a flirty video’’.
As we were speaking a very excited young woman interrupted us and happily requested to take a photo with TQ.i laughed. TQ smiled and stated ‘’Everything I do is cos of the fans. I have the same fans from 10 years ago. I’m trying to make stuff for them. In fact the fans out here suggested I do collaborations with Wiley,  D Double O, Preeya Kalidas, and others so my new stuff is a great UK – USA remix.
With that TQ hopped back onto a plane to return to his homeland where no doubt he had a lot of business to catch up with in his companies which he runs which include a marketing company, a Car company , a Mobile phone company and a company that makes and sells blunt wraps.  Not merely about the cash TQ also has a charity, which he founded in 2000 which aids youth from inner cities to go to college.
A good chat with a man who clearly has a very solid, unfazed by fame, head on his shoulders.

JASMINE’S JUICE featuring EN VOGUE, THE WAILERS TRIBUTE, NATE WALKA.

JASMINE, NATE WALKA AND ALESHA DIXON

November in London town saw a lot of music activity from established superstar music acts, as well as old skool artists with nothing to prove, alongside newbies with absolutely everything to prove.
To kick start things one of the coolest female act of all time- En Vogue- graced the indigo venue at the 02 Arena. I put aside all my old bitter memories of ex boy friends dribbling and gushing over dawn from the band and trying to make myself wear the tiniest little black dress and highest vertiginous heels to try and emulate the girls back in the 90”s and stepped into the arena full of excitement for anticipation of singing ‘’oohh my first mistake was….i wanted too much time’’. The original line up-the ladies looked as slick and sexy as ever.
The band lit up the stage with great memories of music. It was a straight 9 out of 10 show. For it to have been a 10 there would have needed to be another group like SWV or Brown Stone as a supporting act or clashing each other like a clash of the titans.
En Vogues Interaction with the crowd was excellent, getting the audience involved with every part of their performance speaking and asking the crowd questions they had the crowd jumping, dancing and waving their hands.
Their vocals were as strong as ever and nothing seemed to have thinned or weakened their voices from the 1990’s –it was as if nothing had changed. Hell no!-it was the same wonderful goose-bumping voices that first broke onto the scene all those years ago, singing all the greatest oldies. The audience really responded well with a great atmosphere within the O2 with all ages of people singing along from all different backgrounds whites, blacks, men, women, gays and heterosexual.
Anyone attending would have said it was money well spent as people left the arena still singing aloud. My mates mum said they were just as good as when she first watch
them nearly 20 years ago! It really was a must see concert!.

Next up I was invited by Melissa from G-Mag to attend ‘The salute to The Wailers’ show about Jamaica’s first super group. At Hammersmith Apollo the crowd outside was so sparse I wondered if we had the right date. We queued for a while and even though it was cold outside it was even colder inside the venue. I kid you not. It was freezing!. The crowd that had gathered might have wanted to take their coats off and dance to the music that they were clearly enjoying but there was no chance of that as the Apollo stayed freezing cold all night with not even an apology or acknowledgement from the stage of the audiences discomfort. Is it any wonder that music acts are all choosing to perform at the 02- once upon a time West London ruled with Wembley, Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith-that is a distant memory now.
The show itself plodded. It was billed as the reggae event of the year.  The band and backing singers were going through the motions. The show used a different singer every few tracks to represent a different era but they had no presence-on and off as if rehearsing or doing a walk through. The experience was sold as a vibrant story but it really wasn’t. The tracks weren’t all introduced and when the narrator did come onstage he was barely intelligible and he should’ve been on a lot more and directed us through the story. Whilst the die-hard reggae fans made the best of it in the cold and sang along it really was a poor attempt at a big show and I have in my time been to some amazing reggae concerts and alas this had all the potential of being one.

Finally songwriter to the stars, American Nate Walka who has won a Grammy Award for writing for  Jamie Foxx amongst others held a listening party for his latest music at Molton House in the bond street area. No expense had been spared as both Nibbles and champagne were being passed around all night. Unfortunately I wanted a soft drink or water and neither were available-only champagne-how ironic-and they say there’s a recession?!.
Nate has also written tracks for Alesha Dixon who was also in the house looking lovely and truly letting her hair down. She laughed, joked, drank and had a great time all night as well as hosted the evening for her friend Nate.
A lot of the London inner urban circle from all walks of life attended and for a practically unheard of artist it was a very impressive turn out. Comedian Kojo and I wanted DJ for the night Manny Norte to play ‘’Westside’’ by TQ as TQ was sitting alongside our table. Industry folk like radio1xtra DJs, singer Cherri V, Jamal Edwards founder of SBTV, Nadine Scott from Michelle Williams management team, the flavour magazine team and many ,many more underground uber cool faces were in the house.
Nate finally turned up fashionably late and after Alesha introduced him he jumped on the decks and talked us through a very fast version of his new mix tape. It was a surprising listen as after his hit songs for other acts we expected catchy, soulful, melodic hooks, instead we had a quite heavily rap based mix-tape with various influences which was just as catchy but unexpected. Nates just been signed to an indie label called Versatile so a lot of acts coming up were in the house, hopefully hoping they could grab a hit song from him. Look out for him!

