Tahirah Meets Cleo Sol On This Weeks Saturday Sparkle

Don’t miss Tahirah’s DOUBLE Saturday Sparkle this Saturday between 12pm and 4pm

This week’s Saturday Sparkle Girl of the Week is talented London singer/songwriter, Cleo Sol. Paving her way in the UK music scene, Cleo has enjoyed success with producer DaVinChe on tracks like ‘Tears’ by Tinie Tempah, ‘Riding For Love’ featuring Bashy, and ‘Time To Let Go’ by Perempay ‘n’ Dee. She is currently working on a number of projects including her own, including her new single ‘Hero’ by DaVinChe. You can check out her MYSPACE (www.myspace.com/cleosol)

I’ll be finding out what ‘hero’ superpowers Cleo has and chatting it up about everything from musical inspirations to boys!

You can also catch the Sparkle Report with Yondie Murray, big tunes & big chat for girls and guys, so make sure you tune in for the DOUBLE Saturday Sparkle, this Saturday 23rd January from 12–4pm right here on BANG 103.6FM

MOBO Nominees Party

Last night 26th August 2009, Britain’s most prominent awards ceremony for celebrating black music launched voting at the Mayfair Hotel, in London. The stars and industry were out in force for the MOBO Nominations Party.

The awards will be taking place in Glasgow, Scotland at the Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC) Arena  on Wednesday 30th September. For the first time in its 14th year history MOBO won’t be hosted in London.

Founder and CEO Kanya King opened the show and host Reggie Yates invited R&B/Pop boyband JLS and last year’s Best Newcomer Chipmunk to announce the nominees.

Chipmunk looks set to be this year’s big winner at the MOBO Awards, he’s leading the pack with 4 nominations. Since winning last year, Chipmunk has gone on to score a top 10 and a record deal with Sony - he revealed at the party that his album is completed and due for release October 12th.

Bashy, who has been nominated for Best UK Act and Best Album, hit the stage to perform his latest single, Your Wish Is My Command with H-Boogie. Eurovision finalist and Best Newcomer Nominee Jade Ewen performed her new single My Man.

But they definitely weren’t the only stars in attendance; we spotted funky house champion Donaeo, N-Dubz, Sabrina Washington, Mz Bratt, Kano, Booty Luv, Bluey Robinson, Wiley, Master Shortie, Young Nate, Lemar, CherriV… and our own BANG superstars E-Plus, Mr Silk and Tahirah were representing.

Mr Silk with Jade Ewen - who he’ll be chatting it up with on drivetime very soon.

Master Shortie, who was so excited he couldn’t keep his eyes open.

Homegrown talent is leading the awards this year:

BEST UK ACT
Alesha Dixon
Bashy
Beverley Knight
Chipmunk
Dizzee Rascal
DJ Ironik
Donae’o
Mr. Hudson
N-Dubz
Tinchy Stryder

BEST UK NEWCOMER
Alexandra Burke
Jade Ewen
JLS
Laura Izibor
Master Shortie

BEST SONG
‘Beat Again’ – JLS
‘Diamond Rings’ - Chipmunk ft. Emeli Sande
‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ - K.I.G. Family
‘Number One’ - Tinchy Stryder and N-Dubz
‘Strong Again’ - N-Dubz

BANG Radio are definitely looking forward to the awards on September 30th! CLICK HERE for the full list of nominees and make sure you VOTE now on MOBO.com

Respect Festival Hippies

This Sunday BANG Radio hosted Brent’s Respect stage. Gabryella and AJ King took care of the presenting while Caztro and Lady TT were spinnin’ big tunes on the 1s and 2s.

