Author: Jasmine Dotiwala

JASMINE WITH THE CANNON’S AND FRIENDS ON THE CHRISTMAS SLEIGH RIDE!

I know we’re already 2 weeks into 2011 but I only just finished my Christmas adventure which this year was longer than ever!. Why not!? I deserve it! I work damn hard all year and you know what they say- work hard, play as hard. My annual end of year frolic with the cannons (Mariah and Nick) this year began in L.A. mid December we flew out to my cousin Jani’s lair where for a solid week it rained more torrentially than I’ve ever witnessed in the UK. It was heavy, non-stop 24-7 pouring cats and dogs. On December 21st we flew into Utah for Christmas week. As Mrs Cannon is pregnant it was decided that our usual Aspen jaunt would be a little too high altitude wise for the Carey-Cannon twins to breath as the oxygen is so thin up that high -its bad enough for us folks outside the womb!. We’ve been to aspen in the past where friends have been hospitalised by altitude sickness so the idea of the cannon twins somersaulting in Mrs Cannons tummy unable to breath was not pip. Utah on the other hand is just as snowy, magical and surrounded by mountains and canyons so we all jetted off to park city where we enjoyed a really relaxed, picturesque, once in a lifetime vacation.

In most of the UK’s cities we cant even imagine what the snowy hilltops and mountains in Utah look like. They’re breath taking, picture post card images that you think only exist in olde world postcards. We stayed near somewhere called ‘Lambs Canyon’ which if you know about Mariah you know was VERY appropriate.

The Cannons do very traditional Christmas’ with stunning magical mountains, covered with snow glistening like millions of diamonds, homes that look like ginger bread cribs with white sugar frosting perching aside the hills. Winter vacation homes in the snow are all similar with varying levels of extreme fabulosity. All are golden wood structures with numerous pillars and alcoves, high ceilings, a multitude of levels, playrooms that contain pool tables, wii consoles, karaoke machines, cinema rooms, and a number of en suite bedrooms. They also include luxuries like roaring log fires (which I tried to build myself a couple of times but then was banned in case I killed us all with smoke poisoning or worse!) , a giant main Christmas tree in the living room, a second tree in the playroom for dressing on Christmas eve, a big family kitchen where families gather around the island worktop, a hot tub outside overlooking the twinkling lights of the city, and of course a view straight out of a block buster movie. This trip was different to all the rest as the Cannons are pregnant and that put a whole new, calm, blessed spin on festivities. We were excited just to be altogether.

Daily our meals were a group effort led by our Swedish friends Kristen and Josephine so we referred to meal times as ‘Kristens Kitchen’. Bedrooms with 4 poster princess style beds were made extremely good use of, the 4 cannon puppies (JJ, Chacha, Dolomite and Jackie Lambchop) were as ever as cute and rambunctious as ever running around causing pandemonium, playing in the snow. I took them all for a daily walk which in itself was a crazy, fun task as they legged it up and down the hills dragging us into deep 4 foot snow drifts as they sniffed out wild deer. We ventured out very few times to shop in town, which had both a quaint little old worlde town as well as massive fashion malls with 75 store minimum outlets.

At the start of the trip Mariah reminded us of her usual vacation rule where we are requested not to spend 24-7 on our electronic gadgets. Between us there were a lot of Macs, Blackberry’s and IPads so it was a relief that the rule was set. After all who wants to spend such a once in a lifetime moment with all around them being anti social on their texts and e mails all day long. So imagine my delight and joy when one afternoon as she popped out for a quick shop and I sneakily logged onto my Mac,I caught her slipping as she had just tweeted! Now the problem was, did I acknowledge I myself had broken the rule in order to catch her? Her bro Shawn and I decided it would be worth the jokes to out her so we told her off via twitter. She gave as good as she got and cussed us back!. Good times!

The one thing we were allowed to over rule the rule was playing Wii- we tried bowling and other sports but it was the Michael Jackson dance game that had us all sweating, screaming, dancing and singing at the top of our voices for hours! I won 3 games, Nick won 3 games but our friend Rachels daughter , lil 15 year Sade got the highest perfect score! (She is after all a dancer and we’d expect nothing less!) . The workout was pretty crazy up in that high mountain altitude, though and 3 of us went through 12 bottles of water in an hour.

One night we decided that Mrs C needed pampering what with the usual pregnancy aches and pains taking their toll so all the girls pitched in to give her girl time with hand, foot and head massages with hot oil until she fell asleep.

Many nights we jumped into the hot tub (minus Mrs C ) watching the twinkling stars in the ink black sky, minus the usual annual festive flute of champagne for obvious reasons. One particular hot tub moment of hilarity came when 3 of us were in the hot tub trying to persuade Nick to join us. He was of course making the usual ‘’black men don’t do snow in their underwear’ noises.

We also spent our nights after dinner playing games like Balderdash and Catchphrase. I should be used to it but whenever the answer to the clue I’m giving comes up as ‘’Mariah Carey’’ or ‘’Nick Cannon’’ it’s the weirdest. Surreal. Imagine being the answer in a board game?

There was one particular night when I was so angry I could’ve exploded. Throughout our years of friendship we have always had the fun UK VS USA banter. This night was one to remember. My word that I had to have my team guess was ‘’cracker-jack’’. I was able to have my team guess the word ‘Jack’ easily as that’s the name of Mariah’s first most loved dog and the worlds most famous canine after his adventures with Mimi. Then I attempted to describe a Christmas cracker-the type that you pull at the dinner table, which contains paper party hats and gifts. Well, a whole screaming drama occurred as I didn’t realise Americans had no clue what a Christmas cracker was. No one knew what a ‘’paper filled column containing gifts and hats that’s placed at the dinner table’’ was. I was cussed solidly for my efforts and when I looked to my fellow Brit for support to confirm that Christmas crackers existed he abandoned me as he was on opposing team America!. Vex.com.

On Christmas Eve we had our usual Midnight mass -at home this year -with our friend pastor Kase leading the proceedings. It was a warm, traditional, festive ceremony that we all partook in and reminded ourselves about the true meaning of the holiday. The same night we were treated to Mrs C’s special clam linguini with stuffed shells, baked clams, garlic bread, salad and authentic red tomato sauce that was delish!

Our Christmas day Sleigh ride was very calm compared to most years as Mrs C is up the duff ‘’carrying dem babies’’. Usually we hurtle through a crazy, bumpy ride through the forest. This year we were ultra careful to ensure the slope was smooth and bump free. After all we had our own bump to look after and protect LOL!. However we still sang Christmas songs and Mrs C’s new Christmas album (particularly ‘’’Oh Santa’’ at the top of our voices!.

In past years we’ve attempted to reason with Mr C about not waking us at 6am, dressed as Santa to open our gifts. Hilariously, it’s taken us this many years to just accept its going to happen. So at 8am after his wife asked him to let us sleep a little longer, ‘Saint Nick’ woke us traditional style with a cowbell and pounding on doors dressed as Santa.

My gifts included a gigantic bottle of hot pepper sauce packed and presented in my name. It was so heavy to pick up and hold that I’ve had to leave it at the Cannons on their bar area in case anyone should ever request a bloody Mary!

I got the usual necessity gifts too like hats, scarves, and smellies, as well as some lovely trinkets and framed photos but my favourites were a flip camera and a pair of Mariah Carey black quilted chain boots that she designed for the HOME SHOPPING NETWORK that I’ll be rolling around with in 2011.

I particularly look forwards to American style Christmas dinner, which this year was bib lettuce, basil-buttermilk dressing, fresh cranberry sauce, traditional mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, candied yams, mac and cheese, collard greens, corn on the cob, stuffing, buttermilk biscuits, turkey, deep fried turkey, honey baked ham, rib roast, dessert, cherry pie, pecan pie, sweet potato pie. Tell me your mouth isn’t watering just reading that.

On December 28th we took our last mountain walk with the crazy dog circus and drove back through the canyons to Salt Lake City airport where we jetted back to Los Angeles for New Year. Roll on 2011!.

JASMINE AND ESTELLE.

Happy New Year dear readers! Here we are again! Another January! Another chance to start a new year afresh with positively new beginnings…where will it lead for us all? Only time will tell! I write this from los scandalous otherwise known as LA. I’m relieved it’s sunny because when I flew out here in mid December it rained torrentially for 5 days. Worse than any Indian or Kenyan monsoon that I’ve ever experienced and much worse than a rainy day in London. La in the rain is so grey it’s hard to acknowledge you’re in the sunshine state! Doesn’t the song go? ‘’it never rains in southern California’’

My life is never calm and before even getting through immigration there was drama. The winter solstice, full moon and lunar eclipse on December 21^st came early for me and I aged 10 years in 30 minutes.

My friend had filled in their ESTA form incorrectly so instead of the usual ‘’Welcome back to the USA’’ and a smile, we were hauled off to a side room where my mate was questioned alongside thugs, dodgy looking folk and other undesirables. Luckily after a lot of sweating – honestly I thought we were both going to be deported back to the UK-it was all cleared up and we were waved through. We had had visions of being put into orange prison overall jumpsuits and staying there for days as all UK airports were shut off by snow.

On arrival at my cousin Jani’s crib in the miracle mile area I plonked myself on the sofa and began preparing to unpack. I dragged my new suitcase towards me and colour drained from my face as I noted that whilst it was indeed the same colour and model as my new black case- but it had a label that stated it belonged to a ‘’Mister M Coleman from Northants ,UK’’ instead of Miss Dotiwala. Eek. This is the reason I have always cited for not wanting a black suitcase. Every other case is black. I felt sick with concern that I would be jazzie-no-clothes in a few days when we were going skiing, even worse I felt terribly embarrassed that poor Mr Coleman must be frantic with worry due to silly lil me scooping up his case from the baggage carousel. After the immigration drama however this felt like small fry. Cousin Jani bundled me into her ride, zoomed me back to the virgin desk where a porter informed me the desk was now closed but pointed out a virgin official outside that was on his way home. We sprinted out to the guy who looked at the case I was dragging-Mr Coleman’s- and said ‘’oh yes-I think I have your case in the office’’ and proceeded to take us to the nearby office, open up, take the Coleman case, swap it with mine (which I practically sank to my knees and kissed), and off we were- happy and relived. I love Virgin Atlantic. Honestly-they couldn’t be friendlier or more helpful. And I’ve been saying that for the past 20 years!

LA meanwhile was just pouring cats and dogs, day and night so regular activities like strolling along 3^rd street in Santa Monica or chilling around Venice beach weren’t going to happen. Instead my international designer friend Adam Saaks scooped me up in his very LA trendy Prius and insisted he was taking us to see his surprise. As we drove down Melrose Ave Adam said ‘’look out the window’’ and there stood a huge very swish looking store called….Adam Saaks!. Adam dragged us inside and proceeded to load us up with free stylish goodies and of course cut a tee-shirt onto our bodies-that which he is famous for. We ended the day chowing down on sliders (mini-burgers to you Brits) and fries at the infamous 50’s all American Johnny Rockets diner. Then we settled back down at home to watch the ‘’Christmas in Washington’’ special that Mariah was singing in and felt extremely proud of her especially since she is heavily pregnant with those twins.

The next couple of days were spent in a frantic shopping whirlwind at the grove and the Beverly centre picking up last minute Christmas gifts before the UK’s finest Estelle pinged me to announce she was going to be in town the next day for a gig and we should do dinner. Never one to do things by half I suggested we invite a couple of friends. Boxer Audley Harrison, actor aml ameen, designer adam saaks, girl-about-town/jewellery designer Britney Gastenau, infamous L.A club promoter Shay, and my cousin Jani….dinner was at a very fashionable restaurant called Koi after which we popped into the infamous Chateau Marmont bar for more bellini cocktails before calling it a night. Estelle looked happy and fabulous with her newly tinted red hair and was on full entertainment mode as she had the table roaring with laughter at her anecdotes. Her next album sounds like it’s going to break some serious ground.

AUDLEY HARRISON AND JASMINE.

