Aurora features Hypnotic Entertainment

I can literally see cobwebs on this blog, and it's only been two weeks or so since I last did a post. Anyways, that's in the past. The group I'm about to introduce, is another unique entertainment group, I mean things can't get more unique than a one-grieven party can it? They are the organizers of the recent Hype awards where almost everybody in the Ukrainian/Nigerian entertainment sector was recognized.

This is probably the craziest, funniest and most unorthodox interview I've done in a while, and I really enjoyed it, in fact I would prefer it if all my interviews were conducted this way..... Readers, ladies and gentlemen, I am so excited to present to you Hypnotic entertainment.

Kindly introduce yourselves to your fans, and to all those who are yet to know you.

We are Hypnotic entertainment, and our names are, Emeka Nwune, Uche Onuoha a.k.a Bob acres, Precious Ikpeha a.k.a da Prechi, Kolapo Durojaye Soyinka a.k.a DJ COle, , Ebube Bennibor, .

How did it all start?

Kolapo: Emeka wanted to do a party right? It was around the November/December period and Lugansk was kind of boring.

Emeka: Yeah, we just wanted to like liven up the place you know for everyone to have fun, just a regular party, we didn't know it was going to turn out like this. That's basically how it started.

Kolapo: Uh huh, Emeka had the concept, he needed more people so he called me, and I brought in Precious and Uche and we formed Hypnotic entertainment

How did you come up with the name, was it always hypnotic entz, or did it evolve from something else?

Emeka: I think it was at the cinema in Lugansk. We were having a meeting and we were brainstorming ideas for names. We came up with a lot of crazy and hilarious names, you have no idea.

Precious: At one point, we even considered calling it PRECIOUS-UCHE-EMEKA-KOLAPO-EBUBE entertainment, lol, till finally we came with Hypnotic entertainment, and I thought it was just perfect for what we wanted to do.

Phew! I'm so happy you guys didn't stick with the other option with your names. I like the name Hypnotic, even though it contradicts everything you guys stand for: entertainment, fun, grooving, I think it's very catchy and kind of has a seductive feel to the pronunciation. You should get someone with an exotic accent to pronounce it and you'll see what I'm talking about. How many parties have you organized till date?

Emeka: We've organized three parties till date. The first was our debut party on December 24^th last year. The second was the Hype awards on the fifth of March this year, and the last one was the one grv party on the 24^th of June.

Who's in charge of the planning, I mean do you guys all have specific duties when it comes to the planning of the party. Like who's in charge of logo design, flyers, and stuff.

Emeka: I used to design flyers and stuff but Kolapo took over because I felt he was better because he has more concepts and ideas. Basically though, everyone chips in ideas and opinions. No one is assigned to a specific duty. Like for the Hype awards, we all went to where the award plaques were being produced.

Kolapo: Yeah, all of us have our strongest points. Uche is the go-to guy, and he knows other go-to guys, Precious... well um, we have no idea what Precious does, lol, Ebube is the rich kid, and Emeka is the ambassador and I'm the DJ extraordinaire.

How do you promote your parties?

Emeka: We promote our parties through face book, twitter and with fliers.

Kolapo: We kind of have, should I say representatives in different states like Harkov, Ternopil etcetera. So what we do is to send them our flyers and posters and they, together with our supporters help to promote it.

Emeka: It's kind of like a two-way thing though, as they help us in promoting our party in their states, we in turn help them promote theirs when the time comes.

Okay, I think you can add Aurora Dandridge to the list of your promoters. What has been your worst experience to date planning parties?

Emeka: The worst experience, hmm.... I think it was at the hype awards.

Kolapo: The beautiful thing about it though is that the love and support we got from people made the experience worth it.

Precious: I mean organizing that thing was extremely expensive, the weather was mad and our sponsors, well.... were non-existent.

How do you react to misbehaviors at your parties if there has ever been any?

Emeka: Truthfully we've never really hard extreme cases of misbehavior in our parties, and we certainly don't hope to have any...

So last year or this year, was it? You organized an award party. I think it was unique and different, however, why an award party? 

