UNI WEEKEND

If it wasn't for Akua, I'm not sure I would have been writing this. I sometimes wonder if I could ever write anything meaningful again.

What a Weekend it was! Friday started just fine.After dropping the wee ones off at school,I quickly dashed back enjoying the N1 road and had a mean 4hour mixing session on my decks . Then the annoying editing and producing session for another hour.I get surprised when people assume being a DJ is just as simple as ABCD..for your info,it is not. Anyway,back to the matter, before I could say, 'quajo',it was already time to leave for toontoom studios for show prep before 'the weekend warmer on radio. Sammy B and I always jell well,and 'fooling' a bit on the radio gladly brought some laughter into the hearts of people.

Saturday morning saw me sleeping a bit till it was time to pick my man Kojo to the Airport. We got to the airport 5 min before the advertised closing counter time only to realize that it had been closed earlier. Our cries of what was right fell on the deaf and rude ears of rude Edna of Antrak Airlines who not only ensured that she gave away one seat of the presumed full plane but rudely went about her business and totally ignored us. Her attitude Totally reeked of that terrible GH-I-am-doing-you-a-favour-way.
In Ghana,having connections does help,with a Phone call,we were whisked in a car to Kumasi. Meanwhile the organizers of the party were getting agitated because we had missed our flight. Joining Panji,Yaa Pono in a convoy we drove to Kumasi and arrived at the party grounds at 11pm exactly. What a party!
I was done by 4am with Yaa Pono and EL ripping mics and proceeded to Vienna City to meet the rest of the crew there.
Sunday saw us driving back to Accra to mash up the Legon beach jam.
Got back home at 12am Monday morning.
Well Im done filling you in on what went on last weekend. Let's see what happens this weekend.Enjoy yours.

toontoom's photostream

toontoom's photostream on Flickr.

 

VIP ON THE OPEN HOUSE PARTY

FIRE AND MUSIC

www.myjoyonline.com/mrblack

The importance of fire is being stressed these days. From small to big reddish devilish looking fires, they either devour or cook for man. Either way sorry to the Rawlings’ and the other ministries who felt the wrath of fire.

I am writing away in my little studio where I am at peace with myself. This past week has been full of turmoil and unwanted news but on the music scene where I belong.

Last Friday at CKE was off the chain, all the students from 3 universities were there wriggling away on all floors of the building to amazing music. So I pumped in 4 hours of dance music till 4 am. Earlier on, I was on the radio with Kwame Bampoe laughing our heads of to silly stuff and good oldies. You can tune in every Friday from 8PM on Joy99.7FM and enjoy Friday harmony.

Saturday evening was ok cos I love my openhouse party set and enjoy doing a different thing. You can check out my play list here at http://joyfm.myjoyonline.com/mrblack/playlist/defexteller.asp

The Ghana music scene is buzzing again as the awards draw closer, I forsee a lot of awards for Sarkodie, I hope bradez win something considering their rough year. Will Ruff n Smooth win an award this year? We wait and see.
Got to pen off here to attend to BLACKSQUAD DJS.

Peace out……………………………………..HIS BLACKNESS

WATER and MUSIC

Music and xmas in the motherland

The weekend and Christmas is almost here and people are already looking at the fowls in the neighborhood with the evil eye(you know what I mean) causing natural migration of birds to the North.Happy holidays to each and everyone especially my fufugang on twitter.(i will explain my love for fufu later)

Anyway,let me just fill you in on what His Blackness has been up to.Been to gigs in Monrovia ,liberia ,etc and I must say it was a nice Experience...shout outs to Dejavu Night club for holding me down.The recent jam was the sh*t even though security freaked me at the airport because they had discovered a toy gun left by Lil Bleezy in my bag.

Anyway,the night before the flight, I was busy on the decks at the Joyfm night with the stars....some had issues with it, some did not.Well all I can say that, it wasn't easy organizing it ,considering the ego of some of our artistes.Like everyshow in the GH , everyone has a problem and a solution but cannot even organize or make their bed.

