Ghana’s award-winning international jock, DJ Champagne is set to drop the official Ghana mixtape of the “Foam Party Riddim” produced by Arketek Music, Jamaica.

The mixtape includes over 24 Ghana artistes who have worked joints on the product, respectively. The mixtape is due for an official release on Friday, February 21, 2014.

This riddim mixtape project is the first of its kind to be ever done, OFFICIALLY, by any Ghanaian jockey.

Already endorsed by Dale Johnson (CEO of Arketek Music Productions, Jamaica/New York), there is high anticipation among Ghana dancehall fanatics as well as the international community who loves Dancehall music.

“As we are all aware now, Dancehall has come of age and is the biggest genre in Ghana right now, unquestionably.

As an international DJ, I have played at several places and my routine plays on radio has had a heavy but positive influence to me to involve more of my time and space to the Dancehall community, especially the talents from Ghana.

With my huge following and repertoire, I find it worthwhile to also assist in promoting the genre hence I went ahead and had discussions with the producer of the riddim, Arketek Music, who was highly elated about us doing an official mixtape for the FOAM PARTY RIDDIM to help boost the euphoria the riddim has brought to the music community.

His initial production which was the official release had about 10 artistes on it from Jamaica.

But all of a sudden the riddim became a household material in Ghana when I came out as the first on air personality to start promoting it; it caught the attention of our talented acts here in Ghana too and they jumped on it with some even shooting music videos for it – the likes of Episode and Stonebwoy who have shot videos for their joints on the Foam Party Riddim is enough evidence of how viable the riddim is.

I know there are other DJs and presenters who are particularly inclined to the genre here in Ghana but I just deem it laudable to add my quota to it as well to keep the vibe aglow.

Hopefully we are all set to drop the official Ghana mixtape this Friday, February 21.

If over 24 artistes in Ghana alone valued the riddim and run joints on it, that should tell you how far dancehall has reached and it is my hope and wish that this would open more doors for more acts to start working hard on more joints to fine-tune their lyrics and act.

And this project would be a continuous task I would be doing henceforth.

Arketek Music himself was very elated about the project and even looks forward to the official release which he has endorsed,” DJ Champagne corroborates.

DJ Champagne is an on air jock who plays for the biggest music station in Ghana – Yfm 107.9 - he has hosted several international jock stages including plays on Big Brother Africa show in South Africa.

He has won the “Radio DJ of the Year 2012” at the Radio & TV Personality Awards (RTP Awards).

The FOAM PARTY RIDDIM was initially produced by Arketek Music and had Jamaican acts like Busy Signal, Beenie Man, Mr G, RDX, and others riding on it in September 2013.

You can follow on twitter @Dj_Champagne @Arketek_Musik @ElormBeenie @Ghamaicans for more updates on this project.

APTI stands for Audio Production Talent Impact - an initiative by Duke Debrah and Aaron D. A. Aberimah, co - CEOs of Stereo6 Music record label company, to bring together sound engineers, aspiring sound engineers, artistes and basically, music lovers who would like to know a little more than how to increase the volume of music with buttons on their iPods to how it is actually made.

The main goal of this initiative is to create a platform for easy and effective exchange of talent ideas, music techniques and experiences in the music industry.

From beat creation to sound recording, mixing to mastering, participants of APTI get to watch, learn and work along with the masters in the music industry as they work on real projects for one month.

April. of 2014 is set to be the first ever APTI Month and is to be hosted at Glakos Studios on the Spintex Road, Accra by Co - Founders Aaron A.D. Aberimah (popularly known as Dugudbeatz) and Duke Debrah who are Sound Engineers by Profession having Produced and worked with many well known local and international artistes.

It is also rumoured that this year's APTI month is going to feature a number of surprise Music Producers and Artistes.

The debut of the APTI Month is anticipated to be a special and intensive project and as such, admissions are very limited and so interested participants are advised to apply as early as possible to guarantee a seat with the music gurus come this april.

For more information, you can visit their their Facebook page
- www.facebook.com/stereo6music

The three-day funeral rites of Komla Dumor, BBC senior broadcast journalist and former presenter of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, begin today.

The ceremony begins this morning with a solemn requiem mass.

That will be followed by public viewing of the body which will enable many people, particularly the youth, to pay their last respects to him.

A liturgical service will be held at the Forecourt of the State House on Saturday, February 22, 2014, followed by a private family burial.

The curtains will be drawn on the funeral rites with a thanksgiving service at the Holy Spirit Cathedral, on Sunday, February 23, 2014.

