MY TOP 10 SONGS OF FIRST QUARTER 2018

1.SISI MARIA-MALEEK BERRY

2.OJA-ZLATAN IBILE / MY OWN-STYLES P FEAT WHISPERS

3.LAND OF THE FREAKS-2CHAINZ

4.DIET-DJ ENIMONEY FEAT SLIMCASE,REMINISCE,TIWA SAVAGE

5.ANYHOW-TEKNO FEAT OG,SELEBOBO AND FLIMZY

6.DEATH ROW-YOUNG SCOOTER / NOWO-DJ SPINALL FEAT WIZKID

7.CALM DOWN-BURNA BOY / HERE AND NOW-PRAIZ

8.NEGOTIATIONS-WALE / END OF DISCUSSION-RICH THE KID FEAT LIL WAYNE

9.PLAYLIST-MI FEAT NONSO AMADI / JUGG KING-YOUNG SCOOTER

10.BANGING-MR2KAY FEAT REEKADO BANKS/MONEY BAG-CARDI B

WHAT IS GOOD FOR DINO IS ALSO GOOD FOR OMO-AGEGE

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#LAZYNIGERIANYOUTH: AN INSIGHT INTO THE DEPLORABLE MINDSET OF THE YOUNG NIGERIAN

WARNING: If you heard Buhari say a 'lot of nigerian youths' but understood it to mean 'all nigerian youths' till date,you may not like this.

The edited version of President Buhari's comments at the Commonwealth business forum has become the accepted one and that is very worrying.It is the new trend on social and even regular media for young working nigerians to jump on the fashionable #LazyNigerianYouth hashtag in a dissimulated triumph over the system.They have read and watched him say 'a lot of nigerian youths want to sit and do nothing' and yet they have chosen to believe what is being sold.The average nigerian youth is highly susceptible to the strong pull of a bandwagon mentality fuelled by social media trends and the 'chosen' opinions of an influential few and for the very first time,i'm starting to wonder if the youths are truly ready for leadership.

Quite honestly,the #LazyNigerianYouth movement has depicted the average youth as gullible,ignorant and willing to shut their eyes to truth just to jump on the new 'in' thing.How long before politicians capitalize on that to sell us another false messiah?.

Having lived almost my entire life in the northern part of Nigeria where Buhari had been paraded as a credible and honest emancipator of the masses since as far back as 2003,i have seen first hand the ills of a bandwagon mentality.It is what got us here.

Buhari was military head of state before i was born and people younger than me, when asked what about his stewardship prompted their adoration for the man,were always quick to say they learnt he was a hardworking leader with a deep love for the masses.Nothing more.

Anyone who bothered looking into the man wouldn't be suprised at the nature of his human right violations and divisive tendencies.

A lot of Buhari's opponents,notably Atiku Abubakar have also keyed into the à la mode interpretation of Buhari's comments and the fact alone that a politician aspiring for office is willing to lie or adopt a blatant one obviously means we should be wary of them.It is highly sad that after all we have been through,there are nigerians who are still swayed by politicians keying into public discontent to promote themselves.

I remember Atiku as Obasanjo's vice-president and it would take a lot more than supporting restructuring and criticizing President Buhari's mistakes to convince me.

But personal opinion aside,Atiku has proven a shrewd politician by cashing in on the psyche of the nigerian youth through his use of social media.He not only jumps on trending anti-Buhari topics,he is vocal in his praise of nigerian entertainers,the entertainment industry and its huge potentials.He replies letters by celebrities and even went the extra mile to ensure everyone knew he was at Silverbird cinemas to watch the Black Panther movie.For effect,he chastised the producers for finding Sambisa forest the only reference-worthy thing about Nigeria.

He has greatly,for emphasis,GREATLY endeared himself to many young nigerians who see him as the relatable,liberal and successful entrepreneur this country truly needs.The very same Atiku who was side by side with Obasanjo at the commencement of PDP's demonic 16 year reign and only fell out with him because of his presidential ambition?.An ambition that has driven him into a shameless journey through political parties he has had to criticize at one time or the other?.