DJ Black is working fervently on TOONTOOM RADIO : Mixtape vol 2 which will be huge work. It features everyone.. expect a brilliant album.

I wanna shoutout M.anifest on his good and hard work,I just downloaded the birds and the beats and its awesome.keep on with the good work.

So what do you think of the state of the Ghanaian music scene now? With the entrance of new artistes like Eazzy,OJ Blaq,etc who want to revolutionize the music scene whilst new acts like Ruff-n-Smooth,etc copy our Naija people, I simply detest that thingy.(you can disagree with me) Are we so clueless that we now adopt Naija words and style in our music in addition to the degrading copy of their Movie themes and style? Its so pathetic and uncreative !!!

I miss days when i looked forward to albums from people and hung on their every word when ATCQ, Delasoul,KRS-1,Grouphome, Redman will make me think with lyricism and witty words,........today cats like JAY-Z ,Kanye,SouljaBoy,Drake,LilWayne ,etc say they are the ish but fail to excite me when i listen to their albums.Without autotune and someone singing(which they all have) the song will be wack.I dare you to challenge me.Compare it to the golden era........hmmm? I don't mean to say the albums are not good, they are ok, but if it fails to excite me like doggy style or a proper nas would,then whats the point,it might well be a pop song.If you were born a few years ago,please go back to the classics.

Anyway,i have lots of appearances ,gigs,mixshows,radio mixtapes,etc to sort out so I will definitely keep you in the loop.

These are just the simple words of a modern Ghanaian DJ living in Accra.

Newsletter

Hey members,

I know it's been like ten years since you head from ya favorite DJ.
How have you been yourself. well. let me try and fill you in as quickly as I can.

Been spinning along the coast of West Africa and sending mixtapes all over Africa.It's not easy trying to promote your skills and music from good Artistes who are trying to get their hustle on.So please support in anyway you can,if you want your logo's or your drops or your mini ads or whatever, holla at your boy.

I went to monrovia, Dejavu night club,courtesy my boy Elle and Emeka holding it down.It was a cool flight and I saw a DC boy on the flight who made it smooth by giving me a triple order of 'something something'.The club was quite an experience as people held it down till 6 in the morning.

The Open House party held at Cinderellas made night clubbers and music lovers dancing and going bonkers like never before.....Reggie Rockstone,Efyah,VIP,and more really got crazy especially when we reminisced with some old school hilife and classic hiphop( you know what i mean..not some corny sh*t)It went on till 4 am live around the world and I wanna say shout out to everyone who listened that day.

Shout outs everyone who are subscribed to djblack podcasts ,yu can get it at djblack.podomatic.com .

The Joy fm night with the stars 9 is coming on on the 27th of November at the AICC and we sure are holding it down. I missed last year's as I was in the southern part of the continent.so this year, I wanna have fun...it will be crrrrrrrrrazzzzzyyyyyy!!!!! LOL

Been following what's been happening on the entertainment scene.Shout outs to all my hardworking people in the industry....shout outs to Reggie rockstone for your nee office, I am glad and I know DJ Rab is sure glad too,finally a place that you can rap, dance and watch meet all your friends too.

Shout outs to M.anifest for all your efforts, it's amazing and i AM DROPPING the new single you gave me, bird ans beats...eh?

I am currently feeling these songs now and it plays in my head, my ipod,Nokia N97 all the time.
Pdiddy - dirty money
Drake,lil wayne, eminem,kanye -forever mine(talent)
snoop ft the dream - gangsta luv( i wanna crip walk all the time)
50 cent ft neyo - aby by me ( i love his song)
Jay-Z ft Alicia keys -empire state
mario ft gucci mane -break up, and more...you can follow my playlists at www.myjoyonline.com/mrblack


ah..for more check me out on HITZ103.7 FM every saturday where I drop mixes ,new, classic songs and interesting skits from 6 -8PM ...you can then follow me into a crazy party on JOY99.7FM from 8 PM -12 AM...oh yeah,that's the way it is with His Blackness.............. and download my podcasts........it's amazing getting love from

