Article published in the Guardian (Lagos)
October 2nd 2003

PLENTY RAIN, RAP IN GENUWINE’s LIVE & WIRED
By Justin Akpovi- Esade

The heavy rain that fell in Victoria Island part of Lagos last Friday night did not deter music lovers from savoring a mixed blend of Nigerian and foreign rap and soul music. The event was the GOLD “N” TONES Live & Wired concert that featured American soul superstar Genuwine alongside Nigerian artistes such as P- Square, Maintain and Trybes men as well as their South African and UK counterparts.

There was no indication that it will rain that bright night. As usual the cool breeze from the Lagoon caress the large numbers of fun seekers gathered at the Lagoon Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos. The loud music being played by disk jockey Jimmy Jatt took the minds of all from the impending rain as the two-day musical jamboree took off on a sound note.

Live& Wired was a lesson to most Nigerian hip acts whose stock in trade is aping foreign acts of the same genre of music. Genuwine whose real names are Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, gave a real good tutorial of how rap and R&B should be played. The young man whose music has not assumed a reasonable degree of popularity held the crowd hostage throughout the duration of his performance. He defied the heavy downpour of the first day, dancing, jumping and working the crowd up to exasperation. Genuwine’s astute stagecraft sent the crowd to their feet. Only P-Square, the identical duo of Peter & Paul were able to display similar skills.

Trybes men appeared on stage at about midnight and offered to sing their popular song Shake Bodi. That was the highlight of their appearance that night. Efforts to move the crowd failed as their antics elicited a low response. Not even the American gangster rapper’s costume with big towel round their necks could save their acts.

Perhaps the disaster of the night was Maintain, a hip-hop group of two young men. They deviated from music and decided to entertain with comedy. And their attempt at comedy was pathetic. Ironically, the crowd loved them as they cheered endlessly. Maintain finally won the crowd over with I catches Cold. At intervals, the DJs from UK, South Africa took turns on the turntables sending the large crowd wild.

The audience swung and danced to the “Urban Garage” and R&B music being played by Twice as Nice and the Dream TEEM. Twice as Nice is a celebrated and award winning DJs group with Steve Sunderland, DJ Luck& CKP, Scottie B, MC Lync, Damage, and MC Ultra. The dream Teem which comprises the trio of Timmy Magic, Mikee B and DJ Spoony, who are the king of speed garage, the maniac dance style that brought crowd of club kids back to house from the jungle in the 90s in UK jammed on with their unique style. BY the time Mdu Masilela from South Africa mounted the stage, it was as if the show was just beginning.

The heavy downpour did not stop the audience from skimping and rocking to the performances of Mdu Masilela. His kwato songs though not too popular among Nigerians, Mdu tried to take them along. He succeeded. P-Square, winners of the GOLD& TONES Road Show contest two years ago, deserves some commendation. The identical twins captivated the audience with well-choreographed dance steps.

The second day of the concert was more scintillating and enthralling. The heavens held back rains and allowed the audience to have a swell time. The superb quality of the audio system, no doubt, reflected on the improved performances of all the acts on parade.

By 10:45pm, Trybesmen set the second day agog with their hit track Thief, Ole after which they rendered Plenty Nonsense, Dare Art Alade, who co anchored the two day event with Sound Sultan, who is a regular face at Benson UU& Hedges concerts, joined the band to render Young Men which he composed. Meanwhile, the group of UK based DJs- Twice as Nice, comprising DJ Steve Sutherland, DJ Luck & CKP, Scootie B, Sticky MC Lync, Damage, MC Ultra continued to entertain the audience with their type of Garage and R&B sounds. Same with the Dream Teem(Timmy Magic, Mikee B and DJ Sponny) who thrilled fans to their speed garage and their manic dance styles. They performed in between the musical acts with raps and dance effects.

The emergence of P- square on the scene by 107 am, threw the audience into wildest excitement. Screams from the audience rented the air when the duo of identical twins in company of their dancers thrilled the audience to their well choreographed and electrifying dance steps. Among the tracks they performed from their debut CD are “Kolo” “Where were U last Nite”, “Bad Boy” and Senorita. They also rendered a track yet to be released- E no Good, which they dedicated to upcoming acts who were rejected by recording labels to keep hope alive. They condemned the attitude of recording companies for not giving young acts the opportunity to exhibit their talents in the track. One track that threw the crowd to highest crescendos was “senorita”. The crowd actually demanded for it as soon as P- Square finished rendering “Kolo”
which was the first track they sang.

Tried as much as the kwaito from South Africa, Mdu Masilela did to impress the audience with his hard-core Kwaito multi -Platinum hits, he only managed to keep the crowd alive. The high point of the two-day concert was Genuwine, s performances. Screaming, whistling and yelling heralded him to the stage at about 2.am, and for about 45 minutes, he held the crowd spellbound with his type of music. As soon as he began each of the six songs he rendered, the audience sang along with him with passion. His debut Pony, In Those Jeans, and Hell Yeah, were particularly appealing to the audience, who could not help but dance non-stop. The other numbers he served hot included Same Ol’G, So Fine, and I miss you, which he dedicated to late female singer Aaliya.