Asake, Burnaboy And Rema Bags Nomination At Brits Awards 44th Edition —-Nigerian Afrobeats singers Burna Boy, Asake, and Rema have been nominated for the 2024 BRIT Awards, scheduled to be broadcast live on 2 March 2024 on ITV1 and ITVX.
The nominations for the annual music awards were unveiled on Wednesday during the ‘Bring on The BRITs with Mastercard: The 2024 Nominations’, a 30-minute special streamed across the BRITs’ official Instagram and Facebook.
The BRIT Awards are the British Phonographic Industry’s annual popular music awards.
Burna Boy and Asake were nominated in the International Artiste of the Year category.
Rema’s ‘Calm Down’ was nominated in the highly coveted International Song of the Year category.
Burna Boy and Asake will battle the International Artiste of the Year category with global superstars such as Caroline Polachek, CMAT, Kylie Minogue, Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, and Taylor Swift.
Rema’s ‘Calm Down’ will contest the International Song of the Year category with global hits like Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For’, David Kushner’s ‘Daylight’, Doja Cat’s ‘Paint The Town Red’, Jazzy’s ‘Giving Me’, Libianca’s ‘People’, Meghan Trainor’s ‘Made You Look’, Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’, Noah Kahan’s ‘Stick Season’, Oliver Tree & Robin Schulz’s ‘Miss You’, Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘vampire’, Peggy Gou’s ‘(It Goes Like) Nanana’, SZA’s ‘Kill Bill’, Tate McRae’s ‘greedy’ and Tyla’s ‘Water’.
According to the BRIT Awards, British singer, Rachel Agatha Keen, known as RAYE, broke the Awards record after receiving the most nominations of any artiste in a year.
RAYE surpassed a record previously jointly held by Gorillaz, Craig David, and Robbie Williams — who had each been nominated for six awards in a year.
2002 Gorillaz was nominated in six categories, Craig David in 2001 and Robbie Williams in 1999.
According to the awards organiser, the number of nominees for both Artiste of the Year and International Artiste of the Year was increased from five to ten, a change aimed at improving representation and inclusion.
Also, a new genre award category, R&B Act, was introduced along with Alternative/Rock Acts, Dance Acts, Pop Acts, Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act aimed at showcasing the versatility, creativity and diverse styles of music in the UK.
The disturbing claims have been made by influencer and former OnlyFans star Lauren Pisciotta, who has already sued West once before.
In June, the social media star alleged that he sexually harassed and stalked her while she worked for him from 2021 until 2022.
West, 47, denied the previous claims and branded them ‘baseless’. While yet to file a defence, he accused Pisciotta, 36, of ‘blackmail and extortion’.
Now, her latest bombshell lawsuit makes a string of unsettling accusations, including West having sick sexual obsessions and fantasising about wanting to sleep with his targets’ mothers, including the family of his wife Bianca Censori.
Former Yeezy employee Pisciotta has said she first met the Gold Digger hitmaker when he invited her and a client to a studio session and party co-hosted by himself and Combs.
According to legal documents obtained by DailyMail, she was handed a drink by West himself, after which she ‘started to feel disorientated’ before she slipped into ‘a highly impaired state’.
‘She felt less in control of her body and speech, and that is where [her] memories of the night escape [her],’ it has been claimed.
The next day, Pisciotta felt ‘ashamed and embarrassed’ that she couldn’t recall the evening’s events while her musician client, who attended with her, refused to discuss what happened.
Pisciotta has said she only discovered the truth years later in West’s final weeks as her boss, understanding why her client felt ‘too traumatised’ to speak out until then.
After originally believing she had been drugged by a studio assistant but managing to get home without being attacked, Pisciotta learnt the extent of the night’s events from West himself.
West’s ex-wife – not named in the lawsuit but believed to be Kim Kardashian, who is his only former spouse – allegedly commented on him and Pisciotta having an affair in November 2022, to which Pisciotta said she wanted to contact her to set the record straight.
Pisciotta believed Kardashian, 43, who married West in 2014, was ‘under the wrong impression’ about their working relationship.
However, she has claimed West told her she couldn’t send a message to clear the air, because of what happened at the Santa Monica party.
