Statement from RMG re: Muna vs Mode 9
It has come to my attention that the unfortunate incident that occurred at the Nokia “Don’t Break The Beat” competition on Saturday the 28th of April 2012, where RMG artiste Muna was a Presenter, and Nigerian rap icon Mode 9 was a Judge, has turned into a media/blog frenzy.
This
unfortunate misunderstanding happened on stage, and the verbal exchange
between Muna and Mode 9, even though it started out as opinions quickly
escalated into what I’m sure we all have seen in the clip posted on the
Internet by Nigezie.
Mode
9 and Muna did not have any pre-existing misunderstanding or “beef”
before the Nokia event. Muna’s brief as a Presenter, aside introducing
the Contestants and asking the Judges for their remarks and scores, was
to add more banter to the judging process, this she had done very well
and incident free throughout the Zonal “rap battles” in cities like
Lagos, Enugu, Benin and Abuja.
As
Muna’s management, we are duty bound to take care of this situation
professionally, issue statements and all that, but as I’m in a
privileged position and I know all parties involved personally,
including co-judges Rogba (CEO, Knighthouse) and DJ Jimmy Jatt, I had
called everyone involved to sort out this unfortunate issue amongst
ourselves the morning after the incident. The clip of the incident
surfacing on the Internet only just re-ignited what we’ve been trying to
diffuse since the very next day.
Like
I said, we all have seen the video clip, and the interviews that
followed, and of course the onslaught of comments on the internet, the
justified, the objective, the insults, the threats of violence and of
course a few sensible and supportive ones as well. Time will tell if
Muna and Mode 9 trending on Twitter would prove to be a good thing and
we’ll all get together and laugh about it later.
Muna
is a fast rising talent in the rap game, this was recognized by Nokia
who gave her the opportunity to appear in their TV commercial and also
present the “Don’t Break The Beat” competition which was a massive
success. The brand also showed some street cred by employing the
undisputed knowledge of rap in appointing Mode 9 as the Head Judge at
the Finals. We would like to thank Nokia and the team at YDx for
putting together a successful competition.
Lastly,
I would like to reiterate that this issue will not be resolved publicly
and played out in the media or on blog pages for the amusement and
enjoyment of gossip junkies and gist merchants. I’m sorry to disappoint
those who are waiting with their mouths open, there will be no leaked
emails, back and forth exclusive interviews or Twitter “gangsterisms”.
At least not from our side, and as you all know, Mode 9 is big a man
enough not to subscribe to media hype over something that, quite
rightly, he took as disrespectful but not life threatening. This is Hip
Hop, not the Civil War Part 2.
Ayo Shonaiya
The RMG Company
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