Hollywood actor Will Smith has denied he gave singer August Alsina the permission to engage his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith in a year-long relationship.

After Alsina spoke publicly about allegedly being romantically involved with the actress, including the claim that her longtime husband gave Alsina his “blessing,” Jada’s reps have called the claims “absolutely not true,” TMZ reports.

August, 27, told The Breakfast Club’s Angela Yee that he was in love with Jada, 48, and said:

“I sat down with Will [Smith] and had a conversation due to the transformation from their marriage to life partnership… he gave me his blessing.” August Alsina said

August said the two became very close, and holidayed together with the family in Hawaii a year later and they even attended the 2017 BET Awards together.

“People can have whatever ideas that they like, but what I’m not ok with is my character being in question, when certain things are questionable that I know is not me or that I know I haven’t done.”

“Contrary to what some people believe, I’m not a troublemaker. I don’t like drama. Drama actually makes me nauseous…I also don’t think that it’s ever important for people to know what I do, who I sleep with, who I date.” he said in the interview.

Jada had previously denied rumours that she and Will are in an open relationship and said they will never divorce.

Talking on Sway’s Universe radio show in 2018, she said:

‘I’m just, like, keep [the divorce rumours] coming. Here’s the thing about Will and I – [we] are family. That is never going down. It’s just not. Ever.

‘We are family. Take out all that whole marriage/relationship crap, at the end of the day, Will and I are family. I am going to hold him down, doesn’t matter.

‘All that relationship and what people think ideas of a husband, partner and all that, man, whatever. At the end of the day, that is a man that can rely on me for the rest of his life, period.’

Jada also denied their marriage was open, saying in a Facebook post:

“The statement I made in regard to, “Will can do whatever he wants,” has illuminated the need to discuss the relationship between trust and love and how they co-exist

By Charles Twitch Nyerere

Music is life and we are all music lovers despite our different take on genres and specific artists. Each and every day we listen to different music from different artists coming from different origins. And everyday artists go to studios to record their music in order to captivate our musical souls in return become our favourites and remain relevant in our entertainment world.

Phyzix

Much as remaining relevant and maintaining status in music circles is not a stress-free task others have successfully evolved their music over time to withstand their iconic names. Others have been forced into deep siesta without favour.

Music as a component of art has evolved quiet a lot; a process that has reshuffled musical styles and introduced new ones in the process familiarized us with fresh artists on the arena. This aspect is a development and it’s a landmark in music industry. This whole evolution process has not only furnished us with various musical tastes but also aided us ideally to organise and categorize our music into major styles like classical and contemporary music even though classical music is highly associated with scholarly music and art. It is less developed in developing countries. The evolution has also helped as to group music into old and new school with the new school being highly associated with Trap Music. We have also become conscious of the popular genres trending in our country like Hip-hop, Rhythm and Blues, Afro-pop, dancehall and reggae. Whilst genres like country and electronic pop have been behind the scenes and are rarely found.

This is 2020 another decade; many artists who began their music journey in 2005/2006 they have clocked fourteen years plus. Their relevance and maintenance in the music industry can be challenged by new school generation and it is really stiff to push beyond horizon of every Jim and Jack. The new school has infiltrated the industry with different music styles winning the youthful majority who controls our general population. This is the point where a rule of the survival of the fittest applies “as the weakest has been eliminated in the urban music and the strongest are still surviving”. The question that can follow is what do you mean when you say strongest? And what is weakest? In this aspect ‘strongest’ means the ability to adapt to changes in music evolution to suit the present taste and be able to maintain status with all means. Whereas ‘weakest’ is same as failing to sustain relevance in present times after your hit period expires.” For example, Tay Grin evolved his music by shifting from hip-hop-like to Afro-pop music the time he started releasing sorts of “Chipapapa” and that direction has helped him remain relevant in the game.

Allow me to introduce Phyzix to you. Well, I grew up listening to Phyzix from way back. It’s a known fact that the self-made captain Bae has been pushing his music so hard fighting against the odds of maintenance. The Cholapitsa Hit-maker has been in the game for about fourteen years; becoming one of surviving legends in hip-hop game as far as music is concerned. Its undisputable fact that his ‘Cholapitsa’ track made it into ‘the list of hits of the decade’ and those who can recall how this song melted the airwaves and Variety-shows can agree with me without hunting for popular vote. In short we cannot talk about urban Malawi-music without recognizing the ‘Gamba’ himself.

