Month: April 2012

JASMINE WITH SIOBHAN BENITA – ON MAY 3RD SHE GETS MY VOTE!
April 14th came and all roads led to the ministry of sound in Southwark for YOUTH VOTE LONDON where London’s mayoral candidates Siobhan Benita, Brian Paddock, Ken Livingstone and more came out to meet and greet and talk to the resembled young people.

JASMINE WITH ”RED-UNCONNECTED TO THE YOUTH” KEN.
The stage was hosted by spoken word artist dean Atta, mtv/choicefm’s kat and other ambassadors from the sprit of London awards, uprise and represent radio.
The red carpet was outdoors and saw a huge branding board with all the logos of all of London’s big youth organisations like Live / Livity-Somewhere To…, Catch22, lives not knives, enthuse youth, enterprise lab, press for change and more emblazoned across it where celebs were all clamouring to be snapped by the papps.

JASMINE WITH BRIAN PADDICK- A VERY NICE INFORMED MAN!
Many of these youth org’s also had stands inside where youth could get engaged and on board with the hundreds of initiatives that are on offer to London’s young people- who said there’s nothing out there for them? There was so much I couldn’t keep up! There were voting booths and ballot box’s teaching youth how to physically make a vote, there was a stage where dj’s and music acts were all interacting with the crowd and the outdoor area was awash with networkers and politicians.

JASMINE WITH EASTENDERS ‘NASTY NIC’-NOT SURE WHAT HE WAS DOING THERE? (AND I DONT THINK HE WAS EITHER LOL!)
Of course socially aware pro-social music star Sway attended as did West London act princess Nyah (who came to speak to the kids and did a freestyle too) and comedian Kevin j who spoke to the bloggers and press about why young people should use their vote to make a change for themselves.
Bizarrely ex eastenders actors nasty nick cotton and actress Tanya franks attended too. All the candidates arrived sporadically during the day so when Siobhan and Kev arrived most of the youth were on the red carpet interviewing and snapping away at them. But then they all relocated indoors to hear them speak so that by the time poor Brian Paddick arrived there were minimal red carpet press and I think he didn’t feel any love. poor guy.
Tory affiliated Shaun bailey was heckled a lot for speaking ‘’on behalf of the African Caribbean community in the uk’’.
Siobhan Benita got the most cheers and applause and talked about issues that the audience all really seemed to feel and broke out into spontaneous applause for. I wish Siobhan had started her campaign earlier as I think with the right championing on board co-signing her she could have actually made a dent. I will still be making my first vote Siobhan and my 2nd Boris. Siobhan is mostly definitely filling a gap by speaking for the under represented young of this capital city but Boris has always honoured his commitments by the policies I have felt an allegiance for and unlike Ken does care what the people say in my humble opinion.

Next an old friend, ex SonyBMG head honcho Mervyn Lynn called to see if I wanted to bring a group of friends along to the very swanky prestigious LAWRENCE OLIVER AWARDS.