 

Uche: I think we just wanted to do something different, and honor and recognize those worthy of recognition.

How did you choose the nominees, and were there any disputes when the winners were chosen.

Precious: It was kind of like a people's choice awards. People voted for the nominees and eventually the winners.

Kolapo: Some of the award winners, people found controversial like the party rider category.

Precious: Yeah and some made people raise their eyebrows and be like “WTF”. But truthfully it was a free and fair thing, no foul play.

What factors go into place when deciding a club to use for your parties?

Kolapo: Money!!!

Uche: Accessibility, season, sound system available or basically what Kolapo finds suitable and compatible with his DJ equipment. Yeah that's basically all of it.

Do you guys have a face-book page, a group, or twitter handle where your fans can interact with you?

Ebube: We have a face book page; hypnotic ent. And we also have a twitter handle: @hypnoticents.

As a party planner, what do you consider to be the ultimate satisfaction from your parties?

Uche: When people get maximum satisfaction after attending our parties first and foremost. Like the hype awards was probably the best of all our parties we've organized even though we made losses, it was awesome and people had fun. So yeah,  of course we definitely want to make profit, but in the end, the satisfaction our fans get is probably the ultimately satisfying thing we've gotten.

Is the heat on you guys when the party season comes up, to deliver quality entertainment to your fans, if so how do you deal with it?

Uche: We kind of have our own specific dates when we organize our parties. Yes, most of the parties come up around the ember months, so it's safe to say that that's the party season or something. We just do our thing mehn, and set a date that's very convenient.

What are we to expect from you in the not too distant future?

Emeka: There's something going down this December, we'll keep you posted.

Uche: There'll probably be a Hype awards 2012, then maybe a 2grv party by June next year.

Kolapo: I'll be graduating by that time so I'm not sure I'll be there.

Precious: Yeah me too, but still on still, this December, in Lugansk something is going down.

Any shout outs, mentions to anyone?

Shout out to to all our friends that have supported us in one way or the other, shout out to our fam in Lugansk, Kharkov, Kiev, Odessa, Ternopil, Lviv, Nikoleav, Donetsk,".. All the entertainment groups presently, keep doing ur thing..

Emeka: In short if you can go to all the profiles of all the entertainment groups and give them shoutouts from us, that's good.

Lol, when a Think-pad is available where I can think and the computer just acts according to my thoughts, then I'll visit all the profiles and send your greetings. To Precious and Kolapo who's also known as DJ Cole by the way, wishing you guys success as you graduate, it only gets better, believe me that.

It was a great experience having you guys, thank you so much for accepting this interview, I would definitely want to feature you guys some time again, but for now take care.

Aurora looks forward to December 24^th.

Stay tuned readers, I have a new personality coming soon.
ASCHEID!
To check out my interview with a new personlity for Zaporozhye, click HERE

Fuji Moments of Green October

I know most of my readers have been waiting impatiently for my review of this party. And truth be told, I really did not want to review it because there was just no motivation. However, by popular demand only for a review of the pictures, I came up with this....

On the first of October, the one and only H1, organized their signature party to mark the day Nigeria got its independence, I really have nothing much to say, let the pictures speak for themselves.

If this was the highest point of the party, sigh….

Under-age alert

Hmm…. Hmm…. I know skinny pants are back in style, but I did not know overrrrr skinny shirts were in too.

Wow, Vic-o inspired (In case you do not know Vic-o, click HERE

If you're trying to make a combo, try not to complicate things for yourself, take a cue from Jam Jam, simplicity #whiteiseternal

B.O.B in the building.

Fantastic pose… nah not you, I mean the dude in the middle.

CARLZ FRESHKID…. I'd definitely take the blazer and keep it as a souvenir.

  

TC Peruzzi, Abikun tidé, you have a very unstable pattern of dressing. For the candy party, you checked up, for the Don’t dull party you went all out and sealed my lips, I thought the seal would last longer than a week, unfortunately with this you just opened Pandora's box. Please you need a new wardrobe manager, *Wink*

It really isn't a hard noks life for him. He seems to be enjoying every bit of this life from the "Grillz" to the signature shades. #Dope

Yeah, someone finally got it right with the hair.