There are a lot of techniques that artists have harnessed to remain popular and one of it is the art of collaborations. Collabos have power to perform wonders on an artist’s lifespan. As I watched closely, Phyzix has tried to evolve and grow to maintain his relevance in the game by releasing tracks blended in contemporary touch, collaborated with several artists that are making headlines in the circles. Recently Phyzix has released ‘Chinyamata Chikukoma’ which featured Multi-award winning star Wikise; ‘Michael Yekha’ he did with Tay Grin, Piksy, Teddy, Theo Thomson and Hyphen;  Kuseli kwa Mpanda Remix by climax featured Phyzix, Bucci, Drobizo, Dette Flo, Santiago, K-Banton, Mwanache, Nitrix, Drizzle Akazonic and 6^th. The goodness of flying high with colloabos is that artists tend to expand their fan-base by exposing themselves to the audience of their counterparts.

Musical ideas are not simple construct. Every song starts from scratch with a just a thought then graduates into lyrics which later is recorded into a song.  A musical concept as a technique however has the power to keep artists in the game for long period of time. Flexible concepts are those that are not really limited to time, sometimes person’s name, event or occasion and also dedication. They can be applicable anywhere anytime and by anyone. Phyzix’s Cholapitsa song itself is the concept that has survived time, compared to what recent songs like “Chindekha” by Vube can do. Though it’s not easy to produce a concept that its song can hit the waves and stays longer, artists should really spend much time on their concepts.

Another known technique that has kept artists still known is “alleged beef” whether “staged” or “real”. From way back Phyzix was at the centre of “hot beef” with Jolly Bro who did couple of songs targeting “Man Phyzo” in most of his music era. A good number of fans followed this feud in the process helping artist like Phyzix gaining momentum in their fan-base. The component of beef has proved beyond reasonable doubt that fans usually follow the outcome of the beef very keenly. Remember how we followed this beef and songs like “Nyimbo Si Beef” by Phyzix and “Bwezani” by JB?  The success of this element has lately prompted some artists to “stage beef” behind curtain just to boost attention from followers. Remember Saint and Jay Jay C? Was it “staged beef” or “real”? it’s a question that I have asked myself several times.

On top of that, Phyzix has been a centre of tongue-lashing, the most talked-hiphop artist on social media platform these days. Through posts, commentaries, video clips and talks, it has been noted that he is one of figures that someone somewhere is mentioning him.

When UMP failed to recognize Phyzo both in their two awards, it was another headline that trended and treated Phyzix unfairly based on effort he did in 2019. We even witnessed “the cold war” that has always been there between Fredokiss and Phyzix resurfacing when the Ghetto King-Kong” posted something on Facebook and later on deleted it poking Phyzix. We all know these two don’t see each other eye for eye and I don’t want to talk about it. But my point is Phyzix has remained the laughing stalk for not scooping any UMP award. Only if you can translate these negativities into positivity you will be able to see how much it has contributed to his relevance.

It’s an obvious fact that Phyzix has become centre of controversy due to the mixed feelings on his rapping skills, song delivery and also the fact that he calls himself “King of the Ghetto”. Some say his flows are feeble; others say his lyrics are puerile; even some say new school beats are hard for him; and others say he is not really the king of the ghetto. Similarly, this lyrical bar went viral and remained one of cited bars (by Phyzo) in many social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp “Ndinavaya brah I went.” A video of this verse sometime back circulated which was mixed with “another video of legendary comedian Izeki saying “Zina umangoona waziyamba” (Sometimes you just realised you are into something.) To say the truth we all laughed and shared it on different platforms. Now the question that we should ask ourselves is; did that really affected Phyzix? Or it added relevance to his career? What have these elements of “gossip” brought on Phyzix? Well, at least the Gamba has for now remained relevant in the music circles. We are still mentioning his name for every stride he’s making.

Many artists across the world try as much as possible to use self-made-public-stunts to keep their status alive. Remember Charisma’s picture in toilet? Anyway let’s not go that way. So the more we talk about these stunts the more we promote them. Phyzo’s journey of becoming relevant in the game hugely has been contributed by “Haters” “Gossipers” knowingly and unknowingly. We have successfully helped Phyzix make “stunts” at the same time promoted them a thing which has gained him publicity exactly what musical figure wants “Being the headline.” Is he really affected? Or his numbers are adding up? That will be another topic another day but at least the Gamba has for now has kept his name known in the music circles and that we can’t take that away from him.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and each and every day artist like Phyzix are making moves. Surviving the music industry does not only require positive applauses but what matter most is standing up after each fall. Much as an art of sustenance and relevance in society is not easy to accomplish over the years, us individuals have really helped other artists like Phyzix to boost their fan base and prolonging their lifespan in industry through our negative complements. Ability to adapt the talent with present taste will remain a key to all artists in the game because the audience’s needs keep on changing over time. This is what every artist like Phyzix needs to attain as time goes.