Bangkok
Ohaka
Hongkong
Medan
Kualur lumpur
Jaipur
Muscat
Riyaam
Israel
Cairo
Greece
Hungary
Milano
France
Nottingham
Manchester
North Carolina
Newyork
Massachusetts
Kansas
Los angeles
Sanjose
Chile
Lome
Accra
Pretoria
Durban
Yemen
French Polynesia
Jakarta
surabaya

...yeah...the longest newsletter ever.....i BROKE THE RECORD ....LOL.... shout out to Akua Asiedu who keeps me on my toes to write newsletters and recently nana Brennya.....hope to hear from you...and till you hear from me in the next newsletter..PEACE !

ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER FLEX

Living in Accra depicts what Nkrumah screamed in his hoarse voice ....'freedom, freedom'.

yeah, give me the name of a country that has freedom like we do.

just try driving on our road on a monday or tuesday afternnon and you will encounter freedom of driving onto lanes without warning.freedom of selling on the road, making driving on the streets of Accra as synonymous as studying Whodini's tricks.

anyway, I am torn between going to Citizen Kofi and Aphrodisiac night club for my live radio show.

I have to bounce now. catch u guys later.

DJ BLACK ft Okyeame Kwame , tattoo and Obour

Check out my weekend show with these GH rappers at djblack.podomatic.com

The toontoom blog

What a 2 week schedule it has been.

First I wanna say thank you to all those who subscribe to the newsletter and my podcast. Shout out to akua asiedu for keeping me on my toes. You say I should name it monthly newsletter so I have renamed it.

Let me start of with a summary of my recent episodes. The Busta Rhyme show was good even though I felt it lacked the usual busta Rhymes energy, thanks for the life of Spliffstar who has always been the best hype man. I can’t imagine I was on my feet for 9 hours.

Last 2 weekends was quite interesting. My radio show was banging as usual and the Open house party at the mall was quite interesting. The rich and might-up-folk of Ghana thronged the mall and luckily danced to the music and performances from mensa,kubolor,lynx music,dblack,kwakuT(I like re-invention).

After the mall show, me and my crew headed to Citizen kOFI to hold it down. I finished my set and drove straight to Akropong for the odwira festival. We got there around 4:30am only to see Kwame Sefa Kayi and some other TV personalities seriously ‘winding’ to serious…….wait….for …….it………highlife..LOL….yeah, I could not believe my eyes. Sefa-kayi singin away like there was no tomorrow. What a weather. It was cool and felt like some ‘l0nd0n’ weather’

Well. We got invited by some royal son who made available some Johny walker for the morning. Waakye and sleeping in Accra made the day.

Last weekend was slow for me even though my radio shows was off the chain, much love to Burn for the products. My listeners love give-aways and so I gave it them.

I gots to bounce . I am currently listening to

Redman’s dare is a darkside album,

Shyheims the rugged child

Mobb deep Juvenile Hell

Jay-Z’s the blueprint 3

L.O.T.U.G here comes the lords

Hey, Whitney and kwadee are all out with new albums…he…..he….he..please check 'em out

Remember to buy the Ghana club bangerz mixtape out now !!

and please respond to this...thats the whole essence of writing to you guys.........(sorry about the bluntness)

Newsletter again

My fingers are as lazy as i feel, it feels just like my African leaders....lazy....and selfish...and without foresight(hope I don't get whisked away).

last weekend was quite a learning experience and fun for me. Busta rhymes finally decided to come over,performing infront of his GH fans and here I was chatting with SpliffStar on stage about wether we could share the botttle of Moet and Chandon.The concert was not bad, I could not believe my eyes at some of ur artistes miming away and expecting me to hail them. anyway,thats for another day.
All in all, the show went well,Busta ripped it with his aide-de-camp.I was sore after the show for I had had to stand on my feet from 5 pm- 2am, and a previous 3 hour practice set.

