Jasmine Dotiwala

JASMINE WITH JUSTIN.

The week began with press promotion for Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis latest film ‘’Friends with Benefits’ which was absolutely hilarious. Justin was as ever very amicable and fun with his quick wit and fun personality- he has always been an articulate, hard grafter that is very particular about what he works on and that’s why musical and in film his delivery is always a class. It doesn’t hurt that he’s hot either! We reminisced about our MTV days where I made numerous TV specials about him and his group N SYNC as well as his solo tours. I once spent a whole week in Florida courtesy of Justin waiting by a hot swimming pool to film him but daily was told ‘’Justin has just split with Britney and we’re not sure when he’ll be ready to do press’’ so I returned home with no TV show but a great suntan!

ACTORS LONYO,HIS LEADING LADY AND DIRECTOR OF ”DAVID IS DYING” STEPHEN LLOYD JACKSON.

Friday night post work fun was had at the TUC –labour party building (a building that was set up to promote arts amongst working class people) in Covent garden where the BRITISH URBAN FILM FESTIVAL (BUFF) were holding their annual weekender for film fans and makers alike.

The venue was packed full of people including host of the night- broadcaster Henry Bonso, radio host Kojo, DJs Manny Norte and Jarren C, PR maven Jodie Dalmeda, wordsmith Ty , actor Cyril Nri , Charles Thompson MBE (founder of the Screen Nation awards), Kyla Frye (actress), Clint Dyer (actor),Femi Oguns (actor), Arnold Oceng (actor),Sharon Duncan Brewster (actress), Anjela Lauren Smith (actress and BUFF artistic director), Lateef Lovejoy (comedian and BUFF festival presenter) and of course main man of the night- former music star (summer of love) now actor Lonyo Engele.

JASMINE WITH ACTRESS, WRITER, DIRECRTOR KAMARA BACCHUS.

Before the main film started there were trailers for upcoming movies that I cant wait to see. Firstly, ’Before they were n dubz’’ which looked like it could be the urban version of the spice girls movie LOL. A more serious documentary called ‘’War against gang rape’’ and 16 more shorts including one (Special Delivery) by upcoming actress and writer Kamara Bacchus.

I was really blown away by a really gripping short film about black history called Manorlogz by Bernard Kordieh . It was beautifully and artfully crafted and I’m hoping to get a hold of it to show you-it really empowers and inspires!.

There was also a nostalgic look back and 1 minute standing ovation for the dear departed from the past few months that paid homage to Nate Dogg, Gil Scott Heron, Amy Winehouse, Bubba Smith and Sam Loco Efe.

JASMINE WITH THE ”DAVID IS DYING” LEAD COUPLE AND DIRECTOR.

All the hype on opening night was around the film DAVID IS DYING which is about a man obsessed by girl friend but his past relationship with his mother and dire circumstances affect him mentally lead to a heart-breaking story. Lonyo-one time music star plays the lead role and was mesmerising in his performance. Even though shot cheaply the story was amazing, heart breaking and Intense. Even though Lonyo is not a trained actor his performance held us every part of the way (some ladies present were adamant that his ‘’striking sharp features and handsome aesthetically visually breathtaking’’ looks didn’t disappoint either!

Lonyo used to be an extra in the football themed  TV show Dream Team and he told the UK film blog FLICKSANDBITS ‘’ From being on set then, I picked up all of the language that the camera men and the directors were using when they were giving directions to the main cast.’’ Lonyo recalled that Ironically he was dropping off a mate to the audition and they asked him to read for the part ‘’ So in the audition process they wanted me to cry, so I had a few moments to prepare myself, I just thought about Liverpool losing (laughs) – I’m a big Liverpool fan, it brought up all these emotions and I delivered some lines. They were like “this kid might have something.”

Lonyo told us about working with the director Stephen Jackson ‘’ He gave me so many instructions into how he wanted certain things to be delivered, he had a strange way of working though, he’d never let me look back at what we’ve filmed, he never let me see anything, the first time I actually saw the film was when I came out to Miami for the festival.’’

If you want to see DAVID IS DYING as well as a number of other titles that may include ‘huge – the movie’ feat Noel Clarke , ‘Tupac assassination’ , ‘Sus’  ‘Rappin at the royal’, Hip-hop opera and ‘Before they were N Dubz’ – stay tuned to JASMINES JUICE where I’ll be telling you where and when in December we can all invite our family and friends round and arrange a day of great movie screenings!

I speak at numerous panels, seminars and meets across the year where many young people or people new to the TV world are unknowledgeable about TV STAFF STRUCTRURES within the industry. Last might I chaired the MEDIA/MUSIC PANEL at INSPIRATIONAL YOU and promised the attendees that I would make a simple document that will make them understand the company structure a little better.The organogram below is more reflective of a big broadcasting channel as opposed to an independent production company but much crosses over. Hope this helps!

(I will be making a chart on power point soon to help better reflect the reporting structure. Onwards and upwards!

TV PRODUCTION TEAM

PRESENTER / VOICE OVER ARTIST

EXECUTIVE EDITOR/PRODUCER

SENIOR PRODUCER

PRODUCER

DIRECTOR

ASSISTANT PRODUCER (AP)

SENIOR REASEARCHER

RESEARCHER

JUNIOR RESEARCHER

INTERN/ RUNNER

 

OTHER TV DEPARTMENTS/JOBS THAT SURROUND THE PRODUCTION TEAM

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT TEAM

DIGITAL / WEB TEAM

FUTURE MEDIA TEAM

TALENT BOOKING TEAM

DEVELOPMENT TEAM

PRESS TEAM

MARKETING TEAM

BRANDING TEAM

EVENTS TEAM

EDIT / POST PRODUCTION TEAM

LEGAL / BUSINESS AFFAIRS TEAM

COMPLIENCE TEAM

ACQUISITIONS TEAM

SCHEDULING TEAM

ON AIR TEAM

GRAPHICS TEAM

FINANCE TEAM

HUMAN RESOURCES

CEO AND SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM

 

Example of structure at CHANNEL 4

 

The Programme Makers

Programmes

·      News Current Affairs and Business

Commissions News, Current Affairs and Political programmes for the Channel.

·      Documentaries

To develop, commission and manage factual or documentary output. Work with Independent producers and/or production companies.

 

• Nations and Regions
  Nations and Regions leads Channel 4’s core corporate objectives outside London, Channel 4 had a licence requirement to deliver 30% of originated programmes from companies outside London. The department oversees Channel 4’s Creative Cities initiatives – development, events, business support and partnerships in regional cities outside London’.

 

·      Entertainment

Commissioning of Entertainment and Comedy programming.

 

• FilmFour

The role of the department is to commission and develop British feature films.

 

·      Commissioning Management

To manage Commissioning’s administrative affairs and internal communication, manage the Channel’s cultural diversity ambitions, develop off-screen talent, manage communication with independent production companies and off-screen talent, commission the Channel’s Sports output.

 

• Features and Factual Entertainment

The role of the Event, Features and Factual Entertainment department is to receive proposals from independent production companies and decide which ideas to pursue and commission.

 

On occasion we also produce original ideas which are tendered to an independent production company to produce.

 

• Specialist Factual

To receive proposals from Independent Production Companies and commission their ideas.

 

Programme Acquisition

To source and license acquired programming (feature films and series, predominantly from the United States studios) for exhibition across all Channel Four platforms (currently Channel Four, FilmFour Channel and E4).

Legal and Compliance
The primary role of the Legal & Compliance department is to advise Channel 4 on the legal and compliance issues arising from the production and broadcasting of programmes transmitted on all of the Channel’s platforms. This involves advising the Board, all commissioning staff, and independent production companies, on legal issues such as libel and contempt, and compliance with the ITC and BSC codes on fairness, privacy and taste and decency for example.  The department is also responsible for negotiating and maintaining the Channel’s Errors & Omissions insurance cover; and for managing litigation arising from the various Channels’ output.

Commercial Affairs and Programme Finance

The department’s main function is to negotiate and manage the financial and contractual details of Channel 4 and E4 programme, programme-related (e.g. websites, talent) and distribution deals. The department also manages Channel 4’s collective licensing with music collecting societies, copyright clearances, and ad hoc corporate, commercial and legal issues.
4Learning

4Learning is the educational division of Channel 4 responsible for schools programmes and support material, both printed and online for all ages.

 

 

The Audience Generators
Research & Insight

The current competitive multi-channel television environment necessitates detailed knowledge and understanding of our viewers.  The traditional role of television is going through a fundamental change and as a result, the Research and Insight department was set up to learn more about the prevailing lifestyle and attitudes of our viewers and their relationship with television and programmes.  At its heart this department connects the Channel with its viewers.

 

• Strategic Planning – carrying out analysis that ensures a clear understanding of our core viewers and providing input to business decisions that strengthen the Channel 4 brand.
• Commissioning – providing feedback on programme performance, and undertaking ad-hoc qualitative research to improve our understanding of a programme’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Programme Planning & Strategy – giving guidance and audience analysis to the Scheduling team through detailed knowledge of our programmes and those of competitive channels.
• 4 Ventures – undertaking research to measure the performance and ongoing development of new channels such as E4 and FilmFour, and commissioning research to test the market for new channel concepts and new business opportunities.
• Marketing – carrying out research to track the image of Channel 4 and providing measures to evaluate the effectiveness of our media strategy.

 
Programme Planning and Strategy

Programme Planning & Strategy creates the Channel 4 and E4 programme schedules and prepares the schedule for press publication. In addition, the department costs the programme schedules and ensures they meet the corporate licence requirements.

Marketing

The role of the Marketing Department is to prioritise and promote key elements of Channel 4’s output. This involves the management of the on-air promotional time and the production of off-air advertising campaigns, in addition to brand stewardship, corporate communications, live events and affiliate relationships.
Press and Publicity

The press office handles all communication with the media.

 

 

The Revenue Converters

Agency Sales

To sell available Commercial Advertising minutage on Channel Four, E4 and Filmfour to advertising agencies and their clients.
Commercial Marketing & Research

The Commercial Marketing and Research Department’s primary role is to support the Agency Sales, Client and Strategic Sales and Sponsorship departments by ensuring that they are presented effectively to potential and existing advertisers and advertising agents on Channel 4.  The Research department uses a variety of research analysis tools as well as commissioning new research to gain a greater understanding of who our viewers are.  The department provides analysis on programmes, advertising campaigns and market sectors to help sell the channel to advertisers.  The Trade Marketing Department’s role is to devise and carry out an appropriate strategy for Channel 4’s (including E4) trade marketing activity taking into account the overall channel strategy, the marketplace, the development of new propositions and the information needs of the target market’
Commercial

Client & Strategic Sales

The Client & Strategic Sales Department (CSS) addresses the increasingly diverse needs of advertisers and their agency planners. The team’s role is two fold; firstly to develop new areas of business across all of Channel 4’s commercial activities, and secondly, to improve our dialogue with clients and agencies. The CSS team is the key point of contact for these two groups to discuss ideas, strategies and issues that will assist the objectives of our advertising partners

CSS works closely with the other commercial departments – Agency Sales, Sponsorship and Interactive – either to develop new business or assist with existing sales leads. The CSS Department regularly organises conferences and seminars – special forums within which Channel 4’s strengths as a medium and marketing partner can be presented to potential advertisers. In the last year we have held A New Advertisers Day, a Universities and Colleges forum and a Financial Services Marketing forum.

 

Airtime Management

Create Advertising Break Pattern to maximise Commercial Inventory. Predict Audience Ratings for Breaks. Book advertising campaigns in order to fulfil deals and maximise revenue. Create regular and ad hoc Reports. Assign correct Copy to Spots. Sequence Spot within Break to most optimal order. Generate advertising playlist for Commercial Transmission. Design and make Interactive Overlays, sell and administer Interactive Campaigns. Design Computer Systems to improve and develop current working practices. Comply and uphold ITC rules and regulations. Police and monitor all aspects of the deal parameters in order to sell airtime efficiently and maximise revenue for both Channel 4 and E4.

Sponsorship

The Sponsorship Department match commercial sponsors to TV programmes in such as a way as to help achieve the sponsors’ commercial objectives while optimising commercial revenues for Channel 4 Corporation. As with Advertising revenues, monies from sponsorship arrangements flow into a central pot which is then redistributed by the Board to the areas of programming deemed to be most appropriate. In partnership with the advertising agencies that represent sponsors the Department identifies sponsors, sells ideas, negotiates deals, helps produce sponsorship credits and administers the agreed contracts. Great care is taken in the selection of these sponsors and the production of sponsorship credits. The Department is also responsible for Advertiser Funded Programming where a sponsor will actually fund the production of a new programme at source, usually through the Production Company that have developed the programme idea.

 

The Delivery Mechanism
Channel Operations

Presentation and Broadcast Services provides presentation planning and transmission, programme tape management, project engineering and maintenance, and a viewer enquiries service. The department is responsible for channel play out (including commercials, programmes, promotions, interactive and ancillary services) of Channel 4, E4, E4+1, FilmFour, FilmFour+1 and FilmFour Weekly.

 

Engineering is responsible for the technical and operational aspects of Channel 4, E4, FilmFour and derived services over a variety of transmission platforms.  The department ensures technical standards are upheld; designs, installs and maintains all the broadcast technical facilities; and encompasses all VT Library services.

124 Facilities

To provide a studio and post production service to Channel 4 and associated companies and to provide a revenue return to the 4 Ventures group.

 

 

The Support Departments

Information Systems

Provision of Information Technology Projects, Services and Resources to Channel 4 Television Corporation.
Human Resources
Human Resources is responsible for providing a comprehensive Human Resources service to Channel 4 on a range of recruitment, employment and training & development matters.

 

Facilities Management

To provide office and building services for all Channel 4 and its subsidiaries

Finance

Provide financial services, control and reporting to Channel 4 Television and the Group

 

 

The Bigger Picture

Corporate Relations
Corporate Relations maintains and promotes Channel 4’s relations and image with key stakeholders.

 

Corporate

Offices of the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive.

Corporate Development

To provide commercial support to internal business units and develop commercial opportunities with external parties.

 

Strategy

The Strategy department has three main roles:   a) leading the development of Channel 4’s overall corporate strategy and communicating this strategy to the rest of the Channel;  b) helping individual departments develop and implement their own strategy within this framework; and,  c) gathering, analysing and communicating key market information of relevance to Channel 4.

 

 

4 Ventures

FilmFour Channel

The FilmFour Department is comprised of 3 key teams:  Programming, Marketing and Creative Services.  Their collective responsibility is to manage the programming and marketing of FilmFour Channel’s three premium pay-TV services which are distributed on Digital Satellite and Digital Cable platforms.

 

E4

The E4 Channel is a basic tier entertainment channel for the UK pay TV market aimed at 16-34 year olds and the role of E4 programmes is to provide original and acquired programming to satisfy this market.

The role of the E4 marketing department is to prioritise and promote key elements of E4’s output. This involves the management of E4 on air promotional airtime, cross-promotional airtime on Channel 4 as well as production of off air advertising campaigns. In addition, the role of the E4 marketing department is to develop and enhance the E4 brand and work with our distribution partners at Sky, ntl and Telewest to ensure that E4 remains an important element of all communication to subscriber bases.’

 

Consumer Products
The department’s role is to act as a creative manager of the retail rights of Channel 4 products that are sold via our joint venture partners direct to customers. This department also helps co-ordinate on-air promotion of Channel 4 linked products and operates the Channel 4 shop.

 

Rights (Channel Four International) Consumer Products

‘The Department’s role is to generate revenues for Channel 4 and its producer partners by licensing programme rights to product distributors and managing all aspects of product releases to the best advantage of Channel 4 and production companies.’

 

Interactive

4Channels Internet and Interactive TV is responsible for the development and production of consumer content for the WWW and Interactive TV platforms. Internet and iTV are now under Interactive departments. This department now includes telephony’.

4 Creative

4Creative covers the roles of both an advertising agency and production company.  We create and deliver both above and below the line advertising as well as indent sponsorship.

 

We do work for Channel 4 and its subsidiaries as well as external Clients, providing a full service, working alongside external media partners.

4 Ventutres Corporate

Provide managerial, financial, strategic and operational support to the 4 Ventures Businesses.

 

4 Ventures Interactive Commercial

4Interactive is responsible for the development of interactive services across all digital platforms – principally the web, interactive digital TV and telephony.

 

4 Ventures Interactive Technical

To provide interactive technical services to 4Ventures businesses, especially Interactive and 4Learning

-END

 

JASMINE WITH THIS YEARS UPCOMING ULTIMATE SEMINAR PANELISTS- RIZZLE KICKS

2 weeks away from the MOBO AWARDS 2011 where we once again celebrate and take pride in all our urban music acts have achieved this past 12 months.

Its important to note that an overly large percentage of young people want to be instant superstars these days with many lured to the dream job of becoming a music star.

The only way you should contemplate this road is if you really have some musical talent because believe me, many can become a one hit wonder and over night success on a catchy hit song or a cute ass. I have seen a distinct change in music acts from the days in the early nineties when I started at MTV to the caliber of talent now and trust me, its incomparable. Back then acts were truly passionate about the musical content they made and struggled for years to perfect their art both in the studio and live. Nowadays public opinion assumes that due to shows like X FACTOR that overnight success is something that’s owed to them if they simply reach out to people informing them that they are a singer.

2 decades ago I observed acts like Dr Dre, Take That and Mariah Carey in their studio’s song write, produce and perform their hearts out. These acts have still been relevant 2 decades later but establishments are handing out lifetime achievement accolades to younger acts like Britney. Seriously? Every act that tried to be a copycat Dre, Take That or Mariah arrived on the charts, caused a media stir for a minute and approximately 5 years down the line wasn’t heard from musically again. Many music platforms forget that legends have had a multitude of copycat acts follow in their paths. Can anyone deny that Usher, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and Sisqo all wanted to be Michael Jackson? Can we really not see Mariah-isms in Christina Aguilera, Leona Lewis and Jessica Simpson? How about Boyz II Men influencing the JLS, Damage’s and Dru Hill’s of the world? Exactly! Homage should be paid. The MOBO family is doing just that by honoring Boyz II Men this year and I for one cant wait to break out into some old skool swing beat dances when they hit that stage in Glasgow!.

JASMINE WITH MOBO BEST NEW COMER NOMINEE ED SHEERAN

As you know I have special authorization to check out the voting process and I’m particularly intrigued by the BEST NEWCOMER category where its full sprint ahead for Ed Sheeran and Jessie J fans in their thousands nearly neck and neck, whilst Wretch32 and Yasmin are lagging a way behind with Loickk Essiens team needing to step it up cos his score was practically nil points!. I’m going online to vote again now!