Audley shared a carrot cake and cuppa tea with me- typical Brits!. Instead of joining us for the whole evening Audley blew us out to….wait for it….go and play darts with his professional English dart players that live up in the Hollywood hills. Apparently he’s a very good aim with that left hand of his. So living out in la Audleys clearly more excited about throwing darts that punches these days. When he’s not doing that he told me he’s having fun replying to haters that cuss him on facebook. He gets a lot of satisfaction putting certain haters back in their places. I’ve known Audley for years, from the early days when he was wayward and spent time courtesy of her majesty’s service, when he was a nightclub security man and watched as he pulled himself up to Olympic fighter level and now he’s living the good life on the west coast with his beautiful wife and daughter. It’s an inspirational story. Hes happy regardless of the hate he gets. A true positive, spiritual thinker. I was laughing at the size of his feet. Hes a big guy but even I have never experienced size 18 feet! I could live in one of his shoes! But living in my own shoes is more than good enough for me as I recall my annual festive Christmas in Utah with Christmas family-all the juice on that next week! Happy New Year!

JASMINE WITH EMANUEL JAL AT HIS VIDEO SHOOT IN LONDON.

Only a couple of days to go until Jesus birthday and I’ve been attempting to cram as much onto my already full to overflowing to-do-list as possible-i’m in the States right now skiing and frolicking in the snowy mountains with my Christmas family-the Carey-Cannons!.But before i left the UK……..

All my employers had Christmas parties and dinners that I had to attend so I plopped out the same frock (there’s still a recession darlings!), to go to the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 buildings. I was exceptionally behaved, worked the room, smiled a lot, listened to all, introduced people, didn’t get drunk, no embarrassing dancing ,didn’t upstage my superiors and so am hopeful about my promotional prospects in 2011 LOL.

Hip hops answer to Rankin, Paul H gave a talk at the Apple store about being a paparazzi in the music world. In the past 2 decades he has photographed every urban act on both sides of the pond and is on every record label and artists speed dial for press and promo shots. A lot of his past work was shown as well as a healthy yet bewildering amount of info about camera equipment and picture/stills copyright laws and so on.

JASMINE WITH KEVIN J, MARTIN JAY, EDDIE KADI AND ITV’S MONIQUE RICHARDS…..AT ALEXANDER AMOSU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY.

Next R&B Ringtones entrepreneur turned luxury goods maker Alexander Amosu threw his Christmas party at Aura nightclub in Mayfair where he exhibited his most expensive suits in the world, his diamond encrusted phones and much more to a very diverse crowd of guests that included business men, wide boys, city slickers, brassy ladies, TrayC and Paige from X Factor , comedians Eddie Kadi and Kevin J, ChoiceFM breakfast DJ and soca king Martin Jay, Chucky Venice , MTV Africa head Alex Akossi and other movers and shakers. Champagne and canapés were served by staff wearing Amosu tee shirts and more than usual networking and business cards were exchanged.

JASMINE WITH ALEXANDER AMOSU AT HIS CHRISTMAS PARTY AT AURA.

MTV BASE comedian and CHOICEFM weekend DJ Kojo threw his Christmas comedy funhouse special at Sound Bar in Leicester square where the A TEAM of UK new skool comedians did their thing to a packed house. The ever funny Baba tunde, white comic that black folk love Kevin j, of course Kojo’s crowd adore him, and then finally Slim had the audience in stitches. Kojo had a musical interlude from singer Cherri V who was very capable and now just awaiting her big break. The night was entertaining from start to finish and I salute kojo for providing a continuous night of fun where young urban comedy fans can safely come and mingle and enjoy the scene in the current climate.

JASMINE WITH KEVIN J, BABA TUNDE, KOJO AND SLIM……AT KOJO’S CHRISTMAS COMEDY FUN HOUSE.

In order to tick off all on my to-do-list I had actress, presenter and Scary Spice Mel B’s sister Danielle Brown join me for chai tea lattes and Starbucks luxury fruit bread whilst having my hair trimmed at celeb hair salon 3V in Notting Hill ,where we caught up on life and laughed about our old skool beef back in the day when we used to hate each other. I used to be mean about her on my radio slot and she understandably wasn’t best pleased. Now we’ve grown up and are wiser we chortle over those days.

Next to the sports spaceship headquarters of the Adidas inner sanctum in Covent Garden where Paola and Akua-the celeb team guru’s had laid the showroom open to me. It was like a dream come true as I was told ‘’ we have laid out a spread of apparel and shoes in your sizes in the client room for you to pick and choose whatever you’d like’’. I was like Usain Bolt in supermarket sweep as I tried not to dribble over the box fresh smell of new 3 stripe sneakers and slick leisurewear. Adidas have dressed me for years and as most of the flyest stars on the planet rock the brand I’d assumed they handed it out freely. It was a few years ago when I realised this wasn’t true at all. An array of UK and American acts would pass through MTV and compliment me on my exclusive garms and when id tell them to reach out to Adidas I would be told that they’d been rejected as ‘’Adidas are very choosy about whom they actively involve to wear their brand’’. I was staggered. These were pretty big names. Clearly Adidas knew something I didn’t cos they’re no longer around. I should’ve known the brand were ahead of their time when noting their inner clothing labels state ‘’caution-sliding and spinning across floors in this clothing can cause burns’’- clearly the preferred brand for breakdancers lol. Meanwhile I’m currently on the snowy slopes rocking my ‘ Stella McCartney for Adidas ski suits and all in one flight suits with hoity toity fur clad rich madams asking where I found my ‘’delightful attire’’. Go ask somebody!.

Radio 1 DJ Reg Yates threw his weekly Sunday night party fondly called Trading Places where there are usually unannounced guests like CL Rock and Pete Smooth, Idris Elba and other fresh types gracing the scenario. It’s a struggle to energise yourself on a Sunday night but so worth it. Reg is smart-he’s well aware that only die-hard mates venture out for fabulosity on a Sunday school night.

Then it was time to kick frivolity to the kerb and get serious for a moment as my friend and PR expert Rozan Ahmed told me about Emmanuel Jal’s global initiative for peace. To give you some background, Emmanuel comes from Sudan originally, he’s a former child soldier and through quite unbelievable struggle has become as a world renowned recording artist, actor and activist; his latest release being the Warchild LP to accompany the successful documentary. Emmanuel is currently focused on the upcoming referendum in Sudan. As I’m sure you may have heard, the country’s public will soon be deciding as to whether or not Sudan secedes as a nation – as Africa’s largest country, which to many of us is beyond depressing.
The outcome, either way, is likely to result in a full-blown war, and so Jal’s core messages of peace and unity, disseminated through a number of upcoming campaigns and summits will be a focus from now, up until the referendum. Emmanual was in London to spread the message and shoot the video for his single ‘’we want peace’’ and told me “I believe I survived for a reason… to tell my story… to touch lives.”

Emmanuels story is so erratic that he was born on an unknown date in the early 1980s. Imagine that- not knowing your birthday but being responsible for lives being saved as he achieves his initiative. He has a unique style of hip-hop, with its message of peace and reconciliation, born out of his personal experiences.

Emmanuel’s live appearances have included Live 8 and Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday Concert. He’s performed with acts such as Faithless, Alicia Keys, Razorlight, Supergrass and Fat Boy Slim in Europe, and has toured the United States as part of the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival, and appeared at Alicia Keys’ Keep a Child Alive Black Ball 2010 in London.

The video was shot in Kentish town studios and feature many of the UK’s well known faces, so go check it out and support where you can. We might all be celebrating at copious parties with unlimited amounts of festivefun but there are fellow brothers and sisters that need minimal time and effort from us this season. Visit the website www.we-want-peace.com. Its crucial that we focus on prevention….if we knew the haitio disaster was going to happen we’d do everything in our power to stop it-right?. Happy holidays!

JAMINE WITH ‘JAMAICAN SNOWMAN‘-KAT’

So the countdown begins-it’s a week until Jesus birthday!

This week I’ve had to run around doing chore after chore, I’ve been interspersing fabulous and basic. FABULOUS=I’ve been juggling a few different staff parties- trying to appease various bosses when I cant attend every function because they all clash (but the ITV party was definitely the best!). BASIC=my library books had to be returned –oh yes-I STILL belong to the local library. My mum got be interested in books very early on and its always a treat so I buy books I want to keep but I also regularly borrow books-what a luxury!.  FABULOUS=On Monday night I popped into ringtone/luxury goods guru Alexander Amosu’s party, the day before we were at a friends and family Christmas drinks at Paul H-(hip hop photographer of this generation) home, FABULOUS=then we had our girly Christmas dinner at skylon at the royal festival hall- brilliant views, average food. BASIC=

Then I made my 6 month regular dental appointment – good healthy, strong teeth are one of life’s essentials-after all who wants dentures when they hit old age-yuk,not me! FABULOUS=then fresh breathed I ran up to a studio in Kentish town to join music artist Emanuel jal to feature in his video shoot (more on that next week!).

I was most excited about going to see 90’s ladies perform at the 02. First up were girl band SWV  (Sisters with voices) the original line up-  Coko, Le-lee and Taj. They were cool, fly, fresh and had bundles of attitude back in the day with hit after hit so I was not missing the original trio doing their thing. They looked beautiful, sounded as good if not stronger than in their hey day and really rocked the venue. Hundreds of fans looked ecstatic and sang along word for word to hits like ‘Weak, I’m so into you, you’re the one and more’.

The headlining act on the night was one time bad boy artist and former wifey of the Notorious B.I.G-Faith. I must confess when I first heard that Faith was headlining over SWV I did a double take!? After all Faith has a gorgeous voice but SWV had all the hits. Oh well, I was open to the show as SWV had kicked it off so strongly. I had faith but alas it wasn’t enough. Faith doesn’t have immediate hits that spring to mind but has always been an amazing performer. Her vocals sounded strong but her heart just wasn’t into it. Her stage presence and organisation was bad and she continually went off for breaks and blaming her band for putting on the wrong backing track versions and so on. She was disappointing.

I finished the week off by indulging my child side and going to panto at Hackney Empire. Did I really? Oh yes I did!! Former MTV BASE and CHOICEFM host Kat was playing the snowman in Jack and the Beanstalk. Yes you read correctly. There’s a snowman in Jack and the Beanstalk. I haven’t been to a panto for years so didn’t realise there’s the main story as we know it, and then there are the ‘other characters’. I adore the Hackney Empire. So many great shows, talent and memories from watching the stage as a kid at the 291 Club to modern day where I’ve stood on it a few times myself. The cast for the panto were all very well rehearsed and professional. Kat was hilarious as the Jamaican snowman with his patois accent and white afro wig!.The star of the show was undoubtedly the panto dame who had us all roaring. The sets were pretty breath taking for a non-West End theatre but it was the emergence of the giant that was most impressive. A real giant. Huge .ginormous. humungous. There weren’t many men in his costume. Nor did he look mechanically operated. I was fascinated with how they achieved that. The story line was both entertaining and amusing to very young kids as well as the odd adult humour gag chucked in every now and again. If you’re looking for a traditional panto with an urban flavour (the occasional street slanguage phrase and soca track thrown in) then take the family and friends to see this!

This next week’s full of festive activities. First on my list is the Ultimate Boogie Nights show at O2 where Sugarhill Gang and Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King are performing and then it’s on to my mate Idris Elba’s (Stringer Bell in The Wire) London Christmas party before I head off to be with my Christmas family.

At this time lets not forget that whilst life is about being the best human being we can be and having fun is essential- life has light and shade and whilst some are laughing others are crying. Many people around us wont be full of Christmas cheer due to their personal circumstances whether they are incarcerated (I see you and read all your letters-thank you!), lost a loved one (I know many of you have recently), and this year will be their first alone without them, financial woes due to redundancies and so on (its affecting us all!), illness with loved ones (always within our circle) , poverty, aged folk and so on. At this time lets show seasonal good will and spirit which has gone down the pan in recent years and do just 1 good deed for another fellow human being that will be grateful for that chat over a cup of tea, a goody bag full of cakes and fruit, a kind letter or phone call or a grocery shop for someone that cant get around easily. I’m off to do the big shop for my dads retirement home and help them put decorations up and will then pop into friends for tea and cake- quality time is worth much more than material gifts so this season give someone yours.