There will be a part 2 of Ghana Bangers in stores soon. its the mixtape revolution. Till then have a nice week, its a long weekend and I am not missing out.

DJ Black and Black prophet on Joy fm

DJ Black and Black prophet on Joy fm
Originally uploaded by toontoom

weekly newsletter

Hello members,

How was your weekend and your Monday? I have always hated Mondays especially if you are a disc-jockey living in sub Saharan Africa…….. well I have managed to get up from my bed and drive with an unwashed car to work.

I have been up to some things and have also observed some stuff going around. Its amazing the things you observe when you shut your mouth and just observe. Well Obama came with and all the pomp and glory(minus the simple attires which I loved). Can you imagine if the wife of the most powerful man on earth was from our parts of Africa? Hmmmm, let me adjust my seat…………………….. uh huh !!!

The head gear alone would take the skill and wit of a proper born and bred Yoruba woman to tie whilst the lace or aso oke (pls correct me my Naija peeps) would be filled with diamonds proper….but oh no…not Mrs Obama..if you don’t understand…..you can google madam Obama on the net.

Ghana club bangerz is out now,please go buy a copy…I need for you to hear what our people in Ghana and ‘overseas’ are doing. Silverbird(Accra mall), osu, Community 11, airport shells and Smoothys are the places to check…… I sure I am gonna be bombarding you with mixtapes on mixtapes….assorted…some white , some black…….with your help of course…we can a project the name of the GH high….

After the advert above…lets get back to our little talk..Last weekend with r2bees was not bad especially as I was in a good mood. One of my Open House party producer Amanda Jissih( Jesus as we call her) decided to let us have a real party in the studio so I had my tummy filled with pizza and hunters dry……I could just not keep the energy down.R2Beez and the crew were just on it ..Check it out at www.qik.com/toontoom and watch it as it happened….thanks to ayo technology ( whattup 50cent!) you can witness greatness as it happens and when it happens by often checking it out as I go about my daily mischief.
The Open house party will soon be live in your neighbor as soon as soon as the rains stop deceiving us.

Citizen Kofi has been off the hook and it is the best place to catch His blackness as he plays music to a mature audience who not only love Koll and the gang but swing to Jamie foxx’s blame it and wind to gongo aso….i tell you.. meet me there every Friday and Saturday from 12:30am – 4 am.

Its time to check out as I hear my Programs manager holla….
Please respond to this newsletter as I love reading your replies.

Meet me up on the radio
FRIDAY WEEKEND WARMER 8pm – 12 am
SATURDAY – OPEN HOUSE PARTY

Bye.

weekly newsletter

Hello ....How have you been? I have not sent you a newsletter in a while(guess it should be called the-blue-moon newsletters)......well I have been on the road 'chale', shows and shows....lemme fill you in as far as I can remember.


The past month has been hectic. My fellow big headed brother Bola sure was squirming in the seat , he didn't even wait for me to settle, he just upped and went on leave,leaving me to handle both DRIVE TIME which is on everyday 3-8pm. It's not a difficult slot but its time-consuming filled with interruptions, you know I like my sh** smooth and well spaced out.
Anyway, that's just me.

So during my time as the host I was under pressure from everybody ,my producers inclusive, I dreaded the call of Marcia my producer, cos she was just always on my case.making me read unimaginable things whilst clients ,my programs manager and General manager fussing if I attempted to, or played new music.

Then came the Bridal fair which saw me being whisked away to the AICC i.e Accra International conference center for a week........why..........? I had to do live transmissions from there(no wonder Bola timed his leave around June)....and it wasn't funny with a lingerie booth and beautiful ladies opposite you. it got confusing sometimes.

Last month also saw me take on a new responsibility....the DJ at Citizen Kofi.....the creme de la creme of Night clubs in the city.Enough said ,I am there every Friday and Saturday...come chill..........