JASMINE’S JUICE feat THE MOBO AWARDS 2010!(the bits you didn’t already know!)

JASMINE WITH THE LEGENDS BILLY OCEAN AND RADIO1XTRA DJ MISTAJAM!

A fortnight ago I laid the first series of my ITV music show ONE NIGHT STAND to rest (its on air from this month!), and legged it down to bond street to the D&G store to get fitted for a fabulous frock for the MOBO Awards. Ruth in the D&G celeb styling team ushered me into the inner sanctum of the VVIP closet where Angela – fitter to all the stars including kylie and Madonna- pinned me into a beautiful, structured black frock. Usually I wear something sassy and sexy to the MOBO Awards as I usually attend as a red carpet presenter or a guest. However this year I was on team Mobo booking celeb presenters so I decided I should be more formal and elegant. I figured there would be enough skimpy nakedness going on without me adding to the mutton lamb mixture.
I had also decided to treat myself to a couple of classic shoes from designer Christian Louboutin. I often get fancy frocks sent to me by designers to wear to public functions and a couple of shoes that would go with all were much needed.
My designer mate Anneliese- born and bred in new York, now a Londoner, wont let anything beneath a Stella McCartney shoe touch her hallowed foot took me to the Mayfair Chrissy Lou store where a lovely guy called Claude helped us with our purchase of 2 pairs of décolleté classic 4 inch stilettos. I bought one black pair and one nude pair and even though I gulped hard as I handed over my credit card I reassured myself the shoes would be worn for years to come and therefore a good purchase.
The next morning the D&G courier dropped off my form-fitting frock, I threw a few garments into a case and off I went to jump on the Virgin Mobo train to Liverpool with the rest of the team. Scripts and running orders continued to change on the hour as artists were booked, unbooked, and so on all the way to the Mersey!.
The next day was full of rehearsals where 100 camera crew and riggers ran around laying down cables and setting up their shots, lighting was being fixed in place with stage hands running up and down the rope ladders hundreds of feet into the sky, microphones were being tested, event organisers ensuring the table cloths are the correct colour and size, stage hands were hastily building the stage, backstage dressing rooms were being labelled with artist names, the kitchens began grinding out menus and recipes and talent began arriving and rehearsing their sets. Mobo hosts Alesha Dixon and Reg Yates were working on their scripts with myself and producer Shurwin throwing in the odd unhelpful cheeky comment here and there.
I actually find the preparation for celeb functions more entertaining than the show itself. There are always so many issues that the general public never hear about. Certain acts have hissy fits about getting on the train which is a 2-hour easy journey and insist on a private car which is a horrible 4-5 hour traffic nightmare. Talent insist they bring not a couple of guests but try to force 10 extra people upon the organisers. Imagine if we said yes to every star requesting 10 guests? There would be no tables for the public to buy!. Artists argue over who has the flashest transport arrival on the red carpet, artists calling me every hour to ask which table they’re on, whether it’s a good table and who they’re sitting with, Issues between presenters who didn’t want to go on with who they were partnered up with, who has the biggest dressing room, they insist they have a car to drive them 50 meters to the after-party even though the walk would take half the time over a private path that only they would have use of. Oh the dramas, they’re fascinating!.
The great observations are witnessing acts like Roll Deep just being so happy and proud to be performing at the show, Alesha and Reg having so much fun rehearsing, the screamers who are hired to scream up the red carpet arrive looking so excited-the best thing Mobo ever did was to take the show out of London. The regions are just so much more welcoming, happy and have a positive attitude to the event.
The rehearsals went on all day the day before the show and the whole morning of the day of the show. Mark Ronson’s a nice early riser so was first onsite to run through with Wiley. Lets just say with Wiley being the temperamental genius that he is, that Mark had to change songs and ideas a few times before all was agreed upon. Next up was mister professional Tinie Tempah followed by hostess Alesha. Roll Deep came thereafter and ensured to practise their giant swing entrance properly , next it was sweetie Tinchy Stryder with his featured acts Professor Green, Giggs, Devlin and Tinie Tempah.(this was my favourite perfoamnce of the night, not to everyone’s taste but as a pure hip-hop fan I appreciated the rawness of a group of talented MC’s and their onstage dynamic)  Heartthrob Nelly came next and finally it was the mischievous ones N Dubz. On show day dancers Peridot were up first followed by JLS and their surprise collaborator Travis followed by now international superstar Jay Sean.