JASMINE WITH PR MAVEN VANESSA AMADI AND ESTELLE

I’ve spent hours this week trying to explain to young people that nothing comes without hard work. So many young people reach out to me for opportunities and expect instant reward and fabulosity. Life doesn’t work like that. I receive e-mails from students that are professional therefore I put them on and give chances where I see them. I also get texts and e mails from randoms that I would never bother replying to. They say things that are unprofessional and over familiar. For example this week. ‘’Whattup Jasmine. I wanna do a job like yours so I need to do work experience with you, can you call me on this number and let me know when I can come to a party with you and see what’s what’’. Hilarious!.

Readers, after my school exams, a levels and university degree I taught dance and aerobics for years whilst juggling my runner job at a TV company where I did gruelling night shifts photocopying, driving, collecting meals and drinks before being the opportunity to prove myself as a floor assistant on a morning TV breakfast show. Thereafter I have done a variety of presenting, producing, directing, scripting editing jobs at a number of TV companies that involve long hard hours of work and constant preparation. The harder I work the more gets offered to me and the luckier I get with my social life being blessed too. Nothing comes easy. All good things do not come to those who wait but to those who work. Excuse my rant but often we can’t believe the slackness we see professionally.

This week when not juggling writing and work commitments, I had a good old laugh at comedian Kojo’s Comedy Fun House as he gave me a table at Sound Bar. Next it was a sumptuous dinner with Adidas head celeb honcho Paola Lucktung, before trekking up to Hackney to see my friend ,one time presenter and dance partner Kat in Jack And The Beanstalk. I ended the week going to a private party thrown by party man about town Tim Wade for his mate Will I Am and the Black Eyed Peas at nightclub Cirque.

My West London sister Estelle flew into town for one night only (as your average superstar diva does), for a show at Hammersmith Apollo with John Legend and The Roots, we had post show dinner at Almada- a restaurant so stush that there’s no sign outside, it looks like a private home in Mayfair and you need a password to get in. I guess this is how the people that move in high circles stay amongst their own dahhlings. Estelle as usual looked classic yet fly in that unique way that only she does and treated her sisters and friends to dinner and some very dangerous looking red shots she fondly called ‘’red snappers’’ that were bourbon and cranberry juice. We debated the usual: music acts, boy friends and fashion before shoving her onto her plane back to her New York home.

After that I had to organise a Sunday afternoon bowling session for 30 people where we took over the lanes and screamed and shouted lots. I had a non-strike game which had me mortified so I blamed it on the 4 year old daughter of a friend that ‘’had been taking my turn’’. Cringe. I hate losing, at anything.

Straight afterwards we attended the comedy roast show at Shepherds Bush Empire where ex Eastenders actor Mohammed George aka Gus the road sweeper was the nights victim. Comedy Roasts feature a panel of comics all lining up one after another to cuss and embarrass their subject. As you can imagine Mohammed was an easy target and whilst I was anticipating chortling at his discomfort-which I did-I actually warmed to him after the show. The comics firing Gus were MTV BASE’ Kojo, BBC impressionist and sketch writer Jason Lewis, Baba Tunde, Kane Brown, female Felicity Ethnic, white comic Kevin J and host Richard Blackwood. Part one of the show saw the comics all do a quick stand up set and part two was when they all went in on Gus. Relative newcomer Kane Brown was up first and in all honesty-not that funny, a little awkward and stilted, next was Baba Tunde who was hilarious as was Jason Lewis who wasn’t just funny but cutting and original too. Jason cussed his fellow comics too which started a whole car crash of bitching between them all. Jason accused Kojo of being a joke stealer, Kojo accused Jason of being a nobody, Jason cussed Richards presenter to music transition, actually EVERYONE cussed Richards music career, and part in a recent theatre show and it doesn’t help that he’s now going to be playing Donkey in the West End musical of Shrek. Baba tunde and Jason were the strongest having the audience rolling in their seats with very well written, original, side splitting material. All in all the comics cussed each other more abusively than they did Gus- shake my head!Truly an amazing night of entertainment!

JASMINE WITH CHANNEL 4 HEAD OF DIVERSITY OONA KING AND REPORTER RAGEH OMAAR

Then it was time for THE ANNUAL CULTURAL DIVERSITY NETWORK AWARDS 2010. It’s the second one ever. Last year was hosted by Alan Carr at Channel 4 headquarters, this weeks was hosted by Gok Wan at the Royal Opera House. Apparently Channel 4 diversity officer Oona King (who was wearing a turquoise Indian salwar kameez on the night) pulled some big strings to get the venue, which was beautiful. The CDN Network is made up of all the major TV broadcasters and for the past 2 years has been looked after by Channel 4 who on this night passed the baton to the BBC who will run the ship for the next couple of years. Gok Wan wasn’t as raw and fresh as Alan last year who had us all rolling with his freestyle political incorrectness. The 3-course dinner was interspersed with the awards, which included most ground-breaking programme (awarded to My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding), breakthrough production talent (awarded to Tamanna Rahman) and company of the year (awarded to Bwark Productions). The dinner menu was simple but fresh and tasty- mint and goats cheese salad, sun blushed tomato stuffed chicken and a rhubarb parfait finished off with coffees.

I caught up with the delightful ITV News presenter Charlene White who looked gorgeous in a classy red dress, T4 presenter Rick Edwards who looked dashing in his whistle and flute, actor Omid Dgalili and presenter Anita Rani presented awards alongside news correspondents Krishnan Guru Murphy and Rageh Omaar. Both these men astound me with their articulate and concise news reporting skills-I was honoured to be in their company.

Lenny Henry also presented an award getting it wrong with his misinformed jokes again. Something about the Royal Opera House having not ever seen so many black faces. He clearly isn’t aware that loads of urban music, break-dance shows and similar events take place there and have been for many years that attract numerous black people. Clearly most of us have moved ahead leaving him stuck in his eighties joke world. Double cringe. The night was extremely inspiring and its heartening to note that there is a huge group of talented people out there in the media whop like me feel very passionately about bringing a diverse group of people into TV that wouldn’t usually have an opportunity to join this world. If you’re looking to get into TV and have found it difficult thus far you might want to look into the Cultural Diversity Network-I cant recommend it enough as a proactive organisation that’s helping change the face of media as I know it.

JASMINE WITH CHUCK D AND FLAVA FLAV

Okay don’t panic but its nearly that time of year where nuff money must get spent, gifts must be pondered, bought and wrapped, more layers must be worn, and excitement must be planned to within an inch of our lives! I’m exhausted just thinking about it! This weeks been full of scripting, writing columns, cooking for dinner parties and kicking orange autumn leaves around outside. I know, I’m a sucker and most appreciative for the wonders that surround us daily that god has bestowed on us. And I am totally sober writing this too!. Its true. I love life!

I did have some fun moments though- work is just something I do in between fun- one of these fun moments including a private invitation and audience with the legends that are Public Enemy! Chuck D and Flava Flav held a very intimate gathering of family and friends in Shoreditch in an underground basement where they talked to us about their current lives, the past and then finished by performing all their hits to us! It was surreal and a once in a lifetime experience. I wasn’t a huge public enemy fan at school as my then boyfriend played them 24-7 and quoted lines at me in his very hardcore pro black manner. But now years later I TOTALLY appreciated their intellect and songs. Twins Sarah and Sally from BLAG magazine had organised the night after doing the bands publicity for the past 12 years- they’re also known for throwing parties and DJ’ing for acts like Lupe Fiasco, Red Hot Chili Peppers and James Brown to DJing for Pharrell and Nigo and N*E*R*D to name a few. Clearly the BLAG mag twins and Public Enemy are the best of mates apparent by the warm banter between them all on the night. Sarah told me that on this short trip they ‘’ thought it would be fun to tackle it completely differently, no press releases, no junkets, just getting a great group of people in one room for a memorable experience – to meet P.E, hear all about them directly with a Q&A and a secret performance’’. Guests included press, radio, TV, DJs, UK talent, influencers and the idea was to give people an experience they’d want to talk about afterwards and we did!. Its also very clear that Chuck and Flav love to meet people! They spoke to us first with chuck leading in his charismatic manner whilst Flav as usual provided the perfect sidekick with his extrovert crazy self.

Chuck said the early years of hip-hop were memorable because ‘’We were happy to be travelling the globe- we were amazed that fans just turned up’’. Chuck added that he was pleased so many media had attended the evening as ‘‘its Journalists job to report about real hip-hop as well as new stuff’’.
Chuck revealed ‘’There’s a standard in this hip-hop game we continue to represent and we’re gonna show people in Africa this month what its about when we go out to Nigeria for the MAMAs- MTV AFRICA MUSIC AWARDS’’. Chuck and Flav reiterated that they didn’t believe in needing passports to travel across the planet as the earth belonged to us all and that border controls and ‘’ Governments split people up-cultures bring people together’’. Speaking about young people, hip-hop and entertainment now as to compared back in the day chuck stated ‘’
These days drugs liquor and alcohol are the stars of the show cos the audience can’t rely on the talent onstage to be entertaining anymore so they have to rely on those extras to ensure they have a good time’’. I couldn’t believe he said that as that’s what I ALWAYS say! .

Regarding reality shows chuck insisted Flav couldn’t be put in the same category for his ‘’Flava of love’’ show as your average reality star because ‘’Flava flav has a real background and talent. I don’t know what the hell Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian do except just be’’. Flav spoke on wanting to get back home ASAP now as he’d been on the road a while and ‘’needs sun as he’s getting lighter!’’.

Chuck also stated his thoughts on expanding ones mind ‘‘unless you travel and leave your block you won’t move forwards’’.

Chuck added that he alone has filled 3 passports from his travel. Unlike many of the younger acts these days chuck understands the equal importance that press and media play in an acts career ‘’ We gotta come back with good music to please you the DJ and journo’’. Well noted sir-well noted!.

Chuck also revealed “I’m the only one in the collective that doesn’t play a musical instrument-i can’t even play the state lottery, on the other hand Flav plays 15 instruments-keys ,drums, piano, trombone, French horn, cello, tuba and more!’’. Flav smiled humbly but added ‘’but I don’t know how to read music, I play by ear’’.

Not threatened by new younger artists Chuck confirmed ‘’There’s a certain language you use to reach the adults and different lingo to reach the kids so we don’t try to emulate the new acts. Rhyming now is so elementary with 30 year olds rhyming like a 12 year old’’.
When pushed though the boys didn’t comment on names just exchanged knowing looks. We could all guess the acts they were referring to.

When someone asked why years ago Public Enemy expanded the DJ, mic and turntables set to include a live band instead of keeping the rap art form raw chuck defended his moves explaining ‘’we chose to add live instruments cos it became very limiting- just a raw mic was punk like but we needed to move on and couldn’t have done that without instruments’’. Chuck recalled that when he suggested that the act include live music Flava Flav was suspicious and unenthusiastic recalling ‘’Flav was the same, he asked me ” what u bringing these band motherf****** around for!”  Chuck recalls meeting Flav in the studio for the first time years ago recalling “he had a black geri curl, I said you can’t smoke in here!’’.  Flav laughed  “I’m grateful for a lot that chucks father taught me, my crew are best in the world, I wouldn’t trade them for anything’’. Then Flav took over with his excitable self telling us at length about ALL his other current and hypothetical new projects like “La Flav spirits” with a variety of flavours like cherry, berry ,olive ,sweet tea, bubble gum and more. I also have La Flav cognac ,also Chateau La Flav wine, also a couple of movies, and I’ve just finished doing voice overs for an American cartoon “Yahoo and friends”
, and I have a new Flava Flav cartoon, I’m also launching a line of Flava sharkskin wear…….’’. At this point we wrapped it up and let the legendary twosome perform their greatest hits for us during which they sounded as fresh and exactly as they did years ago on wax-it was breath taking! Then as we clutched at them for photos, shout outs and more they managed vto escape for their gig the same night at the 02 where they proved to me beyond a doubt that whilst I have the utmost respect and champion all the new young British acts that are doing so well right now, they really cant be tested against the live presence and articulate skills that the old skool acts that week showed me. The manic, passionate energy and vibe of Red and Meth, the untouchable intellect of KRS-1, then finished up with the iconic hits of Public Enemy. It was no competition. Old skool wins!.

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 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, 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 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!.