If pictures could talk, this is what went down between the two girls.

Girl in beret: Queen B, you made it to the parrrrrryyyy!!!!!

Girl in blue: Wa séré!!!! No dulling! Beat by Dre, play the muusik!

IN conclusion

That's all folks, at least these are the pictures I found that were worth talking about. Like I said in the last post a few hours ago, stay tuned for my interview with another entertainment group.

You might want to check out Don't Dull Kodak moments HERE

You might also want to check out Recap Of the Candy Party in Canon HERE

You might also like to check Rave nine party in Ergo HERE

And to go over to my Personality blog, click HERE

First Beyonce, then Kelly Rowland, is it just me, or is it a destiny's child thing....

I'm beginning to think that this copy cat thing is not just a Beyonce thing, but a destiny's child thing in general, wotcha Michelle.


So, we're all familiar with how Beyonce has been dubbed a copy cat due to various similarities in her music videos, and stage performances with other videos and performances. Let me just list a few ones that caught my attention.

First on her Run the world performance at the Bill Board music awards where it was said that she copied Lorella Cuccarini who did the same performance in front of large video screens.

Then there was Beyonce in the 2007 BET awards where she rose unto the stage in a futuristic robot costume that slowly broke away to reveal a revealing dress inside. Kylie Minogue however, had already done the same thing in her 2002 world tour, in fact, wild buff media went as far to call it a "complete rip off".

She was also accused of copying New edition on her video LOVE ON TOP, also accused of stealing moves from iconic Bob Fonce on her SINGLE LADIES video and accused for copying Teresa De Keersmaeker on her COUNTDOWN choreography, see video below. This was just to obvious I had to put it.

That being said, I would just like to say that at least Beyonce does it with... well I can't say style, but it's obvious she adds her own flare to it, and we must all agree that, in Luke Jennings words,  "works of art often reference works of other arts."

That being said, I expected Kelly Rowland to take a higher road and be original. Have you heard her latest single. It has an amazing video if you ask me, and that's if you're into soft p***n and all, the only problem was that it practically lifted scenes from another video of a less popular artist. Here's the video...

I love that she finally has stepped out of her shell, and is her own artist. It was obvious there was a lot of chemistry between her and big Sean, and in as much as the bikini she was wearing looked a tad like a diaper, she really came through, but there's still the issue of the copying from no other person than Livvi France, a nobody to most readers I'm sure, so here's her own video which was done about a year or so ago

I don't get it seriously. It's such a pity that this song happens to be one of her best songs. I'm hoping Michelle will break that jinx you know, and go original on every one's asses. At least the words you'll be hearing from people's mouths will be, "She might be the least popular member of Destiny's child, but at least she's original."

Watch out for my next post where I interview very interesting individuals. You can still check Aurora features Ginjah entertainment HERE, and Aurora features Emeka Nwune HERE

Here are some of the links where I got this article from.
First link, second link.

Aurora features Ginjah Entertainment

If you haven't been to any of their parties, you have at least heard about it, and if you haven't heard about it, you must have at least heard about one or two of the members. One of the most talked about entertainment groups, they're known for their wicked and amazing themed parties.
Nominees at the Hype Awards for the best party category, I am elated to present to you Ginjah entertainment.

Kindly introduce yourselves to your fans, and to all those who are yet to know you.

We are Ginjah Entertainment. A group of four guys based in Simferopol, Ukraine. We are, Nsed Ebaye, Tomiwa Balogun, Hope Okpokam, and Ayotunde Ayobello.

It's nice to meet you guys, so tell us, how did it all start?

About two years ago, we noticed that the party scene in Ukraine was at a point where we could try out new and exciting concepts. There were a lot of parties back then but only a few of them had something new to offer. We decided to do something about it instead of complaining, so we got together and started the group.

I think people can learn from that, if a lot of folks got up and took control instead of complaining, I'm sure the world would be a much better place. How did you come up with the name, was it always Ginjah entertainment, or did it evolve from something else.

