Like every other year, the Nigerian Entertainment Industry in 2012 experienced the tides, good times, bad times and most especially remarkable events and moments that we would always remember.
The first major act that shook the industry was when 2face Idibia proposed to his long time girlfriend, Annie Macauley on Valentine’s day, it was the talk of the season.
One would have thought that the ‘Ihe ne me’ star would have married Pero who actually bore 3kids for him but he surprised everyone by settling for Annie.
Their quiet wedding paved way for several other weddings in the industy; weddings like that of Funke Akindele aka Jenifa who walked down the aisle with Kehinde Oloyede, Nollywood’s Uche Jombo who had earlier been in a failed marriage also got married, Stephanie Okereke got married too.
Nigeria’s top female dancer Kaffy also wedded her heartthrob Joseph Ameh, Comedian Tejubabyface also got married…so many weddings!
A proverb says ‘twenty friends can not play together for 20years”…the industry experienced several splits.
The major split that shook the industry was that of the Mo’hits crew…the big fight between Don Jazzy and D’banj led to the death of the Mo’hits records.
Like a fresh leaf from a dead tree, the death of Mo’ hit birthed Mavin records with established acts like Tiwa Savage, D’prince, Wande Coal and Dr Sid.
The Mavins stepped into the industry with the release of a compilation called Solar Pexus which was well received by all.
The fall out of May D from Psquare’s band in August was another big one; not to mention the recent division of the Styl Plus which had Tunde moving on to rebrand himself as Nativeboy following the failed efforts of the group to make a big comeback into the music scene.
This year also produced new artistes like Tonto Dikeh who suddenly decided to delve into music. Her ‘hi’ and ‘it’s Ova’ tracks stirred up a social media fuss; Many Nigerians made fun of the songs yet the tracks managed to hit over 500,000 views/downloads from youtube.
Tonto Dikeh with her wild lifestyle stepped on people’s toes and damned her critics this year. Little wonder she was bestowed with the ‘most controversial actress 2012’ title.
It was a beautiful year for Iyanya Mbuk following the wide acceptance of his “Kukere’ album. Iyanya’s kukere video beat records by hitting a million downloads; he was invited to every concert to perform, even two actresses, Yvonne Nelson and Tonto Dikeh had to fight for his love.
It was also a breakthrough year for Dare Art alade’s Protege Mo’ Eazy whose ‘Kosoro’ video topped charts across the country.
His recent release of a comic version of Psy’s hit ‘Gangnam style’ re-titled ‘Naija Gangnam’ was another hit.
The big misunderstanding between popular blogger Linda Ikeji and Richard Mofe Damijo over a published post where it was disclosed that the actor cum politician was buidling a 250million house was another big issue. The misunderstanding floored forums, media headlines and social media platforms for a while.
Another big event was this year’s Big Brother Africa. The BBA is always a hit but this year’s was super hit following the Goldie Harvey and Prezzo love drama. Even after the BBA ended, the love saga between the two waxed stronger. Prezzo had to come all the way from Kenya to Nigeria to look for Goldie.
Also worthy of mention is Nollywood’s Mercy Johnson who is the most searched name on the Google search engine for 2012; she delivered a baby girl in the USA on the 30th of December.
Top concerts like the baddest EME concert, Rhythm unplugged, Davido’s OBO concert, Mavin all star concert, the recent much talked about ‘kokoconcert’ were major events that shook the industry too. The aftermaths of the concerts gave bloggers, local media and forums issues to talk about.
Finally, death hit the industry with Nollywood’s Giringori James Iroha passing on in February, Nollywood’s Pete Eneh was reported to have taken the final bow on November 15, Enebeli Elebuwa joined the list on the 5th of December while Psquare’s mum passed on in July…may their souls rest in peace.
2012 has been exciting and there’s no doubt that the Nigerian Entertainment industry is gaining more ground on the international scene. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and watch out for the great events we are sure would take place in 2013.
Happie New Year Once Again…