JASMINE ON THE OLIVIER AWARDS RED CARPET PRE-SHOW WITH A SUPERSTAR THAT SHE’S HAD TO CROP OUT FOR SILLY REASONS.
The Olivier awards honor achievements in London plays, musicals, dance and opera. Winners in most categories are chosen by a panel of stage professionals and theatergoers.
Now whenever folks ask things like this I always look at my phone quizzically? I mean? Is the pope catholic? Is the British sky grey? is puff daddy the richest rap icon 2012? Of course I played nonchalant but was inside jumping up and down with glee. However many years I am in this industry every invite is an honour and I never take any for granted. It a blessing to work hard and play hard in this game. And Mervyn has always worked so hard-its nice to see nothing changes as he was still working lol. So I scooped up a few of my nearest and dearest (after a very OTT drama about whether one of our male friends had left his black tie outfit at his country house) and there we were walking down the longest, poshest most fabulous red carpet I’ve seen this side of the Atlantic. Make no mistake-this night at the royal opera house was about the biggest names in theatre and stage. The fact that a whole road –Drury lane- in Covent Garden was rolled over with plush red carpet was testament to the fact.
As we walked the practically 100 metre long red carpet at every turn of the head were TV crews, walls of paparazzi and household name celebs being interviewed. It was so exciting to run shoulders from the bigwigs of a parallel world! It was, as the OLIVIER AWARDS sponsors Mastercard always say ‘’priceless!’’
What I didn’t mention to anyone was that a mate and I had just jumped out of our jeans and into our posh frocks in the royal opera toilets and luckily had managed to dump all our clothes and bags in the cloakroom after sneaking past the backstage security guard, otherwise we would’ve had to have carried bags and coats down the red carpet and that my dears would have been frankly mortifying!
So we’re in! (Said like a bank robber that just snuck into the World Bank). The liveried doormen check out our tickets and directed us upstairs to the bar where we are surrounded by other fabulous folk in black tie and gowns and we sipped champagne.
Darlings I must mention that all theatre functions are a hoot to attend. When you see a ‘’black tie’’ instruction on an invite in the music world, to many it’s about flesh baring usually vulgar outfits that leave hardly anything to the imagination. Every theatre event I’ve ever attended I don’t worry about a fabulous frock. Theatre folk like quirky, eccentric outfits. They’re all uber creative people who wouldn’t be seen dead in a boring old frock from your average designer. They like to stand out and show off their uniqueness. So knowing I couldn’t compete with that I wore the most formal black floor length ball gown that I own lol.
We were soon ushered into our seats and eve though I’ve attended ballet performances many a time at this venue back when I was studying for my degree I still took a breath as I looked around at the breath-taking architecture and glitz of the auditorium and wondered at the fabulous theatre history and tradition in this quite recently regenerated building.
Before you knew the show was off to a very fitting start and from here on in 3 whole hours flew by in a magical blur. We had performances from practically every west end musical to entertain us in between the awards categories. These included performances by We Will Rock You featuring Queen guitarist Brian May, Ronan Keating and Kimberley Walsh singing No Matter What, Siobhan McCarthy and Maria Friedman coming together in tribute to Tim Rice and Elaine Paige rolling back the years to captivate the Royal Opera House with Don’t Cry For Me Argentina. It was breath taking!

Furthermore, name after name just kept popping out onto stage as the already ultra fab attendees even gasped at certain names who included Stars from the worlds of film (James McAvoy, Jonny Lee Miller), television (Zach Braff, Jack Davenport), music (Will Young, Ronan Keating) and theatre came together to see the prestigious awards handed out.
Matilda The Musical – The musical is based on Roald Dahl’s tale of an extraordinary little girl from an ordinary family.-created history, winning seven awards, more than any show has ever won before-so of course you know my next mission is to try and beg, blag or hustle tickets for this asap!
Also among the accolades the RSC production picked up were Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical for Bertie Carvel and Best Actress in a Musical for the quartet of young stars playing the title character.
One of my favourite highlights was a performance by The Royal Ballet from Wayne McGregor’s Limen to mark ballet goddess Dame Monica Mason’s Olivier Special Award,
In summary, we laughed, clapped, sang, jumped around in our seats with excitement all evening. Even the interval was fabulous as we were served champagne in our seats!
Oh the good life lol. Post show we were guided into the reception where an abundance of starters and small bowls of scrumptious food were served-our fave? The sausage and mash! The drinks continued flowing well into the early hours as we chatted to the big and bold of this world that were so open to strangers speaking to them. Acting celebs were happy to chat, mingle and pose for pics with all the attendees. There were no haughty, awkward folks-in fact a much nicer crowd that the music world which can be very egotistical. In fact, its refreshing to see an area that many think is inaccessible to ethnic minorities and others minority groups that is so openly embracing. I know a lot more minorities enjoy the theatre now than ever before with so much focus being put on the arts so this can only get better.
Ball gowns, champagne and theatre world luvvies…..just another day in the life of a media hustler- and the Diva Dotiwala Diaries.

JASMINE WITH CONOR MAYNARD AT THE #NANDO’SSECRETGIG
Easter weekend came and went in a flurry of fights over Easter eggs, a near 3 hour service in church on good Friday, a lovely trip up north for a fun family day in Telford (Telford! you know I usually don’t frequent anywhere north of Euston-in fact if I leave London its usually on plane outta the UK! LOL), and lots of friends time.