It has always been Ginjah Entertainment. It was just one of those crazy moments where you had to quickly come up with a name! Someone suggested it and we all laughed but we ended up sticking to the name anyways…

I'm glad you guys did because it's really catchy and it sticks plus it makes you wonder what it means. What does Ginjah mean?

Ginjah just means anything exciting, crazy and fun.

Who's in charge of the planning, I mean do you guys all have specific duties when it comes to the planning of the party. Like who's in charge of logo design, fliers, and stuff?

Most of the time, we try to split the work load among ourselves. There’s no specific person in charge of any aspect, we just come together, exchange ideas and then improve on the best ones. It easier when it’s a team effort.

How do you promote your parties?

Most of our publicity is done on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. We have a group on Facebook for example, where we raise awareness and give info about all our upcoming events.

What has been your worst experience to date planning parties?

Worst experience so far was our first party about two years ago. We were really nervous! We thought people were not gonna show up because we were a new group and we didn’t really know how to go about inviting people and all. The party later turned out great.

How do you react to misbehaviors at your parties if there has ever been any?

We try to do our best to prevent bad behaviors at our parties, but the thing is that most times, there’s really nothing much party organizers can do bout people misbehaving so it all comes down to the people attending the party. We just try to invite people we’re sure will not start up something like that.

I think your concepts are crazy-wicked, take the GLOW IN THE DARK PARTY of last year, and THE CANDY PARTY of this year, how do you guys come up with the concept.

Yeah I know right! Everybody in the group is quite creative so we basically just come together and exchange ideas and concepts. We try to improve on the best ones and see what we end up with. We also make sure we get the opinions of a few people before we finally agree on a party concept because some might be too demanding for party goers! I remember we thought about having a ‘Yacht Party’ one time but when we got responses like, ‘ah, what if something goes wrong, and the boat sinks’ or ‘what if someone gets drunk and jumps off the boat?’ We decided to chill!

In my opinion I think a yacht party would have been a good idea, but I get your point. When deciding a club to use for your parties, what factors go into place?

We consider the number of people we are expecting for the party first of all and then other requirements fall in. For example, for our Candy Party, we needed a club that could double as a runway for the fashion show segment, in this case, a circular club would not work. That was one of the main reasons we chose the club we used.

Do you guys have a face-book page, a group, or twitter handle where your fans can interact with you?

We have a group on Face book: Ginjah Entertainment…People can join and receive updates.

As a party planner, what do you consider to be the ultimate satisfaction from your parties?

The ultimate satisfaction comes when everything goes out as planned and the people that attend are having a good time.

Are you ever under pressure when the party season comes up, to deliver quality entertainment to your fans, if so how do you deal with it?

Yeah definitely! Once you pull off a good party, there will always be pressure on your next party to top it. We just use the pressure as motivation to deliver because the pressure only means people have big expectations from you.

On the concept of the I.V on your last party, what was that about?

Yes that is an aspect we really got stick from. A lot of people said we were forming (Okay maybe we were a little) but we really just wanted to make it a classy event. We also didn’t require too many people cos we needed the candies to go round so the I.V part came in handy…. but being the first time, there were bound to be a few problems. We forgot to give some people I.Vs, Some peoples' I.Vs were sent to the wrong states, some I.Vs were even held hostage by jealous boyfriends (Laughs) and so on.

How do you respond to those who really wanted to come for your last party but couldn't make it because they weren't given I.Vs.

Umm…we actually discovered this quite late, our bad! Yeah and we tried inviting more people that wanted to come but most of them didn’t fancy the idea of coming without an I.V. We'll put all of that into consideration for our next party though!

Any shout outs you'd like to give?

A big shout out to our Simferopol fam, all our friends and well wishers. 

It was really nice to have you guys on here,  hope you have a wonderful week, and you keep coming up with more concepts, and if anyone is reading this, I would like to see you guys do a Halloween or costume party, so I can come as Marilyn Monroe or better yet, Aurora Dandridge.

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Be sure to go over to my personality corner blog by clicking HERE, I have a very interesting personality I'm sure you'll love to meet.

ASCHEID!