I attended the BBC PANEL NEW BRAVE WORLD SERVICE evening where key figure heads from BBC NEWS, the foreign office and media debated the future of the BBC WORLD SERVIVE once its funding moves from the foreign office to in-house at the beeb. There were many passionate speakers including BBC world news editor Jon Williams, Asian editor of BBC world Rita Payne and director of BBC news peter Horrocks as well as a legion of former high profile foreign news correspondents like Martin Bell in the audience sat amongst us. The evening was held at the very impressive stately Marlborough house in Pall Mall where we were greeted on arrival by the sounds of a string orchestra. The debate was held in a large reception room so stunning that the wall showcased historical tapestries whilst the ceiling resembled a Michael Angelo fresco painted Sistine chapel style ceiling.

It was a lively debate where Rita was most impressive crusading for the things we all regularly complain about including ‘’The world service should counter stereotypes that many media portray about foreigners…. there used to be an old skool pride in the BBC world service but now there is disharmony amongst the diaspora for black & white stories’’. As we’ll as telling us amazing anecdotes of her time reporting from across the globe Rita also mentioned a story that stood out where she explained that ethnic groups were wrongly and unfairly treated, for example ‘’All the Muslim groups that helped police eradicate extremists from the Finsbury Park mosque were then demonized and had their funds cut by the government and media meaning that a whole community had been tarred unfairly when many are peace loving Brits’’.

Rita also mentioned another point my peers and I have been complaining about for years in that anytime a story of ethic interest or focus breaks that the same ‘’talking head pundits’’ from the BBC’s black contact book are circulated from programme to programme’’ that have no connection and are out of touch with the communities they claim to be speaking on behalf of. She highlighted the need to ‘’bring in on screen new perspectives from people that were more in touch’’. At that point I thought ‘ This is why the Cultural Diversity Network’ is so vital to us all!. If you are an aspiring or regular media player-join it!

Director Peter Horrocks reiterated the difference between an old skool journo and new explaining that ‘’Old school journo’s just delivered one platform. Now they deliver brilliant stories across all platforms including on air, on line, radio and beyond’’.

Also discussed was the issue of whether UK license fee payers would be happy paying for BBC world service from 2014- a service they can’t even get here themselves!

A quote mentioned on the night by Rita which I loved and will keep is ‘’Understanding the past, challenging the present and shaping the future’’.

Jon Williams revealed that the British public clearly still had a huge appetite for foreign news citing that the 3 highest rating stories in the UK for domestic audiences this year were; the Japan earthquake, the attacks in Norway and the Arab Spring news.

The panel also advised why the BBC are socially and morally conscious as ‘’we-the BBC has an obligation both to local and domestic services to stay in foreign places long after other reporters have left the scene’’. I myself am extremely proud of the BBC WORLD SERVICE when I’m abroad with my family in Asia and Africa when never does a day start without tem tuning in- that’s quality reputation when domestic residents turn to the BBC to hear trustworthy unbiased news about their own country before their own local news networks- I say value the BBC WORLD SERVICE cos without it our ‘’great British media rep’’ is slowly being cut away.

JASMINE WITH HER OLD MATE AND UMS SUPPORTER DAMON DASH

The buzz and excitement about this years ULTIMATE SEMINAR which will be held at the 02 on 23^RD OCTOBER has begun! Bought to you by the original Urban Music Seminar Group, a new and exciting series of summits re-emerge with a showcase debut featuring music in front and behind the scenes talent like Rizzle Kicks, Mz Bratt, Fem Fel, RD, Richard Antwi (Levels Entertainment/ Wretch32) and from sporting worlds people like Bradley Wright Philips (CAFC), Marc Bircham (QPR), dean Morgan (chesterfield FC), and more. Last year they had international video director Jake Nava and producer/artist labyrinth. A few years ago they had Damon dash, who knows who could spring up this year! The event aims to empower young adults through a series of mentoring panels within the creative and sport industries.  The Ultimate Seminar will enable attendees to learn valuable business tools and insights, have networking opportunities, and hear inspirational stories from those already established. The aim is to inspire, motivate and encourage today’s young adults to be successful, confident and business minded individuals. Guiding them to reach their full potential within their chosen career path. The Ultimate Seminar hopes to become the UK’s alternative answer to the careers advice services for the creative and sport industry. It promises to deliver credible speakers, inspiring life stories and debates to help empower future generations.People can register on line for tickets at

http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/theultimateseminar/ they say it’s about linking those who’ve made it with those that want to make it. I wanna make it-so I will be there!

Finally at LONDON360 NEWS we are currently exploring the themes related to gun crime in the UK and are interested in finding out how online content impacts the whole debate. Almost every gang has its own webpage and members co-ordinate campaigns of cyber bullying in which they force opponents who have strayed on to their turf to perform degrading acts and then upload them for the world to see. And the threats do not just exist in cyperspace but get played out in real terms on the streets in stabbings and shootings, leading to young men having to be “ghosted away” from their communities to safety. The internet has opened a chilling new chapter in the story of London gangs and is becoming a way of life, according to a special project manager at the Makeda Weaver Project, (a pan-London programme which helps free young people from the clutches of gangs). I would like to get your opinions on this as well speak to some of the young people out there regarding their opinions on the matter.

Here’s what my contacts at youtube told me this week regards their position on the violent content; ‘’YouTube guidelines ban content featuring violence, hate speech and incitement to commit crime. Users who see a video they believe is inappropriate can flag it to our staff, who review it immediately. Any content found to violate our policies is removed from YouTube immediately.”

By highlighting this content we are making a stand to ensure this content comes off our UK platforms and so if you find your YOUTUBE channel has been shutdown, you know we are moving to cleaning up our young peoples worlds. Peace. Literally.

JASMINE WITH THE OHTV-REAL TALK SHOW HOST AND PANELLISTS.

AS EVER A busy week!. To the BBC for the merger of the Cultural Diversity Network and Creative Disabilities Network , ten to the GQ Awards where a very stunning looking Leona Lewis wowed the ballroom, before I headed to the 50^th birthday party for clothes designer Roland Mouret.

Before all of that I was invited by OHTV to be part of their live debate show REAL TALK which is like Question Time but without a live audience in the studio-their viewers call in throughout the show. I had also featured I their line up of BLACK WOMEN IN MEDIA recently and whilst I am not visually what you expect to see when you talk about a black woman I am a woman of colour. I had mentioned this concern to the shows producers when first asked to be part of the line up and they assured me they considered me a black woman. My father’s side of the family and ancestry are all from Kenya and so I consider myself half African with African roots. A few online haters- funnily enough the same ones as usual- had a problem with this. I can see their point. But I also know that if in front of the KKK I would be seen as black as any other woman in the line up. I’ve shown more support to the ethnic community as a whole throughout my career and don’t ask for credit-but I wont justify my ethnicity to anyone that doesn’t know better It’s okay though; I do my job and let the haters do theirs. Haters have always loved me and I embrace them as they help me persevere against ignorance.

For OHTV’s REAL TALK show I was asked to be a part of the guest speakers as their theme that week was role models and I have very strong views on this subject. Show presenter Trish Adudu kept us all in line as we passionately debated back and fort.

My fellow panellists were American singing legend Kim Mazelle, 100 black men’s Michael Peters and 21-year-old Olympic 100m hopeful Tremayne Gilling.

I know that for many young people music stars and celebs are role models but I think that role models often start closer to home. If a young person see’s the local bad boy on the street running around with the flash car. Flash clothing, cute lady and wads of cash and the young person doesn’t have a parental figures attention and other options, clearly the bad boys lifestyle will be attractive and whilst the parents eye is off the ball, the bad boy swoops in and engages with the youth. Its not rocket science. If MTV Base and play station are babysitting your children because you’re too busy to encourage them to join a library or take advantage of the multitude of free activities that do exist in your local borough-then don’t be surprised when at the age of 6 your daughter writhing around dancing sexily and your son is desensitised to shooting, driving wildly and criminal activity which video games like grand theft auto encourage. Furthermore don’t imagine all youth that are bad are young black males. This is a media stereotype that mainstream press love to fixate upon. It’s a story as old as slavery where they are comfortable to keep black men in the box labelled ‘’sexual, exotic, violent, savage like stud’’. It’s the reason many press and media focus upon 50 Cent’s ‘’gangsta rap’’ side or describe an act like lethal b as a violent rapper as he has a hit song titled POW. Actually even an act like 50 does much philanthropic work but do the press ever want to talk about that? Hell no. I have a theory that media are afraid of articulate black people. I have proof to back this up. In all my years as an MTV reporter and producer, every time an act like Lauryn Hill or Mary J Bilge would appear for an interview, my colleagues would run to me concerned about their aggression or awkward behaviour.

There was never any aggression or awkward behaviour-these ladies were simply serious, articulate and wouldn’t put up with a journalist asking wishy-washy crap about their booty etc. Similarly acts like Akala that are smarter than most of us scare media to the bone. Many of them don’t know what to make of him and how to handle an intellectual, well-studied, positive black male so they’d rather avoid him. People talk about the fact that there aren’t any good young black male role models. What? Have you heard of actor, director and writer BAFTA AWARD WINNER Noel Clarke? How about Hollywood embraced UK actor, director, writer Aml Ameen? What about artist to Royal command for Prince Charles Phillip Butah?

JASMINE WITH ‘ROYAL ARTIST’ PHILLIP BUTAH.

Phillip hails from the areas of Forest Gate and Canning Town. At the age of 3 he started drawing. His teacher told his mum that he was a “gifted child” and Philip would help his class mates draw in class. A few years later when Philip was 15, for Prince Charles 50th birthday the PRINCES TRUST had a competition for young artists. Philips School teacher told him about the competition so Philip drew a self-portrait. After that he was invited to the palace for a reception and got to speak to the prince himself although he was (and still is) very shy so his mum did most of the talking LOL.

He continued to do art and Studied Fine Art it at Uni and Central St Martins. Years later and now in his late teens Philip took the bull by the horns and wrote a letter to prince Charles office asking if he could draw prince Charles. He explained to me that he likes drawing the people that have impacted his life. Can you believe there was no reply? For a very long time. At all. And then he heard back a year later!!!. The office called and gave him dates that he should make himself available for his 6 dates with royalty. So by royal request prince Charles sat for Philip between 2008-2009

Each session was 45 minutes to an hour long. Philip told me reminiscing about the usual protocol before coming into personal contact with the prince. Once cleared by security and inside his actual house the royal butler checks Philips bags and coats in before he enters the room. Philip calmly sets up his materials. The butler asks if he’d like a drink. Then you apparently wait. Prince Charles secretary briefs Philip. You must ‘’Call him “your Royal Highness” the first time you meet and then after that you call him “sir”’’ . Fascinating! At every first meeting you are required to bow/nod. Philip told me after that it was always casual and fun with ‘’the usual small talk. How are you? Etc. Then he sits. Then you sit. And we would talk throughout the session. About family. The country. When the session is done there’s a bit more small talk and then good bye’’. Philip told me he once asked Prince Charles if with all the thousands of people that he meets it all becomes a blur?. Charles replied “yes but some people do stand out” and Philip thought ‘’I hope I’m one of them!’’ . with all the portraits of prince Charles that Philips drawn, prince Charles has one in his collection and Philip has the rest. Philip added ‘’prince Charles has always taken an interest in my career and my studio situation’’.

As if that wasn’t enough great synergy, Philip also kept in touch with the organizers of the Princes trust art competition, which he entered at the age of 15 and their son who was a similar age to himself. Over the years Philip and their son stayed friends and promised to support each other in their big ambitious plans of making it big. That friend was to become chart topper Ed Sheeran. Which is why when Ed’s album which is out this week comes out-the image of Ed’s face that has been drawn is by…. you guessed it…Philip Butah! Apparently once when they were both hanging out together at Philips house he drew Ed and both agreed if Ed ever got famous then Philip would do his album cover.

JASMINE WITH CHART TOPPER ED SHEERAN(ALBUM ”+” -COVER DESIGNED BY PHLLIP BUTAH- IS OUT NOW!)

Talk about making your own luck! Philip told me ‘’Ed’s always been focused and ambitious’. Ed used to say to Philip “Philip Butah plus Ed Sheeran equals music plus art. ”

Philips enjoyed his time making Ed’s album cover so much he wants to stay connected to the music scene although he also has a lot of private clients and footballers. It takes 3 days averagely for a Philip Butah portrait. Priced from 1500 upwards which pays for his labour, cost of materials, travelling and framing. This Philip tells me has been dream job. He would also love to draw a lot of the grime acts as they’re so interesting. Especially Wiley and Tinie Tempah. Because he reveals to me ‘’Mostly due to what they’ve accomplished and what they mean to me…I’d love to have a Grime artists exhibition’’. I have no doubt that he will. Follow your dreams son. Onwards and upwards!

AFROBEATS FESTIVAL;ABI WILSON-OBRUCHE (PHOENIX MEDIA) and  MOBO CEO KANYA KING, WITH  (PETER AND PAUL) PSQUARE BACKSTAGE.

So much went on over carnival weekend. Post riots there were many that didn’t want to attend worried about more violence. Others decided it would be the safest carnival ever for opposing reasons. Whatever the case the general consensus was that carnival was quieter than its ever been. The spirit that carnival used to have years ago can never be recaptured with the time restrictions and barriers across most roads. Carnival is about freedom and joy. Notting hill is controlled and awkward. Furthermore this year I didn’t go to carnival as rampage sound system weren’t there but there was so much else happening across the capital and beyond.

WIZKID AT THE AFROBEATS FESTIVAL

The Afrobeats Festival held on Sunday 28th August Brought London to a standstill!

No one could have prepared the 5000+ fans for the type of show the organisers had in store for them. Choice Fm DJ Abranteee did an awesome job in hyping the crowd. But it wasn’t until 2011 Mobo award nominee Wizkid came on stage that the crowd went nuts.

Wizkid thrilled the audience with hits such as ‘Don’t dull’ & ‘Tease me’, the response from the crowd was epic. The adrenaline in the venue was at its all time high when Wizkid jumped into the crowd! He left he’s female fans in tears. When Wizkid left the stage, it felt as if the show couldn’t get any better. Little did the crowd know that Psquare was about to give them a world-class performance! Witnessed by Mobo CEO Kanya King, Head of MTV Africa Alex Okosi and Ex Governor Lagos state, Bola Tinubu, Nigerian Duo Psquare, who are also previous Mobo award nominees shocked the crowd with a spectacular set. Their choreography was out of this world as they performed all their classics and gave the crowd exclusive new songs from their new album ‘Invasion’. Psquare brought the Afrobeats Festival to a climax when they performed Africa’s biggest ballad ‘No one like you’ acapella. The Afrobeats Festival exceeded everyone’s expectations and the organisers Cokobar, Phoenix Media and SMADE in association with Choice FM outdid themselves. It was an award winning night, which now raises expectations for the Afrobeats Festival 2012!

The next day African star D’Banj did a solo show where his label boss Kanye West jumped onstage with him and twitter went nuts with cries of ‘’OMG Kanye West is onstage with D’Banj and just gave him his G.O.O.D MUSIC chain!’’.

JASMINE WITH TINCHY STRYDER AT THE MOBO AWARDS LAUNCH PARTY.

The weekend didn’t stop there as the whole of London’s urban music industry and beyond made their way to the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel where it was the annual MOBO nomination launch party. The previous parties were held at London’s Mayfair hotel but I told MOBO CEO and my mate Kanya King that it would be refreshing to see it at a new venue and the St Pancras renaissance is new, on the doorstep of linking us to the rest of Europe and a lovely ornate grand staircase connects the rooms.

On arrival there was already a huge wide red carpet covered with paparazzi and fans and on entering the glass function room we were greeted with champagne and soft tropical juices. Nibbles on silver trays were handed out as the nominations were announced to all attending.

UK chart topper Jessie J leads with 5 nominations,  whilst obvious nominee Adele is up for 4. Other females with 4 nominations include Katy B, Emeli Sande and Yasmin whilst males with 4 nom’s include Wretch32 and Tinie Tempah- all extremely well deserved nods.

Also amazing to note that new kids on the block Rizzle Kicks got 3 nominations! I only had lunch with their team 2 months ago saying they were working with a new duo and here they are-arrived!

JASMINE WITH MZ BRATT AT THE MOBO LAUNCH PARTY.

At the launch party N Dubz (minus their female lead star Tulisa), were causing their usual attention grabbing commotion on the press run, Tinchy was professionally doing all his press in his stunner shades, Princess Nyah was poured into a racy red dress highlighting her curves and rocking a particularly vertiginous pair of leopard print sky scraper platforms, Mz Bratt rocked a casual trendy look highlighting that pretty face that people keep talking about, wretch was rocking a long, big sheepskin looking coat and looked extremely pleased with himself, newcomer to island records Josh Osho performed, legend in the game Omar looked chuffed with his nomination, Scorcher was running around with Eastenders actress Preeya Kalidas, pop trio Ruff Diamondz were working their young and up for it look.

This night always makes the longer in the tooth players like myself smirk. It’s a night when every manager drags out their new emerging act onto the red carpet in hope of a sprinkle of the main action but most media just turn away and whisper ‘’who’s that?’’ to each other before moving on leaving the acts looking awkward with frozen smiles. There were more than ever of them this year and like last year I bet this time next year 1 of those has broken through. It’s a tough game and if youre in it for the long haul its good to know that all the acts you see that are successful now have been slogging away for years. its never an overnight sensation.

In the main room were industry tastemakers from every brand including ChoiceFM, Radio1Xtra, Hub entertainment, hiphop.com, pinboardblog, dj abrantee, DJ Shortee Blitz, SBTV, Ras Kwame. I still wish the MOBOs had kept the BEST DJ award. I know it caused a lot of controversy but in the urban music scene the DJ is the number1 tastemaker and so integral to the music’s success-it seems wrong to eliminate it. Also just for purely selfish personal reasons I used to love the DJ bitching sessions that this brought on!

I know the show will be great in Glasgow on October 5^th as I’ve worked on MTV Awards there. The city is buzzing, friendly, and the first city outside London that held the MOBOs and with Boys II Men performing at this years show I know it’s going to be another winner! .

JASMINE WITH THE BIGGEST BLACK WOMEN IN MEDIA!

A hectic summers week in London town which last night saw the annual MOBO PRE LAUNCH NOMINATION party at a slick new hotel in town which I suggested MOBO CEO Kanya King try out as an alternative option to the usual venue- (all the goss from that next time!),

My weekends have been as hectic as my week with me hosting Sunday dinner for family and friends which saw me cooking and juggling pots of every size on my stove and ensuring all food was simultaneously ready (a feat in itself!) and delicious (juggling everyone’s hot pepper levels) as everyone’s stomachs were starving. Just as I was exhaling with a vision for a foot massage my 11 year old godson Elliott then demanded I get up again and make him his favourite-‘’Jasmines pancakes’’-so up I was again, my belly growing daily as I cook up feats left right and centre.