I’ve worked with practically every music act from the urban scene internationally and nationally over the past 15 years. The biggest most successful acts are always the best mannered and humble and work extremely hard to get where they are.
The most obnoxious and difficult are always new acts that assume they’re bigger than they are.
A few years ago an artist called Mario stayed at Number 1 in the charts for weeks and weeks with a hit song called ‘’Let me love you’’. The song was so catchy it was ridiculous (or as the Yanks said ‘’bananas’’) . The Def Jam team kept telling me about the song writer. A guy called Ne-Yo. A few weeks later the industry buzz was that this song writer Ne-Yo would be following in Kanye and Timbalands footsteps and making the move from behind the hit songs to in front of the hits. Ne-Yo arrived and he gave us hit after hit after hit. His music is always in the charts globally whether it’s him singing or one of his music superstar mates.
Recently ITV have commissioned a new music show and its really one that stands out in a league of its own and gives the music lover and fan the best of both worlds. Its called ONE NIGHT STAND and each one hour show focus’ on a different act and see’s them doing an hour long set of their music to an intimate audience. This footage is inter-cut with access- all- areas diary style backstage footage-the ultimate buzz for any fan.
The first series of ITV’s ONE NIGHT STAND shows special’s on Scissor Sisters, Pixie Lott and the incomparable Ne-Yo.
Ne-Yo flew into Heathrow on his jet one very early morning where we met him and dragged him straight to our studio where all day long he with his 7 dancers, choreographer, stage team, band and management worked, sound checked, camera checked and did pieces to camera all day long without complaining or looking tired once.
He greeted everyone with the most polite manners and was an absolute star from the moment his plane touched down until he flew back out again. His tour manager Ronnie Stephenson had promised me he was a robot at work and never stopped and he wasn’t wrong. As soon as Ne-Yo jumped into his car from the airport to the studio he announced ‘’I love coming over here, love the UK I love British People, I love England, there’s just a vibe here that you really can’t find anywhere else here on the planet. . I’m really big on things that make a place unique, that make a place genuine and I think that’s the vibe that London has. That’s the vibe that British people have. You can literally not find it anywhere else. Its the weather to the accent to style of dresses, its genuine and I love that’’.
Ne-Yo’s attitude is still on that ‘I cant believe this is my life’ high. It’s a joy to see someone so ampt about how blessed they are. He agreed ‘’I never really fathomed what my music would do nationally when I first started, my biggest concern when I first started was trying to get my music on the radio anywhere; you know in the neighbourhood that I lived in, that was how small my thinking was, who’d have ever known that 6 years later I would be on the other side of the Ocean. So it’s a truly beautiful thing’’.
The thing I love about Ne-Yo is that he never courts the press like so many other music acts we see daily flaunting themselves at Movida and other dubious desperate spots. He takes over the charts; his bank balance is phat and he quietly and surely does his thing with an easy grace. He admits that Europe and the UK have been an influence on his style too as he talks about his hit ‘’Closer’’. ‘‘My favorite song to play out here has got to be ‘Closer’ ,it was inspired by my time here and the people appreciate that song so much more because the people now they were the inspiration that brought that song to life. Closer’ came to be after spending allot of time over here in the UK and just seeing the energy of dance music and me just trying to my R&B interpretation of it really’’.
His creative director and choreographer Jamaica put him through his paces onstage during the day time and at the side of stage Ne-Yo confessed to me ‘’this is one of things people don’t really know about me…I’m really not that good of a dancer…i can’t believe I’m about to tell ya’ll this right now but really if you’re paying attention I have about 5 go to signature moves ,i just mix them up so that if youre not really paying attention you don’t really catch it’’.
Ne-Yo has written hits for many of his friends in music including Beyonce, Britney, Jennifer Hudson, Whitney and many many more. For his ITV spot he went left field and asked someone unexpected to join him onstage. He revealed ‘’My special guest today that I have invited to sing with me and help me out with the duet in Hate that I love you…(Rhianna was unavailable) is the lovely miss Kimberly Walsh from the group Girls Aloud. I met her not too long ago actually it was one of the last times I was here; and we just hit it off –she’s really cool, I asked her to do this and she said yeah without a doubt and she sounds very good for the part if I do say so myself. So all we needed was a couple seconds to get on stage and figure out moments we were gonna create and that’s what’s going to happen tonight’’.
Before Ne-Yo and his crew hit the stage they bowed their heads for a prayer and then like an SAS team that has walked the path many times they went into the slickest musical showcase. The set list included every big Ne-Yo hit-and there were a lot!
Ne-Yo even gave one of his fans a one in a million experience on the show- you’ll have to watch to see how.
Aside from praying before the entourage hit the stage they tucked into what I can only call a mountain of Nando’s chicken, mash and sweetcorn. Honestly no word of a lie, I went like Oliver from Oliver Twist and begged the record label head of TV for a piece of chicken. (I’m still ghetto like that!). And all this Nando’s even though there was also personal catering for Ne-Yo onsite! Ah the life of a star on Universal Records!
When we were just hanging out backstage Ne-Yo confessed he wished he hadn’t given away his first hit for Mario….’’’Let me love you’’ at the time that i wrote it i wasn’t trying to be an artist, I was completely content with just being a song writer but I think back on that song and I look back and think had I been trying to be an artist at the time that’s definitely one I would of held on to, another one that comes to mind is Beyonce ‘irreplaceable’ . Now, I initially wrote that song for me but that song taught me a really valuable lesson about lyrical content and the way its perceived in regards to gender. That exact same song with exact same lyrics that is sung by a man comes across a little different than it does being sung by a woman, so when Beyonce sings it its empowering and its uplifting to women and its like girl power and all of that and if a man sings it comes across kind of brash, mean and insensitive so I made that decision on my own and I decided to give that to a nice strong woman who pulled it off.
Ne-Yo then pulled off an amazing live show where his fans had the night of their lives and even all the rock music lovers on the tv crew that usually hate what they call ‘’urban music’’ were converted. Now that’s the sign of a true superstar! He ended the night by telling me ‘’this is everything I ever hoped for and more I really could not have fathomed this when you know sitting in my room singing into a broom handle. I feel blessed I wake up every morning and I thank god and my fans. God and my fans -every single one of you!’’.
ONE NIGHT STAND with NE-YO transmits on ITV on December 8th 2010.

A fortnight ago an e-mail pinged into my blackberry that had me all excitable. One third of Destiny’s Child and solo star in her own right the lovely  Michelle Williams  had invited me as her special guest to watch her do her thing on strictly come dancing!. I thought about it for all of 5 seconds before hitting her straight back with my RSVP. I felt like I’d won the golden ticket in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory! During the week at work in the ITV building when people were discussing their weekend plans they were open mouthed with shocked impressiveness when I announced I was going to watch SCD. Apparently the tickets are like gold dust!. So we rocked up to the BBC in white city-love that place- a British institution! Nadine Scott from Michelle’s team met us and escorted us to the bar where we met other production guests before being led into the studio. Well that was a shock. I should know better working in TV that all studios look much bigger on telly than in reality. The vast ballroom space that looks humungous on screen was actually much smaller than imagined. We took our seats in the ‘’yellow production guest’’ area. I should have known that our very specific seat numbers would mean something more down the line.
Firstly came the warm up man who was as expected very entertaining, gave us bits of information about the night, the presenters and the usual told before a few times jokes. Then all the talent were introduced one by one. The judges came on. My mate said ‘’do you think Alesha will spot us in the middle of all these guests?’’. No way I responded, she’ll be too focused on her job. Well, didn’t lovely Alesha spot us minutes later and waved hello-bless her.
Next came my mum’s long time crush-Mr Bruce Forsyth. He is such a sweetie and what a pro. After all these years he’s as slick as if he were still a 30-year old- and his face still looks suspiciously youthful too. I know his jokes are meant to be awful, and they were but like your old granddad at the family function you find him so endearing.
Thereafter Tess Daly tottered on in her never-seen-without-vertiginous heels. As my mate drooled over her outfit and shoes (that’s what he said anyway), I elbowed him hard in the ribs.
Once the dance couples began I was mesmerised. I mean honestly- they were all so impressive. Old Anne Widdecombe was clearly cussing her partner all the way through the show much to all of our amusement, Eastenders Jack/ Scott Maslen was astonishingly good and as cute in real life as on screen and was really giving it some, comedienne Pamela Stephenson was very saucy and had all the mens attention with her ever so raunchy wiggling , former Eastenders actress Kara Tointon looked amazing in a white Grecian dress and danced with grace. My mate got all excited as former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton came on but alas peter wasn’t as good with his feet as he was with his hands and was more comedy than hotshot. My mate Goldie did his thing wearing a gold waistcoat and matching hat. Felicity Kendall still looked so pretty and sophisticated years down the line after seeing her in the good years but my male mate was more captivated by Paul Daniels missus Debbie McGee. Apparently loads of guys used to have a thing for her cos ‘’she used to be a sort’’?
For some reason rugby player and Charlotte Church’s ex Gavin Hensen seemed to evoke much hatred from the males in the audience. Admittedly he and his partner did look like the chav king and queen like they’d just stepped out of Movida nightclub but I’m guessing that’s the look they were going for. Actor Jimi Mistry’s mum was sitting next to us and was so proud her hands were clapping harder than ever. Even though she’s getting on a bit now actress and notorious rock star wifey Patsy Kensit looked hot and showed she still has that certain je ne se qua, whilst coronation street actress Tina O Brien was as northern off screen as she is on.  When Michelle did her turn we were so nervous for her but she danced so daintily like a ballerina and did us proud! As they went to the judges score for her the crowd camera suddenly turned on me and whereas I had been grimacing at the judges and giving them my ‘’bad- gal- you- don’t- wanna- mess- with- my- girl- Michelle’’ look, I rapidly switched it to what I hoped looked like a pleasant smile.
In the interval we went to meet Michelle off set and hug her tight and congratulate her for working so hard- its no easy feat to learn a different dance weekly and perform it to a nation!. We then went and grabbed dinner and drinks at the BBC bar before returning to the studio to pre-record the results show that was transmitting the following night. Do you know how much will power it took me not to reveal all the results on twitter there and then? It took a huge effort on my part not to spill my guts!. Meanwhile I had placed my bets on going to see the show record again via Goldie who only went and got booted off that night- so its all bets on Michelle now- although I mustn’t be a Bug-a -boo hitting her up for tickets 24-7!.Michelle- Independent Women everywhere are relying on you to Survive so get to Jumpin Jumpin and don’t let the judges tell you to Get on the bus! Be a Soldier but not a Nasty Girl and it will surely be Destiny Fulfilled. Ok. I will stop now. Peace out.

It’s just a few days until this years MOBO Awards and hair salons are over whelmed with demand for appointments, beauty clinics have run out of wax, nail parlours are heaving with last minute requests and designers are being wooed for fabulous garms just hours before the big night. And this is just for myself and MOBO Awards CEO Kanya King!. Only kidding folks but honestly its all go-go-go up at MOBO towers!.
When I’m not at ITV towers editing my new music special ONE NIGHT STAND, I’m legging it up to the MOBO office to work on last minute plans for this years show.
So far-it’s looking to be a stone groove, sure-fire winner.
Alesha Dixon and Reggie Yates are hosting together, N Dubz, JLS, Professor Green and many other names you’d expect will be performing. I on the other hand have been just as entertained by the pre-show behind the scenes antics as I will be by the show. In fact-maybe perhaps even more so!. I have all the UK and international acts riders. Oh if only I could reveal the details and hadn’t signed that confidentiality agreement!
Certain acts have demanded the biggest dressing rooms, one act has demanded nearly 40 international flights for their entourage, one urban celeb couple cant bear to be apart for the evening so one half of the couple is performing whilst the other is presenting an award! It’s all very amusing. Showbiz. You gotta love it!.
On the night there are going to be cocktails named after the artists. I’m thinking perhaps a Tinie Tempini, a JLS Julep, a long slow Stryder, a Dubmopolitan, a black urban, a white lady, a Cruz colada, or maybe even a Diva Dotiwala!
2 acts are flying into Liverpool in the last 24 hours, which is worrying-I wonder if they’ll make it? It only takes one international connection to be late and that’s a whole performance up the creek!
Last year at the MOBO Awards in Glasgow all the traffic lights in town were switched to green for speedy arrival of guests and no traffic. Not sure if the city of Liverpool are doing the same this year. To ensure punctual arrival I might jet up the Mersey River myself by speedboat-that might be a sure-fire way of avoiding the crazy road block traffic that will be present. Especially if JLS pull a stunt like last year and all arrive in one formula 1 style car each up to the red carpet causing mayhem.
I love that the show starts at 10 past 8 on October 20th 2010. So that’s 20.10, 20.10. 20.10. A date not to be forgotten on its 15th year anniversary!
I can’t wait to see the cream of our scene on the night. The excitement backstage will be pandemonium and I need to sort out a frock ASAP!.