Aurora features DJ Stone

Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name's Oshin Dayo Oluwaseun. I'm twenty three years old from Ondo state, and I'm a third year medical student studying Zaporozhye medical university.

When did you decide you wanted to become a DJ, is it a serious or on-the-side thing?
Actually I cant really remember because I have been playing as a DJ right from Nigeria back at my old university; university of Ado-Ekiti. It all started as a fun stuff because I've got lots of professional DJs in the U.S.A as cousins, so I guess I was inspired by them. In Ukraine, I played for a friend on his birthday because his DJ broke up their agreement at the last minute and since then , I became a DJ by people's choice.

Tell us about your current DJ / Production setup? What Hardware / Software do you use?
Well due to the fact that most parties I play in are club parties, I only settle for a Numark mix-track pro for my regular practice and I use any kind of DJ software available. I'm not limited to a particular software but let me just say I use virtual DJ, Traktor 2 and sl3 more often.

What was the first event you ever played at?
The first event I played at was my friend's birthday party. DJ Ay yoo. He was also a DJ too and that was in Nigeria.

How many events have you played at till date?
I seriously can't count the events I've played in Ukraine, they're not that much but I just can't count.


Okay, cool! What’s the best event you’ve played at?
The best event I played in was Zap city Christmas party 2010.

When you play is it a planned set?
No. I play according to mood or should I say Gingah present in the party

Have you ever collaborated with any other DJs or artist, if so, how was the experience, and where did it happen.
Yeah, I have, lots of 'em in Ukraine. I collaborated with DJ Cole twice at Zap city entertainment events, malpractice 2010 and Don't dull party 2011...or should I say I did the opening for him.
I also opened for DJ serega at reggaton party in club mixx Zaporozhye, I did a full collaboration with DJ Ray fresh at Zap city December party, and also again with him and DJ Steven wonder at his club birthday party, which was first club experience so I did not play much.

That's pretty impressive, anyways, who’s throwing the best parties at the moment?
With no sentiment, I think Zap city entertainment. They are really doing a great job, all their parties are always out of this world. You can try and prove me wrong by coming to the Zap city x-mas party 2011.

What’s you favorite track / record / album / mix set of all time?
I actually don't have a favorite track.

Where do you live currently?
I live in Zaporozhye, Ukraine.

Funniest thing that ever happened at an event? 
I have no recollection of any funny thing happening at an event.

Really? You must be really good at what you do. Other DJs you rate?
I rate all DJs all over the world because it's not easy making people dance for hours. Believe me, being a DJ is not an easy job.

Yeah I get, especially when the DJ who's supposed to be focused on churning out good songs, wants to dance too. What do you think about MC’s and their role in hip hop/dance music culture? 
Great, really great. They are like spice in a meal, without them, the meal is not a meal.

You have a really peculiar way with words, what do you do outside of the dance music scene?

I design, more of graphics now a days, don't want to say much about that, let me just keep the ice freezing


Like I said, you have a very peculiar way with words but let me just keep the ice freezing on that. Anything else you want to say? Any shout outs?
I just want to say a big shout out to all my supporters, I love them all, to all the DJs that have inspired me DJ Tope Boogie in USA, DJ soupamodel aka DJ nappyboy DJ USA, and all my fellow DJs in Ukraine, Cole, Stupid, Ray fresh, Val, Ice, Anita, Jizzle and so on. I also want to say a big shout out to zap city entertainment crew, thanks for the support and also to my friends and families, and of course my girl, Tomi Adamo aka teegirlicious...love you all.

That's all folks, thank you very much DJ Stone for this interview, hope you have a nice week.

Disclaimer: Picture above is no property of Aurora but of Zap city

Don't Dull Kodak Moments

I wonder why I never learn from experience. When you anticipate something too much or when it is over-hyped, I usually tend to get disappointed. I get the whole with-holding pictures you know to create anticipation and all, one week is okay, a week and some days maybe, but anything after that, except the pictures were taken by Nigel Barker or directed by Jay Manuel.....