Last weekend saw me interviewing Boris Kudjoe and his wife Nicole Ari Parker and Ibrahim sima and hosting Drive time again from the Ghana fashion weekend center at the AICC.

Its been busy......I am also happy to announce the newest member of blaqbone inc.. my man Stonebuoy.....be ready y'all !!.Please download my latest podcast which features stonebuoy and VIP tearing it off on the mic @ DJBLACK.PODOMATIC.COM and add some comments.

its amazing what you can do with the help of technology these days. Now you can follow me on WWW.QIK.COM/TONTOOM and watch me live from my cell phone as i STREAM SHOWS and interviews live . you can watch it straight on ya handset too.

sob sob.....this month we lost an icon..a legend .....it tore my heart in pieces when i heard it but hei what can you say when death comes knocking...bye bye Michael Jackson......

I hope I have filled your heart with enough fylla from my exploits....expect a new podcast this week which features Jay ghartey.

these are the words of a modern day Ghanaian DJ living in Accra.

how was yours?

Another day, another week, another sweat

We must be blessed as Africans. despite the woes and mischievous of foreign media propaganda, we manage to smile. despite the sunning moves of our leaders we continue to smile.
I just don't know why its so difficult to trade, move and go anywhere on the African continent, it beats my mind. Anyway, I guess I am just a bit mad at the ongoing meeting on the economy or something at Capetown.

The solution is simple, break the barriers, unify our economy,feed the people on our own resources. It beats my imagination why our leaders can't stand for their own people but kowtow to pressures from their foreign counterparts.

The belief that everything that comes from the west is good is neither here nor here.Everything comes from Africa, believe it or not(you are entitled to your own opinion).Why such attention on Africa, this is the continent that has been stripped of its wealth, strength ,knowledge, dignity, this is the continent where we supposedly don't have history because , they who are just interested in conquering by the sword,gun and bombs, or by giving the people freedom as they say have looted everything and burnt our libraries.

Isn't it amazing that when the Lord of Hosts, the Alpha and Omega, the one and only true God decided to create a garden, he chose Africa.Now you see why everything about us is mysterious and why the plunderers , the Vikings,The Britons,the Romans who now parade in suits instead of helmets ,swords and currently guns, aids and grants still strangle the life out of Africa and are still looking for the garden of Eden?

Yet despite all this we smile when the sun rises and dance when it sets. I am really proud as an African and a very dark one for that matter. We the youth should encourage our leaders to think for the continent,unify it and practice self dependence....... I have to end here and continue my ramblings later......I just got an important call.

Weekend return

I have been preparing hard for my return to the radio this week.With all the pile of songs on my shoulders,I wonder how I am gonna satisfy everyone, but you know your boy's got the flava so I'll sail through.

The Ghana music scene is bubbling with new music from Tiffany,Jayso,Skillions , Sarkodie( obidiponbidi), and with my dude PY holding it down on bless the mic, you definitely know the gods of Hiphop will smile down in us soon so that one of us will get to know where the key to unlock the International door is. lol. its true, I love my GH Rap, man. So , yeah , expect moe of that on the Open house party this Saturday.

of course, Friday will see me dropping old classics like blocks of cement(very heavy delivery).

As a DJ in sub-saharan Africa, I personally think we work extra hard than the rest of our brothers outside the region, you might not agree with me but link up DJ Kwame, DJ Mensa , DJ Ubeatz and ask them how they survive amidst slow internet connection,unavailability of a record store, DJ equipment store, etc.

Enough of ranting, hey, I am excited to blast ya mind with awesome ,unbelievable mixes this weekend, pleezbeleevedat !

you can listen to my radio shows this weekend fridays and saturdays 8pm GMT on www.myjoyonline.com

chills

I love vacations now and I appreciate it more.
everyone must have one, even if it is for 2 days.
any way pls check my diary on http://joyfm.myjoyonline.com/mrblack/diary/default.asp
and read all about my recent adventures.