Straight after that I filled a day off mid-week with as much fun as I could arrange from morning till night.
I started at the Adidas UK HQ where with the triple threat that are Paola, Aisha and Akua we created outfits for my impending annual themed party-this year which is themed old skool hip-hop. Usually my parties excite the ladies and distress the men with themes like underwear, pyjama wear and Motown so this year I thought I’d let the men have some fun by channeling their inner ll cool j, slick rick and puffy daddy looks. the ladies as you can imagine have been distressing about the theme as some think old skool hip-hop ladies just weren’t sexy or too sexy- oh well-you can never win them all.
Needless to say, this years party will be up there with the rest. If you’ve attended before you know what to expect.

JASMINE WITH CLEO SOL AT THE #NANDO’SSECRETGIG
Next I met a friend my lunch after which we went to see the first ever UK screening of Plan B’s movie ILL MANORS.
After hearing his single of the same title I was intrigued to see how he would translate this into film and he did an amazing job.
It was heart breaking, ugly and horrific….that’s going to make viewers sit up and understand that for once Revolver isn’t exploiting urban street culture and just making an urban street film full of violence, but a film that makes viewers recognize why Britain’s youth are so dis-engaged.
It made me sit up and realize that whilst the HEAD OF MTV BASE production for many years I may have been part of the problem. Encouraging youth to live bout a fantasized life that’s not reality perhaps wasn’t my greatest moment.
Plan B’s movie gives examples of many stories that happen daily across the capital that many aren’t aware of or choose to turn their backs on. I was also hardened to many stories like this in the past but the movie left me feeling sick to the core and I was shook and troubled for many hours after watching it.
A very well written, beautifully shot piece of work- a big congrats to Ben and all involved.
Ben really is an act that is reflective of rock & roll stars from yesteryear that really believed in standing for something.
He has a voice and is not afraid to be opinionated and articulate. A great moment for us all if we can understand what this film is truly attempting to explain to us all.

JASMINE WITH CLEMENT MARFO’S MAIN MAN! AT THE #NANDO’SSECRETGIG
Next I zoomed up to Nando’s in high street Kensington where they had put on a secret gig showcasing a few about to blow acts from the scene. On arrival the venue was heaving with a variety of celebs, bloggers, journo’s, taste makers, fashionista’s, music industry folk-generally a really cool, uber trendy crowd that were enjoying the free drinks and Nando’s food that the restaurant had put on. It’s a very clever way of getting positive branding with the youth. They were tweeting in droves and supporting new music all in one fell swoop. DJ’s melody kane and manny Norte were on the decks, the networking was in full swing and the evening was buzzing early on.
In the house enjoying the new music were DJ Jarren C, music producer Dready (So Solid/ Busta Rhymes) , music manager Carla Marie, actress music act Preeya Kalidas, film director Mo, music act Master Shortie and more. Above and Beyond’s management’s Daren Dixon had tings well organized as act after act took to the stage in between the food being passed around. so it was a feast for the eyes , ears and mouth!. Cleo sol was looking well, extremely tall in vertiginous heels and sang with gusto-her vocals sounding much stronger than when I’ve heard her in the past. The guys were particularly excited by her too lol. Cleo mentioned to me before hitting the stage that she was readying her 2 new singles and album with a video shoot next week but wouldn’t reveal any titles yet.