Don't get me wrong, Don't Dull party was the bomb, it shook Ukraine I can tell you that, if you go to Google and search you'll notice that on the 24th of September, abnormal seismic waves were detected around Crow bar Hotel Intourist, why? Because Zap City was holding a party...

Truth be told I expected less, because from the starting point of my journey things had already started going down hill. First flight problems, second journey problems and third location problems. I had no idea where the location was, but after a series of unfortunate events, I got to the event just in time to catch all the performances.

I must not lie, some of the performances, I've heard babies goo-goo-gaga better to more complex beats, while others really rocked, I know Britney spears gets dissed because she likes to lip-sync, but seriously, lip-syc-ing seemed like a good option at this point. I think that's basically all I can say for now, lets take a look at the pictures.

This is the second time she's making it to my blog, so kudos to you. She was at the candy party, and if I were to compare that picture with this… OMG.

I thought you were not afraid of AJe, you should have checked up on it again! Nice outfit though.

 

I wasn't just inspired to analyze this, the only reason this picture made it here is because the guy on the right did not master the ceremony.

I think the picture says it all. It so happens he wasn't among the noise makers. Poster material, would definitely want this picture autographed by the performer.

If really, a picture speaks a thousand words, this was definitely the conversation between the two girls.

Miss Crimea: Oh dang it! My thumb hurts, already tired of using the mont blanc to sign all these autographs now I have to do pictures too, go play somewhere, I'm busy.

Friend: Oh Soko please!!!! I waited all year for this. I have a shrine of you in my room!

Miss Crimea: Stalker alert!

She always has something on her hair, and I find that consistency is inspiring if it is done well. I thought the dress was just too simple for me, and the so many wrist bands and bangles, I think there should be a law prohibiting too much accessory. By the way, skinnies never go well with anything in the pocket.

 

To the guy on the right, this just shows you have no idea what the salon is for, book an appointment ASAP, or did Halloween come early smh. To the other guy, nice ensemble the red shoes with the red belt was good.

In as much as I see Odiri in this picture, I want to reassure you Christina all those twihating on you just shows you've got potential, use it and be original. As for the others, you owned your outfits.

 

Just another reason for Jesus to weep: I think Jesus pieces are over-rated in my opinion. And lose the shoes please!

In as much as I love your dress you would have made another color the color of 2020. Yep, you stunning girl, but that bag really did not do justice to the dress.

 

I actually did not get the memo that white and red was the theme of the party (damn you zap city). 

Chaotic if you ask me. There was too much going on here, just too much effort and we all know that at times less is better than too much.

My point exactly. Less is better than too much. Nice smile, you have my vote for Miss Petite Crimea, I would have loved to see the shoes though.

You don't always have to strike a pose in every picture to look good, and you certainly don't have to be the prettiest girl either, that being said,there was something so real and satisfying about this picture especially the girl in red, the laughter was truly from the heart.

 

You redefined leg-popping. In as much as I know it's supposed to happen during the kiss, I still love the picture.

 

Says Miss Crimea: Finally, I'm done with the autographs and stalkers, now me and my Biautches can do our thing the bourgeois way, let's go dollz.

Says Aurora Dandridge: Now I felt the girl in blue nailed the picture. Granted she's used that dress in a couple of other unrelated photo-shoots, it still worked. Soko should have shown off her height and tossed her head back you know, it looked as if she was compensating for the others by bending her neck hence given her a kind of goofy look. Nice outfits in general though.

A case of self-induced cataracts, and yes I know they are supposed to be contacts but.... and was that MI with the shades, could I feature him on this blog?

For some reason Kanye comes to mind when I look at this picture. The guys in green, purple and orange did it for me.

 It seems Zap city went all out with the security for this party considering the fact that Captain America decided to grace the event.

Just so there's no confusion, this is about the guy in the middle, the fourth guy from the left and from the right. It's a pity I could not find a personal picture of him on that outfit. A lot of guys were on red, but this dude gave a whole new perspective to that color, I mean if red was a country, he would be the president, you had every accessory going for you, and you make me want to withdraw my statement on Jesus pieces.

In Other gists....