Shakira has been making waves again. Her collaboration with Rihanna on her single “Can’t Remember to Forget You” has generated a lot of interest — especially the music video — for it’s clothing (or lack thereof) and the titillating relationship between this unexpected duo..

Shakira talked to Carson Daly on 97.1 AMP in Los Angeles (a Radio.com station) about the experience.

And while anyone who follows Rihanna on Instagram knows she keeps it really real, the last thing anyone expected to hear about here was the first thing out of Shakira’s mouth.

“She’s just like the girl next door and she is really, I think, the sexiest woman I’ve seen,” Shakira said.

“Hands down, because I can be sexy, but you have to give me a countdown. Like, ‘Shakira, be sexy. 3, 2, 1. Go!’ You know? But she’s sexy all the time… She’s so cool and mellow….Also, so down to earth.

That’s nice, to work with someone, because it is intimidating to working with a diva, you know, someone who is so, so successful. You never know how they’re going to be.”

It’s probably the first and last time anyone will refer to Rihanna as “the girl next door” but we get the jist.

Shakira admitted she had to ask her husband for permission before she shot the risqué video and joked that she won’t be able to shoot any more videos with men so now we can expect all of her love scenes to be sapphic.

Shakira also addresses her return to The Voice , her history as a rock chick and writing a Nashville song that she got Blake Shelton to duet with her on for her new album.

Page was willing to pay more than the
$19 billion Facebook paid for WhatsApp, according to a new report from Amir Efrati and Jessica Lessin at The Information .

But WhatsApp's founders turned down
Google because they believed the only
reason Page was bidding on WhatsApp
was to keep it out of Facebook's hands.

Efrati and Lessin say that days before WhatsApp closed its deal with Facebook, Page made a pitch: Come to Google. You'll be able to keep the company independent. You're a threat to Facebook.

That pitch wasn't good enough. WhatsApp decided to go with Facebook.

When Page heard that WhatsApp wasn't interested, he started talking to WhatsApp investor Sequoia.

He made it clear that he would outbid Facebook.
It was all for naught. The WhatsApp guys went to Facebook.

They thought that
Facebook had a better grasp on what they were doing.

And, apparently, they felt
Page was only interested in WhatsApp as a way to hurt Facebook.

For what it's worth, a source at Google told Efrati and Lessin that WhatsApp
misunderstood Page.

Page was merely
encouraging WhatsApp to remain
independent.

When Facebook announced that it was
buying WhatsApp for $19 billion , the first reaction from most people was shock.

After they picked up their jaws from the ground, and digested the acquisition,

eventually they started to wonder why Google didn't buy WhatsApp. After all, Larry Page likes to think big, and there was gossip of Google's interest in WhatsApp a year ago.

Well, it turns out Google did want to buy WhatsApp, it just failed.

Amir Efrati at The Information reports :

"More than six months ago, Google
approached WhatsApp with an odd
offer: It would pay the mobile
messaging startup in exchange for
the right to be notified if the
messaging app entered into
acquisition talks with other
companies, according to a person
involved in the process and two
people briefed on it."

The highly unusual right-to-know offer was worth millions of dollars. WhatsApp rejected that deal.

Efrati says this idea comes from Google's head of M&A, Don Harrison.

After Google got beat in the Instagram sale, it wanted to figure out a way to get an inside edge on acquisitions.

So, he concocted a plan to buy shares of a company in exchange for a heads up on sales. Jessi Hempel at Fortune has more details.

She says Google offered $10 billion for WhatsApp .

And it didn't offer a board seat to WhatsApp's CEO. Obviously, this was a no-brainer for
WhatsApp.

Facebook made an offer that was twice as big, and it moved in a much more decisive way.

After 12 years on Shady/Aftermath/Interscope Records 50 Cent has parted ways with his label home in lieu of a distribution deal with Caroline/Capitol/UMG, the rap mogul announced Thursday (Feb. 20).

As it stands, 50 is technically a free agent.

A new label agreement means he and G-Unit are no longer tied to Eminem's and Dr. Dre's Shady/ Aftermath imprints, but there are no hard feelings between the parties.

"I have had great success to date with Shady/Aftermath/Interscope and I'd like to thank Eminem and Dr. Dre for giving me an incredible opportunity," 50 said in a statement to the Associated Press.

"I've learned so much from them through the years. I am excited to enter this new era where I can carry out my creative vision."

Em added some words of his own, stating that he is "grateful to have had a chance to play a part in 50's career," and credited the Queens MC with helping grow Shady Records.

"Shady simply would not be what it is without 50 Cent," noted Em.