Boris Johnson held a black history month soiree at City Hall where around 120 of us were invited and the evening was to highlight the amazing achievements of Africa and Africans globally were highlighted. Except it was a bit flat. There was no smell of African food, no sign of African décor or art, no sound of African music or drumming, nothing that portrayed love of all things African had gone into consideration when planning the evening. The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A session but ultimately although the event planners meant well in putting this night on it lacked spirit and was a little flat.

Next Roc Nation royalty Rihanna and Kanye West flew into town to play their new albums to us. RiRi held her function at uber trendy bar Sketch in Conduit Street whilst Kanye of course upped the ante by throwing a viewing of his new film ‘’Runaway’’ at-BAFTA- of course!.
Rihanna’s soiree was full by 7pm –doors opened at 6.30pm, she was expectedly late and arrived around 8.30pm. Waiting staff were passing around trays of mini burgers and hot dogs as well as drinks galore. There may be a recession but Universal Music isn’t feeling it!  Looking uber tall like the Amazonian warrior she is in heels, short dress and bright red most recent beehive hair style she looked striking. The evening was attended by a very un-urban crowd, probably cos Rihanna now transcends genres and is a straight pop star. The session was hosted by CapitalFM radio DJ and showbiz reporter Kevin Hughes AKA the pop prince who made her feel at ease and smoothly went from track to track whilst interviewing her onstage. The new music sounds like typical Rihanna hits, a few up tempos, a couple of ballads, a few collaborations with Drake and others. The blueprint for her hits hasn’t changed and why should it. You know what they say ‘’if it ain’t broke….’’. The songs were played with a casual format interview in between Kevin and  Rihanna and once the 5 tracks were played for us the Q&A session was opened up to the floor. Some journo’s questions are so cringe-some and inappropriate I wonder whether they really just want a 2-minute attention session as opposed to asking an interesting question. Luckily for them Rihanna is most dignified and answers her questions with grace unlike her label mate Kanye West who would usually shoot down a wack question just with a withering look.

The following evening Kanye’s night was a late one at BAFTA in Piccadilly where a very cool guest list of industry movers and shakers were in attendance. Everyone attended to view Kanye’s 45 minute long film titled ‘’Runaway’’. Not many artists could get a packed room out this late on a school night and it showed how much the industry respects and values Kanye. We were ushered up to a champagne reception where I mingled with Universal Music big wigs Matt Voss and Helena McGeough as well as Kanye’s right hand man Mr Don C, boxer David Haye (in his trademark woolly beenie hat) and reality show star Alexandra Burke (in very pip Chrissy Lou spiked boots!). The night began late – 10.45pm. Kanye bounded onstage with no introduction and introduced the movie with a long monologue about his inspiration for the work being his dreams, his early days at art and fashion school, and his desire to clash all 3 art genres. I loved the fact that he’s so relaxed, confident and real and after chatting casually to the audience he requested the technician press play on the movie. As the film started he sat just behind me with his mates who included Mr Hudson and announced to all ‘’ its still rough!’’. We all laughed. The film started and the first couple of seconds didn’t play the music so he demanded ‘’sound!’’. Immediately there was sound. We all laughed.
I wanted to discuss parts during the film with my mate but with Mr West sat right behind me I was paranoid he would shout and point me out so I sat like an obedient school kid. The movie was half narrative, half abstract and seemed to hold a deep message about different kinds of people, worlds and judgements. It see’s Kanye partnered up romantically with a ‘’bird lady’’ and how the outside publics remarks affect him and his happiness. If I’m honest, I felt a little nervous that I’d misinterpret it or not see the message. I am in fact known to be a movie imbecile. Post film it was nearly midnight and even though there was a mad scramble for the exit as guests attempted to catch the last train home, Kanye promised he would stay and answer all questions for the remaining guests -and he did. For nearly 2 hours! I didn’t want to be rude and leave, also I value his opinions and find him entertaining so I stayed, missed all transport home and forked out £40 for a cab home. It was a once in a lifetime moment to be able to spend so much quality time with an act as eloquent as Kanye-I hope all in the room appreciated it-it doesn’t happen often. In retrospect I think Kanye’s biggest flaw is that he wants people to understand him and always feels he needs to explain himself. He feels misunderstood. He doesn’t need to feel this way. He has more than proved himself musically as well as opening up much of the hip hop community around the world to new sounds, fashion, art and encouraging debate and thought. Kanye- you are a first class G!.

For the past couple of years Jay Z’s latest record label RocNation has generated much excitement by signing up new acts including London’s very own Rita Ora who shot her video just this past fortnight and no doubt will be a name to be reckoned with very soon.
But before that a 17 year old young lady named Alexis Jordan has had the music scene excited in recent months with her very cute, extremely young looks and undeniable vocal talent. Like a RocNation version of Britney Spears but with class, Alexis is bubbly, petite and confident beyond her years.
Her showcase in London on the same night as a Mobo Awards launch party had the industry torn as which to attend and many ensured they made both.
Her label head Jay Z swears by her superstar qualities, and his wifey miss Beyonce complimented her on her cover of ‘Halo’. How much more star co-signing is needed. Clearly this isn’t the rule and there are exceptions. After all who recalls the massive who-ha when the Princess of the Roc Tierra Marie was catapulted onto the scene? Except she never really was. Simultaneously a newcomer called Rihanna also put out a couple of singles on the same label but without the fanfare that was afforded Tierra Marie. A few years on Rihanna is a bonifide a list celeb snapped around the globe and who knows what happened to Tierra?
Anyhoo-I digress- Alexis Jordan looks like she has all the ingredients for a successful music career in place. Her showcase was packed and had smooth touches like ROCNATION drinks menus and branding.. She looked amazing, she sounded even better sining her single ”happiness’ and she has youth clearly on her side. seemingly like a true lady she also refuses to cuss which i find endearing in the current overpopulated ocean of female celebs that like to outrage with filthy mouths. At the showcase location Studio Valbonne, Alexis told me (whilst she was being fitted into a sexy black basque) that she loves TopShop , has never heard of Primark, is not allowed any boyfriends but saw a picture of Chipmunk and thinks he’s cute and apparently wanted to call him up! (Hope Jigga doesn’t read this!- Chipmunk might become Chipmunk meat!)

In other news, its 2 weeks until the Mobo Awards, have you voted and bought your tickets yet? I voted this week. It was very difficult as there are so many acts I like to champion and support- so I sneakily had my mates vote for my other choices so as not to sleep at night with the music equivalent of ‘’favourite child- parent guilt’’. Mobo Awards founder Kanya King has been working 24-7 this month in preparation and so when she needed a breather and invited me to MP Oona Kings soiree to celebrate her running for labour candidate for London mayor I went along. The night was at a posh pizzeria in the city where a sound system was playing wicked old skool tracks, ladies in white outfits were walking around in Oona-ettes looks and other tastemakers like actor Kwame Kwei-Armah were in the house showing their support. As usual Kwame made a very articulate, touching speech about Oona’s achievements.  Oona looked very elegant in a black frock and higher than high vertiginous heels and the evening was a quiet celebration of someone in our community doing extremely well. Oona took the mic and thanked her guests for their support and we all wished her well. Even though she didn’t win her nomination in the end the fact that she stood up to be counted and continues to be a positive role model in media and politics and spans many industries is a testament to her work ethic and reputation.

Finally lets play guess who?. Guess which international celebrity this week in London ordered over £500 of Nando’s for their team and when the order turned up all wrong had the most disappointed look on their face ever. Nandos really is the food for the modern hip hop generation!.
Guess which male and which female from the UK urban scene has just been dropped by their respective record labels? Can the dream be over?
Guess who the feisty act is that is hosting backstage at the MOBO AWARDS this month? Will they behave? Guess which mangers of 2 superstar uk acts are fighting behind the scenes as their young groups also have a public beef? Finally, guess who had to do a live audition onstage in front of a whole TV crew to see if they were good enough to sing on a national music TV show this week? Luckily they passed with flying colours!

So the manic month that I’ve been dreading all year has finally arrived. I knew months ago that I was spreading myself a little thinly by agreeing to do 5 jobs simultaneously but did that stop me from accepting them all? Oh no. I’m the queen of multi tasking I thought-I can do this. And readers-I can, and I am, but I wont lie, its taken all my organisational and professional skills to stay absolutely focused and on my A game so as not to drop any balls.

Sometimes work takes priority over pleasure and so this week I have forgone a very fabulous moment in la with Mariah (working) that I had been looking forwards to for weeks. But she understands. And I just did my KanyeWestshouldershrug and told myself there will be more fabulous moments.

London town is the place to be right now. In the past few days the Cash money crew threw a party here, Kanye and Rihanna are here, I have spent no less than 12 days filming and editing with Ne Yo, Pixie Lott and the scissor sisters for their ITV music shows ONE NIGHT STAND- (look out for them starting in November).

An event that I produced recently was the 20th year anniversary of The word. For those of you too young to remember, THE WORD was channel 4’s flagship outrageous youth show in the nineties hosted by myself, Dani Behr, Mark Lamarr, Terry Christian, Alan Connor and Michelle Collins. It was the original wild Friday night viewing must filled with stars and public. We had every big iconic music star including nirvana, Mary J Blige,  MC Hammer, Janet Jackson,  Cypress Hill, Oasis, En Vogue, Salt & Pepa, I even did a dance duet with Alliyah RIP. We had every Hollywood icon ever from Arnie, to Sylvester, to Sharon Stone, to Halle Berry, to Sean Penn, to Billy Zane, I even did a ballet duet with Jean Claude Van Damme opposite the Eiffel Tower!. We offered TV viewers the original 15 minutes of fame when they did ‘’anything to be on TV’’ in a segment called The Hopefuls where Joe Bloggs from down the road would sit in a bath of cow dung, poke skewers through his face, pull a wheelbarrow by his man parts, drink a pint of his own vomit, snog a granny, and so on. Honestly watching back the old shows I was in stitches at the thought that this content was EVER ALLOWED TO AIR. In today’s OFCOM dominated world that could never happen now. We threw a party for every staff member and presenter that ever worked on the show and had 2 live bands perform on the night. Every staffer that began with TV genius’  Charlie Parsons, Waheed Ali and Bob Geldof at their TV company Planet 24 became ‘’someone’’. Band booker Jo Wiley is now a DJ, and nearly everyone else runs their own successful TV company. Between the guests in that room on the night, the power players of all British TV, print press, radio and celebrity were in attendance. So whilst I should’ve been a nervous wreck, I was actually amped at the challenge of proving to them that years down the line I had graduated from my runner/presenter days!.

Next I was invited to An audience with Angie le mar at the Barbican Theatre which is a stunning, very modern, Manhattan esque venue. Angie performed in front of a celeb audience which included actors Chucky Venice, Jason Barret, Michelle Gayle and many others. The show was in word amazing. A really professional, very diverse, fun evening. Angie is a very charismatic, gifted comedian with unique material and an abundance of hilarious characteristics. The audience which was full to the rafters were roaring from start to finish.

Before the show began I rummaged around in my handbag for money at the bar to buy a drink and lo and behold pulled out a pattie that had been in there all day that I’d taken to work for lunch and then forgotten to eat. About to throw it away a giant hand reached down and grabbed it stating ‘’never throw away a pattie’’ and with that my mate Richie popped it safely into his jacket pocket and proceeded to embarrass me all night by asking the theatre ushers if there was a microwave he could warm it up in . Shame.

Hilariously at the after party soiree drinks in the restaurant next door a waiter heated it up for him and a table of ladies including Michelle Gayle flocked to the pattie and helped eat it. Hilarity.