JASMINE WITH THE MAC TWINS AT THE #NANDO’SSECRETGIG
Next up were Clement Marfo & The Frontline who are a seven-piece diverse collective from South London led by the charismatic Clement. Born to Ghanaian parents and raised in Kingston, South London, Clement has become a phenomenon in the underground British grime scene but I don’t think they sound grimy at all. I think they sound like a great hip hop/ rock hybrid and could do huge at music festivals with their energy and dynamic hooks. Clement told me years ago at the MOBO AWARDS that he would be doing big things and here he was, working hard to make it happen.
Finally onstage was a young man that has been dubbed continuously by press as the ‘UK Justin Bieber’. His name is Conor Maynard and according to press reports may be the world’s next big teen star. With close to 30,000 twitter followers already and over 3 million views on his YouTube Channel, 2012 could well be Conor’s year. I have to disagree that he sounds like Justin Beiber tough. I would suggest he is more Justin Timberlake, which is better. bieber has a kiddie corny sound. Timberlake is melodic with swag and charisma and harder sounds. Conor was a sweetheart- he spoke to me backstage before he went on and had beautiful manners and energy. He told me he was nervous but excited as he looked around the noisy venue. he surely did his thing onstage though and thankfully sounded exactly the same live as he does on record proving he does have a voice. Will he be the next top male pop heartthrob? Only time, hard graft, a solid team and his fan base will tell.
Now I’m off to scare my new LONDON360 team for series 3 who started this week. They’re about to get on a rollercoaster they’re going to love and hate that will catapult them into their media careers. Lets go!

JASMINE WITH ESTELLE- A WOMAN THAT WOULDN’T BE HELD BACK BY INDUSTRY BULLSHIT.
2 years ago I was on twitter asking where all the females in our entertainment industry were as the men had taken over. Now don’t get me wrong-we all long a bit of male empowerment but after months and months of seeing acts like Tinie, Tinchy, Dizzee, Chipmunk, Lethal B, Sway and others in the UK music charts and on our TV screens and radios I had to wonder where all the ladies were.
Seems I spoke not soon enough as within the last year record labels and artist managers have been signing up the females as if the last woman on earth was about to ovulate and we had to save the egg for the continuation of mankind!

JASMINE WITH LEONA- A LADY THATS BEEN PUSHING HARD ON THE SCENE WELL BEFORE X FACTOR!
With the hard fight that grafters like Estelle and Leona Lewis have had over the last few years and finally making it we saw the females start to come through thick and fast for this decade. And believe me these ladies slogged for years on the music underground scene at talent shows and more!
Estelle, who is in town with her new tour and music next month, was at every underground hiphop jam on the mic competing with the guys years ago. she was signed and let go but fought through and made her mark bigger in the States. shes ambitious- and talented- a great role model in an industry that had traditionally spurned darker skinned females.
Leona’s brother Bradley used to be one of my editors at MTV, he often mentioned his lil sister entering talent shows and practising her craft hard at home singing countless Mariah classics to sharpen her vocal instrument.
I recall the same issues when female acts like All Saints, Spice Girls, the Honeyz, Cleopatra, Truce, Mis-Teeq and more were trying to make it years ago. None of us know who will make it. Some folk lay money on acts making it whilst others that were relegated to the pop chart bin ended up being superstars. When the roc told me about Tierra Marie being the new roc princess they had Rihanna tag along like the understudy- 7 years down Riri put in the work and she’s here to stay. For now. Honestly, if a female music star has stood the test of time and sold as many records as she is gossiped about in the press she is made of tough winning material.

JASMINE WITH BRATT- A YOUNG LADY THATS FINALLY BEEN SIGNED AFTER PROVING HERSELF FOR A WHILE!
So it’s always interesting to see this happen in cycles. In the latest resurgence of the female music star race to the finish all my manager friends started signing both female soloists and groups. We saw talent like Miss Bratt, Princess Nyah, Cleo Sol, Delilah, Ruby Goe and others start to make their presence known. Boy band members from JLS (Ortise) were signing girl groups (Vida), former UK rappers ( Jean Paul Esq) was managing girl band Rogue, song writer Carla Marie was managing female trio RD and had them signed to Polydor. Next trio stooshe came along and have signed to Warner Music. Just this fortnight Dominique Young Unique signed a global deal with Sony music. Oh-and where’s Yasmin?
Often females get signed, become divas, don’t have the right synergy with their teams and record labels that thrive on all their insecurities and then are quickly dropped again. Female acts cost more money. they require hair and make up at all times as well as a wardrobe fit for a princess. This alone can be the make or break factor as to whether a record company head decides if someone is in the ‘’hot’’ or ‘’drop’’ category.