"I've developed a great friendship with 50 over the years, and that's not going to change. We know 50 will have success in his new situation, and we remain supporters of both him and G-Unit."

50 has sold more than 30 million records on Interscope.

His departure comes after years of very public disagreements with the label, which is home to a host of other rappers including Kendrick Lamar , Game , Chief Keef and French Montana.

In Dec. 2011, 50 threatened to leave the label for delaying his fifth album.

"Ok I tried to be cool with my record company," he tweeted.

"I went to the meeting talk to everyone and s-feels like there [sic] moving in slow motion…I'm sorry to announce I will not be releasing a new album this year if we don't get on the same page."

Though the album never came out, 50's latest business venture will include a digital promotional push for his debut release on Caroline/Capitol/ UMG, Animal Ambition .

The project goes up for pre-order March 18, and will be marketed with weekly videos leading up to the drop date.

Charterhouse, organizers of the prestigious Vodafone Ghana Music Awards and event giant in Ghana, is hitting Ghana again with another uniquely prestigious awards Scheme dubbed: Ghana Entertainment Awards .

Although earlier reports indicated the event was supposed to be launched at the plush, Villa Monticello on Saturday Night, February 22, 2014 at 7pm, George Quaye disclosed the event has been rescheduled to March.

Signing out of The Pundit show on Tuesday February 18, George disclosed a final date has not been set and official communication would be made available as soon as they deemed it necessary.

The scheme seeks to award all sectors of Ghana’s Arts and Entertainment Industry.

This is perceived by professionals in the industry as a step in the right direction considering its diverse scope.

The Ghana Entertainment Awards is an award scheme designed to award people in all the different sectors of the creative arts industry and shall reward excellence in music, movies, radio, TV, fashion, Arts writing, events, sports and many more.

Artiste manager and CEO of Bull Haus Entertainment, Lawrence Nana Asiama Hanson (Bulldog) has warned that he wouldn't hesitate to beat up any artiste he manages should the artiste look down on him.

According to Bulldog, as an artiste manager, he will accord him or her the needed respect in all matters and expects same from the artiste.

Speaking on Rhythmz A-Z on Joy FM Saturday, hosted by Nii Ayi Tagoe, the Bull House CEO stressed that he will physically attack the artiste should the artiste disrespect him.

"It is not a smooth journey and I've always been open with the artistes.

I face my problems but I don't have any artiste looking down on me, when you do that [I will beat you] and I will walk away after punching you," he said.

When Okraku Mantey, who was also a guess on the show, interjected that "so those of us who don't have body" what should they do?, Bulldog quickly advised that, "Then, this is not your field... go to the hospital."

"You are not cut out for this [then] you should be doing gospel music," he added.

Bulldog noted that it takes a lot guts to manage an artiste and if one is not prepared mentally and physically, they shouldn't venture.

Over the years, the Bull House CEO has managed several musicians including VIP, 5Five, Iwan, and Shatta Wale (Bandana), with some of the management contracts ending controversially.

Other panelists - Francis Doku, Nana Turkson, Ken Addy - on the show shared a common view that people should not rush into artiste management without having the needed understanding of the job.

They also urged that there should be a proper agreement between the two parties - the artiste and the manager - before the relationship starts.

Mavin Records artiste, Tiwa Savage, has been quizzed by the police for allegedly humiliating a policeman who apprehended her for violating some provisions of the Lagos state traffic laws.

Savage often referred to as Mavin First Lady, was said to have engaged a policeman who flagged her down for flouting traffic rules in front of Eko Hotels and Suites Victoria Island, on Saturday.

Savage who was recently signed a brand ambassador deal with Forte, allegedly came down from the vehicle she was riding in and confronted the policeman on duty who arrested her.

During the ensuing argument with the cop, Savage who was infuriated by the development was said to have angrily removed the cap of the policeman in a bid to get back at him.

The first African female PEPSI ambassador was reportedly whisked away to the Victoria Island Police Division, for daring to humiliate and assault the policeman.

When contacted, Group publicist for Mavin Records, Terfa Tilley-Gyado, confirmed the incident to our correspondent on the telephone.

He said the records label will be issuing a comprehensive statement stating the position of Tiwa Savage and the group on Monday.

“What would you like to know? We are planning to prepare an official statement; definitely not at this time.

The press release will be out on Monday for your Tuesday production.

“I don’t think it will be prudent to use the story until you have the official statement. That is just my own opinion. I think you should wait until you get the official statement,” he said.

Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police Command, Ngozi Braide, could not be reached for comments.

Her telephone rang out when contacted while a text message sent to her was not replied to as at press time.