I managed to fit in lunches with a number of artists both established and new; Alesha Dixon talked to LONDON 360 NEWS about the traumatic horror of female mutilation (more on that in a later juice too!),

Singer Princess Nyah popped up to the BBC to have a non-healthy muffin and cinnamon latte lunch with me-by the end of it we were both ready to take over the globe!.

JASMINE WITH RUFF DIAMONDZ AT THEIR HIP HOP KARAOKE.

Female music trio Rough Diamondz (RD) threw a private hip-hop karaoke night at THE SOCIAL which brought out the gangsta in everyone present. The trio and their label Polydor threw the party to celebrate the groups latest single ‘’Got Me Burnin’’ and so we could all have some serious fun. Every media tastemaker from both tabloid print press and radio and TV were all in attendance. Former Daily Mirror 3AM legend now at The Times-Eva Simpson, current Daily mirror 3AM girl Sarah Tettah, MTV talent representatives, record label big wigs, heat magazine, bliss magazine, top of the pops magazine, Sunday Mirror, The Sun, Daily Star, Star Magazine, and The Guardian! The list of willing performers was constantly full as we all wanted a piece of the action and many Polydor staff were surprisingly good-particularly a pair of straight nerdy looking white guys that dropped a Dre classic-their rhythm and lyrical flow was tight! RD jumped onstage to perform a few classics including Lauryn Hills ‘’That Thing’’ as well as Rick Ross’ BMH. Their energy was crazy infectious as a good artists always is. They also of course performed their single and were pleasantly shocked half way through as a load of dancers just jumped onstage and shocked out alongside them. I so badly wanted to get my hands on the mic. My peeps will tell you that I’m a karaoke nightmare and never give the mic up-its so much fun. But this was a music industry crowd and I didn’t have the balls to take the stage solo. My buddies who are fellow record label players and artists that shall remain nameless bottled it and so my possible moment of glory was lost!

The next night it was my work summer party on a moored boat on the river Thames before the week ended with the BBC CARNIVAL PARTY for staff and friends where singer Janet Kay performed as did actor/singer Victor Evans alongside Genesis Carnival Dancers- as usual a proper sweaty all out rave!

On Saturday photographer to the hip-hop elite Paul H threw a BBQ at his home and then I finally topped it off by attending the huge Afrobeats festival at Hammersmith Apollo where Award winning Afro Pop sensations P Square, Whiz Kid, Ice Prince and more did their thing!

Something I was honoured to be asked to be a part of was a TV series called ‘Black Women: In The Media’ Discover their journey to success!

It’s a three part documentary TV series that gives an exclusive insight into some of the UK’s most successful and talented women, paving the way in the Media Industry today. It’s premiering on 1^st September on OHTV (parts 2 and 3 on the 8^th and the 15^th- If you’re reading JASMINES JUICE from outside of the UK the show repeats across OH Africa and OH USA).

Alongside myself it features; ITN Journalist Charlene White, BBC Arts and Entertainment Correspondent Brenda Emmanus, Founder of Colorblind Cards and JH PR Jessica Huie, MD of VA-PR (World Music Awards) Vanessa Amadi, CEO of LGN Events (Producers for London Fashion Week) Yolande Letshou, BBC and OH TV Producer Michelle Brooks, Radio Presenter for Premier Gospel Radio Amma Aning, Award-winning Book Author Malorie Blackman OBE and Media Brand Consultant to MOBO Awards and Justin Timberlake Kubi Springer. it gives an exclusive up close and personal account of the highs and lows of our journeys’ to success. Dynamic and honest, we all discuss what it took for us to push past the boundaries and excel as Black women in Britain today.

To complement the show, Pride Magazine even dedicated a double page spread in their September issue to us, which was fabulous. As if that wasn’t enough there’s going to be a billboard campaign across London starting from 1^st September which makes us all look like super heroes. All of us ladies were whisked to a studio one summers afternoon and whipped into hair and makeup to tell our stories accompanied by sexy bubbly cocktails and the bonding and sharing experience immediately generated a whole new set of friendships and a network that I’m proud to have been a part of. Thank you everyone for a wonderful experience and a timeless, positive bit of TV content. I’ll be sure to tune in with my peeps for a VIP screening-(and of course it’ll be ladies only cos ‘who runs the world-GIRLS!’

3 PART SERIES

SEPTEMBER 1ST 8PM

SEPTEMBER 8TH 8PM

SEPTEMBER 15TH 8PM

‘Black Women: In The Media’

Discover their journey to success!

‘Black Women: In The Media’ in association with Paparazzi Studio and Hair by Sleek, is a three part documentary TV series that gives an exclusive insight into some of the UK’s most successful and talented women, paving the way in the Media Industry today.

Premiering on 1^st September 2011 ‘Black Women: In The Media’ features, ITN Journalist Charlene White, BBC Arts and Entertainment Correspondent Brenda Emmanus, Media Trust & Broadcaster former Head of MTV Base Jasmine Dotiwala, Founder of Colorblind Cards and JH PR Jessica Huie, MD of VA-PR (World Music Awards) Vannessa Amadi, CEO of LGN Events (Producers for London Fashion Week) Yolande Letshou, BBC and OH TV Producer Michelle Brooks, Radio Presenter for Premier Gospel Radio Amma Aning, Award-winning Book Author Malorie Blackman OBE and Media Brand Consultant to MOBO Awards and Justin Timberlake Kubi Springer.

From PR, to publishing, TV to radio, ‘Black Women: In The Media’ explores the careers of these ten phenomenal women. An inspirational and must-see show, it gives an exclusive up close and personal account of the highs and lows of their journey to success. Dynamic and honest, these women discuss what it took for them to push past the boundaries and excel as Black women in Britain today.

To complement the show, Pride Magazine is dedicating a double page spread in their September issue, alongside a billboard campaign across London starting from 1^st September 2011. OH TV is also proud to announce Hair by Sleek and Paparazzi Studios as the programme sponsors of ‘Black Women: in The Media’.

Watch the journey on OH TV and hear first-hand, how these iconic women, went from being aspirational young girls into inspirational Black Women!

Watch ‘Black Women: In The Media’ On OH TV (Sky Channel 199)

Part 1 broadcasts at 8pm on Thursday 1^st September 2011

Part 2 broadcasts at 8pm on Thursday 8^th September 2011

Part 3 broadcasts at 8pm on Thursday 15^th September 2011

Full Series broadcasting at 8pm on Thursday 22^nd September 2011

Full Series repeat broadcasting at 8pm on Thursday 29^th September 2011

Discover more by logging onto http://www.ohtv.co.uk/BlackWomen

Show repeats across OH Africa and OH USA.

JASMINE AND SEAN PAUL.

This week I’ve been working on new mainstream TV music shows and news shows for youth. My 2 favourite things. I also welcomed a whole new batch of new young journalists into the LONDON360 TV roles and next week spending most of the week interviewing loads of young people for the new LONDON360 reporter roles. I love my job when it combines all my passions.

I also grabbed a 5 day Craig David special with lunches with Sean Paul, Princess Nyah, DJ Manny Norte, the Grimedaily team, the British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) team, I did an interview with musician and actor Lonyo- (‘’Summer of love’’ singer and new movie lead in ‘’David is Dying’’).

And just to reassure all those on twitter who accuse me of not living in the real world or doing what real people do, I also had a doctor’s appointment, went bowling with friends, helped my mum and dad with shopping and cleaning and paid a parking ticket. There. Normal enough?

Sean Paul was in town for promo for his new music and his gig at the ONE LOVE PEACE FESTIVAL. We met at his hotel where his label rep the infamous Taponeswa Mavunga and his manager Steve Wilson were awaiting my arrival. We discussed world issues before Sean turned up. Everything from being gay, adopting children, Jamaican celebrities and Mohican hairstyles as Steve was rocking one. When Sean wandered in, it seemed he had also caught the Mohawk mania but he was quick to correct me. His he stated was a ‘’tappahawk’’. Sean told me he was currently enjoying the excitement about his single ‘’GOT 2 LUV U’’ produced by Norwegian duo Stargate (Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown), and the infectious new track features Roc Nation starlet – Alexis Jordan, which is nearing 2.5million views on Youtube. He mentioned that they were probably going to shoot the video in September. As well as performing at the One Love Festival alongside Shaggy and Busta Rhymes he also played a sold out Bristol 02 Academy date and told me he was eager to finish up and get out his 5^th new album early in the New Year.

I recalled the early days with Sean Paul when he was just starting out and we filmed his DIARY OF SEAN PAUL at MTV. We visited South Africa and places all across Europe where Sean sampled fine French wine, went into the African town ships and more. Sean’s an artist that has worked hard and his sound continues to get used in parties and clubs on the regular and has everyone dancing hard- even in my gym Body Jam classes!

JASMINE AND LETHAL B

Next Lethal B kindly popped up to the BBC building to speak to a group of young journalists and reporters from LONDON 360 for an impromptu press conference scenario. 2011’s been a good year for Lethal B- who I know as his birth certificate name -Maxwell.  He’s done a remix with a few of the new school artists, set up his own label. And on the back of that, a lot of doors have reopened for him. He re released his next single called Mind Spinning, and now he’s working on an album probably to be released towards the end of this year or early January time and going on tour.

Maxwells from East London, Walthamstow. He understands more than most what its like for young frustrated people. He said ‘‘the council estates, a lot of negative things happen. That kind of inspired me to do better. I knew at some point this is only going to end in two ways, none of them are positive. So in that sense it was like the whole music thing was like bit cheesy but kind of like a saviour for me. When I was in a crew we used to support each other and go and make mix tapes and free styles and that was the kind of support we had for each other. Slowly we were building our career in disguise. We helped each other rather than being on the street and causing trouble’’.

Maxwell added ‘’ music definitely brings people together. Music’s the universal language. You see it doesn’t matter what colour you are, you know I do festivals, I do club shows, I do all sort of events and every single person knows that record. Now it is getting more accepted especially with festivals, a rock n roll kind of event and now it is starting to bring different genre in and people are just music lovers now.’’

Maxwell might be a pioneer in his game but he admitted he still feels frustration with parts of the media explaining ‘’Recently I was on the front page of the telegraph in Coventry, I was headlining a festival, and their headline was ‘’GUN RAPPER, HEADLINES FESTIVAL ‘’ and I was like what the hell are you talking about?!. And they were referencing my song ‘’Pow’’ saying it was more about guns and stuff like that. I was disappointed to see that. The negative, ignorant media stereotyping is still there. Slowly slowly, we’ll get there one day’’.

Maxwell explained to the young people in his presence that ‘’Grime life style is about expressing yourself. There is no kind of rules or anything; Grime has made me express myself. It’s made me dress how I want to. Don’t be scared to speak. If you don’t speak no one’s going to hear your opinion. Everyone has an opinion. So grime helps me express myself, how I want to express. If that makes sense.

The real thing about grime is when it started I was at the start of it; we didn’t even know what we were creating. We were just making music for the fun of it. And now it’s become this big huge whole thing. I think it’s the story of young kids from the streets of London who may not necessarily have the best background but who are becoming young entrepreneurs from nothing to something. I think that is what is making the story so powerful’’.

Maxwell laughed about how far Social Media can help a new act-something he didn’t always have the advantage of having at his fingertips ‘’now it’s a lot easier, it used to be very hard. When I first started doing the whole music thing, it was ten years ago, there were no things like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube. Now you can use resources and do things like free styles and collaborations which may not necessarily be on the album but it giving back to your fans’’

He did want to clarify that the new generation needs to pay attention to his era of acts claiming ‘I’m one of the pioneers and have set a blue print. When I came in, we didn’t really know what was going on, we just made music for the fun of making music and next minute we are on top of the pops and I think the new generation needs to really pay attention to see how its been done . And grime gets a lot of negative press. We are all positive guys from a negative environment.  We are just trying to better ourselves. It’s all about empowering yourself. About doing better. Being negative is only going to lead you in one way so I definitely feel like the new generation should pay attention and listen because we have done it’’.

We agreed that most celebs and brands were focusing on pro-social, positive community projects now with acts like Alicia Keys, Brad Pitt, Estelle and Samuel L Jackson supporting charities and orange networks sponsoring ‘’orange rock corps’’ and more. To this end Maxwell talked about his passion for organisation Biggafish. He sad ‘’Biggafish is amazing like organization. Its just kids on the street they get to meet their local stars. Its real positive, at that age 14 15 16, doing something productive, school holidays, times where a lot of kids have nothing to do and they get out to stuff, negativity comes off, Biggafish is important. it gets people involved’’.

Maxwell is putting his actions where his mouth is and talked about his passion for mentoring. ‘’I think that could really be positive. As I said you know especially at that age you are really not confused, but you don’t really know what you want to do where do you want to go, it’s all about trying to find inspiration and direction. If you are speaking to people who you look up to or you may respect give a bit of insight, where you wanna be, where you wanna go, so it could definitely help. Positivity is the way forward, most definitely’’.

If he hadn’t made it in music Maxwell confessed ‘’I think I’d probably be in education probably university, my parents are African Ghanaian so, they are really strict on this education thing. Maybe work in some sort of profession. My dad wanted me to be an engineer, electrical engineering and music thing picked up for me. I think I would probably be doing maybe engineering or a job like that’’.

With the Olympics coming to his area he thinks ‘’The Olympics was obviously a positive thing, the whole shopping centre thing is a catch 22, its gonna give young kids more jobs and help the economy. Bring more opportunities and yes it is getting a bit done up over there. When I was there it was just towers and blocks and garages, I hope it has a positive reaction’’.

Maxwell did admit though that he doesn’t live in his old hood any longer ‘’I don’t live in east London anymore, let me just put it out there, but my experience in east London is going to be there forever. As my journey goes along its always going to be reflected in my music, I don’t know if not still being there will really affect me that much’’.

Finally with African celebrities taking over our charts, sports and politics Maxwell said he’s a proud African now as ‘’it is hard being an African in the world, when I went to school ages ago,  it was like a crime to be an African, I used to get teased..uh uh uh you are from Africa! I’ve always been a proud African. And now Africans have just empowered themselves.. I have been in a Nigerian crew, but I am a Ghanaian, so I represent Ghana. But Africa as a whole, we have come a very long way. African parents born here managed to build a career. It’s a beautiful place man.. People are proud and we can find some African restaurants. You can find African clubs and African culture being embraced and all-it’s a happy day!.

With that I bid him farewell and stood taller and prouder with my own Kenyan roots!

Samuel l Jackson hosted his annual shooting stars benefit ball at the Royal Courts of Justice which had requested a Black Tie for men and glamorous for women dress code ,which saw me roll up on a very long, busy stressful day in my car just as dinner was beginning in my ride with my ball gown from DOLCE & GABANNA in my boot. I had to slide myself into it in the front seat of my car and hope passers by didn’t grab a shot of any Dotiwala bodily parts and then had my friend race around to my side of the car to zip me in! Such class.

A champagne reception greeted us as we arrived along the red carpet at this very striking old location with centuries of historical content. I smiled as I noted all my favourite brands were sponsors from the Moet & Chandon bubbly, to the Virgin Atlantic flights that were up for auction, to the slick AUDI cars that were taxing guests around. Even better, the healthy athletic shoe maker Fit Flop were the main sponsor and so each guest was treated to a free pair of any Fit Flop shoe of their choice-and as these are pretty expensive I took full advantage. I was sat on the Adidas table which was clearly the most lively and fun as others from the top tables actually came and requested to be seated at our table midway through the dinner as their table had been very quiet and stuffy. They could probably hear us laughing as we had caught one of the Adidas team with a topless photo screen saver of London’s finest actor-Idris Elba that all the ladies were salivating over in a quite disturbing manner! With Idris topless and Desperate Housewives heartthrob Jesse Metcalfe at a table beside us there were ladies swooning all over the place, whilst the non-stop alcohol which was being poured by silver service waiters had the rest swooning. To complete the massive swoonfest we had a little two-step with the main man of the night –Samuel- after he hosted the live auction which raised lots of cash for young people that just wanted their final wishes granted. What an amazing cause!.

JASMINE WITH NOEL CLARKE

Next my pal actor, director and screen writer Noel Clarke invited me down to hayes to the film set where he was making his latest film STORAGE 24. It was fascinating to watch the making of film as opposed to the TV that i’m used to. The detail and patience required is second to none. I saw aliens flying around and blood and wounds everywhere whilst noel just sat back like a G and took it all in his very classic stride. I wish more young people could hear Noel speak- he can articulate opinions for the younger generation like no one else in our scene. He has respect, talent and a following of thousands- politicians get him on board whilst you still can!.

What can I say about the Riots that hasn’t already been said. Probably not much as I’ve already tweeted like a mad woman this past week. I work in a news department. This means I speak to and empathise with a diverse range of people and their differing opinions.

So many divided opinions from all, so many lives affected. So many causes set back. So much worse to come now that we have to all pay for the clean up and have even less in our local communities to enhance our lives. As predicted the lazy cries of the press wanting to blame music and hip-hop came thick and fast.

DJ Semtex shot back ‘’rappers talk about the negative because we live with it. Get rid of the negative and it wont get rapped about. If we didn’t have hip-hop, if we didn’t have this form of self-expression, this mirror that reflects society, things would have happened years ago, and the situation would be a lot worse’’.

Arts impresario Ekow Eshun stated ‘’the violence is appalling but we only risk its repetition by failing to look at this as major social breakdown not just lawless thuggery’’.

South London rapper Giggs spoke out ‘’My Prayers go out to the people affected by the Riots, and the attacks on innocent people needs to stop’’

Should we blame hip-hop for thieving MP’s? Paedophiles’? Mass murderers? I listened to NWA, and watched shoot em up westerns throughout my childhood-it didn’t make me riot and loot. I also had free education, a youth club and activities after school and lived in a world full of hope where parents were allowed to reprimand me and I was frightened of disrespecting my teachers. This is the chickens come home to roost.

The government took away parents and teachers rights to be authoritive. Nowadays the reality is that there are kids threatening to call the police on their parents and threatening them with social services!?. Taking away parental power was the beginning of the end. That made kids rude. Then you cut all education, ignored poverty, pretended that postcode gang wars didn’t exist and let them get on with it. This made them frustrated. You said our country is in debt, cuts need to be made but you took it from the poor and left them with nothing whilst the rich got richer and bankers got bailed out-with pay rises. Now they are bored and idle and see that crime pays. You know what they say about the devil making work for idle hands.