Ghana these days

Its amazing how our politicians take us granted.
They just under estimate our intelligence.
In Africa , most politicians resort to money, bribes, deceit,
anything to get into the 4X4 cars that do not go through normal traffic
but whizz by, in a hurry to do....................... nothing.
It's the same rough, untarred roads that we ply every day
to work,to school, to labour.
Today, even having fun is scary
one false move, and your bag,or throat is slashed.
we don't feel safe anymore.
Production is slow.....we might never reach..vision 2020 or 2030
if we don't speed up things.
Doing that is so difficult, because it takes the average African between 30 minutes to an hour
to get to work.
Going through traffic, dodging humans, amidst unintelligible driving is the order of the day.

It's that era again, when the Vultures come knocking on our doors with sweet words,
honey and incense to lure our thumbs.

Be wise my people, we need a leader who is courageous, God-fearing, smart,one with good priorities .........we need a Leader.

It's only the almighty who can give us such a leader.

Well that's how I feel this morning so I felt like writing it. enjoy it, but please post some comments to encourage me , people !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE OBAMA EFFECT

Wow, I love Obama and the ideals he stands for but I am getting tired of 'Obama this, Obama that'' already.Let's get back to work. the chap himself says there's a lot to be done.

everyone should realize there's a lot to be done.I personally need to re-arrange a lot of stuff in my life,like my CD's. I need to convert all my CD's and LP's into mp3's, and its not funny,ask any DJ or music lover. as much its fun to discover a hidden classic,its sweaty and dusty too. its how you use the hidden gems that count.

I wish Obama well and to those who think manna is going to fall from heaven,think well for its gonna be sweaty,dusty and difficult but you will discover gems and hidden classics if you work hard.

I am back in the furious blogging mood so please come here often, I have a lot to say these days.

bye for now

Dj's words

I was listening to the BBC this morning, they were talking about short stories, the length of six word. Can it be also simple? If it is, then here is mine, Black pack your bags, leave now.

Let me tell you what’s been going on in the GH. These are the words of a modern Ghanaian DJ. I must say the African cup of nations was quite a spectacle, the whole world had cameras and satellites of all sorts focused on Ghana. It was all about colors, colors and colors. The Ghana flag did fly everywhere; it flew on cars, on hats, on faces, on t-shirts, on goats, and on babies who had no clue of what was going on. With all the noise about Ghana’s chances of lifting the Golden trophy on both local and international TV, radio, print, taxis and bars, the stalwart men, the Black stars could not, but they still brought a cup, it was just of a different color. If you are a Ghanaian reading this, you missed a whole lot of action, passion and crying. There were those proud Ghanaian moments when you just thanked the good lord that your flag indeed was a red, gold, and green with a black star in the middle. Anyway, the Pharaohs of Egypt took the trophy back for the sixth time. Congrats guys, you put a lot of balls in there.

I find it funny anytime head of states try to tell the nation what state it is in. you may disagree with me, but these dudes in power no nothing of the state of the nation. Last Saturday I was robbed at cutlass point and my hard earned iphone taken from me just like that. Reporting it to the police did not do anything, as I have still not got any call from the police to say, ‘Mr.Ampofo, we have the bandits in our custody, and your phone retrieved’. Instead the police man looked at us without a care in the world and it was as if we were disturbing him. Talk about the state of the nation. Robbery is on the rise, water and electricity supply is on the decline but we pride ourselves with these words-‘the future is bright’. Let’s all pray and hope that the Ghana we wish for will materialize.

Valentine is around the corner and surprisingly this year, the noise is non-existent. It’s as if the lovers in the GH are tired. With text messages and e-mails, people just don’t do cards anymore. I remember when Val’s day was such a fuss. Your ability to but the biggest teddy bear, or a huge card and a basket filled with all the sweet things in the world showed how romantic you are. If you made a mistake of sending just a card, you might be missing a partner afterwards. Anyway, I wish all of you a happy valentine’s day.

I will be back next week with all the ‘filla’ and juicy news of the weekend. Till then cheers