JASMINE WITH PREEYA-A LADY THAT KEEPS PUSHING FOR EVERY ANSPECT OF HER DOUBLE PRONGED ACTING AND MUSIC CAREER- A FIGHTER WITH PERSEVERENCE!
Also women in music face the same barriers that professional women in any career face-the biological time clock and its affect on our lives.
Ms Dynamite came, saw, conquered and then left to be a mother. It’s tough to comeback when you’ve been off the scene for so long.
My mate writer Hattie Collins did a feature in the guardian a couple of years ago about females in the UK music industry. She noted ‘’The last major British female rap outfit to make it big was Cookie Crew, the group that scored a top 10 hit with Rok Da House in 1988 and even achieved the impossible: success in the US. But Debbie Pryce, one half of the band, says British women can make it in hip-hop if they want it enough. “Challenges? What challenges?” she says. “We reigned supreme. Nothing deterred us. It wasn’t about being held back because we were girls. If you want to make it [in hip-hop], you have to love it and understand its true culture.”
And here is where I fear the buck stops. So many young females in the scene today don’t give us the impression they are musicians in the real sense of the word. They like to dress up and be sexy like Tulisa N -Duz, but do you get the impression they know the first thing about how to read music, play a musical instrument, how to structure a song without a producer or songwriter? Not often.
When I hang out with male new acts they talk to me about their music and desires for their music to affect social change. Many females talk to me about their fashion or hair issues. I know both are equally talented but the ladies don’t do themselves any favours by highlighting stereotypical images that they are already struggling to lose. It’s even worse when musicians are in a mixed band. Whether I’ve worked with the Fugees or N-Dubz its always the men that are ready at their call time and the lone females that have loads of crew waiting for hours as they get their hair and make up right. Why don’t they factor in their time deadlines?
Really it comes down to whether they have the X Factor. Do they light up a room with their presence or are they the wallflower? Are they genuinely amazing artists like Amy and Adele or are they playing up to the record labels pressure of being ‘’quirky’’ like Jessie J.
I attend numerous music industry functions and all the young female acts still with something to prove are always trying to outdo each other in the sexy stakes. On the other hand females with nothing to prove roll in wearing their jeans and tee’s and still look hot. Sexy can only sell records for so long. When the time catches up with you where will you be? Ask yourself this question as a measure of your current status- If you have a public profile, can people immediately break into a chorus of your hit?. if not–then you have failed already. Start your career strong now. Work!

JASMINE WITH LIL KIM A TRUE DOUBLE THREAT!
It’s a very tough world for females in the industry. But the main understanding that will carry you to longevity and success is to do YOU. Alicia Keys was dropped many times before making it. I know acts that had thousands spent on grooming and developing them and then 2 years in they decided they didn’t really want it anymore!? Honestly it’s a crazy career to want but if you want it-BE GREAT at what you do. Lil Kim wasn’t just a sexy, vulgar, controversial rapper-she had verses, bars and flow to match. The fate card is very important in whether you will or won’t make it but hard work added to talent and luck will guarantee success. Ladies-may the force be with you!.

JASMINE WITH ROADMAN BOXER DEREK CHISORA.
So we’re all looking forwards to this weekends bank holiday, but last week all the hype across the UK was the arrival of the Young Money Cash Money young prince Drake, who had the biggest show of his life so far at his concert at the 02 arena. On arrival I was surprised at the very young, mixed pop crowd swarming around the venue. I wondered if I had walked into a one-direction concert on the wrong date. But after seeing the merchandise stand-selling drake clothing I reassured myself I was truly at the right show. The t-shirts were £30 whilst the hoodies were over £100! And lots of fans had bought them!. How crazy is that? In this day where people have to look after every penny £100 is deemed an appropriate price for a basic hoodie with a logo? I mean if it were designed by a designer fashion house with a label and cut that reflected the quality then fine but a basic hoodie with a logo? Drake’s team are having a laugh-with an extremely heavier and heavier bank balance. With his label Cash Money Records and EMI Music having settled EMI’s recent lawsuit & their financial disputes I guess they now have even more dollars being flung around like its Christmas at the strip club. Oh well. I guess if you’re going to buy it you’re the fool right?
Once my people and I had got over that initial shock we wondered over to Nandos for a quick pre-show chicken thigh only to see drakes record label person jumping the queue with her plea to the waitress that drake needed to eat before he went onstage and her order was worth well over £100. Oh how we laughed as we chipped in with ‘’our order for 6 people is going to come to well over £100 too so stay in ya lane’’. (Having written that now I feel that perhaps the £100 hoodie is worth more than 20 minutes in Nandos lol).
With the distant echo’s of support act Labrinth doing his thing onstage we hurried up to the Adidas VIP BOX where as usual the movers and shakers of the scene (including Olympic hopeful gymnast Louis smith) were all congregated with fancy food and beverages. In my excitement I kept dipping the tortilla chips into salsa and guacamole and accidently had it flying all over the place including my blouse and the plush carpet- which a very zealous adidas big wig immediately jumped down to wipe clean. Sorry. You can take the girl out of the hood…..
As we were getting our drinks ready and catching up David Haye’s best mate, boxer Derek Chisora walked by our box and spotted someone he knew so popped in to say hi. I was feeling very awkward. After all I –like most other red-blooded women- feel like I have a loyalty to David Haye. After all he is a fine specimen. I said hi to Derek as my mate totally threw me under the bus by exclaiming in a loud voice ‘’ooh that’s very controversial jasmine-after all you LOVE David Haye’’. awkward.com.