You told people that if they were unhappy about society then we had the freedom to peacefully protest and our opinions would be heard. We peacefully protected in our millions about the Iraq war. We were ignored. Thousands peacefully protested about black people dying in police custody. They were ignored. Now we are angry, frustrated and bored with no pride in our area, ourselves or a stake in society. Why wouldn’t people lash out?

Yet there are also a whole generation of young people who have a huge sense of entitlement of what society owes them that is so laughable its ridiculous. We all helped ourselves. We too had single mothers and were poor. We worked hard and earned money and that’s just not how life works. We saw our parents go to work so we grew up with a work ethic-the new generation see their parents claiming benefits-is it any wonder they’re minds are screwed up!!? This mind set is inherited and handed down. We bombard youth with adverts for status symbols making them feel irelavent unless theyre blinged up-why is this looting such a shock?

The press are messed up. They have a responsibility to report the TRUTH.  We clearly saw the live TV footage show a mixed bag of cross sections of the public looting, but the next days papers show just pics of young black men. How is that fair news reporting? Are we surprised that the Daily Mail point of view exists?

Doesn’t  this underline the unspoken fear of black males always being seen as sexually aggressive, angry, studs? The best reporter in the country for print press was Paul Lewis with his honest tweets and daily blogs at THE GUARDIAN telling the real story. Similarly Sangat TV- a Birmingham, Sikh TV station saw a fearless young Asian reporter, Upinder Randhawa in the depth of the action chattering away-it was mesmerising.

Young gangs in postcode and area wars have been fighting and killing each other for years. The media made a big deal about it for a minute a few years back but now the kids are just left to kill each other- this week alone yet more young men are stabbing each other to death. Now that it’s affected commercial business and the wider community are involved its come to the forefront again. Alas-this has been the best advert that the racist BNP and EDL party’s need. Nick Griffin must be laughing in his whiter than white bubble bath.

The government need to invest in our young people in a better manner. Let me give you examples from my own life.
At my time as head of production at MTV BASE, I was privy to numerous meetings over the years where central government wanted to do something to put across anti knife crime messages. Instead of ever taking up any of my proactive ideas that would’ve actually taken groups of young people off the streets and given them new hope, all they wanted to do was a PR exercise where they paid MTV for advert time and editorial to show that THEY were to be SEEN as encouraging positive messages but not ACTUALLY investing in any change.

So of course the ad’s are on air and the politicians are seen to care but the message reaches no-one that really needs to hear it. That’s the extent of their reach.

There were a multitude of talking heads rolled out to comment on the riots including articulate people like Nii from Bigga fish and Anne Diamond. Yes Anne diamond!.wtf!?

As one blogger said ‘’ Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up in a community where there are no jobs, no space to live or move, and the police are on the streets stopping-and-searching you as you come home from school.’’

In one TV report, a young man in Tottenham was asked if rioting really achieved anything:

“Yes,” said the young man. “You wouldn’t be talking to me now if we didn’t riot, would you?Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you-all of you want to speakl to me now.”

I would actually argue that actually the message has been lost cos now they’re only seeing young black people looting for blingtastic materialistic goods. We’re brain washed by consumerism – they’re stealing status symbols. The governments cut benefits for those that can work- these people desperate now to keep up their ghetto superstar lifestyle want to go looting trainers, jeans and phones. At least they could’ve looted some bookstores to show they’re smart too? (You may have even learnt something!)

There’s been a simmering anger all over the UK’s cities-not just from young people in London –but from people from all areas and cultures. This has been bubbling for years. We have to focus on the lack of family structure in communities. Parents are now so out of touch with their kids. They’re actually trying harder to friend them. I regularly see kids rave with their mums and shop for similar clothes together. How can a parent demand respect if their child see’s them as an equal? Give back the power to parents and authority figures so they can command respect.

I spoke to a lady a while back who  ”thankfully told me she loved MTV BASE and VIDEO GAMES for babysitting her kids most evenings as it keep them quiet and out of trouble to do her own thing” ? Guess what her kids are like?

Young people want to get rich quick-or die trying. And they want fame. Whilst part of me was glued to the TV riots mesmerised by the disaster movie shots in front of my eyes, the other half of me knew that whilst this 24 hour rolling news footage was exciting, it was also inciting the bad ones to do more and make themselves famous for a minute like the naughty school kid playing up in class to impress their peers in the same way.

Fame and notoriety plays a big part in a culture that’s grown up on mafia movies and Jay Z hustle songs. Adults aren’t even aware that there’s a whole underground world they’re unaware of that exists. But their kids ALL know about it. Gangs from different postcodes are threatening each other online on websites and going through with killings and post shank, boasting about their deed. If you type in the words ‘’Brixton’’ or ‘’Peckham’’ on spifftv.com’s search engine hundreds of videos that youth have uploaded of themselves masked and unmasked brandishing weapons appear. This is an immediate instant fame platform for gangs that want kudos amongst their peers. As a kid when I had a fight my street knew about it. Now these sites mean the country knows about it.

Compare that openly available material with MTV content.If you attempt to put MTV programmes onto YouTube it’s usually taken down within hours due to the disagreement on content rights between MTV/VIACOM and YouTube. Because MTV have bigwig lawyers their content won’t be available for free online and gets shut down. Why can’t City Hall hire big wig lawyers to put legislation in place that ensure tastemaker sites with influence aren’t allowed to host violent content like this? Site moderators should have to justify their content. Instead I know City Hall hire community leaders that are so out of touch with the youth and have such old-fashioned views they’d be better off advising Jesus and his disciples than modern day youth. I’ve sat in on and been privy to a few of these meetings-they are so off track its tragic.  One recent one put into action a dance with celebrities to raise money for knife crime victims. No honestly. This is the reactive remedy that they think will help. How about being pro-active.

There’s a crisis of leadership in this country.We have no articulate, opinionated leaders within urban culture either. Most UK urban chart toppers are happy to tweet about their music all day long but many are ghost silent when asked to speak on things that matter to their audiences. If this riot had kicked off in the USA I have no doubt that leaders like Obama, Russell Simmons and Puffy would stand up, rally the troops, bring in the NATION OF ISLAM to try and diffuse the situation and make their voices heard correctly. I tried to think of one, very famous British face who the UK urban youth would listen to and that would be prepared to speak. I couldn’t think of one that had enough influence or articulation. Russell Simmons reached out last week to Estelle and Tim Westwood to try and help. How embarrassing that we need to be policed by Americans, as we can’t sort out our own problems? Only a Londoner knows what London’s going through. Years ago I had DefJam UK tell me they were bringing in an American to teach me and my peers how to sell UK URABAN music to the UK charts. They failed. Miserably. And snuck back to New York with their tails between their legs leaving the hopes and dreams of young Londoners they had signed up shattered and broken.

One blogger said ‘’People riot because they have spent their whole lives being told that they are good for nothing, and they realise that together they can do anything – literally, anything at all’’.

How ironic that the young people involved that usually wouldn’t dare step into each other post coded ‘’endz’’ were now putting that curfew on hold and uniting together for now against a common mutual enemy-the police. I wondered if subconsciously the young ones were relieved to be able to be one big happy ‘’family’’ gang together for once instead of having to look over their shoulder for each other. Maybe they thought it might lead to a long term bonding by uniting together against another external foe? Because lets face it-surely this must be what they want-right? Can you imagine how powerful these gangs of kids would be if they united for positive change? THey’d be unstoppable!

Also-how long can the police get away with their behaviour? So many black men have died in police custody but not one police officer is suspended? But recently a dog died due to being left in a police car that over heated and the dog died-the police man was immediately suspended? Are human black lives worth less than a dogs?

Could Mark Duggans family not have received better treatment and answers? You can never justify the riots or looting. They were wrong full stop. But you should be open minded enough to see why its been a boiling pot waiting to bubble over. There were people angry about Duggans death and police inaccuracies, there were people who were caught up trying to pilfer as much as they could and there were people who are so frustrated they want to fight and let their tension out whoever they hit-and to them the police are an easy and justifiable target.

The bottom line though is that there is no intelligent justification for the carnage that innocent people and their livelihoods have suffered, people have died!. Young boisterous men fuelled with testosterone ran the streets and now innocent people are dead.

There is no one solution to this. Its an iceberg effect where the riot marks the seen visible tip of the riots but underneath there have been layers of deep, thick issue that’s been building strongly for years. So instead of a simple solution of just punishment for the savagery, how about pro-active change in Britain’s moral society which is corrupt from high to low?

So last week the EVENING STANDARD newspaper picked up on the LONDON360 news story about literacy in London featuring celebrity chef Marco Pierre White   that my team made. People don’t read as much now as in the past and as a testament to this libraries are shutting down and we care raising a generation of people that can’t spell or enjoy reading. People send me letters and application forms with CV’s that contain practically illegible grammar. They attend interviews and they can’t speak coherently. They want to be musicians and presenters but they can’t write? Every Tuesday afternoon after school my mum used to turn my library trip into an adventure that I looked forwards to. I felt independent choosing my own books from the bookshelves and exploring loads of different topics that I had not encountered before. I loved Nancy Drew and hardy boy’s child sleuth novels as well as Enid Blytons secret 7 and famous five fun gang stories. I learnt how to escape the streets of Southall and Harlesden for a couple of hours a day into fantasy worlds that helped me dream big and learn how to be articulate. In fact young people aspire to be like their hip-hop heroes but every time I ever worked with Pharrell and Kanye west we would discuss which books we were reading and in fact it was Pharel who first had me hooked on the Dan brown books before they became very commercial. For people that tell me they don’t need libraries as they will buy their kids books or let them read them online they are being very tunnel vision-ed and ignorant. The child cannot experience the wonderful experience of browsing through hundreds of books and picking any outside of their usual interest to broaden their horizons. The joy of carrying the book, seeing how far into it you are, the anticipation of nearing the end conclusion. All these things are fascinating for kids and I as an adult STILL use my local west London library. The number of biographies I read I couldn’t afford to buy them all or would want them cluttering up my home after reading. My bookshelves are full to the brim of my favourite reads which I re read (piers Morgan’s books) or flick through (my HIP HOP IMMORTALS COFFEE TABLE art book). In fact if ever asked the proverbial question ‘’if your house were on fire what would you save-it would be one of my favourite signed books!). I urge you to encourage literacy amongst those around you- it’s the first step towards greatness!

I was invited by Saddler’s Wells theatre to go and see the amazing production of Fela, which has already captivated audiences worldwide. About the Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti the show focus’ on Fela’s final gig at Lagos nightclub-the Shrine and was a wonderful night of great music, mesmerising dancers and an intriguing storyline that focused on Fela’s relationship with his mother, the fact that he came to London to study medicine then was drawn towards jazz music and his relationship with many women simultaneously.

Fela was the pioneer of Afrobeat, a genre of music that’s going to blow up in the UK soon-there’s already a huge afrobeat show happening this month in London and DJ Abrantee has an afrobeat show on CHOICEFM. Even Kanye west has signed 2 African acts recently-perhaps America is slightly ahead of our game with this one.

The audience were encouraged (forced!) to participate through out the show with dancing in our seats and in the aisles, which could have been a little cringe worthy but was taken well even by the conservative half of the audience. The ‘’clock dance’’ where our hips were encouraged to move around the clock was hilarious. Even sir Andrew Lloyd Webber was sitting with us!.

The cast made humorous references to ‘’ethnic folks’’ reputations by asking ‘’how kind of you all to come especially considering how dangerous this area and how dangerous we are-as Reuters will tell you’’.

They mocked the ’white people coming Africa to steal our soaps, dressing gowns and ashtrays from hotels, steal our diamonds, steal our people but left us with’ gonorrhoea’’. There was a massive cheer when they talked about multi national corporations like BP and News Corp and raised eyebrows as to whom were the corrupt in society’’. I thought it was a great show but would’ve liked more of Fela’s real story and fighting the brutality of the African regime and less booty shaking. My friend agreed and wished that all black musical shows didn’t focus on stereotypes of blacks. I knew fela is lauded by many of my American friends and looked upon as a hero and I was a bit disappointed not to learn more about why this was.

On Saturday morning I drove down to Clapham common to see my girl Lisa Maffia (former So Solid Crew first lady) run the 5k RACE FOR LIFE-one of 28 races that have happened around London this summer. It was nice to attend in South London as Race for life started in 1994 in Battersea Park and since then millions of women have taken  part Lisa’s mother was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and so Lisa has been positively putting on a brave face and generating positive energy around her determined to make a difference. She put together TEAM MAFFIA to run with her and the group included one of her best mates Su-Elise (former Mis-Teeq member). We arrived early to film the event with the LONDON360 TV crew and found 4,500 women in pink t-shirts warming up in front of stage where an aerobics instructor was doing her thing.  Each runner had a square card pinned to their backs with their personal dedication to whom they were running for. Many were running to remember parents and family members that had passed away. Just as many were running for people in their lives that were dealing with cancer presently. It was emotional and heart breaking to read them all. Runners ran alone, in pairs, in groups, even with their prams with babies and dogs running alongside them. The feeling of unity in the air was humbling and strong.

It’s easy to feel it doesn’t affect you until it does. The facts are that in London alone one person every hour is diagnosed with cancer in and one in three of us are affected by cancer.

I hated sponsored events as a school child. The endless begging people holding a paper and trying to collect cash. Nowadays the rest is out there in a click with e-mails and facebook/twitter and with justgiving sites you don’t even need to collect money! The last time I ran this race I ran for the ACLT and raised £3000-it literally was a doddle. The organisers told me ‘’Its brilliant when celebs get on board as the amount of celebrities that are getting involved in race for life, not only that they are taking part but its special for the other participants to see them taking part and they tweet, they go on Facebook and they really raise awareness for race for life and cancer research UK in the public’’.

Lisa told me just before the race began ‘’ I’m feeling very emotional that these girls turned up for me, my mum was diagnosed with cancer in April and I asked the girls to all come and take part with me and they have and its going to be a great day. I’ve been training for about two weeks, I’m feeling confident I just want to get it done I want to make my mum proud, I think that’s what’s going to drive me round this course today. The cancer research does unite women in London because woman can be affected as well as men by cancer and you never know when its going to happen, I didn’t know it was going to happen to my mum, so its just so important that every penny raised can buy telescopes, doctors coats, it can do all sorts of things and every penny counts it really is so important, and women are together. I plan to crawl around the track, I’m running, I’m running the whole way, I’m going to try and run’’.

Lisa Mafia and Su-Elise weren’t the only music ladies running. The original female UK hip hop collective- Cookie Crew were there (MC Remedee -real name Debbie Pryce and Susie Q (born Susan Banfield) ,and informed me ‘’ we’re running the race for my cousin Paula and for DJ Swing (RIP) and for everyone we know who’s suffering. everybody has been affected in some way by cancer we all just feel that we’re compelled to do something because it’s a disease that you feel you cant do anything about so you feel that you have to do something and we’ve all been affected by cancer and we did make a decision that we will do more things for charity, that was our new years resolution last year. the best thing is that its on Clapham Common this is literally our back garden and its where we grew up and this is where hip hop started’’.

The stage host asked team mafia to get onstage pre-race and do a mini press conference. He asked Lisa about why she was taking part. Lisa replied ‘’ my mum was diagnosed with cancer in April and I just realised how important something like this…’’ before becoming overcome with emotion and teary. In true best friend mode without missing a beat Su-Elise hugged Lisa, took the microphone from Lisa and saved the day stating ‘’She’s doing it for her mum today and she wants to finish the whole race, make her mum proud and thanks you guys for joining in with us.  You all look absolutely fabulous by the way’’. I was impressed by their tight friendship bond and it was a heart wrenching moment. It was also a proud moment highlighting the unity that life-changing moments like this can bring. We caught up with Lisa as she sprinted past the finish line who explained ‘’ I’m a person that likes to help when I’m in a bad situation and doing this is just… I think it’s given my mum another hope, as it is a hard thing to go through.  I’ve never seen my mum in such a vulnerable situation and watching her daily and doing something like this I just know it gives her a new hope and I think it does it for everyone who has either lost somebody or some who’s going through dealing with cancer’’.

The runners just that day raised £600,000 for cancer research UK-an amazing feat! I salute all of you dealing with this-may your unity and courage gives you strength to take each day as it comes, comes what may.

JASMINE WITH INTERNATIONAL REGGAE STAR ETANA.

The very next day it was off to Wembley arena for the ONE LOVE PEACE FESTIVAL. I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect much. Much of the time urban events on a big scale in the UK aren’t great for turnout or organisation. So imagine my happy surprise on arriving to find thousands of people queuing around the arena in their most summery outfits in the scorching sunshine. Wembley hill was a roadblock! So THIS is where all the true diehard reggae and dancehall fans have been going instead of carnival!  It was like being at Sumfest! The arena was full, the vibe was great, flags were being waved and whistles blown, the acts who included John Holt, Aswd, Horace Andy, Etana, Trevor Hartley, Sandra Cross, Gyptian, Busta Rhymes, Sean Paul and Shaggy, were onstage from early afternoon until 11pm. There was a real positive energy and no bad vibes anywhere, just like a summery all-dayer in the city should be!.

My criticisms would be that the backstage media room wasn’t the best organised machine with random people crowding around interviews, photographers actually flashing cameras which render TV footage being filmed unusable and at one point we were all moved from the hot room to a freezing room next door-all day media were kindly provided beverages in the form of Levi Roots latest ginger beer offering and also ‘’Marley’s mellow mood juice’’ which provided much mirth.

Hilariously Levi Roots performed a set about ‘’reggae reggae sauce’’ and wasn’t as bad as it could have been(is there anything this man cant do?). Ray Lewis who works for the mayor’s office and is pals with Boris Johnson spoke onstage a few times and was promptly booed every time he mentioned Boris. Don’t know why-I think Boris is realer than any past mayor we’ve seen and unlike most politicians sticks to his word with his promises. Ray gave messages of anti gun crime throughout the day alongside community groups and this reminded the audience why we were there which I was pleased about as when my TV crew vox popped the crowd entering early in the day-hardly anyone was aware it was an anti gun crime themed event.

I also question whether an event like this is really making a different with those young gang members that are caught up anyway. Surely most of the crowd here were present as they were music lovers and already unified in their positive outlook on life. The ones that are still wasting their lives with street nonsense probably aren’t here anyway? And at £50 quid a ticket how many young desperate youth could afford it anyway?

Gyptian told me ‘’ “The one thing I’m glad about is that I’m not part of the artists that sing derogatory lyrics, ya know,.”