“The  Author of this article is a Social Work graduate from Catholic University of Malawi. He likes commenting on Arts, Entertainment and Social related issues.”

Feedback: charlesbnyerere@gmail.com

Most popular personalities otherwise known as celebrities in Ghana have become subject of mockery following Cardi B ‘meet and greet’ snub.

Grammy-winning American female rapper, Cardi B was billed to headline Livespot X Festival in Accra, Ghana on Sunday, December 8th.

Ahead of the concert, the organizers arranged for a meet and greet with local celebrities. However, things couldn’t go as scheduled for obvious reasons.

Bullet, Afia Schwar, Efia Odo, Jackie Appiah, Yvonne Nelson, Lydia Forson, Hajia4real, Wendy Shay, Akuapem Poloo, Victoria Lebene Moesha Boduong, et Al. aligned themselves at Kempinski Hotel to meet and greet Cardi.

But as a result of the snub, the above-mentioned personalities have become subject of mockery among social media users.

Meanwhile, reacting to Cardi B’s ‘meet and greet’ snub Shatta Wale has shared a picture of Bullet queuing up to meet Cardi B on his Twitter page captioned it “Cardi G”.

Nigerian rapper, Davido after seeing the post responded to the with “LMFAO”

Forget about Third Eye and Gwamba’s twitter beef. There’s new beef trending between Martse and Gwamba who were once buddies during the times of Zimuvuta and other hits.

Earlier today, twitter was on fire as Gwamba took shots aiming at Martse – recalling how he funded Martse’s three videos and how Martse begged Gwamba a phone worth K80,000.

“Boy, I have sponsored 3 of your music videos, never told anyone, cuz I was doing that as a friend. You ask me to buy you a phone and I don’t and you decide to start insulting me on twitter. You should have asked your father for the phone.”

Below is Gwamba’s tweet which was posted together with whatsapp screenshots when Martse asked him for the favour. And of course Gwamba has since deleted it on twitter.

However, Martse did not back down but he also went ahead to throw a shot at Gwamba saying “He sponsored Gwamba “Two Pregnancies”.

Apparently, it seems after Gwamba had turned down Martse’s plea to buy him a phone, the Dosage star felt rejected hence he resorted to throwing jabs at Gwamba on twitter which at the end did not go well with Gwamba himself.

As of right now, the screenshots are making rounds on facebook and in whatsapp groups.

NOTE: The article is meant for entertainment purpose only and not to escalate beef between the two

Evance Chimwala, commonly known as EvanzMuzik’ in the Malawi Music Scene is an artist who delivers his unique art form of story-telling through various genres of music.

Born on the 5th July 1993, Evanzmuzik ventured music in the late months of 2011, then releasing his first Mixtape titled College Influence|1st Year in 2012. The mixtape emulated the chronicles of a freshman in university after he enrolled into the Catholic University of Malawi .

Evanzmuzik gained a lot of recognition from listeners and various critics with his “Dear Mahopu Series” and two years later received the Award of the “Most Skillful Artist” in Project April 2014.

His music has enjoyed massive downloads on local websites and gained countless air plays from popular Radio and Tv programs such as; Born and Bred, Mad Show, Gowero Beats, Youth Roots & Culture, and Touching Base.

EvanzMuzik is a big fan of soul hiphop, conscious reggae and acoustic music, and besides being a recording artist, he has also produced some of his popular songs such as; Bae and Dear Mahopu III.

Below is the piece of writing he wrote about Trap Music here in Malawi.

“I’m open about my hatred towards trap music. Ndipo amwene I hate it. Not only because of the mumbling that we usually hear as song lyrics, zimene zija bola, zimabhebhaso pena, but because it’s inspiring ana abwino bwino to live a fake life just to trend on social media.

Inetu chabwino ndine otsalira chifukwatu nde osanama trap ili paliponse. And everyday artists and producers are sharpening their trap art osanama, ma hit songs nde tikuwamva.

Recently, Fredokiss has been posting pictures on his Facebook page with captions including phrases like ” Ada Okopela Aja Asowa Bwanji”.

As far as Malawi hip hop is concerned, the two remain to be rivals from way back. A decade ago, Fredokiss as a teenager was involved in a thread of dissing Tay Grin with other artists such as JB.

The gap between the two artists has always been there for a long time.