I finished my week by attending a party thrown by designers D&G for their good friend model Naomi Campbell –celebrating 25 years of her career.

The bond street store was a sea of flashing, popping light bulbs every few minutes as celebs and friends of Naomi arrived to show their support of her. As we arrived the paparazzi were like crawling ants outside and luckily as I went to take my place in the never-ending queue, the dolce celeb team Ruth and Chandni spotted me and ushered me in straight away. Phew!

Olly Murs was being chased by paps outside with a desperate female grabbed him,hugging and kissing him for the now de-rigor kiss and tell fake story, Inside Alexandra Burke was holding court in a fitting purple ensemble, a gaggle of Naomi-etttes were strutting around the store looking like they just stepped out of a Samuel L Jackson Pulp fiction movie , Sinitta was no doubt spilling a few of her mate Simon Cowells secrets to eager journos wanting to catch a tit bit, , looking lovely as always Jamelia stroke through the crowd with her entourage like a whirlwind, Janice Dickinson apparently so merry hat she was trying to steal t shirts lol ,designers  Wale Adyemi , Romero Bryan and friends were being courted by us common folk for fashionista tips, promoter Mr Play was hustling and conversing , boxer David Haye had most of the ladies eye balls on lock down, model Claudia Schiffer was posing for endless pics. Naomi had designed t shirts for D&G that they were selling at £200 for the Pakistan disaster fund. If they had been around £40 I might have donated some cash but £200 for tee I will never wear seemed a little steep queen Naomi meanwhile seemed oblivious to all the fuss around her and like the calm eye in the midst of a storm was obediently doing press interviews and posing nicely for pics.So all in all, A LISTER after A LISTER, model after model and never ending cocktails. A pretty boring night. LOL.

In a month it will be time for the annual MOBO AWARDS in association with Lebara Mobile. The biggest urban music event in Europe and unlike the show in past years of old where it may have been overrun and dominated by American stars from the black music world, now it’s a new day! Us Brits are the stars of our own scene and the MOBO AWARDs last year proved that point beautifully!.

Last week it was the MOBO AWARDS  launch party at the plush Mayfair hotel where as you can expect, anyone who is anyone in the industry was in attendance. This year I am part of the MOBO team alongside my old mate founder kanya king and so when they asked me to conduct the press room interviews on behalf of MOBO TV. I only had one stipulation ‘’only if I am the first interview that the talent come to’’ I demanded. Kanya laughed. Yep. Nothing changes. At MTV I always insisted to press teams that we would only cover an event if MTV were the first crew on the red carpet too. It’s business-nothing personal.
So there I was on the night having just run across from my full time day time TV job across town arriving to meet my MOBO TV producer Chris who was awaiting me with sheafs of paper that I was told were the all important MOBO nominations for this year-that no one had seen yet! How exciting!

Mobo Awards founder Kanya King turned up in a blood red dress in a number 15 red double decker route master bus with N Dubz as the paparazzi flashed away to capture the moment. Number 15 obviously reflected that this year marks the 15th year anniversary of the show -what an amazing achievement! Until you’ve been in the industry and attempted to organise events and moments its impossible to imagine the struggle, obstacles and tenacity that’s needed to have longevity in this game.

I dragged my 47 bags up to the MOBO suite to get freshened up and no sooner had I had a quick wash than Chris was on the Dotiwala batphone instructing ‘’we need you down here NOW-Chipmunks just arrived!’’. So with no time to pop on a cute outfit or get made up, I sprinted back into the press room where my crew were ready and the manic marathon run of interviewing this years big nominees began.

First up to get the Dotiwala treatment was best UK HIP HOP/ GRIME nominee Akala who was very happy with his nomination as were the whole of the articulate hip-hop fans he was representing.

Roll deep caused excitement on their entrance as they came full crew 8 people deep and told me they were worried about any of their competition as they were in a league of their own. Sexy ladies former Mis-Teeq member Su Elise and artist Egypt were happy to speak to me together. Su Elise reminisced about her history with the MOBO’s where she and her fellow Mis-Teeq ladies took over the stage and awards at the height of their fame. A girl group that no one knew posed and pouted for a minute but quickly moved on as no one knew who they were. There were whispering that they might be wags or page 3 girls so most of the press were pretty sneery about not wanting to speak with them. It was only later that someone mentioned they were a new girl group. Oops.

Actress and singer Preeya Kalidas arrived with her musical partner in rhyme skepta who is nominated for BEST UK HIP-HOP/GRIME and he also revealed he was one of the MOBO tour headliners.
Aggros Santos looked pleased to be on the red carpet especially after his track has dominated the urban radio airwaves most of this summer.

Magician Damian O Brien impressed me with some devilry trickery slight of the hand magic. I also had a nice chat with relative newcomers to the mainstream Devlin and Fugitive. Jazz musician Yolanda Brown and Guvna B were in high spirits as they celebrated Guvna’s best gospel nomination whilst heartthrob of the grime scene-Scorcher was doing his best to bat the ladies off.

My favourite moment was revealing to Tinie Tempah that he was the lead nominee with 4 nominations for best newcomer, best UK act, best song and best video. He was expectedly shocked and delighted. He genuinely had no idea about his nominations and for the rest of the night was beaming from ear to ear.

Comedian Kojo was mingling with his crew backstage and the sweet mannered DJ Ironik and Kanya King were bantering together about the success of the UK scene this year.

MOBO host 2009 and 2010 Mr Reg Yates was on top form and threatened to present part of this years show in a mankini.
One time MTV character Andre Spence was running around grabbing twitpics on behalf on the MOBO twitter page.
After all the interviews the crew and I ran downstairs to the main public lounge where cocktails were flowing, free

Caribbean food courtesy of Cottons restaurant was being munched, a lot of networking (or was it flirting) was going on and Reggie Yates was the master of ceremonies inviting music stars to unveil various category nominations. Chipmunk was as articulate as ever, as was Akala. It was impressive to see how far our perception of cool has come. Just a few years ago music stars tried tom play down their intelligence under the false assumption that being stupid somehow helped their street cred. Acts like Chippy and Akala have really spun this myth around 180 degrees and I thank them for helping the younger generation see the light.

I did have one gripe whilst the nominee announcements were being made though. Annually the attending guests talk all the way through it not paying attention or hearing what’s being announced! Why? If this were a Brits, MTV, Mercury press announcement you wouldn’t be able to hear a pin drop so serious are the journos and talent about hearing what’s being said. In the MOBO room it was so noisy its pretty pointless having Reg and the rest trying to remain professional onstage whilst all around them are ignorant noisy attitudes.

I told Kanya next year to forget the food and drink that makes the guests think they’re here just to party. Open the doors at 7pm. Make the announcements at 7.30pm. Kick everyone out my 8.30pm. Lets see how attentive they are then. Its about manners and respect people. There is plenty of time to socialise afterwards. Can you not give 20 minutes of your attention to the main point of the evening!?. What nonsense!. Ok rant over. Smile. We’ll get there. One day. Yes we can.
Straight afterwards we all piled into the elevator to crash the gifting suite en masse where every artist and celeb in attendance was walking away with free goodies. I spotted the gifters trying to convince vertically challenged KissFM presenter Melvin to try on some stack heels that add inches to your height. Apparently they’re very common in Japan. Not sure if he went for them but he did leave laden down with girly stuff like handbags for the women in his life. Su Elise and Lisa Maffia walked away with GHD tongs and twinkly costume jewellery. Tim Westwood accepted some clothing, N Dubz had enough to need a people carrier to help them home , Donaeo was eyeing up some nice jackets whilst I settled for the coolest looking sneakers by new hot on the block brand cr8tive creation and a pink manicure. This years awards are on October 20th in Liverpool- if the launch party was any indication of how big the awards night will be-I suggest you book tickets, bikes, planes, trains and automobiles now to make it!

I started this week juggling projects for Channel 4, ITV , MOBO and the BBC which even for me is a major feat-im a great multi tasker but even I have limits! I caught up over dinner with lovely BET News anchor woman Sharon Carpenter as well as worked the MOBO LAUNCH press run (more on that next week!)

Late summer always brings about a whirlwind of urban event excitement in the UK. For the past few years urban comedy and young street style comics have really come through and made their presence felt within the inner city youth circuit. One of these that have gone above and beyond just a weekly show, an appearance here and there and a few small venues is Congo’s most famous export- Mr Eddie Kadi!
Last fortnight Eddie actually made history my performing at the 02 Arena. Not one of the small clubs in the 02 Arena, but the main venue where superstar music acts play. The only comic I recall on this level are is Chris Rock. Edie actually had the scene excited months ago when he first announced the gig, then a few days before the show his PR machine went into overdrive as he staged a sit in at the venue and actually slept on site setting off alarm bells and everything when he mistook a door for the toilet!.
Eddie informed me that after he had performed at the Indigo 02 in the past, his team knew they could sell the arena gig. And from the 16,000 capacity Eddie sold 8,000-a great achievement. ITV’s London Tonight picked up on the show as did Channel 5 and thereafter Channel 4 and the Lenny Henry spot.

The week of his show twitter was popping off with celebrities, fans and friends all talking about the show so it was no surprise to then turn up and find a mile radius in all directions around the 02 were gridlocked. I mean really badly. There were cars honking, people excited, girls abandoning cars with heels in their hands running barefoot into the arena, couples arguing in the standstill traffic, billboard lights flashing car parking directions to help people get in, it was like Armageddon!
The neon lights screaming Eddies name were making me panic that I wouldn’t get inside in time and I through all caution to the wind and instructed my mate to pull into the nearest car park. ‘’but that’s £25’’ he glared. ‘’I don’t care-I am not missing eddies start!’’ I spat back. So notes were exchanged with the lip licking parking attendant before we sprinted from the car to the venue. We got to the entrance to find it looking like a scene from carnival with people collecting tickets, mingling and having photos taken in front of the press boards. PR girls were juggling guests and tickets, wannabee celebs were show boating and last minute ticket buying were all blocking up the area. The VIP entrance was full of celeb’s having their pictures taken against the branding board and small TV crews were conducting quick red carpet style interviews.
I picked up my 4 tickets and legged it hell for leather into the venue and DJ Twin B was entertaining the crowd on the decks.
I had great seats a few rows from the front with comedian Kojo and actor/ muscle man Tiny behind me-so the jokes were flying thick and fast between us.
The show began predictable late. We saw a set that resembled Eddies bedroom (bed sheets courtesy of show sponsor Adidas LOL), there was also a living room set up. And when it did start there were audible sound problems and at one stage some visual technical errors too which had me holding my breath in concern for a few minutes but clearly Eddie and his team were back there kicking some serious ass cos once it got going again it was flawless until the end.
Eddie entered the stage in his pyjama’s as if to prepare for his big night changing out of his PJ’s into his slick suit and tie get up.He re emerged in a very well cut, fitted suit and from here on in the show was a blast.

The evening took on the formula of ITV’s ‘’An Audience With’’ by Eddie telling a few personal stories and then picking up on celeb’s in the crowd and focusing his cameras on them to speak with. First up it was lil Tinchy Stryder who had his stunners on all throughout the show-very unnecessary but I understand that artists become very insecure as they get bigger and eye contact with us mere commoners isn’t desired. Tinchy was challenged to speak Ghanaian. Also in the crowd was the ultra articulate Chipmunk who for once sounded shy as Eddie bantered about using ‘’Chip diddy chip’’ as a nursery rhyme. Eddie swore blind to me that none of the acts knew he would be focusing so closely on them!  Kano was teased about his footie career which Eddie stated couldn’t have been very good forcing him into music! And he joked that Kano needed to learn the whole alphabet not just his P’s and Q’s. Mclean meanwhile looked really nervous.
Lethal B laughed hard as Eddie performed his own version of ‘’Pow’’. A running theme through out the show was that Eddie had written most of the artists hit songs and not been repaid for his input.
Next Eddie donned a Dappy-esque hat and N Dubz members Fazer and Tulisa joined him onstage- Dappy was unavailable as he was with family in Greece. Eddie played on the joke that he could be part of the band and take Dappys place with a few well thrown in ‘’Na na nai’s’’. Eddie told me later that they hadn’t rehearsed the set with Fazer and Tulisa which was very good if it was really all free styled.
Eddie also had Nigerian personality ‘’Vocal Slender’’ who appeared on BBC2’s ‘’Welcome to Lagos’, and paid for him to fly him to London…
A lot of celebs had all turned out to support Eddie from Radio 1’s Reg Yates ,Chucky Venice the actor, DJ Abrantee, Su Elise, Billy from Eastenders, footballers, Eastenders actor Rudolf walker and female boxing star Lesley Sackey proving just how liked Eddie is by the scene.
The finale showed 4 times MOBO 2010 nominee Tinnie Tempah who sounded strong and fearless performing his smash hit  ‘’Pass out’’ in his dynamic as ever way.
Eddie revealed post show that his favourite part of the night was performing the medley of comedy songs the most.
Next on this go getters to-do-list he tells me confidently is ‘’Chasing TV, presenting and combining his comedy genius with TV’’. Watch him fly! (but not via AIR KENYA whom he has issues with!-you had to be there LOL!)