After all has been said and done, I had a nice time at the party, and it's just unfortunate that some people who attended the party were smart enough not to take any picture at the red carpet because with what they wore on that day, compared to what they wear even on a normal day, I thought it was kind of insulting. 

DJ Cole really did a great job at the party, and there was another DJ I spotted at the DJ boot who will be featured next on this blog.

Disclaimer: All pictures are trademarks and properties of Zap city for the Don't Dull party not Aurora Dandridge's.

Aurora features DJ Cole

With me today is a very popular and successful Nigerian DJ in Ukraine, and if you've never heard of him then my guess is that you've never attended any party in Ukraine. A recipient at the Hype awards for the Best DJ category, Readers, ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you DJ Cole.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Kolapo Durojaye Soyinka, but I am popularly known as DJ Cole. I'm a professional DJ and also a final year student living and schooling in Lugansk, Ukraine. I was born on the 9^th of July 1989 in the city of Lagos in Nigeria where I spent most of my years until I was fourteen and my dad died in a plane crash in Kano. Then I schooled in Ogun state, Jos and finally Abuja.

Do accept my condolences. When did you decide you wanted to become a DJ, is it a serious or an on-the-side thing?

I initially wanted to become a producer, because I had a couple of friends back at Lagos who were into music production. I spent most of my time there since I was fresh out of high school and was still looking for admission into the university. So for about two years, what with Jamb and its issues, I needed to do stuff to keep myself busy. I already had a laptop with a couple of production software which I used in creating beats, and that's how it all began.

I only ever really got serious about it when I arrived Ukraine. I mean I've invested a lot into it; my time, my money, my energy etc. I also study marketing, and who knows, maybe some day I might fuse the two together and create something good out of it.

Tell us about your current DJ / Production setup. What Hardware / Software do you use?

I use a Traktor sound-card and Traktor 2 software, Sample triggers, Vinyls and a Camera to record my performance. I'm sure other DJs can relate to all the software and equipment mentioned. What was the first event you ever played how was the experience? The first event I ever played was in Lugansk obviously. I had barely settled down in Ukraine when some guys were organizing an independence show. I had this friend called Marvelous, who knew I was into music and stuff so he asked if I could handle the music, and I was like “Sure, no problem.” The place was packed when I got there. So with my laptop, I went to get set up, and did my thing. Now that was just the show, the after party was the next day, and even though it didn't go as smoothly as I'd planned, I still managed to get the job done. I can only imagine how it you must have felt, wondering what songs to play and how the crowd would react, anyways, what’s the best event you’ve played at? That's kind of a tough question because I've played in so many awesome events. But if I must pick one which I consider the best, I'd pick the Hype awards which took place earlier this year. It was wicked that party, really crazy; a lot of Nigerians and other Africans from all the states attended the party. The second best party was the one I attended a few weeks back, The DON'T DULL PARTY in Zaporozhye organized by Zap city entertainment. I am sure you were there because you said you would. The party rocked so much that by six O'clock I had to go out of my way to announce that it was over and I was already tired. Yeah I attended DON'T DULL party and boy do I have a lot of things to say about it. But that's another story all together. When you play is it a planned set? Initially yes, and I used to be nervous, you know that fear of failure or messing up, but recently I think I've outgrown all that, and I'm now more of a producer than the usual DJ where I play from a list of already packaged songs and stuff. Now, I try to remix it live on stage. The long and short of it is that when I get to the venue, I automatically know the kind of song to play. For example if I go to a club with a lot of guys, I automatically know to play a lot of songs from maybe 9ice, Terry G and other related artists. However if there are a lot of girls, I tend to blend it a bit and play a bit of Wizkid, Jamaican dance hall, you know, just go with the flow.

Have you ever collaborated with any other DJs or artist, if so, how was the experience, and where did it happen?

I've collaborated with so many DJs, but the one I can remember clearly, and it wasn't necessarily a collaboration, it was more of an opening, was with DJ Jam Jam when he fist came to Donetsk earlier this year. It was organized by H1 entertainment. I've worked with Baal, who works and schools in Ternopil. I've worked with so many Russian DJs, Arab DJs and so on. I've done a few things with some artists like Preachaz son, who, in my opinion, is one talented dude. I hope to work with him again and again. I was the one that made the beats for his song Oleku Ebano. He mentioned me in the song saying, “DJ Cole on the beat.” but people keep thinking he said “DJ Cole na bitch.”