JASMINE WITH THE UK’S PRINCESS NYAH

Princess Nyah disagreed ‘’ Regards musicians that talk about gun crime and glamorize violence she stated “With every artist, everyone’s got their own story to tell, and I can’t penalize somebody else for talking about what they’ve been through. Regardless of all the negative press, if someone’s got a story to tell and they want to share it and people can relate to it, then who is the media or anyone else to say any different.I was really keen on taking part in the event because I was born and raised in north west London, and there’s a lot of crime that happens all the time but amongst all of that there are really good young people out there.”

Etana told me her thoughts on women helping the cause “I always feel for about representing women, my name Etanna, means the strong one, so its for every woman to know when they hear the name Etana it represents you. “Women play a major role in keeping the peace. In a household, when a woman is upset the whole household is upset. Fathers upset, kids are miserable, everybody’s screaming and running around, that’s because the queen bee is upset, you know, she’s buzzin. So the best thing we can do as women is start with ourselves and remember we cant take our stress out on the kids.”

Father and son music duo PRB told us ‘(son) “It is basically bringing youths and adults together, so knowing that all multicultural people can come as one like Martin Luther once said and try and spread the love and peace and forget about gun and knife crime and end this.“When we are listening to music we listen and think, ah yeah this song may be catchy but what is it actually really portraying?’’ father Ruben added ‘“It’s about the mentoring skills as well and showing that care and concern so the kids don’t feel distant away from us“It’s a lot to do with the system, everyone has a standard in their home. A standard of how they behave themselves.”

Some acts that were mentioned on the flyer like Ky-mani Marley, Third World and Bashy didn’t show so many complained about that.  (I know Bashy was filming his movie so clearly some miscommunication there by the organisers!) Also many young audience members were there to see team UK acts like Donaeo and Skepta-and you could tell the event was organised by the older generation, as when sh@* hit the fan and the show was running late Skepta was finally allowed a really short set as was Princess Nyah but  ‘’party hard’’ star Donaeo was cut out of the show totally-much to his and the hundreds of young audience in attendance! They even had Skepta’s name flashing on stage whilst Sean Paul was performing. Oh dear. Elsewhere, Etena name checked Amy Winehouse, Busta and his co-hort Spliff Star are one of the top 5 live hip-hop acts in the world and killed the stage-the crowd were in a total frenzy by the time Mohawk haired Sean Paul came on to relax their vibe a bit with some gyrating, sexy tunes. The headline act Shaggy only got to play for 10 minutes, as they were running late- typical. Sean Paul and Shaggy had a tough time onstage-I’d love to print their thoughts here but alas it’s a family newspaper.

If any lessons were learnt from this show its that an outdoor arena with 2 stages so band set up times could be swift not making the audience wait ages for the next act could be beneficial.

Overall a brilliantly put together front of house show for the reggae community in the UK-one that hasn’t existed for a very long time! Organiser hugh summed it up nicely  ‘’ “What happens here today is an a culmination of what has been happening over the past month. On the first of July we went into the schools, the colleges, the youth clubs, into the playgrounds and we say youngsters look, we going to try and create a more equipped community able to negotiate a successful stake in the UK.”

JASMINE AND KEISHA BUCHANAN

Lead Sugababes singer Keisha Buchanan invited me to her first solo outing in conjunction with Jacques cider who took over a beautiful town house mansion in Central London to celebrate the opening of a new super stylish Jacques townhouse. As I walked in past the paparazzi board where young starlets were being papped surrounded by eager pr people gushing at each other. We stepped into the main front room where an actual Mini beauty spa was full pelt ahead with one corner where girls were having their make up done, another areas with crazy manicures, a third area with massages. I whooped (out loud embarrassingly!) and started my own mini make over. Half way through a manicure alongside Asian singing and acting sensation Preeya Kalidas, the D&G ladies Ruth and Chandni and PR Maven Jennifer Mills, I spotted a man I knew in this sea of women…it was none other than JLS sensation Oritse with his vivacious and excited girl group Vida who told me that Ortise was a hard boss to please but was whipping them into chart topping shape.

JASMINE WITH JLS ORITSE AND HIS GIRL GROUP VIDA

We had a fun chat before I sprinted into the next room where they were playing croquet like the olden days, I chucked something at something else but it wasn’t really my thing so I grabbed a Jacques cocktail from the sea of coloured champagne flutes and dashed upstairs to see what else this fabulous night had in store for me. 30 seconds later I was sitting across from MTV VJ Laura Whitmore making cupcakes and decorating them with spinkles! After calling someone and asking if they wanted the mini piece of art cake I’d made for them-and he replied ‘’I’m not eating that-I’m on a diet!’’ my girl friend Anneliese and I wolfed it down us and swanned off to the room next door where a fun dressing up room awaited us with rails of costumes and olde worlde outfits and a surreal set where a photographer from Japanese vogue was snapping away pictures for us all. I stripped and jumped into an old ‘’little house on the prairie’’ outfit and we giggled and posed for the snapper before running back downstairs for the main event which was seeing Keisha perform. A packed room full of power players and taste makers including actress Jamie Winstone (who looked stunning in her dress up wedding dress), watched as Keisha belted out hit song after hit song both from her new and old repertoire and boy did she sound and look hot! Her vocals were thundering dynamic and the crowd was singing along and clapping as though they were at a festival! Welcome back solo star Keisha!
JASMINE ON THE COICEFM ”I HAVE A CHOICE” PANEL.
I was invited to sit on a music panel for CHOICEFM at Wembley arena.The Get known Get Paid event in association with charity partners Catch 22 and V-inspired , was about independent and aspiring performers finding out how to promote themselves, market themselves, make money, get in the press and more .The audience were aged 16 -25 and most were interested in getting into the music industry but didn’t have a clear direction as to what avenue they want to pursue.  The purpose of the panel was to give some practical information/inspirational stories and tips on getting known professionally. On my panel were representatives from GRIMEDAILY-(Posty), the PRS (Jules parker) , the PPL (Keith Harris) and DJ KC who was chairing. The next panel included wretch 32, SONG WRITERS PARKER AND JAMES, a member of N-Dubz management and CHOICEFM’s breakfast show hosts Kojo &Max.
Its always-special meeting young ambitious people but there’s so much many of them have to learn. When I was at school generic things like ‘how to write a formal letter’, how to dress for an interview and ‘how to research a company’ were mandatory. Nowadays its tough as young people are scared to stand out and be seen as an individual and can resort lazily to the jeans, trainers and hoodie combo for every event in life. We talked about how to focus on marketing your self. Things like professional email addresses can make or break you. I’ve had e-mails with things like ‘’murdergangster1’’ in the title. Do you think most serious people will reply to that? I’ve been sent to check out websites with porn titles. Do you think business people will take that seriously? This very week I was asked for feedback on a track titled ‘’seed from my scrotum’’. Yes. Really. Lyrics of songs should be unique but there’s a thin line between unique and unworkable. Many young acts think they can be amazing in their bedroom studios with a few pressed CD’s. if you don’t perform live at regular known music events like I LUV LIVE how can you get experience, create buzz and build a following?
Do you also understand the power of collaboration? The right musical partnership can open a million doors for you. Shout out Labrynth!
Also- even if your friends say you’re potentially the next jay z-be honest with yourself. Are you truly amazingly talented or are your friends gassing you? Honestly-I’ve been told countless times that someone’s amazing and they don’t sound different to anything that was already rejected years ago! How much do you know about the business? Tinie Tempah’s cousin Dumi knew nothing but he read all about the music business from a book and taught himself about why you must know about and sign up to the PPL/ PRS. These events are brilliant for immediate question and answer sessions but really you have to do a lot of the research yourself and now with everything being online there’s no excuse to cry ‘’doors are shut’’. Even I learn new things whilst being on the panel. Keith Harris had an amazingly easily understand explanation of the PRS and PPL that’s always confused me in the past.  I even got into passionate debates about things with my fellow panelists such was the importance of what we all believed in!. As if that wasn’t all entertaining enough for the attendees, DJ Maso from De La Soul made an impromptu appearance along with Black Twang-the perfect day!
JASMINE WITH DARREN RAYMOND AT THE INTERMISSION THEATRE.
Next it was off to the Intermission Theatre show at St Saviours Church right next door to Harrods in Knightsbridge where I had been invited by artistic director Darren Raymond to see 10-10-10 which was 10 mini plays lasting 10 minutes each. This night gives opportunities to new writers, directors and actors to showcase their talents. The professional theatre and youth theatre there reaches out to young people at risk and nurtures and supports upcoming acting talent. In all honesty I wasn’t sure what to expect. In the shadow of Harrods I expected very hoity toity church goers but the evening was a pleasant surprise where I was excited to witness so much new young urban talent making in roads in big places. The plays were very well written and directed with the most basic black set and minimal props. The themes were modern and hard-hitting. I recognised a few actors from their roles in already established urban UK films so it was nice to see they were as strong in a live set as well as film. I think this production should tour around London-many of the mini plays would even be great filmed for black history month! Watch this space- young thespians do your thing-you’re about to blow up!

JASMINE WITH ITALIAN DESIGNER LETITZIA MORANDI

Finally I attended a very special fashion event organized by LGN Events and was introduced to a fabulous new handbag designer called Letizia Morandi, who has previously worked with some of the world’s top fashion designer’s, including Jimmy Choo. I was invited into the VIP Celebrity Gifting Lounge by Gossip Girl PR and received a wonderful new designer handbag, which I adore. Check out Letizia’s new and exclusive designer handbag collection at  www.letiziamorandi.com, which is bound to attract many celebrity clients.

I OFTEN connect people from different industries and areas in order to give them all better mutual synergy that will, hopefully, lift us all higher through our careers and lives.

Whether it’s introducing artists to managers or managers to great publicists, it’s all love.

So imagine my surprise to get an email from one friend who has, in the past, negotiated seven-figure book deals for his clients Rio Ferdinand and Usain Bolt, which read, “Jas, thanks for introducing me to Jay Z’s camp nine months ago. We’ve been talking and just signed a nine-figure business deal. I’d like to take you out to dinner to say thank you.”

Next thing I hear, the deal is the now widely publicised Jay-Z meets Ashley Cole and brings Jay’s 40/40 club and restaurant to the UK and Europe. All set up via an intro from me!

Well, in exchange for that, I expect lifetime membership to all the 40/40 franchises as well as the coveted black 40/40 card – as well as any other gifts that may want to fly my way.

So my mates and now Ashley Cole’s business partners, Chris Nathaniel and Paul Boadi took me for dinner where we all excitedly discussed the imminent arrival of 40/40 London. It will be a slicker, sexier, more urban version of the Ivy and Soho House-type establishments, but be perfect for the elite power players and tastemakers in our scene.

Chris reminisced about the past nine months with stories of emails flying across the Atlantic, international conference calls all on LA time, hopes going up and down as the deal was in the making, and finally reaching the point where they signed the contact and met with Jay-Z to discuss the finer points.

As well as that, there are plans for a huge urban village-type structure in Lewisham, south London, which will house rehearsal studios, recording studios, hairdressers, a cinema, nightclub and other areas for like-minded people to come together and make what we have even bigger.

These are big visions and I have no doubt that with the mutual bonding of street hustle and business acumen, they’ll build a solid empire that we can all be a part of and be proud of!

JAS GETS HER (RIZZLE) KICKS

Rock stars: Jasmine with Rizzle Kicks

AFTER a lovely meal, I dragged the boys down to Camden’s infamous indie rock venue Barfly to see the new kids on the block that are taking over national radio station playlists.

Called Rizzle Kicks, this Brighton-based duo comprised of 19-year-olds Jordan and Harley, have begun to get airplay on stations as diverse as Choice FM, Capital FM and Radio 1.

Having known each other since they were kids, they’ve grown up together, shared the same friends, same experiences, same schools and above all, a passion and taste for music that’s taken over both their lives.

They’ve already come a long way since their early days, where they took the D.I.Y. approach to making music and shooting videos with their director friend Tony Lockerbie and posting their creations on YouTube. The approach earned them over 500,000 YouTube views, a record deal with Island Records and admiration from the likes of Jessie J and Norman Cook.

As well as working on their debut album, the boys are also preparing a new mix tape and are also readying a new video. These boys are destined to go far.

SHOE HEAVEN

ICE ICE BABY: an ice scupture filed with shoes

THE same evening, I popped over to a show from River Island, where tall, leggy lovelies were rocking the store’s autumn/winter Christmas collection. Fabulously trendy folks were air kissing sipping neon coloured cocktails as the DJ spun the tunes.

Real shoes were encased in blocks of ice for over-the-top sculptures, and in the doorway, plastic penguins greeted guests as they arrived. In addition, fake snow was scattered all around to create the winter theme – meaning my summer sandaled feet had to stay sturdy, as mini white bobbles threatened to take me down! Winter in summer – the world has gone beautifully nuts!

JASMINE AND MOBO CEO KANYA KING RIDING THROUGH SCIILY,ITALY.

I was lucky enough to attend a very lush soirée. The invitation read ‘’Natalie Massenet and Jeremy Langmead invite you to join Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana to celebrate the arrival of Dolce&Gabbana at Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter, at home at The Village offices in Westfield. That’s strange I thought. ‘‘A party in an office in Westfield? How unsexy. How wrong could I have been? I took my mate MOBO CEO Kanya King with me as my guest and we had a quick dinner in the open food court in Westfields before searching for the ‘’Office’’. We were directed to the top floor to a pair of sliding glass doors. Once past thosedoors was a hidden short, fast elevator that transported us to a top floor that the general public would never have seen and was a massive expanse of black and white monochrome sexiness. Black plush carpets, white walls, monochrome artdeco furniture, bars where we sipped martini gold cocktails, a room with an Italian Sicily set up with Vespa bikes where we were encouraged to pose in front of a wind machine fan (and Kanya and I took full advantage of that)…it was total and utter sexy Italian fun-very Dolce!. All kinds of royalty were in the house from Kanya KING, to QUEEN Laitifah and stylist PRINCE Richard Shoyemi, who had arrived dressed as an Indian prince!. Queen Latifah chose to wear adolce black tuxedo, white shirt and a gold chain necklace for her appearance; When Queen Latifah arrived the guests all took a sharp intake of breath at her glamzonian beauty as dolce celeb PR girl Ruth dragged her through the crowd.

JASMINE WITH Nollywood actress Genevieve Nnaji.

Naomi Campbell rocked a forest green leopard print cocktail dress, Nollywood actress Genevieve Nnaji, ex Sugababe and current solo star Keisha Buchanan was sassy in a snow leopard mini dress, Beyonces sister Solange was sporting long, thick, black braids. Ladies were jostling to catch the attention of model David Gandy, Naomi’s cousin Gerry Deveux was looking sharp, Alexandra Burke repped in a fuscia pink strapless lace gown, Kelly Osborne was dynamic, in a full black gown and leather jacket, Jamie Winstone and her sister Lois Winstone (who’s in a band London-based hip hop trio Crack Village) was very cool.

JASMINE WITH KANYA KING, VANESSA AMADI AND KEISHA BUCHANAN.

Loads of fashion mag bigwig editors were in the house, retail entrepreneur and investor (Jaeger and Aquascutum) Harold Tillman, Pixie Lott who chose for the occasion a white lace cocktail dress, peaches and the other pixie who wore floor length sequined and animal print gowns , PR maven Vanessa Amadi in a 70’s Farah Fawcett look, models Jaqueta Wheeler and Jade Parfitt, Tolula Adeyemi,Tara Ferry, Otis Ferry, Isaac ferry (Bryan Ferry’s offspring) and Natt Weller, Henry Holland and so many more my head was spinning 360 degrees constantly as I continued to clock more fabulosity!

My London 360 TEAM went along to ‘Intelligent Movement: A Celebration of Hip Hop’ at the Southbank Centre last week to catch up with some of the original pioneers about the four pillars of hip hop culture and to assess how it continues to influence the community in the capital. The event was a culmination of DJ’ing, MC’ing, Breaking and Graffiti and featured a host ofevents by some of London’s leading hip hop collectives as well as crowd-pleasing international performers.We were particularly interested in looking at how this event catered to the array of musicians, poets and artists known for using hip hop as a platform to culturally and politically engage and educate their fans. Over the four-day event, London 360 heard opinions from the likes of Akala, Kate Tempest, Poetic Pilgrimage, The Peoples Army, Manny Norte, Charlie Dark, The En4orcers and primary school rap collective Power To The Pupils. MOBO award-winning UK hip-hop artist, revolutionary thinker,and my mate Akala kicked off proceedings with an animated talk which examined hip-hop and the traditional art of rapping, taking us as far back as the Medieval Malian empire. His provocative opening debate highlighted hip-hop’s cultural roots and questioned many modern-day representations, which contradicts its heritage. Most poignantly referencing some of the leading urban talent in the UK (Professor Green / Maverick Sabre) asking them to be more responsible when representing black people in their art. What followed was a successful ruffling of feathers which led to a fiery, passionate exchange by the artists on twitter.
Later that evening, the Purcell Room hosted the RAP party, presented by DJ Charlie Dark it was a celebration of Rhythm And Poetry and featured some of the best hip hop inspired poems I have ever heard. The line up was immense and the auditorium heaving. Featuring favourites such as Kate Tempest, each poet took to the stage, fully embracing the gravity of hip hop finally being recognised and celebrated by such a venue as the Southbank Centre and delivered their poignant hip-hop related poems followed by their two favourite hip hop tracks of all time. This was a unique music experience that treated hip hop fans and poetry lovers alike to some of thebest lyrics, bass licks and beats hip hop has ever been responsible for giving to the music world. A great event-we must make this a regular on the annualLondon calendar!

To finish the week I held a girlie pyjama party at my crib. We are eternally 12 years old as one of my mates once famously quoted. And then on Sunday night I drove up to London’s dance epicenter-Sadlers Wells which had been taken over by hundreds of young kids imitating pirates, fairies in  ‘’Step into dance’’.The Step Live showcase celebrated the achievement of pupils from the Step into Dance programme, which is a partnership between the Jack Petchey foundation and the Royal Academy of Dance. The night featured over 400 dancers from 26 schools including special needs schools  Walking into the Sadlers Wells reception, attendees were immediately bombarded by body poppers and break-dancers. Parents watched the talented hip-hop battles in amazement. Pupils between 11-18 years old we spoke to said dance filled them with confidence and that they found it much more fulfilling than watching television. Later On stage were contemporary, ballet dancers and body poppers in a Variety of costumes- an enchanting evening!