August and September are notoriously busy months what with summer parties and events galore. I have been working harder than I ever have in my life this past few months with projects from Channel 4, ITV, MOBO and the BBC so I decided that I deserved at least one night out to let my hair down and shake a leg. This was done at the BBC staff carnival party, which never fails to please. It was a full house by 9pm and people weren’t backward in coming forwards with their soca bottom action and beverages were flowing heavily, luckily not all into my throat. Genesis carnival band ladies were in full costume in the house and entertained us with their pre-carnival jubilation. DJ’s Seanie B and Simply Jus Music sound system had us all two stepping and doing the cameo dance with full screaming and step it up gusto.

The next morning my Godson and his mum popped over early in the morning just in time to polish off all the fresh pancakes I’d just made-much to the held back amused vexation of the boy friend who had assumed he was going to guzzle them all down all by himself. Hilariously the godson returned the following week unannounced after his early morning football game by which point the boy friend was one step ahead of him and had put his batch of pancakes aside in advance!

My girls and I hit the hip-hop karaoke to fuel our never going to be Mariah passions. Even though I’m tone deaf I couldn’t keep off the mic and at one point they all had to sit on me to stop me dominating the set. My bad behaviour didn’t last for long as I had to summon up my best manners for the UK’s number 1 Hip-hop photographer Paul H’s baby son’s christening which was attended by his nearest and dearest which also included the cream of our hip-hop community.
On Saturday night I dragged my West-London-for-life butt down to comedian Eddie Kadi’s one- man show at the 02 Arena and then it was time for the MOBO Nomination Launch Party where anyone who is anyone in the urban music scene was seen. (More on that next week).
Even with all that social butterfly action I still was most excited about Sunday morning when my brand new silver, ‘A Grade washing machine with maximum crease free spins ‘was delivered- a true sign I am getting old.

A young man that’s had the scene buzzing with his presence is Tayo Jarret AKA young MC Scorcher. I love hearing stories of how artists got their names and Scorchers is a cute one. He revealed that he was sitting in a room in the 1990s, playing a football video game, when he made a goal and the computer flashed up the words ‘’that was a scorcher!’’ and from there on in his crew called him a scorcher!.
24 year old scorcher has the industry excited this quarter by getting signed to major record label Geffen- which is a big deal as his stable mates include snoop, Keisha Cole and Nadine Coyle. (Scorcher was recently snoops only support act at his Shepherds Bush gig)  Scorcher decided to sign with them as ‘’they were up on what was going on…they seemed to understand where I was going, when people want to sign you, you have your fears as an artist, but geffens colin Barlow says he likes ‘’’gangsta’’…I couldn’t believe that a man I hadn’t spoken to much before totally understood what I was trying to be. Geffen can get me from a to b. and with global plans for more than one territory’’.
In a year where P Diddy is acknowledging UK act Skepta and Jay Sean and Estelle are still working in the USA Scorcher understands that the UK sound is slowly but surely going global. ‘’I think the Americans are finally sitting up and listening. They realise there’s money to be made and I hope we can elevate it past the money and focus into music, I hope Jay Sean, Estelle and Tinchy end up being more about the music and their potential as opposed to the amount of cash they can make their American sponsors and I take off my hat to sway for pioneering that stuff.
If I were aligned with any American act I’d love my USA partner in music to be Dr Dre –just look what he did for Eminem, The Game, his many empires. I also respect Akon with his vision for Lady Gaga’’.
Bu don’t get it twisted, scorchers true hero’s are far closer to home with him admitting that his real life hero is his uncle André- cos he was born in St Vincent, was a poor man, came to uk, studied, hustled, became a solicitor, and now owns cars and goods that your average rap star owns and has shown me that hard work pays off. Uncle André would take me on holiday and talk to me, all young kids need adults to talk to them’’.
As a child scorcher reluctantly revealed he wanted to be a fireman and played piano at his grandmas house and even too real piano lessons at grade 5 and 6, but inevitably the bedroom sets, turntables, spitting lyrics, and peer pressure meant that he started taking street music more seriously until he got onto pirate radio. He never entered talent competitions at school as he thought they were sad. Scorcher was more eager to get onto local raves at Eros, Zenon and Castles,
Scorcher adds that he was in a group from his local area (Tottenham) , but the man who  ran the local radio station didn’t like him so he wasn’t offered radio spots until a local gangsta noted his talent and ‘’sorted it out for us’’.
His youthful peers included wretch32 who was in the same boat as scorcher  ‘’we came together, wretch was into writing songs, we took focus from what each other were doing then Logan got the first real grime show on radio, he started playing us then I got to know Ghetts. What I think made us different was we were the first set of people that did rap and grime, rappers respected us, back then rap and grime were separate, one day we would be doing a song with Bashy, then sincere, the lines between both were really blurred and we brought a different element to grime’’.
I had to try and embarrass scorcher by mentioning that he and Skepta were often referred to as the ‘’Heart throbs of the grime scene’’ he laughed and smoothly replied ‘’I’m grateful for the tag, Skepta and I were having a joke saying every time we put out a single we take more female followers back from each other!’’.
Scorchers look is very distinctive with his love of motorbikes and a bunch of tattoos gracing his body. As he shows me them all he reminds me that ‘’the pen is mightier than the sword’’. His tats include musical notes, ‘’scorcher’’ on his right hand  ‘’Skywalker’’ on left on his hand, on one inner arm the script ‘’”I stand alone because I choose not to follow the path but create my own and leave a trail . . . . . . CONCRETE JUNGLE”. A star on one elbow, he’s thinking of getting the sun on his other arm and states that he ‘’needs to earn the tats’’. The 1 tat he wont talk about is his
Very prominent lighting bolt under his eye which he insists has personal meaning.
This act is not to be confused with your average UK urban act done good however as he see’s his extended empire not just as his clothing line Skywalker (which most average acts now have 1 of), but he also runs his own video production house called  ‘’Staple House’’ which came about as
‘’the first video I made I paid the director to do the video, the director asked for my creative input, so I gave it to him, after the video was edited ,I had paid him all the money upfront, he sent back the cut but all the he scenes he used were my ideas, my lighting, my choreography, it made me realise that I had practically directed it all myself. I did some research, saved up some money, my friends have similar interests. one that’s good with cameras, an animator, and the label trusts me totally to do my videos after I directed ‘its my time’. They took a risk and I didn’t let them down so it’s a good place to be in’’.
Scorchers single- its my time-is out this week. its a very empowering, positive, feel good, inspiring track that reminds me of Nas’ ‘’I can’’ song. Scorcher revealed that he wrote it in protest after feeling down as a few broadcasters weren’t play listing him and he had been feeling down but ‘’despite all the badness, I knew I was getting love from the street and net , and it made me feel unstoppable. I wanted to relay that idea and make other people feel positive and empowered too.
Scorcher leaves me with more wisdom as he tells me ‘’ I always say ‘’Be all u can be instead of be all that you can see’’.
Wise words from one so young with a life of obstacles that he’s had to overcome.
To see him in action catch the MOBO TOUR where he says you can expect him to ‘’go crazy and shut it down, I’ve been looking at some of the locations, Glasgow in particular sounds exciting!’’. Good luck with the single Scorcher! Readers-Watch out- I feel there’s a global takeover coming!.

Jasmine & Addictive.

Aisha Stuart and Louise Bagan, are 2 musically talented young ladies that go by the name Addictive.i spotted them at controversial blogger Perez Hilton’s recent party at the 02 and noted that they were the only act to have the paparazzi excited with their Richard shoyemi styled outfits and swag. The girls have already tasted success thanks to a massive club hit, the T2-producedbassline masterpiece ‘Gonna Be Mine’. They’ve also had success on MTV DANCE and MTV BASE as well as in the BBC1 radio dance chart. Not bad going for two girls from East London. They first met as children ten years ago, through Louise’s cousin, but it wasn’t until one fateful Christmas in 2005 at an open mic night that the girl’s realised their shared ambitions. “I went up to the mic and started singing Silent Night, the Mariah Carey version,” laughs Louise. “Aisha was there, and ‘cos we knew each other I invited her up onstage to join me. We just started vibing off each other. Everyone assumed we were a group already – so we decided to give it a go.”
Both girls had years of singing behind them, honing their musical talents in gospel choirs and talent shows which included Louise beating Leona Lewis to 1st prize in an East London singing competition but it was only when they formed Addictive that everything seemed to click. “We could write music individually, but we worked better as a duo,” explains Aisha. “It fell into place. We had the same goals, had had similar experiences and we were both really serious.”
The ladies recently invited me down to the release party for their Mix CD ‘They Wonna Wife Me’ – a welcome breakthrough after their years of hard work. “We killed ourselves trying to get things done,” laughs Louise, “but it’s all been worth it. We’re so proud of the work we are doing worked hence the amount of effort we put in. World domination is next – we want an Addictive perfume and clothes range!” You heard it here first – It’s all go in the Addictive world -get ready to be addicted to Addictive.

Whitney’s right hand in Europe and my friend, PR maven Vanessa Amadi threw her birthday drinks at Soho Hotel . The hotel even gave her their private bar room at no cost cos they know they should keep this powerful media honey on their good side. On entry the barman was pouring rose Armand De Brignac champagne for us all,which I’m told is currently the worlds number 1 brand. Other industry players like newspaper editor and one time VOICE ex staffer Eva Simpson passed through, as well as Radio One DJ Reg Yates, MOBO founder Kanya King, KISS100FM DJ Manny Norte, Ex Sugababe Keisha Buchanan, and artist Chocolate Doll AKA Nay Nay. There were 2 huge cakes. I tried to feed one that looked like it may contain walnuts to a man with a peanut allergy to ‘’see if it really works’’ but was held back. Instead I wrote a message to the sophisticated Vanessa on her huge white canvas board and stuck a Polaroid of us next to it. Good times!

Its very exciting that finally African music seems to be about to have its big about to blow moment. International acts have been collaborating with African artists for years and many European countries like France have huge African music festivals like Africa Express so it’s a little strange that the UK has for once been the last to catch on instead of at its usual forefront status of trend setter. The 3rd annual African Music Awards takes place at Wembley Arena this October 15th and the launch party was held at Covent Gardens Africa Centre where champagne, wine, nibbles and t shirts were handed out to a sparse crowd that were a little weary of the late start but their passion and belief in the focus of the event kept guests like entrepreneur Alexander Amosu, ChoiceFM DJ Abrantee, old Big Brother contestant Aisleene, founder of Colour Blind Cards Jessica Huie, and many more in the venue to watch Chocolate Doll and MC Sway do their thing onstage as founders of the AMA’s Eric and Nick told the attendees a little about it. I alas had to run about 10 minutes after it began as I had a date with Pharrell Williams.