Being the festival hippy that I am, I went down to represent and cheer along the BANG fammo - while soaking in the sun. Last year was a wash-out, we managed to have a day without rain! I brought out my trusty pink friend - my camera - and took some AMAZING pictures…they are so great that I might embark on a new career as a Photog…

THE STAGE: The lovely Shantika (BANG street-teamer) is as taken with the stage (and some of the outfits we saw in the crowd)

FESTIVE COMMUNICATIONS: When one phone isn’t enough…

HIPPY-ESQUE POSAGE FROM LADY V: she looks great but it’s the street cleaner in the background who REALLY made the picture

FESTIVAL TEETH: I didn’t realise quite how goofy Lady V and I looked until I uploaded this…

FESTIVAL FLIES: You will NEVER see the BANG Radio flyers looking quite this sexy! Modeled by Devill, Lady V, myself Tahirah and Skipp 

BANG RADIO FAMILY FESTIVITIES: From L-R - Lady TT (lower left), Caztro, Devill, Braydz, Skipp, AJ King (lower centre holding his shoe?!), Gabryella, Shantika, Lady V, Nishane and random dude

FESTIVAL MACHO-CAMP: Finally…AJ King shows us how to rock purple feathers with manly swagger …

Be Part Of ‘Brent’ - The Play

It’s ya girl, Tahirah here! It’s been a minute since we’ve posted anything, I know! We’ve been caught up in exams, working and all that umm…fun stuff.

Last week Thursday 25th June (just two hours before I heard about the tragic MJ news - I’ll post my thoughts on that later) Lauren and I focused on entrepreneurship and were joined in the studio by the lovely Cheryl & Patrice from PaulaStar Creatives! They told us all about PaulaStar Creatives, what it represents, all the hard work they put into their socially responsible company and their plans for the future.

They also told us about ‘Brent’, a play written by Cheryl which is based around a teenager - Brent - and the challenges and triumphs him and his peers face in his environment. PaulaStar Creatives are doing OPEN AUDITIONS for ‘Brent’ on Monday 6th & Tuesday 7th July, and they are looking for YOU to get involved.

There are lots of opportunies to get involved; Cheryl and Patrice are not only looking for cast (actors and actresses), but additional talent (rappers and poets) and crew (make-up artists, writers and wardrobe assistants). You just have to be aged between 14-25 years old and a resident of Brent.

You have to book your audition slot, so get in touch with them today:

patrice.jackson@paulastarcreatives.co.uk / cheryl.forde@paulastarcreatives.co.uk or simply text ‘audition’ to 07739537202

It’s a huge opportunity so contact them for more information!

Lauren and I have lots more guests and big topics coming up on Talk with Lauren & Tahirah over the next few weeks so make sure you lock in EVERY Thursday at 9pm!

Dubplate Drama 3 Premiere

Dubplate Drama is BACK with the 3rd and final series. The first ever series where WE get to pick the ending; Dubplate Drama is based around a group of inner-city young people trying to make it big in music around a world of drugs, guns and drama.

This time centred around The Fam, a West London crew who are living the urban dream – with a number one single and a major label signing. But with their new-found fame and success comes trouble. Best friends and co-founders of The Fam, Devil and Millz find themselves pulling away from each other when Devil falls under the influence of the dangerous Errol [played by Mike GLC] and Millz fights to keep on the straight and narrow. The popular and charismatic Mikey finds his loyalty being tested and Laurissa [Tulisa from N-Dubz] – the first lady of The Fam – battles with a cocaine addiction and an abusive boyfriend…who also happens to be the group’s self-indulgent manager, Prangerz.

With a ruthless and violent manager behind them, brutal gangsters all around them, and fame, money and everything they ever dreamed of in front of them, we have a hand in deciding if they can do anything to stop their explosive and fatal fall from grace by voting on which ending we’d like to see.

It’ll be hitting our TV screens on Channel 4 on 25th June and MTV Base on 30th June, but yesterday I got an exclusive preview of the series with Lady V from the D&B show, Tamara of Breakfast and BANG’s station manager Gabriella at the Dubplate Drama premiere.

Condensed down to only two episodes, the final series definitely showed the progression of Dubplate Drama. Personally I loved the first two series as well, but I can’t deny that the way the story-lines were delivered, the acting and the production has improved significantly in the final offering. The jokes were on-point, the drama was hard-hitting and the moral messages and lessons were clear.