Now I’m off to write scripts for the team filming at the reggae festival of the year-the One love peace festival at Wembley Arena on Sunday 31st July where the line up includes; shaggy, sean paul, ky mani marley, gyptian, john holt, aswad, busta rhymes, sandra cross, levi roots, natty king, etana , skepta and more. As I caught up with Sean Paul before he flew into town he told me “I’m really looking forward to the One Love concert and performing for my UK fans…i know its been a long time and I’m anxious to show them what I’ve been up to”. Then my old pal Shaggy reached out to state  “I’m really looking forward to performing for my British fans, feels like I’ve been away from the UK for so long. Can not wait to bring Summer In Kingston to that stage!”Tony Gadd, From Aswad said: “We are thrilled to be a part of this phenomenal event. For us it is particularly special, remembering the late great Bob Marley, someone who we consider to have been a real godfather to us. London is our home so being a part of a movement to positively influence our young people through the ‘put down your guns and knife’ initiative will be an honour”. Promoter, Omari Ricketts  concluded ‘’As we mark the 30th anniversary of the death of Reggae Icon Bob Marley, the sentiments extolled through his One Love message are precisely what we want to convey through the One Love Peace Festival and being mindful of the state of our community as we watch our young people die on our streets, we want to use the powerful medium of music to educate and unite the world.”  . See you all down there!

JASMINE WITH DAVID ”HYPE-HYPE” HAYE

David Haye came, chatted enough hype talk and alas didn’t conquer. He did set himself up but isn’t that what makes a great personality? Had he not so much talk many probably wouldn’t have bothered getting into the fight anyway. He did a pretty impressive job lasting 12 rounds-something many fight experts predicted wouldn’t happen. He didn’t win this time around but he’s still a winner. The world saw him take on the champ. He put enough effort into it. He’s a proud cocky South Londoner and so his post fight talk wasn’t as gracious as it could have been. In fact his opponent whom I really wanted to dislike was such a well mannered, gracious gent I was won over in seconds. don’t write David off though. This man is a huge,ambitious personality that will be back with a vengeance. He has a big personality and a natural charm that makes us all gravitate towards him. He will take another path to his inevitable victory.

JASMINE WITH SLAUGHTER AND MAY LADIES Ngozie Azu – (Lawyer ) and Caron Johnson – (Systems Support Administrator).

A few weeks ago I received an invitation from the African & Caribbean Diversity group to attend an event that one of their corporate sponsors –law firm Slaughter and May were putting on.

Described as a ‘CityWomen’s Panel Event’ with speakers from ‘leading organisations in Banking, Legal and Marketing Sectors’ I was intrigued to go check it out as usually the inspirational panels I speak on are mostly music and entertainment industrybased. The event was up in Moorgate in the heart of the city where tall, glass and steel skyscrapers that look like a new age modern world dominate the skyline. The theme for the evening was WHY DIVERSITY MATTERS – BEING AN ETHNIC MINORITY FEMALE PROFESSIONAL IN THE CITY; this was an idea which one of the BME Network Committee member’s, Isoken Idemudia (lawyer) came up with. I raced up to the building and was ushered into a conference room full of other similarly power dressed females on a mutual mission to run the world. I was pleased to meet 2 of the organizers- both from Slaughter and May and members of the BME Network Committee, a pair of ladies that aredoing pretty well for themselves up in the high powered male dominated world of law! – both Ngozie Azu – (Lawyer ) and Caron Johnson – (Systems Support Administrator) were eagerly meeting and greeting all their guests and playing perfect hosts. After drinks and mingling we were all seated to hear a brief talk from a few selected ladies that have achieved above and beyond and their thoughts were thought provoking and made me acknowledge that we all experience the same things in our career journeys and are unified by evenings like this that prove we are not alone.

The first quote that had me relieved was by  Sarah Lee, a partner at Slaughter and May who happens to be half Chinese. She revealed that however high up the corporate ladder she goes her hands still tremble under the table!. Good to know! Another high flier- African & Caribbean diversity’s Chief Executive Brenda King MBE reminisced about her way to the top. Nigerian solicitor andPartner at Sidley Austin LLP, Elizabeth Uwaifo, said as a student her confidence was undermined when others deliberately mumbled her name but thename is now a source of confidence and strength as it is a constant reminder of her heritage and uniqueness.

Diahanne Rhiney, the Chief exec of 15 degrees told how one year early in her career she made £3billion for her then employer and got a £2000 bonus!! Outraged she set up her own business.  She spoke about why it’s not ok to stick a black or disabled person in a box. Her dedication and hard work has equaled success and she’s since been awarded many awards. . She has all the staff at her company work one day a week in the community for free as she believes in the power of giving back. Carol Lake, Managing director at JP Morgan said ‘’People have expectations of you-have your own. Plant those seeds early. Be fearless live life. Be adventurous. Have a love for humanity cos careers are great but life’s better!”

There was a Q&A session straight afterwards where the usual dilemmas of juggling family and the career dominated- (have a great house husband!), and even questions about the argument for black women having natural or relaxed hair in the workplace and how their hair has affected their careers. It was a very enlightening evening that made me feel confident about the number of strong, articulate, ambitious women of all colours that are striving for diversity and high positions in the professional world.

There was a Q&A session straight afterwards where the usual dilemmas of juggling family and the career dominated- (have a great house husband!), and even questions about the argument for black women having natural or relaxed hair in the workplace and how their hair has affected their careers. It was a very enlightening evening that made me feel confident about the number of strong, articulate, ambitious women of all colours that are striving for diversity and high positions in the professional world.

JASMINE WITH LISA MAFFIA

From one set of strong women-to another strong woman!.Something that’s affected most people’s lives is cancer. That word that fills most with dread. The sad losses that people cant understand. The miraculous ones that fought back and are still with us . A few of my nearest and dearest have lost close ones to cancer. When people in my life have been affected by it it’s been hard to know what to say. To find the right words of support and comfort. So when a long time friend-So Solid Crews lead lady Lisa Maffia revealed to me over lunch that her mother has been diagnosed I felt the familiar dry mouth of fear that I would say the wrong thing but wanted to help support her family, but how?. Lisa admirably was extremely calm and positive and in her strong as ever manner told me she was running the Race for Life on Saturday 30th July on Clapham Common with her friends and family to raise money and awareness for the cause. I was gob smacked and touched by her strength, positivity and refusal to play the ‘pity me victim’ card. As a mother herself Lisa is able to compartmentalize feelings of mother and daughter and has remained strong through her fears and emotions whilst she and her family work through this bump in the family road. If you recall So Solids turbulent, meteoric rise to the top you’ll know that Lisa has experienced a lot of things in life but she told me nothing compares to this. Lisa added ‘’It has made me realise how precious life is. Thinking about the possibility of losing my mum has shown me how important a charity like Cancer Research is and events such as Race For Life are”. Lisa told me she is looking to gain as much support through sponsorship via the Just Giving page (http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/teammaffia <http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/teammaffia> ), and I know her friends are supporting her as she goes through this challenging time.

Running in ‘’Team Maffia’’ on Clapham Common with Lisa will be her mates (Su-Elise Nash (Misteeq), Keisha Buchanan (Sugababes), Anna Richardson (Presenter), Jakki Degg (DJ & Model), Rebecca Moore (IDOL Mag Editor), Alisha White (BNTM Runner-Up), Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace (BB6 and Actress) aswell as many of her family.

You’d think with this and bringing up her daughter that she has her hands full but she’s still managing to juggle business with her ‘’House of Maffia’’ projects as well as her solo music career. She enthused “When it comes to music I’m heading in the Dubstep direction, the scene is changing rapidly each year and I’ve been waiting for a new sounds that I like and Dubstep is that sound”. About her So Solid brethren she confessed ‘’I don’t see all of them as much any more but I have love for the times we spent together, i mostly see Romeo as we still regularly work together doing clubP.A.s”. She’s also looking forward to the summer season where she’ll be visiting 9 islands and Dubai!. She takes that moment to reflect on the good old days stating, “Having no responsibilities and having fun…Why did I have to grow up-LOL!””

Despairing about the negative turn many young people are forced to take due to their circumstances Lisa says she still feels positive when she encounters the youth ‘’Young kids respond enthusiastically when they approach me, and usually the first question they ask is “What’s it like to be famous?” but I always tell them to follow their dreams and focus on being really good at whatever it is…. no need to seek fame, if you’re good, fame will follow!”

Then as we ate up and got ready to return to our respective grinds Lisa revealed ‘’look out for me in a new movie m=coming soon- I’ll be featuring in my debut film production “Devil’s Dandruff” based on books by Jason Cook in 2012 and also as a voice over in animation “Rat’s in Space” by Jason Cook & Lisa Cachia!. Go Lisa-see you on Saturday 30th on clapham common where the LONDON 360 NEWS TV crew will be filming your Race For Life!!

JASMINE WITH SHAWN CARTER AKA JIGGA AKA JAY Z.

The UK’s summer months are always chock-a-block with fabulous events all over the country and I for one wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world with London’s current social menu.
Honestly-every day there are hundreds of free or vip events taking place every few meters across the capital. What an engaging, dynamic city we live in. the world literally can be your oyster if you pay the system correctly!.
If half of this stuff had been available to my generation leaving college I might be running the BBC by now! Lol!. There are so many young people that read this column and write to me hoping to make their career path media or music related. There are as many organizations out there working hard to give young people a leg up via their educating structures and placements (LIVE, LIVITY, CATCH22, MEDIA TRUST, ETC). If you’re attempting to break into the industry now and cant there’s a glitch in YOUR matrix cos its easier now than its ever been.

I like to work hard and party hard. Life work balance is important. So as well as reading scripts and looking over edits by my LONDON 360 reporters this week, doing radio pundit call in’s with BBC radio stations as well as writing my columns-I managed to squeeze in a lil fun.

JASMINE WITH HARVEY.

Last weekend Hackney Empire played host to the now regular COMEDY ROAST UK where a well known face in the community agrees to sit on a red velvet throne for acouple of hours and get a right nasty roasting from a panel of 5 comedians. In the past victims have included Richard Blackwood, Robbie gee and Mohammed George from Eastenders. Last weekend was one that had theatre going comedy lover’s lips watering-it was time to sock it to Harvey. Yes he of the sweet boy 21 seconds so solid days that infamously wed the nations sweetheart alesha Dixon only to mess up publicly and have an affair with javine. He who seemed to get back on the career road like Chris brown post drama but still kept rubbing up people the wrong way. Anyway-alpo and the comedy roast team had convinced Harvey to get cussed for the night and oh did he! Roasters axel the entertainer, Kane Brown, Kevin J, Funmbi, Jamie Howard and roastmster compere Richard Blackwood.
Comedian Funmi just had Hackney Empire roaring with his line “I’m Nigerian-i can’t even bring a Jamaican gal home. Mum this is Marsha, “mum: she can marsh out’’.Kevin J is killed it! This lithe white comic ALWAYS has new jokes! That’s why he gets so much credibility with the mainly black audience. When Harvey first came onstage he was wearing sunglasses. Within seconds the audience forced him to take em off. Showing clearly from the start that they wanted to see the whites of his eyes as he took his verbal lashes.
Comic Axel referred to Harvey as his former band mate Nuetrino as a diss. Hilariously Nuetrino was in the audience. A double diss!. Then the comic lashed out stating that comedy roast organises had tried to get so solids main man megaman but couldn’t afford him so they settled for Harvey. Axel took it where the crowd wanted by swinging the 1st ball out of the park and going in on the harveyaleshagate scandal and continuously talked about ‘’gap tooth javine” throughout all this Harv was drinking alcohol straight from the bottle hard. I wondered how he would manage to organise a retort diss to all at the end with his brain soaked in alcohol? The cusses continued to fly thick and fast (pretty much like Harvey). ‘’ In So Solid videos I didn’t know if I was watching you and Romeo or Brokeback Battersea” (Funmbi) .  “Harvey reps South London but was born in Devon-how gangsta is that!” (Funmbi).
All the comics were mean but it was newcomer Jamie Howard who really shone with his original lyrics! Sharp cusses! Hilarious material! Jamie had a tight set with a joke every second!
Impressively, at the end when it was Harv’s time to cussback, he cussed Richard Blackwood for his bankrupt days, joked about giving the white comedians equal opps and impressively gave as good as he got in an articulate manner.
I’ve always thought Harvey was wasted and held back by his own issues. He has so many options and doors open to him. So many wasted opportunities. I’ve clashed with him in the past when we worked together. He had the decency to admit his errors and apologise. I do admire his passion but I wonder if it will all end in his pain.
Harv finished off by thanking everyone and requesting the crowd (not begging) to buy his new single featuring Gyptian. Out July 21st (gotta give a broke brother a break with a plug!)

Sony Music kick started the week with a fabulous function. The New Bond Street Armani Store was transformed into a mini music festival  – albeit a VIP one complete with Vodka cocktails and fashionista’s! In amongst the uber expensive clothing rails with not a pair of Wellington boots or a drop of mud to be seen, only chic biker jackets, skinny jeans and killer heels graced this crowd!! The music and fashion crowd when not air kissing and tweeting on I-phones, managed to enjoy great performances by 3 sony music acts- Oh Land, Lissie and Aloe Blacc. Food and drinks were being served for a specially invited VIP audience of only 200 guests and even though indie or country music isn’t usually my bag, I had to admit that live music in all it’s forms is always impressive when coupled with fabulousness people and fake grass carpets!.

JASMINE WITH MISS KNOWLES AKA QUEEN B AKA BEYONCE.

Then as if to cement their status as the record label that has always thrown the most fabulous parties they kicked in another goal by restaging Beyonces Battersea Gas Station party in a quick 3 days (Battersea couldn’t guarantee safety for stage weight etc), Sony brought the party home to West London at Shepherds Bush Empire where you knew something big was about to go down when the whole of West London’s roads became gridlocked in the early evening. Very big black cars that are so expensive we cant pronounce their names lined up all around shepherds bush green as A Listers all stepped out to watch Beyonce perform a 30 minute set. I know I’ve said VIP before but seriously even I was impressed to speechless! Stepping out of their various modes of transport were folks whohave probably never stepped outside of their Mayfair square mile were designer and guru Tom Ford, designer Ozwald Boating with his daughter, designer Patrick Cox, Piers Morgan, Ridley Scott, Stella McCartney, designer Matthew Williamson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller, Jude Law and more. Inside were hip-hop business legend Steve Stoute and Faisel Durrani, Wretch32, Tinie Tempah, Adele, Alexandra Burke, Alexis Jordan,JLS, Jessie J, Julian MacDonald, Mr Hudson, Pixie Lott and more. Can you see now why if Shepherds Bush were scooped up in a cyclone and disposed of half of the showbiz industry as we know it would’ve been extinct! Not even the BRIT AWARDS has a guest list like this!

JASMINE WITH ROC NATION NEXT BIG STAR-LADBROKE GROVES FINEST-RITA ORA!

I knew it was a real big deal when you saw the industry legends that had come out to play. Sony music past and present were in full force and it was an impressive army of music power players that have shaped our charts in recent years. They all came out to honour Queen Bee and included Jim Sabey, Jodie Dalmeda, Mervyn Lynn, Matt Ross, Fiona Ramsey, Carl Fysh, Gary Deny and Gordy Hagan. Beyonce came on quite late but no one cared as it was like a huge catch up party in the venue. When she did make her grand entrance in her favourite canary yellow mini dress and sexy silver stilettos the crowd erupted. They’d already become hysterical spotting Jigga in the balcony and chanted Jay Z like the best football fans would. Bey played a few songs from her new album Beyoncé’s 4 in a very high-energy show! Plus several well know chart hits by other musicians, such as The Sex, It Is On Fire by The Kings Of Leon and Bohemian Rhapsody by The Freddie Mercuries. A great moment was when she sang Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody (Mama)-as her mama Tina Knowles sat with her son-in-law Jay to watch their girl do her thing.
At the VVIP after party- for only 100 people, DJ Jarren C (BANGFM RDAIO and regular celeb party spinner) , spun the music in the very small backstage bar. This bar is legendary and usually looks like a grimy, old pit. Tonight it had what looked like the blingiest 60 second make over and was transformed into a sexily lit, white fur/animal skin rugs, leopard print curtained, red rose laden glam pit!. To add to the intimacy-even though the bar is tiny-it was full of A-LISTERS yet still spacey showing how exclusive this lil get together was! To my right were Tom Ford and Stella McCartney, to my left Jigga, very immaculate Bey and team RocNation. All around me were players at the top of their game. Ozwald introduced his daughter to Stella and Jay. Gwyneth chatted and laughed with Jay. Rita Ora attempted to fend off many an admirer. Adele was so keen to sit with team Jigga that even though therewere no seats available in the area she plonked herself down on the floor!. Mr Hudson wore an interesting jazz shoe and 3 quarter length trouser combo. Love Alexandra Burke but many were saying she needed to calm her hype as she wasclearly very over excitable in this room of her peers yet she was clearly not relaxed enough around them to just be cool. Early in the night when Jay and I were speaking I thought it only polite to introduce him to those standing eagerly next to me dying for him to simply acknowledge their existence. After he graciously shook hands with them al it was like the Obama effect with them all gushing and high with delight. One even kept exclaiming ‘’oh my gosh-his hands are so soft-its as if they’ve been bathed in silk!’’ LOL. One thing that was intriguing was that both Beyonce and Jay’s recently signed act Rita Ora were wearing practically the same red suit and high heels combo outfit and both flanked him when seated so it looked like a scene fresh out of an old blackspoitation movie. Expectedly there were a few music industry newbies and oldies who still hadn’t learnt that at a function like this its not very polite, credible or classy to stand around Bey and Jay like stalkers and gawp or try and get a picture. Before the party the record label folks had addressed their concern about guests that might do this not being of the right caliber and true to force, a few heads that managed to get in still forced their way into his space. Awkward and cringe.com. They’ll learn one day bless them.

JASMINE’S CELEBRITY NAIL TECHNICIAN-AMA!