Well I say a date. What I meant was I had been invited to an exclusive listening party in a store in Shoreditch to hear NERDs new album ‘’Nothing’’. When I jumped out of the black cab with my MTV and Channel 4 buddies we were a little intimidated by the hardcore looking guest list bulldog on the door but luckily our faces seemed to be our tickets in, so we were ushered in with her muttering to the security ‘’ok these are the last 6 allowed in-we are at capacity!’’.
Inside the brightly lit, sparse clothes store was filled with uber trendy fashion heads wearing mis matched, bright, ill-fitting garms in the way that only north London trendys can do. I bantered with RWD magazine top lady Hattie Collins and her crew who impressed me by being out the night after their own massive RWD bash after which they hadn’t slept all night.
NERD man Shae was walking and working the crowd speaking to all and sundry in that relaxed, non-diva manner that he has. We reminisced about old days when we were all running around New York and Cape Town and recalling unprintable stories. Pharrell of course was working his profile like only Skateboard P could rocking Billionaire Boys Club camouflage clothing and stunner shades. The crowd was ultra cool and not one person asked him for a photo or screamed at him groupie style. A really nice vibe. The last time I was in his vicinity it was like the Beatles and Justin Timberlake had just walked out together!. Pharrell talked us through each track on the new album and played at least 50% of most of them. I really liked ‘’Perfect Defect’’ and ‘’Victory’’ whilst ‘’Help me’’ was a very slow down tempo song that I felt could only work if you were very high and chilled. But in all honesty it was so busy in the room and so many people talking you couldn’t really appreciate the sound except to note that the new material sounded very similar to the NERD we know and love and no doubt there will be thousands of skateboard types putting yet more cash into the NERD trios pockets once NOTHING is released. It was way too hot and sweaty for us in the room though and the strange outfits surrounding me were starting to break me out into an imagined rash so we stepped out and went for a late night curry instead.
Enjoy your bank holiday weekends and make the most of your free time! (in my spare moments I like to add to my CV and think about what else I can add to it-life’s too short to spend 3 whole days at carnival worrying about where to go to the toilet!).

Jasmine with Perez Hilton

My boss threw his annual summer party at his country retreat 2 hours outside of the capital. We arrived to find a few outdoor marquees with chandeliers housing silver service dinner placings, an outdoor dj set up with Saturday night fever style dance floor, an open bar that never emptied, a croquet playing area, a huge maze which led in the centre to a strawberry and chocolate fountain, a huge home that was open to wonder around, a living room with a piano and opera singer in full performance mode, a hot air balloon that guests were taking turns to go view the countryside from and….wait for it…..a full fair ground. Oh how the other half live! I must work harder to make this my reality too!

The launch party for the AFRICAN MUSIC AWARDS was aptly held at Covent Gardens Africa Centre. If you have your finger on the music pulse you will already be aware that very soon African music is about to blow up in the mainstream. For years now British and other international acts have been slowly collaborating with their African peers and performing at international music festivals alongside each other. This year the AFRICAN MUSIC AWARDS take place at Wembley arena on October 15th- a mere 5 days before the MOBO AWARDS in Liverpool on the 20th. So much opportunity for young talent to get a platform to shine! As if that wasn’t enough, the multi award nominated Broadway musical based on musician Fela Kuti’s life ‘’FELA’’ comes to London in November at the National Theatre. This show has been financed by none other than Will Smith and Jay Z, proving that this genre is ripe for picking!.

Then it was time for a chat with a kindred spirit- a man that loves to chat and gossip and have fun doing it making loads of power moves and money! Mr Perez Hilton!. Showing how technology waits for no-one, perez had me conduct the interview via skype whilst we were both snuggled up on our respective sofas. I could work like this all day!

Love him or hate him you cant ignore this incomparable showbiz gossip blogger and taste maker and believe me, ive loved and hated him!. We’d last worked together on the 2008 MTV EUROPE MUSIC AWARDS in Liverpool where we had a lot of fun. Perez recalled the most amazing moment when we were both backstage and Sir Paul McCartney wandered over to Perez unsolicited and said ‘’I hope you’re staying out of trouble!’’. Perez recalled being shocked thinking ‘’I didn’t think he’d be that plugged into the blogging world to even acknowledge my existence!’’. I am so ingrained in the showbiz world that I didn’t think it was possible for anyone not to know who Perez Hilton was so was particularly shocked when my mate had to be told recently so for those of you who aren’t aware a young man who grew up called Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. called himself ‘’Perez Hilton’’ after a trip to Miami where club bar staff kept cajoling him to stay and buy drinks on the premise that ‘’Paris Hilton will be here tonight’’ and Mario snorted ‘’I don’t think so-more like Perez Hilton!’’ and an icon was born! Back then Perez used to blog about celebrities as ‘’just something fun I used to like doing when all other bloggers were blogging about their daily boring lives’’. Nowadays, 7 years down the line Perez life couldn’t be any different from his past where he had a job working as a janitor at a department store where ’’my title was store clerk- I had 2 responsibilities; separating hangers’’(Perez proceeded to tell me about 20 different types of hangers) and ‘’cleaning the bathrooms where the women’s toilets were WAY filthier than the mens!’’.

Like a kid in a candy store that cant believe how their luck has changed Perez admits that his proudest achievement was 3 years ago when he was able to move his mum and sister from Miami to la to work with him. With readers now getting their daily gossip fix online rather than via a newspaper we discussed whether print press and gossip mags can still exist in this day and age. Perez thinks they will explaining ‘’they will exist-people will always be travelling and want a mag, although now that aeroplanes are getting wireless internet as well as trains , well who knows!’’. I know from my wild days of gossiping on CHOICEFM that once you begin to befriend celebs you end up having to tone down the bitchy stuff but Perez insists he doesn’t ‘’I Never tone my material down, I have grown and evolved, it would be silly of me to stay the same, I’ve changed in that I don’t post extremely naughty things anymore, no more nip slips…I have a new website for naughty stuff called –‘’unratedperez.com’’. he then goes on to explain that people like looking at ‘’celebrities vagayjays’’ and it generates a lot of traffic but his advertisers don’t like it. Hilarious!

Also from my wild days I know the threat of law suits are funny. In fact they’re extremely scary but once again perez laughs and says ‘’I am never scared of lawsuits, they are scary if you worry about money and I never had money back then so I didn’t care-I had nothing for anyone to take,i didn’t start my blog for money, it was just for fun, I knew I couldn’t go to jail, I was just expressing myself’’. Perez like many has become a victim of his own success in many ways but lets not get it twisted, he has made millions and is a celebrity himself now. So I wonder how he feels when people bad mouth him, and they do. He admits that he is ‘’constantly googling myself-I’m not even exaggerating, sometimes a few times an hour, I’ve read a lot of bad things,but I remind myself that its worse not reading anything about myself…I wouldn’t say it bothers me, but its not always easy’’. Ah ha! So he does feel emotions and breath like the rest of us! He recalls the best thing that’s ever happened to him is a ‘’video that Madonna made for me, she acknowledged my existence!’’.

I follow Perez on twitter so I know his moods know no bounds and he can switch on a m***** f****** in hours so I asked him what the defining factors are in whether he likes or hates a celeb? He revealed ‘’There are factors, its a gut thing, my gut is usually right, I like people who are talented, that’s why I love musicians especially those that have a sense of humour…and those that work hard’’. Now hearing Perez quote that made me sit back in awe as he is always cussing my girl Mariah and she is a talented hard worker with the funniest sense of humour most people have come across so I of course challenged him on it. Perez broke it down like this ‘’I love Mariah, she is funny, but I expect more from her. Art is all subjective, I feel possessive about her and her music, and I have said this publicly, I think I have a good ear, I would love to give my ear to her and give her feedback….the last couple of albums haven’t been the best,,…I talk to Nick Cannon daily, I do a live feature to Nicks morning breakfast radio show, I know lots of hot producers for Mariah and would love to suggest people .i think she lost her sense of self, and wanted to rebel against her previous image too much, to me she’s a pop act but along the way she tried to reinvent herself as an urban artist, in the 90s she made Honey! I want Fantasy , Honey , Dreamlover….L.A Reid played me her album early once….’’ ‘’ In fact I’ve championed her when I had secret meetings with Simon Cowell and Simon asked me who should be an X Factor judge, I said ‘’not Cheryl cole, I said MC, ,then I think a rumour was started by Sinitta telling people it would be mc!’’.Perez and I then had around 10 minutes of me breaking it down for him that MC has to like all of us grow and change with the times and informed him that she had been doing urban versions of her tracks since the beginning and surely at this stage she should be allowed to make good music that she wants to make as opposed to trying to please everyone all of the time. We debated, we laughed. We raised our voices. We agreed to hang out in L.A the next time we were all there. My theory with Perez feelings towards MC is that he’s frustrated that she doesn’t acknowledge him the way the madonnas and the kylies of the world do. Truly a diva in a league of her own not bowing to media manipulation.

Perez agreed that when celebs don’t react to him he does get frustrated and the one hes been dying to get a rise out of for years is Oprah….’’i love her even though I make fun of her…I make fun of her and say she’s a lesbian, in fact Oprah, Madonna and Angelina Jolie are the 3 that inspire me most. Angelina is someone who isn’t perfect. She is flawed but an amazing brilliant actress, mother and humanitarian’’. Like most of us media hacks, Perez loves twitter as it cuts out the old fashioned middle man of the publicist. Now he can get the words straight from the horses blackberry and respond immediately-albeit in full view of the watching, titillated globe of gossip hungry followers. Perez admits he loves following Dita Von Teese on twitter as her life is fascinating, we aren’t familiar with the life of a show girl so it enthrals me!’’

I’m convinced Perez wicked tongue comes from the fact that his parents are Cuban. Any island in those waters will give you fiery, feisty blood! Trying to milk all his projects whilst he can Perez revealed to me that he’s setting up a music production and management company and is currently looking for a boy band . he gushed ‘’The time is right for a boy band for a global impact, JLS are great in the UK but they haven’t broken worldwide- I really like them though, they’re hot’’. Perez admits that he doesn’t do ‘’payola’’ (talk about bands in exchange for money), but that he chooses the music acts that he promotes online in his ‘’listen to this ‘’ category as his ‘’readers send him links and he listens to everything including singers in different languages!’’. Nearly everyone alive these days has their own blog, so its interesting that Perez stands out first and foremost in our world. He explains it thus ‘’in this day of illegal downloading and MTV not being as relevant as they used to be and artists need every but of help they can get, anything helps. I first started writing about Lady Gaga years ago and championed her and now look how far she’s come’’.

I challenged Perez on the fact that even though he appeared on MTV’s Celebrity Rap Superstar show he didn’t seem to focus on hip hop stars very often and joked with him that it could be as he was worried they would get all will I am on him. He laughed ‘’ I talk about Lil Wayne and T.I! ,I am a hip-hop fan if its good- Kanye is a genius, he transcends the genre, he’s not a rapper he’s a musician; I think B.O.B is amazing, I love his variety. He’s not rapping about violence or materialism he’s talking about dreams , I love Nicki Minaj’’ (Perez then recites a whole 3 Nicki verses much to my amusement and if im honest-I was impressed at his flow!) . Getting serious about the hip hop world for a minute though Perez said ‘’I wish that they were slightly more accepting of gay men, if you’re bisexual that’s cool but gay men and lesbians aren’t accepted and welcome in the hip-hop and mainstream music world and that saddens me’’. I wondered if Perez had made up with will I am and the Black Eyed Peas after THAT incident? He answered ‘’we haven’t made up and i’ve not run into him, but I have congratulated the band online’’. Perez confessed that there was once that he regretted writing something online ‘’my biggest regret was when I said that fidel castro was dead . we were really sure it was true as our source was very reliable-oops’’. Perez revealed his top celeb mates are now ‘’Lady gaga, she and I talk several times a day and see each other regularly-we talk about art, I feel like part of her team, she likes to pick my brain, Katy Perry- ive known her for over 3 years, we too see each other regularly’’ I recently saw Perez at his ‘’One night in Perez’’ music show at Londons 02 and noted that he’d slimmed down and had a demure dark brown hairstyle. A conscious effort to get healthy? He nodded ‘’ yes its a lot of hard work, all my successes in life are from hard work, from my blog to my physical transformation, I’ve lost 61 pounds. my lack of sex inspired it and now I’m getting laid a lot, I’m dating around and right now that part of Perez is looking fine honey!’’.And with that I laughed, suggested we better stop before we got carried away. After all, 2 media hacks , both with fingers in print press, radio press , tv and multi platform media frolicking together can only be an explosive, dangerous hot mess waiting to happen!.