After all the guest presenters had arrived and settled in for their dress rehearsal I managed to slip into the make up room to have my hair and make up done by the lovely Abbey Rose who turned me around in 45 minutes flat from bedraggled to elegant. Next to me in the make up chair was former Eastenders actress and singer Preeya Kalidas who had 2 ladies working her hair, make up and sequinned henna tattoo look. We discussed dresses and exchanged gossip before being joined by DJ Max from Radio1Xtra. With an hour to go before show start we all grabbed a plate of whatever food was left over and legged it to our positions.
One of the busiest rooms backstage was the gifting suite where artists could go and grab an abundance of freebie goodies including DJ Hero games and Money clothing. There was also a talent retreat where acts could get massages, facials and mani-pedis except most were so busy getting their show look together that I didn’t see anyone taking advantage of it all day.
The show went without a hitch- only Peter Andre was unable to attend due to illness and Nelly’s dancers should’ve been naked and painted gold but BBC banned it so had to wear black leotards instead.
The only things I can reveal that you might not have seen on TV are…and you need to guess here,….which act sent the runners out 4 times to get the “right brand of orange juice, I only drink oringina NOT tropicana!!!”.  Which acts have the worst rep in the industry for being the biggest freebie liggers and exit every event with armfuls of bags and did the same here?. Which male artist had on loads of make up on and kept going back to the makeup room for more powder?. Which artist threw a hissy fit cos they didn’t have their own dressing room and made MOBO pay for a hotel room next door? Which artist refused to walk 50 yards to the official party and had to be driven there?. Which artists didn’t want their dancers looking better than them and so instructed their make up be changed?.  Which act onstage kissed at least 200 ladies during the show?-that award goes to mister Billy Ocean. Which artist’s secret wife was with him backstage looking stunningly gorgeous? I wasn’t impressed by the N Dubz security issues at the Mobo table with a guy called UK Warrior or something who was after Tulisa or some nonsense. Apparently he’s been sending her inappropriate images and messages recently and kept trying to get near the bands table leading to a band affiliate allegedly whacking him over the head with a bottle, leading to 2 of them getting thrown out of the building etc etc. Mad beef. Kiddie time. It was interesting to note that whilst once upon a time the arena would’ve gone nuts for American rapstar Nelly, in this show he seemed like an understatement where the audience took the opportunity to visit the toilet!. Remember years ago the MOBO Awards were accused of being too Americanised with not enough attention on the British acts? Well that’s a total 360 turnaround in 2010 . Its what we wanted 15 years ago and we were ecstatic with the representation. Now we just need to get our talent to use their time onstage to say something rock n roll and worthy so their 15 minutes of fame is remembered.
Post show we all went across to the PanAm building for the official MOBO party where Mobo hosts and acts mingled as Steve Sutherland played a great mixture of 90’s classics. I danced with Billy Ocean and ate enough of the free nibbles and drinks going past on silver trays including butternut squash risotto, fish ‘n’ chips, ceaser salad, fruit kebabs and chocolate covered strawberries. After dancing up a storm with Preeya, Alesha, Reg and Kojo we went to check out Reg Yates TRADING PLACES party at the Blue Bar which wasn’t as plush a venue but was heaving with artists and music industry. We had a good catch-up with everyone here and then Trevor Nelson suggested we check out the Hilton hotel party. So across the road we went to see loads of people standing outside the Hilton Hotel alongside a lot of police. My mate being cheeky and noting they weren’t allowing anyone else in told the police we were staying there and that they better let us in immediately. We were let inside where a huge party was just apparently coming to an end. It wasn’t a cool industry crowd, more wannabees wags and wannabee balers. We were ready to get out. Music manager to the stars Kwame Kwaten said ‘’lets get out of here, my instinct tells me something’s about to kick off’’. Instead of trying to escape down the now overcrowded stairs we tried the lift. Just as we were about to enter the lift a group of Caucasian guys ran in pushing one of their gang into the lift chased closely followed by a group of black youths aiming bottles at their heads. As we rushed in the opposite direction I said to my mate ‘’hold on, I can’t run all the way out in 4 inch Chrissy Lou shoes-let me slip into my ballet pumps’’. Flat shoes on and Chrissie Lou’s in my handbag we ran out, along to the taxi rank, jumped in a cab and got safely back to our Hope Street boutique Hotel. As we shook our heads at young boys drunken foolishness and I unpacked my handbag the colour drained from my face as I noted that I only had 1 shoe in my bag. The other must’ve dropped out mid escape!
I was gutted. 1 pair of Christian Louboutin shoes bought 24 hours earlier, worn once for 5 hours and gone. What a night. Cinderella’s spirit lived with me as all around me started mocking me calling me ‘’Jaserella’’. Clearly God didn’t want me to have them. I can always save for another. If anyone finds a black patent size 3 decollette shoe though I’ll reward them well for its safe return!.