Like President Buhari rightly pointed out,the youth make up the majority of the nigerian population and if indeed this country will change,the youths have to change first.They must learn to resist appealing lies packaged in voguish social media trends.They must wisen up and resist being willing 'magas' to yahoo yahoo politicians who are ever ready to exploit their weaknesses.What is right is not right simply because the majority believe it to be.

The time to wake up is now.

INVASION OF PRIVACY ALBUM REVIEW: WINNING OVER THE SKEPTICS

Bodak Yellow shot Cardi B to another realm altogether.You could tell her follow up single would go platinum before it even dropped.It did just that and this album had long had that path charted for it too irrespective of quality.That is the realm i am talking about.

We live in times where sales don't necessarily reflect the quality of an album.Pleasantly for the enthusiast,an album offers the entire sides to an artiste's game and there can be no running from the stuff they are truly made of.While Invasion of Privacy is a guaranteed chart blazer,it more than anything affords us an opportunity to finally put to rest the issues of genuineness of talent and staying power.Whether to accept she will be around for a long time or to expect a descent when the hype dies down.

The tracks.

1.GET UP 10

Hard to not respect that she opens the album talking about strength.The intention is good but she does at best, an average job.The keys playing for the first minute in consonance with the theme,really deserved more intense soul baring.The bulk of it gets lost in the delivery and delivery is the difference between beasting and a street corner rap battle.Cardi really did come across as spitting straight out of her rhyme book with little or no regard for how she sounded.

2.BICKENHEAD

A song for the fan base and they are bound to love it.The catchiness works perfectly.This sound oozes a heavy Nicki Minaj influence.

3.DRIP feat MIGOS

A decent trappy tune that appears an obvious attempt to pull off another 'Motor Sport'.The 'Drip' chorus is too loose to stick and the beat won't go down as one of Cassius Jay's best work.When the horn loop at the hook ceases for a verse,it leaves a very pale feel for some very good verses to go to waste.

4.BODAK YELLOW

Well,Bodak Yellow is Bodak Yellow; one of the greatest rap songs made in recent memory.Tight beat,mad lines.Epic.

5.BE CAREFUL

If you followed Cardi from Bodak Yellow and started this album from the jump,then you'll observe this is the first time she ventures outside her comfort zone-the jewels,the clothes,the cars,b****in on other b****s and Offset.Well,you can't safely say she wasn't talking about Offset.

She plays vulnerable Cardi telling the scum lover story and she does it quite well.A combination of Frank Dukes,Boi-1da and Vinylz ought to produce a better beat though.

6.I LIKE IT LIKE THAT feat Bad Bunny and J Balvin

She taps into her latino roots beautifully to create this great song.She had the 'i like it like that' chant replace the spanish in that all too familiar rhythmic background vocals while she thumps-Diamond district in the jag/Certified u know i'm gang gang/Drop the top and blow the brains/Oh he's handsome,whats his name?.

It had a good vibe to it but 2 latino verses after Cardi's isn't quite the perfect plot.

7.BEST LIFE feat Chance the rapper

A pleasant feel good vibe to this joint.She gets the delivery spot on a summer beat telling the bottom-up story.Mad credit must go to Chance for a killer hook and dope verse-"Hey y'all know good and damn well i don't want no champagne/But please can we get some more champagne/Please no Andre,G like 'venchy/Reach like 'Bron James/Pep talk from 'Yonce/Remember my hands had ash like pompeii/Now they hold cash/Won't peak like Dante".Chance really did come through.

8.RING feat Kehlani

Its a slow jam like they make them in the '90's and on a jam this slow,Cardi and Kehlani are oil and water.They don't mix.Cardi packs perhaps too much energy to tone down a notch lower and this leads to a loss of synergy between her tight verses and Kehlani's beautiful singing.

9.MONEY BAG

Super super jam.In one word,Money Bag is magic.She re-enacts Bodak Yellow with the same winning formula-classy display of unabashed bossiness and crass sensuality."I do the maybach monday and ferrari friday/This is sweet p***y saturday/Thats just what Plies say/I said bae 'its a snack'/He said 'its a entree/With them pretty a** twins/You look like Beyonce".Whats more?.She had J.white produce this too.For emphasis,magic.

