Gossip & Gists: Crisis In Davido’s HKN Gang - B Red, Sinarambo Might Leave Soon

Family isn’t everything after all…

E! 365 has gathered, from multiple sources, that there is major crisis in the HKN Gang; the popular record label that attained overwhelming fame and success in 2012 may have been bitten by the recent ‘break up’ bug and might lose two of it’s popular acts B Red and Sinarambo.

After working together as a music crew for close to a decade, there are very strong indications that popstar Davido ‘Davido‘ Adeleke is parting ways with his pop singing cousins (his father’s elder brother’s sons) and label mates, Bayo ‘B Red‘ Adeleke and Sina ‘Sinarambo‘ Adeleke.

E! 365 sources say tension has been building among the cousins for a while ‘but B Red and Sina have been playing it cool’. Apparently, the lesser known cousins now want out.

Sources tell us a big fight  allegedly ensued between Davido and cousins B Red and Sinarambo some weeks back in Atlanta – The cousins had accused Davido of not doing much for their careers as much as he should after they chose him as the label’s front line act. They also accused him of not giving them a chance to fully promote their new singles only to overshadow them at any given chance.

Flashback

Some years ago before Davido, B Red and Sinarambo relocated to Nigeria to fully pursue their music careers, the trio had been working in Altanta, US as a music crew called B International. Sinarambo was the frontline artiste with Davido only handling music production. B Red, a very talented drummer assisted with verses.

Then Davido began pursing a singing career seriously, broke out as a solo artiste and decided to return to Nigeria in 2010 to fully launch a music career. Starting off HKN Gang with his elder half-brother Adewale Adeleke aka Chairman HKN, they added (as only expected) B Red and Sinarambo to the team and approached M.I‘s manager Abuchi Ugwu to manage him.

Abuchi however turned down the offer (he is credited to mixing and mastering Davido’s monster hit song ‘Dami duro‘), Davido met up with a very enthusiastic Asa Asika (Asa in December 2012 parted ways with HKN) and well, the rest is history. The team planned to push Davido first, then Sinarambo and finally B Red.

Back To The Present

As we all know Davido’s music career skyrocketed with hit songs and a debut album ‘Omo Baba Olowo‘. He was immediately placed as an A-list artiste in Nigeria, topping charts, performing in different continents, winning awards, and bagging multi-million Naira endorsement deals.

‘Now that Davido has blown, it was Sinarambo and B red’s turn, but things didn’t seem to follow again‘, a source tells E! 365. ‘Every time Sina or B Red released a song or video, Davido would release his own music and somehow it overshadowed theirs’.

October 15, 2012 - Sinarambo releases his much anticipated first single-video ‘Ijo sina‘ feat Davido.

October 17, 2012 - Davido releases ‘Gbon gbon‘ off his ‘Omo Baba Olowo’ album.

February 8, 2013 - B Red releases first single ’Insane girl’ feat Davido.

February 25, 2013 - Davido releases controversial single ‘Gobe’.

Sources say the fight in Atlanta got physical after B Red and Sinarambo aggressively questioned Davido over the matter. ‘The fight damaged property in their ATL home, it started in the car and continued in the house‘.

Davido then traveled to Houston during the All star weekend to perform alongside Nas. He later traveled back to Nigeria and headed straight to Ghana for a performance.

Sources say, Sina and B Red were stuck in Atlanta (B Red has since returned while Sina is still in Atlanta). Davido’s father, we learn is now aware of the fight and has extricated the cousins. B Red we are told has also moved out of Davido’s house.

The ‘Insane girl’ singer who is Davido’s official hype man was missing at Davido’s side at two recent campus performances in the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Ibadan (UI). He also didn’t attend Davido’s mum’s remembrance ceremony.

But Davido’s new manager Kamal (one of the guys who Dr SID says was present when he had that leaked conversation with Davido) says we shouldn’t fret. ‘There’s no problem in HKN, Sina is working with some people in ATL at the moment and B Red is cool with Davido’, Kamal told our reporter in a telephone conversation.

In related news, it is being reported that Davido has signed a upcoming pop singers Ghanaian act Deekay and Nigerian act Danagog. This could not be confirmed as Kamal could not be reached via telephone.