‘We did, kind of, hook up a little one time,’ the lawsuit claimed West told Pisciotta.
‘[West] then immediately proceeded to reminisce about the time he was referring to… where he “hooked up” with [Pisciotta] after she had been drugged,’ the lawsuit added.
Pisciotta claimed West had told Kardashian they ‘hooked up’ but ‘left out the true nature and severity of what he did to [her]’.
Had Kardashian ‘been told the truth and known [Pisciotta] was, in fact, drugged and sexually assaulted by Kanye West’ she would never have made the comment, the lawsuit states.
Pisciotta allegedly told West that she did not remember anything from the party, to which he laughed in response.
He is said to have told her: ‘Women love to say they don’t remember’, before changing the subject.
He has been labelled a ‘premeditative and sadistic groomer’ who has taken advantage of his superstardom to fuel his ‘insatiable sexual gratification’ and ‘animalistic desires’ with ‘little boundaries’.
West married Censori, 29, two years ago. The Australian architectural designer met him when she began working at Yeezy in November 2020.
Their relationship has been a hot topic ever since they were first spotted together, with Censori frequently seen in public wearing extremely revealing outfits while her spouse is fully clothed.
In her lawsuit, Piscotta claims West sent her a screenshot on September 28, 2022, of a text chain between him and his wife, talking about having sex with her mother.
‘I want to f**k your mom. Before she leaves,’ he wrote, as per the suit.
He asked Pisciotta: ‘Should I add I meant I want you to watch me f**k your mom?’
‘Is [young A-list fashion model] better for me than [different A-list fashion model]? How do I tell her I need to f**k her mom baaad’.
While shooting for the campaign, West headed for breaks, during which he instructed wife Censori and other female guests to perform oral sex on him and fellow men in the changing rooms.
He later boasted about this to Pisciotta, as well as the time in June 2022 when he allegedly drank a bottle of wine with a model before inserting it into her vagina.
‘I feel like you could be a spectator… I just feel like she needs an audience. A beautiful audience lol,’ he wrote, the lawsuit claimed.
Other disconcerting texts sent from West to Piscotta include the time she was delayed with travel due to work visas.
Saying he wanted to go back to Los Angeles, he wrote: ‘Aaaaaaaaand there’s soooo much p***y in LA I may rent a room, take the honey pack, drink some tequila and just take appointments…
‘I’m a great guy and dad. But I love bad b***hes and I love the f*k the s**t outa bad b***hes and make them fall in love too.’
Pisciotta makes several other claims about West abusing his connections at high-profile brands, such as Adidas and Gap, to get women into the US on work visas so he could sleep with them.
They were given ‘obscure job titles’ at his companies and made to sign non-disclosure agreements.
However, he is believed to have been ‘brazenly open’ with Pisciotta and other staff about what happened, divulging ‘grotesque details’, including telling them that he filmed his sexual encounters to ‘get the full picture’.
The lawsuit also claims West often ‘offered up’ his sexual partners, employees, and women he trafficked as ‘gifts’ to his friends and colleagues.
Pisciotta claimed he tried to ‘gift’ her too, but was unsuccessful.
Singer Speed Darlington Released On Bail After After Days In Detention—-Nigerian singer and content creator Darlington Okoye, popularly known as Speed Darlington, has been released on bail following his arrest last Friday in Lagos.
His lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, confirmed the development after Darlington met the bail conditions set by the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team in Abuja.
Darlington’s arrest came in response to a petition filed by fellow musician Damini Ogulu, also known as Burna Boy, accusing him of cyberstalking.
Despite the allegations, Adeyanju stated that after reviewing the petition, there appeared to be insufficient grounds to justify Darlington’s detention.
Before his release, Darlington had been moved to several police formations in Lagos before being transferred to Abuja, where the bail conditions were finalized.
His mother, known as Queen, had also made an emotional appeal, pleading with Burna Boy to facilitate her son’s release after learning about his arrest from their gateman.
“Nigerians please come and help me, my son, Speed Darlington has been missing for over four days now after he made a video about Burna Boy and Diddy.
“Burna Boy came to his house with his squad and police and they arrested Akpi. Please, Nigerians, Akpi is my only son. Please, Nigerians help me and beg Burna Boy to release my son,” she said.