In order to stay fly all day everyday often it’s about mixing business with pleasure. This week I had jam-packed day times, even busier evening social whirls and chock-a-block weekend commitments. But youmust always keep your ‘’image and style’’ at its top level as I was told over and again by one of my first bosses- an over the top fabulous African American media genius called Kim luck who was a diva to be reckoned with in my earlydays at MTV. When I used to present MTV NEWS Kim would waltz in every morning with her real minx coat flung over her shoulder and demand to see all us presenter’s nails and faces to ensure that make up, hair and nails were ship shape. She also held an end of week Friday 5pm session where we were taught to wine taste, discuss politics and other such worldly things that she deemed imperative to our future career progression. Her rules were instilled in us early on so this week whilst working late I had Celebrity manicurist Ama Quashie (who has done nails for Alexandra Burke, Alesha Dixon & Amber Rose to name a few) drive 10 miles across London to work her magic on my nails at my desk for my very first Gelish manicure. A new hybrid gel line that stays chip free for 21 days without damaging the natural nail at all! Perfect for ladies who like preened natural nails but haven’t got the time to visit a nail bar every week. I will be testing that out this week as I shoot footage, edit, wash up endlessly, tweet, text and bbm to see just how resistant it really is!
My team did look amused but not totally gob smacked. Hey- a diva’s gotta do what a diva’s gotta do to multi task handfuls of commitments in today’s day and age! 20 minutes later my gellish nails were set, my nails were clean and twinkling and I was able to continue typing away with no ‘’post nail smudge trauma’’. I’m a pink lady so opted for a baby pink colour called ‘Go Girl’ very apt I thought! Ill be testing out one of the other pink colours next time Ama comes over & she’s promised to teach me how to make Jolof rice too!

JASMINE WITH JON SNOW

Next I took my LONDON 360 news reporting team to meet channel news legend Jon Snow. Jon had invited us up to his ITN building where he sat and regaled us with his witty, sharp and very warm personality. He told the team about his progression throughout the years and at midday took us all into the Channel 4 news gallery where a live bulletin was broadcast in front of the team who found it all very exciting. The director, audio man, vision switcher and gallery PA impressed the hell out of the team who told me later that their hearts started beating fast as the presenter Brigitte got her countdown. Bless them. Jon had me fascinated as he revealed how he got into the media…’’ I joined LBC on the day they started, and the great thing was all these commercial radio stations were new, there was no commercial radio until the last quarter of the last century, its pretty amazing, most people thought it wouldn’t work and so getting a job there wasn’t difficult, and in fact LBC went bust about 6 months after I got there, and they got rid of all the people that were expensive, and they kept the very very cheap people and I was very cheap, so that’s how I started’’.  Jon’s story demonstrates that if you offer to work cheaply in your early career that the rewards and experience more than pay off. He added that it was his competitive nature that gave him his next big break ‘’
After about 3 years I got a break, the IRA were in London and I was on a bike and I had a Motorola, it was pre-mobile phone, but I had a Motorola walkie talkie and as long as you were within 2 miles of the ITV Southbank television tower which had a transponder on the top of it- you could broadcast, but you had to have reasonable line of sight- that was difficult but anyway sometimes I would broadcast live from my bike as I was cycling towards the bomb, nobody even knew where it was- you would only see the smoke, hear the bang and then you’d cycle like billy-o to get to it, and by the time I got there the traffic would bebacked up  and I could see my colleagues from the Daily Express, the BBC , The Telegraph in the backs of taxis sitting in queues and I was racing past and then you’d get to the seat of the bomb and you’d find the police had put tapes around, but if you’d shot through the tape fast enough- they were so busy keeping the bystanders awaythat you could get through and by the time you got there they said well you may as well stay- so I often used to be the only person there and then ITN called me up one day and said we’ve got a job for you if you want to come  which doesn’t happen very often- so I’ve been here ever since. Which is a very very long time’’

When talking about what makes a great journalist he explained ‘’ I myself believe that the best journalistsare the journalists who at least have learnt how to enquire, how to research, and who are fired up by the unknown and fired up by wickedness, because actually what frustrates the development of our society is corruption, mis-management, bad politics…’’. On this pint I wanted to kiss Jon Snow’s feet. What an inspiration and straight talker. Talking about how media has changed from a one way traffic information system to a 2 way interactive vehicle hestated ‘’This is the golden age of journalism, this is the moment when you have the greatest opportunity to break stories, when I started- when you were speaking to camera there was no mechanism for anybody to challenge you, there was no way anybody could get in touch with you, they could write a letter in green ink, underline in red, saying how awful you were or whatever but only 3 people would bother to do that. Now- you don’t move every day without email traffic, twitter, facebook, I mean the traffic the two-way relationship is on the go in a big big way, and the opportunities for people to break in unconventionally are much greater than they’ve ever been, we’ve just transmitted an entire documentary this last week which is all shot on mobile phones, this was on Sri Lanka which for the first time its been possible to document war crimes as they happened on camera, footage that was either shot by Tamils who were being herded into a supposed no-fire zone to be killed, hundreds of thousands of them were herded into a smaller and smaller piece of land and 50,000 of them were massacred and we have all this on film, so were living in an extraordinary vortex of opportunity’’.

JASMINE AND  ESTELLE

Then I was happy to catch up with my West London home girl ESTELLE who was in town to talk about her new album ‘’All of me’’ and her new single ‘’Break my heart’’ featuring mister Rick Ross-whom she performed onstage with at his London date. Estelle has always been a champion of right over wrong so we asked her about issues that have us debating this week on LONDON 360 NEWS. I mentioned that a young, London child called Kye was in final stages of searching for a matching blood donor and that the ethnic community were difficult to engage. Estelle agreed ‘’I think the cultural barriers in ethnic minorities when it comes to bone marrow donation is based on slight ignorance I think people don’t quite get that it’s not about a big old needle going in your arm…. Its about as simple as a swab it’s like you know a little prick it’s not gonna hurt you that much and it can save somebody’s life and do a good thing and you’re not gonna die. That’s the main misunderstanding people have and the sooner and the quicker that people get over that and realize exactly what it is maybe you could help save somebody’s life. There’s nothing more amazing than that!’’.
When I told her my frustrations about young London menkilling each other over minor issues she was frustrated ‘’Every time I’m home the main thing I keep hearing is “oh somebody got stabbed, somebody got kidnapped, you know. I can’t go to that area. I don’t do music over there because of this.” When I keep hearing that kind of stuff it frustrates the hell out of me. Because I know how I came up doing music. You could just be a regular kid and just go round. I hate the fact that my cousins and my little brothers are like ‘we don’t go there’. I don’t understand, I don’t know if I could ever be the person I am today if didn’t have friends in south London, north London, west, just everywhere. You know I couldn’t hang out with them and roll with them or whatever, , that frustrates me, we need to end that right now, we just need to end it, its ridiculous’’.

Finally we laughed at the repeated outrage over young children being sexualised by music artists and videos and discussed the main culprits. Estelle added ‘’I think music and sex now apparently goes hand in hand.  You have o give people a lot out of yourself…I don’t know why, but it is what it is and I feel like sometimes you just gotta stop fighting it, you’re not gonna see me with knickers on at some point or anytime soon. At the same time as it is the artist’s expression I just feel like it doesn’t need to be like that all the time. You can give it a balance, sometimes you can have clothes on, and it’s all right. Sometimes you don’t have to be on the beach naked posing and then be like ‘oh they caught me’ You know, I choose not to do that kind of thing, but at the same time if they caught me on the beach I’d try and look my best though! It goes hand in hand, it is what it is.
And then obviously if your core audience is 5year olds you might want to lean off sex, you don’t want your five year old walking around being like ‘mummy what are those things on her chest., omg their actually nipple tassels. I just feel like know your audience know whom you’re selling too’’.  Later that night Estelle swung it home at the forum by dazzling rick ross fans with her onstage presence and repped well for teamuk. With champions like jon snow and Estelle still courageously fighting for the right cause we can aspire to be greater ourselves! All hope is not lost!.

JASMINE WITH TIM CAMPBELL

What a week of fabulosity in London town! Firstly Alicia keys and her hubby Swiss Beats flew in. Swiss threw an intimate dinner for a few movers and shakers and Alicia hosted her KEEP A CHILD ALIVE BALL at the round house in Camden where many wealthy folk attended as did a few music acts like Tinie Tempah who dueted onstage with the great lady herself on ‘’Written in the stars’’ (during which Tinie just kept looking at her singing his song with amazement on his face that this was actually happening. Alicia turned up clutched her mans hand tightly-they looked so loved up- she was wearing a long boob tube sheath dress with a pile of black feather plumage on the bottom and looked stunning! (the DOLCE & GABANNA celeb team Chandni and Ruth had done well!).
Chipmunk looked really relaxed and laughed all night wearing his leather jacket. His mate Wetch32 looked sweet in a suit and tie, comic and DJ Eddie Kadi looked sharp in his tux, Beth Ditto in platform wedges and a black knee length dress and Mark Ronson in his black tux (and white conversed foot!) were mostly formal in frock and suited and booted too. Ms Dynamite wore a tight corseted black knee length frock which showed off her lithe figure beautifully.
George Michael was the big draw of the night and was supposed to sing his hit ‘’Freedom’’ with Alicia. Alas he didn’t turn up due to what he described on twitter as a swollen hairy face due to toothache. Ironically the first liner of ‘’Freedom’’ is; ’’I wont let you down’’ oh how we laughed. Alicia trooped onwards though and it was all good. Anyone who’s been in the music business for years knows that George is notoriously shy and nervous doing live gigs so it wasn’t a great shock to many of us.
Another George did turn up–Boy George who gave a rendition of his hit ‘’do you really wanna hurt me’’ which was kitsch to say the least.
Alicia sung ‘’new York state of mind’’. Then an annoying woman who was probably drunk in crowd said she had something to say to Alicia who brought her up onstage (probably thinking she was going to donate millions), the woman kept telling Alicia that she needs to do a song for London and be a spokesperson for London before it became clear that her cheque book wasn’t involved in this conversation at all and it was onto the next thing.
Ultimately a great night for a great cause where somewhere along the line many children will benefit-good job Ms Keys!

Other faces making a change in society include THE APPRENTICE winner Tim Campbell who popped into MEDIA TRUST towers to meet and greet our LONDON 360 news reporters this week. They grilled him on his time at The Apprentice, working with Lord Alan Sugar, his Bright Ideas Trust, and his thoughts on literally anything. They grilled him good and proper for our LONDONER OF THE WEEK slot ,bless him poor guy.

JASMINE and J LO

Capital Radio had their annual Capital Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium. Yes –not the Arena-the Stadium and it was packed out full of 80,000 people!
I have to confess the turnout and level of the event was on another level. I’ve been to many radio road shows and one off events in the UK but this one was extremely well done from the turn out, to the screaming passionate listeners and fans, to the posters waving, the cheering and singing from the crowd, the friendly helpful staff at the stadium-it was pretty impressive!
I missed opening act JLS but was told they were gobbling up all the free sweeties backstage. They actually leapt into a helicopter straight their set to fly to Swansea for another show later that day! They did reveal backstage that they’ve finished their 3rd album though! In the ladies toilets I overheard a convo between a group of kids saying they thought J Lo was really pretty but they wanted a ‘’real a list superstar singer like Mariah’’ on the bill to blog about LOL. I had to agree-Ms Lopez lyp synced her whole set bless her pretty self. ‘’I’m into you, I’m into you’’
Wretch32 bumped into us in the lift. He looked like he’d had lots of fun onstage with his boy Example. The crowd jumped lots to their performance of Unorthodox. Cee-Lo rolled onstage wearing a huge, tick cream puffa jacket and sang ‘’Its Ok’’ to a very happily swaying crowd in the rain.
Jessie j was very regal sat on her throne as she had broken her ankle/foot so sang‘’Price Tag’’ seated but her fans were with her all the way and she didn’t lose anything by not being able to strut her usual sassy stuff.
J lo and Pussycat Doll Nicole Sherzinger tried to outdo each other with the number of costume changes they each had and the colour scheme for both was a flattering silver and black.
Pussycat doll and Lewis Hamilton’s beau Nicole was inundated with interviews and people were commenting how extremely thin she was but I reckon her extremely long straight black hair extensions may have elongated her body more. Capitals backstage described her as the most beautiful female on the line up. I practically felt the PR teams and managers of other females in attendance withering in irritation LOL. Nicole thanks her genes and ancestors for keeping her looking good. She did a bit of yoga and did some vocal exercises before getting onstage. Her beauty tip was a lot of moisturiser all the time.
Britain’s got talent dance group Flawless were backstage post set all in black leather jackets and red trousers and really milking the attention from the artist stand both from wag types in the stand and loads of little young kids who were begging for pictures and autographs- you had to smile.
Ne Yos set was as big if not bigger than you’d expect. Smoke bombs, fireworks and exploding crackers going off during his big songs like Beautiful Monster. The lighting was on another level, with style, colours, slickness-his set had it all. Even when the rain had saturated the stage a very casual unfazed Ne Yo moon walked across it spraying up splashes that looked on the giant screens like a scene from a very well shot video.
The VIP hospitality suite was crazy. Whoever hooked up the Capital suite deserves a promotion, pay rise and a Spa day at the Mondrian!. The number of external vendors giving away free Hot dogs, specifically made pizzas, pop corn, pick& mix sweets, candyfloss, loads of Starbucks, cakes, pastries and so much more just went on and on. It was like being in Charlie and the chocolate factory. My mate and I loaded ourselves up with as much free stuff we could eat, carry, take home and went to check out our boy Ne Yo the headliner.
I noted a set of funny tweets between other radio stations when they said ‘’call the lawyers-Capital are claiming they broke Wretch32 and Katy B’’. Which actually did make me laugh as I recall when Capital hardly played any urban influenced Brit acts at all.
The Green room was constantly a buzz with photographers and talent conducting interviews and grabbing quick beverages as they ran from one stage set up to another backstage interview.
The capital A LISTY GOODIE BAG contained ….are you ready for this list of product placement heaven?…- The Big Yum Chocolate covered pretzels – Starbucks Frappuccino® Gift card – Krispy Kremes, Box of 12 donuts – BaByliss Wave Envy Hair curlers to create beachy waves – BaByliss i-stubble Beard trimmer – tocontrol stubble – CKone fragrance collection Fragrances and toiletries- Champneys Voucher for a weekend spa break – Caudalie Pulpe Vitaminée Smoothing Serum  – 1st wrinkle face serum Stri-Vectin-SD Eye Concentrate- Wingman Deodorising wipes for men – Kings of London (Shower gel and hair gel for men) – Onitsuka Tiger Trainers (Trainers for men and women) – Guess watches    Watches for men and women- St Moriz Tanning Tanning lotion and bronzer- Esme Jewellery Necklace that has perfume inside – Zara Taylor Jewellery    Jewel ring and necklaces with clocks in – Calvin Klein Underwear for men and women – LEGO® minifigures minifigures including pirates, Robin Hood, clowns and cheerleaders – Butterfly Twists – Folding pumps for women – Trevor Sorbie Dry Shampoo- Queen of…Razors and shaving gel – King of Shaves Razors and shaving gel. IM BREATHLESS JUST READING THAT!

SINGER BLUEY ROBINSON, SBTV’S JAMAL EDWARDS, JASMINE and ED SHEERAN.

I was unlucky enough to be invited to the 1000th red carpet celeb filled show of the west end musical Thriller (where Blue and Shaheen performed in cameo roles) whilst I was away in Tobago! But every cloud has a silver lining and I was lucky enough to be offered tickets for when I returned instead. Saturday night saw us arrive at a full house at Piccadilly’s Lyric Theatre where a diverse set of public attended a night to remember. The show took us on a journey through Michael Jackson’s musical career starting chronologically with his Jackson Five family hits. The songs were sung averagely to begin with and had us entertained but dubious but it wasn’t until the 2nd half of the show when the set, lighting and cast really came to life and had the audience excited and dancing in the seats and aisles. A few different actors played the role of the young Michael Jackson and then the older Jacko. The younger actors could’ve in all honesty been better. They looked sweet but vocally not the strongest and after watching Britain’s got talent and being spoilt by artists like little Welsh Shaheen they seemed pretty average as they ran through the Motown nostalgia-fest which included I Want You Back, The Love You Save, ABC and more.
One of the actors that played the character of an older Michael and took the part of main narrator in the show was Haydon Eshun who used to be the main singer in eighties boy band Ultimate KAOS (at the age of 9 years old) who a then unknown Simon Cowell put together. Ultimate Kaos back then started as Sinittas-backing dancers, as Sinitta at the time, was dating Cowell. Hayden did a really good job and (unlike another of the actors, who in a very high squeaky voice which was often off pitch sang Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean and Thriller,) was very accomplished. Hayden was as strong singing as he was narrating and held the show together really well. However it was the lead female actress and singer Trenyce Cobbins that really showed she could stand up alongside the men and even out shadow them at times with her very strong vocal ability and her physical performance that had me mesmerized as every inch of her body was on point performing all the way from the ends of her fingers to her high heeled strapped up toes and so strong were her postured poses whilst singing and at rest she was gripping and alleyes were on her every time she was onstage.
When it came to dancing though, Ricko Baird was my favourite Michael as he really encompassed the physicality and lithe, lean, very fragile quality Michael had.
Throughout the show at intervals the narrator would remind us of Jackson’s huge incomparable accomplishments and record-breaking sales figures flash on a video screen. Just as the cast took their bow before the encore my guest got quite het up and outraged that we hadn’t seen Billie Jean, Bad or Thriller yet and as sure as night follows day the encore was indeed those 3 tracks and had him dancing and jumping happily satisfied with the encore.  Throughout the show the music reminds you of how great Michael’s catalogue really is and the audience were literally all bopping their heads and swaying at all times in their seats and by the end the audience were and down in their seats dancing and singing and even jumping on the posh red carpet trampling their eaten Haggan Daaz ice cream cartons as they leapt up and down as if they were at Glastonbury- a great nights show if you want to experience good music and entertainment in the west end and at incredibly inclusive prices for the whole family too. In fact THE VOICE should have a VOICE READERS evening there! (I know the vibe would be that much more special with us all up in the lyric theatre!).