I caught up with the gorgeous Tulisa, Roger Griffiths, lead cast members Darragh Mortell [Mikey] and Isaac Ssebandeke [Millz], top cockney geezer Ricci Harnett [Prangerz] and Mike GLC.

Me and the girls also found time for some pose-age with Wretch 32 (who made a cameo appearance), writer/director Luke Hyams and Isaac Ssebandeke.

Make sure you keep it locked to BANG Radio and online for some Dubplate Drama related interviews and competitions very soon!

Trey Songz & J Holiday Concert Review

Trey Songz & J Holiday - Indig02 29^th March 09

On Sunday night RnB stars Trey Songz & J Holiday headlined in the Indig02 in London and quite a few of the BANG Radio crew were in attendance to see how it went down. The venue was packed almost completely full of girls!

A hilarious Kat from MTV hosted and we were warmed up with opening support from the very talented singer and rapper E. Entsir (who was recently in on our Drivetime with Lynnike and Sefa), rapper Moonlight, who used cheesy gimmicks and prize give-aways rather than his performance ability to keep the crowd responsive, and North London dance crew, Flawless.

At 8:45 J Holiday ran onto the stage  to start his performance. His laid-back, understated demeanour resonated everywhere from his stage presence to his outfit - a pair of jeans, a khaki shirt and a low-fitted cap (with messy canerows and a stocking-foot instead of a do-rag underneath!) So he confused many audience members when he decided to try stage antics usually adopted only by the lotharios in RnB.

He had my cousin and I cringing when he unbuckled his belt and repositioned his pants lowly on his hips while singing Ginuwine’s So Anxious, dragged his mic stand around the stage with him so he could hump it and he later stripped off his shirt and vest to reveal his bare, skinny torso.

When he wasn’t trying to be sexy, he was quite funny! His words were peppered with expletives as he raised chuckles from the crowd and plugged his latest studio release, Round 2. Even though his stage performance left a lot to be desired, Holiday’s vocals were on top form, as he ripped through songs from Round 2 as well as Suffocate, Be With Me and other cuts from his first album Back Of My Lac’ while taking sporadic swigs from a champagne bottle.

Holiday closed the set with his most anticipated song, Bed. Unfortunately, it was at this point he decided he needed to connect further with the audience, so as his DJ started the instrumental, he jumped off-stage to be level with the crowd.

His security surrounded him as the crazy girls closest to the stage tried to grab him. Handing his watch to his security because, “I ain’t no punk out here!” he gave an awkward rendition of the song as he walked between the stage and the front row.

Trey Songz followed J Holiday about ten minutes later. An obvious difference between the two performances was Songz’ ability to command the stage space with much ease. He crooned through tunes including Gotta Go and Wonder Woman from I Gotta Make It and 2007’s Trey Day. After hyping the crowd with some familiar Hip Hop songs he leant his vocal to he began a range of new material from the forthcoming album, Ready.

“Everyone with a cell phone, put your phone in the air!” he demanded before giving out his SayNow.com voice-mail number and ripping into In Ya Phone, Brand New, I Need A Girl and Love Safari.

Songz performance was also oversexed, but he translated it a bit better (and not just because I think he’s gorgeous!) and were executed with debonair. Clad in a hoodie, shirt and vest at the start of his set, Songz’ disrobed item-by-item during the performance, teasingly telling the audience, “I’m feeling kinda hot…”

With only his vest covering his torso when he performed Can’t Help But Wait, his closing track, he tore the thin material from his chest and incited frenzied screams from many females in the crowd. But after only thirty-five minutes, Songz bid his audience a good night while his DJ plugged the after party.

The concert wasn’t amazing, but everyone left the Indig02 satisfied; although both headliners disappointingly performed without a live band and J Holiday’s performance wasn’t very strong, Trey Songz closed the show with a solid performance.

I dipped backstage to film some quick pieces with Mr Songz for Soul Culture, and I got him to give me some love on camera! (footage coming here soon)

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