Gossip & Gists: Crisis At Inspiration FM As Chaz B, Shola Thompson, Oscar, Others Leave And Reasons For Mass Resignation

Bad news for struggling Lagos based radio station Inspiration FM 92.3 and its many listeners as a mass exodus of top staff might be ruining the year for them.

Shola Thompson, FoluStorm and Chaz B have all left Inspiration FM 92.3

E! 365 has discovered that a healthy number of workers including top radio presenters like Charles ‘Chaz B’ Bruce, Shola Thompson, Ada ‘Folustorm’ Ogunkeye and Shayo have all left the Victoria Island based station since February.

Insiders tell us the staff who left were very displeased with the way management ran the radio station and were practically fed up.

According to those who spoke with E! 365, the company, owned by disgraced former MD of defunct Intercontinental Bank Erastus Akingbola was ‘no longer moving in the right direction’.

It’s over two years now since founding GM Wale Ewedemi left the station and E! 365 sources say some of the issues of that time still prevail, including external influence and, allegedly, a domineering management.

‘There are too many friends of Akingbola on the board that are doing nothing, they just sit there and make tacky decisions’, a staff who’d rather remain anonymous told E! 365 over the weekend.

‘There were many ideas the staff would bring up, innovative ideas but they’d always play it down. It became too frustrating for some so I don’t blame those who left. They often acted completely clueless’.

Popular and seasoned OAP Shola Thompson who left the station for good in February (a few days after returning from his official leave) says the station’s management seemed not to have new ideas to take the station to the next level.

‘I don’t understand why we couldn’t take the station to the next level, we kept coming up with ideas and every single one we brought got shot down’, the former Rhythm FM OAP told E! 365 over the phone. Thompson had been made ‘Head of Programmes’ while senior colleague Chaz B was away on medical treatment.

Chaz B also left this March, sources say, for same reasons. The presenter who anchors the very popular show ‘Sharing Life Issues’ opened up on how he left Inspiration. Explaining to his fans via Facebook he revealed that he gave a 30 day notice of resignation on March 1, 2013 with the intention to leave April 1, 2013 for his official vacation.

He was however shocked when the ‘Chairman’ told management on March 4, to pay him off and relieve him of his duties the very next day (March 5) and asked to leave the premises immediately.

‘I want all of you to know that I miss you and that I love you very much. I would NEVER just leave you the way it happened. However, look out for bigger and better things to come. I promise you’ll be hearing from me again on a much wider platform. Remain blessed’, Chaz wrote in a touching note to his many fans.

Folustorms who temporarily got her face on cable TV as a top finalist at the recently held MTV Base VJ Search has also thrown in the towel. ‘She’s got a bigger deal somewhere, what is she staying back for?’, a friend close to her told E! 365.

Another person who said ‘bye-bye’ last February is Shayo due to a conflict of interest. The sports analyst anchored the Sports Edge program. Apparently, Shayo was an anchor on a syndicated show that ran on other stations. The management weren’t pleased with this.

‘I’m fine with Inspiration. I’m moving on to achieve my personal goals. If I’m still there, I wouldn’t move on. Now I’m out, I can focus more on my events planning. It was a personal decision to leave’, Shayo told E! 365.

And another OAP Gbemileke ‘Oscar’ Oyinsan who has been with Inspiration for many years, has also left. He’s now pitched his tent with City FM as head of programmes.

Sources say another reason why the station hasn’t been able to breakthrough is that its brand  is constantly being seen as a Gospel radio station. A huge part of that ‘blame’, those who spoke to us insist, goes to Dan Foster.

‘Dan brought this whole gospel feel to the station and made it quite popular, so people think the station is gospel-themed which is not.  Now, because he is an ‘oyinbo’ man, the management can’t lay a finger on him’, another staff says.

Dan is one of the highest-paid OAPs in Nigeria. He moved from Cool FM to Inspiration on a N12m per annum deal, along with official residence and choice car.

We also spoke to an OAP who’s still working there. Wana Udobang says ‘everybody has a right to make decisions. We all have different paths, so I wish everybody the best’.

All calls and text messages directed to one of the station’s directors, veteran broadcaster Soni Irabor were not responded to as at Sunday. The station also failed to respond to email enquiries. But we confirmed that they’ve already started auditioning for new talent to take over from the departed staff…