Its been a good minute since the good old days of record labels extravagance throwing opulent parties in decadent venues where guests dip into silver platters of mini food stuffs, binge hard on champagne Bellini’s all night and are entertained by a superstar before falling intoxicated into a paid for by their company Addison lee taxi home. So when a snazzy invite popped into myinbox (unlike the stiff black and gold posted envelopes from yesteryear that just seemed that much more exciting to open), I made it a hard pen date in my diary.
The invite was for the relaunch of the website for SBTV- a London based youth and music site that in recent months has gained an underground cult like following. . SBTV describes itself as an online youth broadcaster on YouTube and is at the forefront of new talent around the UK. That’s pretty much it and a lot more. SBTV are a multi-faceted company with a team of talented, highly skilled, passionate young adults who can be found working on web based viral content at a range of different events. From street shot freestyles and music video production, to the red carpet glamour of film premières, SBTV are currently definitely a site to be reckoned with. So many UK based online sites quote themselves as being the UK’s leading urban broadcaster’’ but SBTV are that are a lot more as they have diversified into all genres and not limiting themselves with stereotypes at all. From their intelligent, articulate Caucasian female presenter Georgia to the CEO of the company being a young, black 20-year-old male called Jamal Edwards (I told you all about him last year), they have really switched up the status quo!
As if this in itself wasn’t on another level in itself, Jamal and his team also managed to do the impossible! Get the country’s biggest most popular chicken food restaurant-Nandos- to become a brand partner and hold the event at one of their flagship restaurant on the South Bank which was packed full when we arrived just after the start time of 7pm- clearly free chicken being served all night endlessly on platters and never running out coupled with good times equals a popular party! I managed to scoff a whole mini box of their delicious garlic olives on entry meaning all those that conversed with me during the rest of the night had to eat some too or risk being fumigated by my breath!
The good times were in the form of stage performances every 30 mins when a music act took to the stage for a really short set. I managed to catch Maxsta, GFrsh, Loickk Essien, Island records new signing Angel, and U.S songstress Keri Hilson all do a short set each but it was Suffolk born, ginger head Ed Sheeran whoblew the crowd away with his easy manner, great live dynamic and hit songs.What a charmer he was! The entire crowd screamed for him non-stop-I’m convinced he’s bring sexy back for the red heads in society! Watch this space-next year he will have lost the shaggy hair and surfer garms and be on the front of GQ with a six-pack. Afterwards I spoke to Ed outside as we got some air-he had worked so hard onstage his dry head was totally soaked with sweat once he’s finished. He was extremely eloquent and charming which I know will take him far. Jamal himself finally took to the stage and read his thank you speech from a piece of paper bless him. He was very sweet in his humble thanks to his team and even revealed that SBTV have a new show on Channel 4- you know you are big when you have a show about making a show!. Whilst there was too much to love about this party- free chicken! Free beer! (Bet Ludacris wished he’d have thought of this for his album launch for his ‘’chicken and beer’’ disc!), the ONE thing I LOVED about the night was there was no VIP AREA! I have always stated that VIP areas equal bad vibe parties- Puffy taught me that- it was proven as the vibe and good energy around the room with all being equals was mature, fun and sexy!
Guests that just turned up and mingled included JLS’ Oritse, actor Dexter Fletcher, actor Will Poulter, Flawless dancers, Devon Anderson, Lucian Laviscount,  new ROC signing Rita Ora, Louisa Lytton, Adam Deacon, Preeya Kalidas, Labrinth, Ms Dynamite, Cher Lloyd, Twist and Pulse, Cleo Sol, Davinche, Bluey Robinson, music A&R TwinB, DJ Ras Kwame, DJ Shortee Blitz , Wileys manager John Woolf, girl group Rough Diamonds and their manager Carla, Shola Ama, DJ Sarah Jane, Eastenders actor that played Billy and a number of movers, shakers and taste makers from the capital.
The night was a true success in so many ways- salute to the SBTV team and Jamal Edwards-you are putting the rest of the dawdling old skool media to shame!

JASMINE with young UK designer ROMERO BRYAN and his entourage of models wearing ROMERO BRYAN.

Occasionally my work hard, play hard mantra comes through with shining results. A fortnight ago my Caribbean contact Douglas Gordon (a man that champions the islands like a trooper and taken my former MTV team out to film there on numerous occasions) reached out and asked if I’d be interested in flying out to Tobago to experience Tobago fashion week. This was not-contrary to belief- a trick question. A few days off to go visit a Caribbean country with sun, sea, sand, fashion and culture and call it work?. A no brainer. So there we were ready to jump on 3 planes after being informed we were booked American airlines to fly into Miami, to Trinidad, to Tobago. Immediately I begged they change our travel to a direct flight to Tobago with any carrier. My experience at Miami Airport has always been a negative experience with their ‘’random checks’’ always leaving you frustrated and flat before your trip has really started.

Luckily they changed our flight to a direct one via Monarch. Monarch premium class. Clearly it was not the same experience you get on virgin or BA but it has to be said- aside from the rubbery tasteless food, the flight was pleasurable. I noted that being hugely obese and booked into economy often means the passenger and all their mates get upgraded to premium/first as they don’t fit into the economy seat?!. And the government say being over weight isn’t in your favour KMT!

Anyhoo- I digress. We landed at the ANA Robinson Airport in Tobago -the usual small, quick customs experience. They looked at me suspiciously after noting I was bring in 2 huge bags full of Bassets wine gums. When I’d asked Douglas if I could bring him anything he’d requested wine gums. So in order to thank him I took him as many wine gums as we could afford and carry- that was £80 worth!. I explained to Mr customs man they were gifts for my granddad Dougie LOL.

We were whisked from the airport to our first residence, which was the beautifully chic Half Moon Blue hotel. A small, boutique hotel in a quiet, hilly countryside location with a private beach and stunning suites. The rooms were crisp, clean and beautifully orchestrated with stunning 4 poster beds and i-pod docks. I woke up on my first morning in Tobago feeling like a princess in tropical paradise. The hotel was stunning with marble glass floors and an infinity pool that leads to the ocean and private beach. With an excellent chef my only criticism is that the hotel had loads of American food like your steak, chips on the menu instead of the island fare that we had anticipated with eagerness. And they played the awful euro dance music that has currently saturated the globe when we had wanted island music like soca and reggae.

2 days later we joined the rest of the media at another hotel -Le Grand Courlan- where we spent the rest of the week. This hotel was in a busier part of the city and much bigger with a massive stunning huge sandy quiet palmed beach at its rear. It was a very nice looking hotel but often its staffs attitude made Roti Huts staff on Uxbridge Road look polite. One morning the waitress actually kissed her teeth when my mate asked for an extra order of something at breakfast. Also- whilst the hotels gym was nicer and more equipped than your average hotel gym, the spa was questionable. Our American media colleague booked in for a body massage and was appalled by the lack of experience of the beauticians. The hotel had mass potential-it just needs a strong guiding hand and it would be amazing.

Whilst out there we went on a tour of local town Scarborough, an imposing looking Fort George, long, relaxing lunches at quaint restaurants like Jemma’s tree house in Speyside-an actual restaurant in a tree! ,Kariwak Village restaurant -a fabulous straw hut roofed room, and Renmar’s in Pigeon Point eating local fair like mahi mahi, shark, crab and dumpling soup, roti’s so huge they fed two, sea moss cocktails and plenty of other mouth watering food.
One afternoon we were taken to go snorkelling in blue lagoons where we spotted multi coloured fish and coral underwater gardens and reefs. We also went to stand in the shallow nylon pool in the middle of the ocean where the water for around one square mile is waist height and warm. They say when you bath there you emerge looking 5 years younger. I attempted to visit daily so I could look 10 years old again after a couple of days!. The one thing that always happens to me abroad is the ocean likes to leave me with life long gifts. Once in Mexico whilst swimming with dolphins, a dolphin attacked me leaving me with a nice row of mini teeth marks along my arm. Another time in Anguilla whilst having ocean races with Mariah I jumped onto what I thought was a rock and left with rash all over my bottom as the rock was live coral that stung me. (mc did try and warn me but my stubborn know-it-all ass knew better!). Then in Miami on a girly holiday I kept making ‘’jaws like’’ soundtrack theme noises in the water and then got badly stung by a jellyfish. My girls ignored me as I’d cried wolf once too many times and assumed I was messing. Well this time I was snorkelling in the warm Tobagonian waters and whilst having an underwater race with my mate felt my fast moving legs scrape sharply against something underwater. I emerged from the water to find a great long bloody gash on my right thigh. My mate swum down to explore what had caused it. A big black anchor!. I’d swum across a flipping anchor!  So here I was not able to recall when I’d had my last tetanus injection and wondering whether my leg would go limp and fall off. On enquiring how I could get a tetanus on the island I was constantly greeted with lethargic excuses about it being a weekend and national bank holiday and so on. Good thing I wasn’t actually dying eh!?

Anyhoo-the day continued with captain Chris guiding us through the ocean with his informative talks. Midway through the conversation I asked a question about coral and got cussed out as apparently he had already told us this info earlier and ‘’hadn’t I been listening!’’’. Oops!. Inside I sniggered as captain Chris informed us that we were sailing on the Britannia boat. The boat outside was in fact called the ‘’Bretana’’.
JASMINE BEING INTERVIEWED BY OCEAN STYLE TV PRESENTER SAMANTHA

Then it was time for the reason we were actually there- TOBAGO FASHION WEEKEND!!  The first time we arrived at Pigeon Point to see the venue it made you catch your breath it was so beautiful. They had erected a full stage, rows and rows of white-caned chairs, a huge sound system and hundreds of huge mutli coloured flags at the edge of the sandy ocean where the fashion collections would be seen.  The first night was the opening ceremony where the red carpet was rolled out, the music was booming along the coastline, Tobago’s finest mingled with international designers and media and everywhere was buzzing. Before every event began the Trinidad and Tobago National anthem was always played and all present were required to stand in respect to the music, which would be played by a pan steel band, sung by a local singer or played once by a very accomplished saxophonist. Like a typical western event the event had branding sponsored by the Bombay Sapphire gin beverage and others. Impressive cars, hummers and motorbikes were dotted around the beach on which partygoers jumped on, in and took pics with them. They also gave us a taste of what was to come by giving bus a mini fashion show with clothing by local designers. It was amazing to think that a fashion event on this scale was possible with such a stunning backdrop of location whilst seeing the waves roaring up behind us. Truly breath taking on another level.

DESIGNERS ROBERT YOUNG, MEILING, JASMINE and NIGEL EASTMAN (OF ZADD & EASTMAN)

The following night was day 1 of the collections featuring designers like Garnett D`Andrade, Gerard Perry, Christian Boucaud, Frances Hendy and Ivaek Archer.And what a strong start it was. After the obligatory national anthem a solo male contemporary dancer in white flares kicked off the show with a mesmerising dance routine along the catwalk after which 15 designers showed their collections. Extremely tall, svelte, glamazonian models of every hue and colour from gorgeous dark black, to coolie brown, to fair skinned models with extremely professional standards strutted their stuff. Much of the clothing was island inspired with lush, tropical floaty fabrics that fly in the wind and sexy swimwear, which had the crowd whooping in appreciation. I particularly liked the Black and cream themed pieces with frills, ruches, and sexy rain macs.

 

A running theme through out the fashion week event was models carrying puppies and small dogs along the catwalk to highlight an animal charity for homeless pets. It was a nice visually lingering image and concept but I wonder if it actually made a change to any canine’s lives?
There were also a few collections just for children modelled by stunning professional very young kids which had the crowd all applauding with pride and encouragement.

Amateur mistakes like models walking with the labels still on their shoe bottoms was distracting. Also some models were struggling with shoes 4 sizes too big for them but still managed the walk with grace, which was impressive. One designer had my attention with their Stripy baby doll dresses in black and white with French beret styles. Very chic. Another didn’t impress me with shiny satin and nylon suits. Also-there was a lot of very camp (some would say fitted and colourful) men’s wear. My favourite designer of day 1 was the Final designer Nigel Eastman – his line is called Zadd + Eastman. His was a beautiful capsule collection of black garments with rainbow jewel sherbet colours that would work well on a hot island or the streets of a hectic city like London. The night ended with a party on the beachside with scrumptious edible nibbles and rum cocktails and we left with a goodie bag containing great booty like lip-gloss, sun lotion and bronzer, fabulous magazines and my fave- real home made hot pepper sauce.

A NIGEL EASTMAN DESIGN.

Day two’s show was similarly memorable with more kids fashion which unlike your average British high street store, catered for more colourful, childish and appropriate children’s wear. Not sexy-just cute and correct! Once again the dogs and puppies bounded onstage to highlight their cause and the show continued with a variety of looks from a tie dye collection. (Hate tie-dye!), a lot of floaty flowing fabrics and garish colours, and some pretty average swimwear modelled by males with had females in the audience very excited! I really like a collection by Pink lemonade which was described as resort wear. A lot of white mini dresses and backless black shorts jumpsuit and pink and lilac looks that were very fly.

One collection that had the night buzzing was by designer Iveaek Archer with his collection of Chizl underwear for men. It was introduced as playful and sexy and that you had to open your mind to appreciate it so we knew we were in for a shocking look. His very sexy male models strutted onto the catwalk in a variety of looks that was very kinky men’s wear and included eye patches. Face masks, string vest boxer shorts, towels draped over shoulders like a batman cape. The reaction from the very outraged and disgusted macho red blooded males in the audience with their heads in their hands was as entertaining as the collection!. Some of the models were rocking extremely tiny gold lame lycra hot pants, others had “Wotless’’ embroidered on their pants ( P.S ‘’Wotless’’ is the name of a very popular carnival song this year sung by Kees Dieffenthaller) , one model rocked shorts with a koala bear face on his groin with the kolas nose pack pocketing the males genitals and another was the Essex version of under pants with a pair of giant furry dice hanging from the waist band. All fantastic fun!.

A MODEL WALKING IN A ROMERO BRYAN DESIGN.

The best part of the night though was when British, young designer Romero Bryan took to the stage to close the whole event with a range of uber sexy, bondage inspired very couture cut dresses. The audience sat up, the paparazzi snapped and flashed away furiously and his collection really showed that London was in the house. Even after the first 3 models walked in his collection it was clear that the standard had leapt and that he had shut it down and easily stolen the show.

After the show the paps went nuts photographing the whole of Romero’s collection alongside Romero on the sea front where his dresses with their structured tassels and boned pieces which were very reminiscent of bondage straps were the centre of attention. Post show we congratulated Romero on his moment and agreed that he had done us proud and the annual Tobago fashion week was a great time to visit the island for a vacation meets fashion fix and that we would attempt to attend next year without fail! This has really put Tobago front and centre when it’s usually its twin island Trinidad that takes centre stage.

Before we left Tobago we visited the stunning, Tobago Coca Estate- a tropical cocoa plantation where all number of tropical fruit trees like mango, cassava, guava and sugar cane were grown. No one had advised us to bring welli boots or a pair of socks so I had a diva moment when I had to put my bare foot into an oversized, crusty old boot to protect my feet. Gross!. A beautiful, sun kissed rakish, mature, strong woman in baseball cap and Wellington boots called Christina took us around the estate and showed us how the cocoa pods were grown, dried and sifted before sale. We were able to taste the cocoa pods-bitter and sweet-and enjoy some freshly baked cassava bread in the outdoor oven. If there’s one memory I will never forget its that I will never devour a bar of chocolate again without thinking of Christina and the work it takes to accumulate a few cocoa beans!
On our final day we went on a catamaran cruise on the ‘’Island Girl’’ boat where it rained torrentially all day relentlessly but the crew were so much fun they cheered us up by encouraging us to snorkel in the warm Caribbean bath water and cooked us a tasty lunch and kept the rum cocktails flowing. What could we do but get involved in the always positive island spirit. Tobago-you’ve made another friend for life!

JASMINE with TINIE TEMPAH and DUMIE

Breakfast meetings, post work meetings, meetings at shows, meetings about meetings, honestly the corporate world has gone mad.
With recession fear and a now-its-anyone’s-time talk brainwashing us 24-7 no one wants to relax and chill for a minute .As one hip hop legend said to another- Slow down son-you’re killin em!.
I’m observing a long standing trend for young, hungry talent that has no patience with a ”get rich or die trying” philosophy that is admirable but not if you’re not prepared to put in the hard work. Honestly, there’s no point in starting. I hear people describe themselves as music stars of the future that can’t sing, play an instrument or song write. Seriously miming’s not gonna cut it. I hear others describe themselves as being the CEO of TV Company. They then proceed to tell me they’ve never picked up a camera, can’t edit, and have no ideas for creative shows and no business acumen. Confused? I am. Don’t get it twisted, many entrepreneurs have made it without being the main act as such but a unique talent in some field is essential or like the 1 hit wonders we’ve seen come and go-you will go and never come back again!
The media is an easier place to get into working than it was years ago, but for a certain demographic-its still and always going to be tougher. At MEDIA TRUST we’ve recruited new, young reporters without much experience in the field and are given them the most hardcore boot camp training which actually see’s them delivering a real TV show to a real UK TV channel with our corporate partners (BBC, ITV, C4, C5, SKY, MTV) having an option to pick up their content too.This is exciting. But scary. Really scary. Cos if one of them slips’ then ashow is affected. They’re doing intense training on filming, research, scripting, producing, writing, editing and more. They are interviewing realpower players, stars, community folk and more- like any real reporter world. As if that’s not enough I have them writing columns for national newspapers and iconic websites as well as spots on national radio. I believe they have to leave me at the end of their time knowing they are a 360-degree media a champ that can be thrown into the deep end with any project. This way they have ticked the all-important stumbling block that states all graduates need experience. They are very employable and able to hone their skills on a deeper level now knowing which areas their strengths lie in. There are no limits any more as to a job role. Once you were a writer, producer, director etc. nowadays if you’re not everything you’re unemployed. This example relates to most industries now. (Brain surgeons and their peers should ignore the paragraph above).

One young Londoner that’s a pure fire example of talent, positivity, diversity, inclusion and graft is Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu otherwise known as Tinie Tempah. Tinie’s been slogging away for years with smaller music broadcasters and singles but eventually it certainly was Written in the stars for him that his talent was spotted by theright people who were able to spot a future star in the making and he playedball. Often record labels sign acts and the act expects it to be plain sailing from there on in. it isn’t. Labels can promote and distribute but cant give you a personality or a work ethic. Tinie persevered without making enemies, badmouthing his peers or playing up to the stereotypical urban artist model. His inspiring attitude, unique music, articulate manner, humbleattitude and hard work have paid off. His manager is his cousin Dumi who learnt everything he knows about the music industry from a book! Imagine that!. They set up their own record label DISTURBING LONDON- and then
Last fortnight tinie went platinum in the USA with his single ‘’Pass out’’. This is ground breaking for a UK rap act. Admittedly he went top 10 in the USA pop charts but the enormity of his achievement cannot be smothered. This will undoubtedly open up new doors for UK acts from the same genre. Tinies team has always thought out of the box. His new mix tape is being hosted by comedian and actor Russell Brand. That’s some next level-ish. Achievements like this in my industry make the rest of our jobs easier. Often people wonder where the power in success lies. It lies everywhere. Tinie makes it big on his own merit. We help push him further. He helps himself and us by playing the game and raising it. We all win.

JASMINE with KOJO.

A true winner in every sense of the word is Kojo the comedian. A few years ago he was a comedian doing the London circuit. After bringing him onto MTV BASE with his own series he has spread his wings in the worlds of TV, Film and now radio by presenting the breakfast show on ChoiceFM with former Radio1Xtra DJ Max. congrats to both on their unshakable tenacity. In this business you’ve got to have lots!
FINAL NOTE- Current Office Debate-is it a good or bad thing when corporations jump on the urban bandwagon & exploit it in a negative way for the culture? More on that soon!