10.BARTIER CARDI feat 21 Savage

Her 2nd single earned her more respect from the skeptics.They had every right to stay on the other side.Nicki Minaj had trademarked the big bad bossy b***h game and no one could tell how she'll play.But on Bartier Cardi,she stamps down her style-Cardi loves to rap and she does so harder than a Nicki ever will.The mean b***h game.

11.SHE BAD feat YG

YG lays a really infectious chorus and Cardi was on A-game rap.Dope song.

12.THRU THE PHONE

We were going to see all sides of Cardi B on here and her artistic brilliance is most amplified by this track.The steely delivery powers some 'hell hath no fury' venting in great style-"Beyonce on my stereo/'Resentment' on repeat/I'ma make a bowl of cereal with a teaspoon of bleach/Serve it to you like here you go/N***a bon appetit/".

Ali Tomposi nails the hook with some really captivating singing.Be Careful might be too blurry but thru your phone raises some valid questions about the state of her relationship with Offset.She references Beyonce's 'Resentment' and a leaked video of a naked girl purportedly made after she had sex with Offset in a hotel comes to mind first when she raps-"And you can tell your little b***h/I screenshotted all of her naked pics/Oh,you wanna send nudes to my man/Wake up and see your boobs on the gram".

13.I DO IT feat SZA

Its breath-taking how she thumps through the laid back beat with her hot lines.From the moment SZA comes on with the bomb hook,you are in it at same intensity to the end.Fabulous song.

There you have it folks,Cardi B won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

MOVIE REVIEW: TOMB RAIDER-LIGHT AT THE END OF A LONG DARK TUNNEL

Tomb Raider had the unfortunate predicament of being released when the tsunami called Black Panther was at its rifest.The whole world was watching,re-watching and counting its numbers so much so no one noticed there had been a new addition to the Tomb Raider series and also with a new Lara Croft; Alicia Vikander.

A pretty faced heroine is perfect for the Tomb Raider video games and other similar aspects of the franchise but then as far as the acting goes,she had to meet up with the standards set by none other than Angelina Jolie.

She does put in some decent work however,with a glaring flaw-the lack of a gritty edge.A girly look only compounded that.

To the movie itself,Tomb Raider is average and it has the last 45 minutes to be grateful to for that.It doesn't really start till Lara gets on the Island and the spectacular kicks in only when she opens Himiko's tomb.

The beginning lets you in on Lara Croft's personality-combat sports athlete and self-dependent young lady who wouldn't touch her late father's wealth because it reminds her of him.She eventually gets close and stumbles on what he was working on at the time he disappeared.It sounds pleasant but then as a walk-through it was lack lustre and pretty much slow-paced.Like even the producers themselves couldn't wait to get to the steamy part.The $600 bike race was the closest thing to excitement before the plot thickened.There could be better synergy between the beginning and other parts.

Tomb Raider is one of those instances where a good story turns bad in the transition called screen play.A story most impressive to a listener oblivious of how torrid a watch it got at times.In a nutshell,the story wasn't properly breathed life into.Even the fight scenes weren't what they should be.The sexiness of a pistol weilding Angelina Jolie cannot be matched by a bow and arrow Alicia Vikander.

But it does close with some fireworks.The tomb scene was quite electrifying.While the effects may not be top notch,the nail biting suspense overshadows that.

It looks like its all done till Croft gets back home to discover the work's just getting started.We might just have a straight continuation in the next instalment.Quite intriguing.

Live through foreplay for a decent roll in the sack; Tomb Raider in a few words.

I SECOND SECONDUS: THE SALIENT ISSUES LEFT UNTOUCHED

The clamour for an alternative to the APC and PDP has led to movements like the Red Card and 3rd Force to name a few but realistically,no movement can gather momentum enough to make a significant impact next year.Thus,the PDP still remains nigerians' best hope of ousting the APC government next year.It has an existing structure with guaranteed bloc votes from 2 regions of roughly 18 million registered voters.