Once the show started I admit I was expecting bigger and sexier staging as I see Rihanna as being a female equivalent of drake in popularity and her staging at her recent tour was extremely expensive and elaborate but Drakes was very simple with a bank, DJ and lighting graphics backboard. I was also disappointed that live Drakes breath control needs a lot of work. He couldn’t keep up with his own studio vocals and was performing to a backing tape of his own vocals so often you saw the moment where his mic isn’t to his mouth but the lyrics are still heard.
The style of the show was very basic but his fans didn’t seem to mind. He staggered monotonously through song after song and of course when his big hits made an appearance the crowd was sporadically excited. I can’t really take him seriously though when I consider his middle class happy educated background and then see his stage character swear like snoop with nearly as many m****** f****** thrown around throughout his set. What’s that about?
The energy did seem to pick up in the 2nd half of the show with the lighting back board throwing out some much more dynamic images.
I know that I have a ride or die loyalty to jay z after working alongside him around the planet for so many years but I have to say it REALLY grated me when Drake started pointing out fans in the crowd by describing what they were wearing. Every hip-hop fan knows that’s a classic jay z live strand. Jay does it for 3 minutes max. Drake did it for around 20 mins. He might as well as have shouted out the pink nail polish on my feet too, I’m sure he pointed out nearly every one of the 10,000 fans in the arena.
However I did warm to him towards the end where he seemed more humble as he revealed this was the biggest show of his career so far and he had felt very nervous before going onstage.
After spending so many years watching British acts trying to be on the Americans jock strap, It was ironic to hear Drake continuously shout out UK acts Sneakbo (twice), Wiley and Shola Ama. He also hollered at Florence and The Machine twice and pointed them out watching in the central sound desk.
As we left we spotted young fans all swarming around sex tape Tulisa in the box next door to us.

JASMINE WITH ANGIE LE MAR AND JOSIE D’ARBY ON BBC RADIO LONDON.

Saturday night was spent on the radio in the Ladies lounge on BBC Radio London with comedienne and script writer Angie Le Mar where myself and TV presenter/actress Josie D’Arby debated all the weeks latest news including woman beater Denis Waterman, the Trayvon Martyn tragedy and many other subjects.