Who’s throwing the best parties at the moment?

At the moment, to be honest there are some wack parties going on all over, but the people really making waves are Hypnotic entertainment, H1, Ginjah entertainment, and until recently Omiszy and of course Zap city. These guys have never disappointed before.

What’s you favorite track / record / album / mix set of all time?

Dancehall, Chaka Demus and Pliers, BamBam, Murder she wrote. For hip-hop I'd go with Dead Presidents II by Jay Z, and One Mic by Nas, and Tupac Amaru Shakur. In the Nigerian section, I love anything from D'Banj.

Where do you live currently?

I live in Lugansk, in Ukraine

Funniest thing that ever happened at an event?

Last year while playing in a club, this chick approached me and asked if she could drop her bag in the DJ boot then she accidentally hit the stop button and everybody was like DJ Cole, WTF. So in the midst of all the tension and angry stares, I tried to fix everything while the girl just stood there looking confused. It was a funny thing, and I keep getting dissed for it. Another funny one happened when a guy this time came to meet me, and I was thinking he wanted to hail me instead he poured his beer on my laptop. I was so mad, but the party comes first and it had to continue. Back then it wasn't funny but nowadays I look back at it and laugh.

Other DJs you rate?

I think the highest on my ratings is DJ Neptune, followed by DJ flavor in Malaysia, then DJ Jam Jam. I also love the foreign DJ Vice

What do you think about MC’s and their role in hip-hop/dance music culture?

If there is a rapport between the DJs and the MC the party is going to go on smoothly. But in a case where the DJ is doing his own thing, and the MC is doing his own thing too, there will be confusion obviously.

What do you do outside of the dance music scene?

I like to hang out with friends, do random things and talk about stuff. I like cooking, people even say I'm a good cook.

I'm sure you're a good cook, but you'll have to pass my bouillabaisse test before I believe it, lol. What do you dislike most when working?

I hate when people come up to me while I'm working, and asking me to play this or that like I have no clue what I am doing, then when you eventually play it, every other person on the dance floor starts hating on it. Don't get me wrong though, there's a difference between requesting that I play a song and ordering me to play a song. I like it when organizers understand their roles and let me as the DJ do my work because I am supposed to be the people person, I understand what the crowd wants, I don't tell you which club to use likewise you shouldn't tell me what song to play, however I respect all party organizers because it's really not an easy thing to partake in.

This is your last year here right? Are you staying back to continue with the “Djing” or are you passing the deck to someone else, if so, can you briefly introduce the person.

Yeah this is my final year. I'm not staying here; I've got to move on. I really want to do my masters in Marketing, and like I said earlier find a way to fuse the two things I love together and see how it goes. So definitely I'm passing the deck on to no other person than DJ Jizzle. The guy is a cool kid and is loyal to the people he is loyal too, if you get what I mean?

Any advice for upcoming DJs.

I'm also an upcoming DJ myself, however I would like to just say that it's not about the equipment, it's about the music. I don't smile much, but I've found that the best way to uplift the crowd in a party is by smiling and dancing like you're enjoying it. It is important because people look up to you as the life of the party, and the only way you can keep the life running is by playing good music. If you're timid, people tend to see that, and take you for granted.

Anything else you want to say? Any shout out?A big shout out to Hypnotic entertainment, especially Uche, Precious, Emeka and Ebube. Another shout out to my close friend Annabel Omire, Emeka, Harini Aliovna, Preachaz son, Johnson and Fejay Dave. To my uncle my number one role model, my mum and my brother Meyuho Bassey. And also to everyone that has been there for me and has helped me through a lot of things.

I'm glad to have had you on my blog DJ Cole, it was a pleasurable experience, and I hope to have you here again in the not too distant future.

Disclaimer: The picture above was taken from the pictures posted by Ginjah entertainment on the Candy Party.