The shabby handling of the affairs of the APC; prominent among them party disputes,is largely attributable to the fact that it was a helter-skelter arrangement put in place simply to kick out the PDP. Structuring the party to cater for the many big egos and divergent interests; was never in contemplation and now that it has accomplished its sole goal,the chickens are coming home to roost.

The PDP officially kicked off its electioneering campaign on the 26th of March at the Abuja Transcorp Hilton and its quite shameful that of all the things said by Prince Uche Secondus,the national party chairman,the APC gang has chosen to focus more on the apology he issued on behalf of his party than tackle the issues raised against their government.I highlight 5 of those crucial issues.

1.THE APC BORROWING N11TRN IN JUST 3 YEARS

This really should have had people buzzing the most.The PDP; bad as they may be,borrowed N6trn in 16 years and had projects to show for it.The APC on the other hand has borrowed N11trn in less than 3 years.What exactly have they used that money for?.We have seen Buhari earmark unprecedently high sums for capital expenditure.If they restricted themselves to completing the unfinished projects of the Jonathan administration like they made us believe at some point,then they ought to have made even more impact than we anticipated.It is quite sad that the APC has serially defended its incompetence by chastising the PDP and my prayer is that the future of our country is not tied to the repayment of huge loans incurred as a result of this government's ineptitude

2.THE BOKO HARAM LIE

Though it is really hard to tell if the herdsmen are an extension of the boko haram sect or not,Secondus was right about the Buhari government lying to its people about decimating the sect.Nothing could be farther from the truth.Boko haram has brought this administration to its knees and through the payment of multi million euro ransoms,the nigerian government have become its main sponsors.

When last did we go through a whole week without the fulani herdsmen killing innocent nigerians?.This administration has failed in its paramount duty which is safeguarding the life and properties of its citizens.

3.INCOMPETENCE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEVALUATION OF THE NAIRA

The devaluation has been attributed to the fall in oil prices.Before Jonathan left office, oil sold for less than $50 and we even witnessed a N10 drop in fuel price to N87 per litre.Yet the exchange rate was N199 to $1.What i'm driving at is quite simple-they managed the plunge in oil prices much better than Buhari and the APC has.

That the free fall of the naira was more down to Buhari's incompetence was confirmed by none other than the Vice-President himself,Prof.Yomi Osinbajo.Buhari's medical trip afforded him a clear opportunity to implement the resolutions of the National Economic Council which he headed.The sum of $250M was injected into the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) and the Central bank was advised to adjust its forex policy.The CBN did and released $371M into the inter-bank market.Barely 48 hours later, the naira had fallen from N510 to a dollar to N400.A couple more moves and it fell further.

Word in some quarters was that he was ready to do more but despite describing the success as a 'team effort',key members of the cabal felt intimidated by his soaring popularity and had the President pull the brakes on his policy.

What this proves is that despite what Buhari and his gang may want us to believe,the falling value of the naira would be better handled if Nigeria was in the right hands.The previous government had some of the best economic minds Nigeria had to offer on board.Buhari on the other hand doesn't even think it needful to appoint an Economic adviser.

4.A NATION DIVIDED UNDER ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS FAULT LINES

Virtually every secessionist agenda tells a story of a suppressed and deprived people seeking to put an end to the status quo.The fact still remains that President Buhari justified every agitation for a separate state with the 97%-5% declaration.He said those who didn't vote en masse for him shouldn't be expected to be treated as well as those who did.True to his words,he made more than 30 straight non-ministerial appointments without any south-easterner among them.Even the south west which seemed less bothered about its own state kickstarted its own agitation just incase they were asked to quit the north like the ibos at some point.

And like we all know,while Nnamdi Kanu was having to fight off the army for violating his bail conditions,the Arewa youths walked scot-free.Like Secondus rightly pointed out,we have never been this divided.