Its only a few days from the massive #Youth vote London registration rally at Ministry of Sound where thousands of young people will register to have their voices heard so they can vote on may 3rd in the London mayoral elections. so many movers and shakers have lent their support for the change.
MARK FEEHILY from WESTLIFE said, “Unless we change things, they just stay the same. Voting gives you the power to change things you care about like flaws in the education system, or a law about something that’s unfair. Stand up and be counted”. LONDON360 ambassador ALESHA DIXON enthused ‘‘this is a fantastic opportunity for young people to shape their destiny! It’s simple, come along on 14th April and get registered to vote. No vote means no voice!’’. Musician and actor Ashley ‘Bashy’ Thomas stated ‘’I think that young people are the future and one of the most influential groups in the world. Young people need opportunities, which once given are usually greeted with open arms. They have innovative ideas and often view the world from a different standpoint. Young journalists are able to give a non-bias opinion and have the skills and knowledge to engage with people their own age and older’’. West London’s finest ESTELLE urged ‘’It’s important that young people vote because again this is your life…this is your world. The world isn’t for the people over the hill, the world isn’t for the people that have passed the point and have lived their prime of their lives…the world is for the young ones. It is important that you get out there and make a decision and what your future is going to look like. It’s very important’’. UK champ TINIE TEMPAH stated ‘”Lead the change and register to vote on 14th March. Be part of the solution, use your vote – Young people are the future and have the power to make a change!”. North London’s finest WRETCH32 said ‘’ “This is an amazing chance for you to change your future. It’s easy, come along on 14th April and get registered to vote. Make sure you vote and get the chance to share your voice!”. Grime heart throb Scorcher added ‘’”I want to see young people come out on 14th April and register and then use the power of their vote to create the changes they want and need. All over the world we see young people fighting for their right to vote and have a voice. We’re so lucky to have that right and should use it to create a better future.’’ Radio 1’s DJ Scott Mills explained ‘’ “I think for me as a Radio 1 DJ, a lot of the tweets and texts we get in to the radio station are: ‘ah if I vote, what’s the point, it’s not going to make a difference, a lot of young people don’t really care,’ I think it’s important for you to care, for you to get there (to vote) it’s really easy. You’re the future, the next generation, you are, pretty much, forming how the country will run, so it’s more important than you think it is.”
New kids on the block Rizzle Kicks understood ‘’Young people aren’t engaged in politics, I think, because the involvement of youth in politics isn’t that evident, a lot of young people feel like they have no connection with politics, it’s like a grown-up thing to do and they don’t have much of a voice. “It’s quite like for a young person, it’s quite off-putting, you see these big court meetings, it seems quite dull, “Young people should vote in the upcoming election because if a certain part of society isn’t heard, if a large proportion of the voting public choose not to do so, it will become evident in who is chosen and then that could have a backlash, that part of the public might find themselves excluded or not included in the decisions that are made as a result of the voting. If they were to stand up and make a decision early on, then there wouldn’t be any dispute.”
TV and film star Ashley Walters told us ‘’Young people should vote because their votes count you know even if you don’t have an opinion or you don’t agree with whatever is there you can abstain…but I mean in it’s own right that is a vote…that is you having your own opinion, and it’s counted. I think yeah definitely if you want things to change we have to come to the table as well and you know I think young people are having an issue with the government and authority at the moment and if they want to address those issues this is the right way to do it. So go and see what’s out there for you and give it a chance, see what you think, and if it makes sense do it.’’ soon to be big Princess Nyah added ‘’I think young people should vote because it really does make a difference. I think the population of young people in the United Kingdom it’s just crazy…there’s a lot of us. And I think if we all get together and we all vote it will definitely make a huge difference. I don’t think that a lot of young people believe that their vote does make a huge difference but it’s power in numbers. You see everyday in the news a town in another country has overturned some kind of rule or you know a law that they’re not happy with and I think that young people need to understand that there’s loads of us…there’s loads of us put there and if we stand together and we all make a choice then we are definitely will be able to make a difference’’.
Magic man Dynamo urged ”come and register to vote at the rally on the 14th – use the power of your vote to make a real change. Without a vote you have no voice! i know young people can make things happen-we need to dispel the illusion that you have no power!”
Final word went to LONDON360 ambassador Noel Clarke who voiced ‘’Make sure you vote, a lot of politicians don’t tell the truth and do what they’re going to do, make sure your voice is heard at all times, its your human right, it can affect your credit rating for mobile phones and mortgages-use your vote-make a change’’.
Now I’m telling you all, we made a change in our music charts with our movement. Now its time for all the young un’s to show what else you can change for your lives! after all, if you stand for nothing- you’ll fall for anything.

#YOUTH VOTE LONDON CELEBRITY TRAILER

YOUTH VOTE LONDON
watch to see why your vote counts and makes a difference to the way you live!.