5.THE FUEL SITUATION

This is one aspect that has perhaps illustrated Buhari's incompetence the most.When President Buhari sought approval from the national assembly to settle the subsidy claims of oil marketers with N413 billion,a few questions were asked as to the propriety of that.Paying that huge a sum in one fell swoop didn't feel right especially if the state of our finances was taken into consideration.It made you appreciate the sound economic minds around his predecessor much better.A lot of things combined to keep our economy going and paying marketers in instalments was one of them.In January of 2016,the government removed subsidy and barely 3 months later,it reverted to paying N13 per litre.In May of same year,it removed subsidy again and increased fuel price to N145.There can only be one logical conclusion from all these-the government is very confused.

After subjecting nigerians to untold hardship with its cluelessness and blaming the 2015/16 scarcity on a number of reasons,it introduced the final one as its justification for increasing fuel price-marketers were unable to source foreign exchange because of the dollar rate.It took it almost 6 months to know that.

Well,like we all know,selling fuel at N145 and even with a much reduced foreign exchange rate hasn't meant an end to fuel scarcity.

We deserve better.

IT IS BOKO HARAM THAT HAS TECHNICALLY DEFEATED OUR GOVERNMENT

Jessy Jonah was a classmate in my early years of high school.He was not only older than the rest of us,he was much bigger.And ironically,the most playful too.He was always ready to kick around black board dusters with us in classroom 'soccer matches' and play the chalk stoning game too.Everyone got a kick out of teasing Jessy because unlike the other big lads,he laughed it off and struggled to hit back with a joke of his own.

But then one day,a fateful Friday i will never forget,he got angry.He got into a brawl with a fellow big boy and i remember how terrified everyone was at how hard he went at him.It was the first time i heard what a real punch sounded like and when it was over,the other guy was lucky to escape with just a bloodied mouth.He was back to being himself on Monday but a lot of things changed.He weilded more power than anyone.If he came wanting to play,everyone did so out of duress.If he teased you,you retorted by teasing yourself even harder.No matter what we did,we just had to keep him happy.We had been subdued.

The Buhari government is us and boko haram is the 'new' Jessy.They not only make demands government must meet,they must do so by their laid out terms.

As has been confirmed by senators Ahmed Lawan and Joshua Lidani,the government pays out millions of euros to the terrorist group as ransom.It clears out military personnel for them to return kidnapped school girls and move back to their base.A cease fire was according to the DSS, the only condition given for a return of the Dapchi girls.Boko haram even dictates when we fight.It is the government of the federal republic of Nigeria that has been technically defeated by boko haram and not the other way round.

Shortly after the minister of information,Lai Mohammed claimed no money was given to the terrorist group for the return of the Dapchi girls,reports surfaced to confirm the fear of nigerians that there actually was.And not only that, 5 boko haram prisoners were also released with 3 of them,bomb makers.

It is not uncommon for governments to make secret deals with terrorists but the peculiarity of our circumstance borders round the fact that we are turning into the main sponsors of our number one security threat.We are starting to hear about a liberal Al Barnawi faction which isn't as pre-disposed to violence as Abubakar Shekau's.But spurred on by the millions Shekau got for the 2017 release of 82 chibok girls,it has started to launch its own kidnappings.So technically,we are sponsoring 2 boko haram factions and my fear is that with the huge financial war chest at their disposal,they could resurrect their cells in states outside the north-east to join the kidnap craze.The implications stretch that far.

In as much as i believe the life of one school girl may be worth all the money in our treasury,i am particularly saddened by the role government's incompetence has had to play in this.The moment boko haram kidnapped persons on more than 2 occasions within a short period of time,even the most passive of observers could tell it was only a matter of time before they targeted schools.The Chibok girls saga was supposed to have taught us an invaluable lesson but no,the Buhari government chose to keep lying about defeating boko haram 'technically' instead of protecting schools and other soft targets the terrorists were likely to strike going by their antecedents.

Week after week,while boko haram was bombing innocent nigerians,there was always one or more member of Buhari's government waiting to tell us just how toothless they had become.They wallowed in self-deceit and neglected to do what was expected of them.

Now we are paying the price for that.Not only with our money but with the lives of innocent school girls.Its sad.