This Friday's Free Downloads | Featuring: G-Blaze Ashafa, Okey Sokay, Samsong, Midnight Crew

How was your week? Believe it or not, this is the last week in March.  Next week, we will welcome April.  No April Fool's jokes, please.  Why did I mention it now?

For today's downloads, we are back in Nigeria.  Our artistes are based in Nigeria, and we start our journey in the North, i.e. Kaduna.

G-Blaze Ashafa - Muna Roko

G-Blaze Ashafa // ReverbNation

This Friday's Free Downloads | Featuring: Samsong, Nikki Laoye, Marx Okereke and Frank Edwards

Have you missed me? I have certainly missed you! And I can't wait to get started *rubs hands together in glee*

Can you believe it is March already? I can't.  And this is the very first batch in this series for 2013.  *yawns* Okay, okay.  Let me get to it already.

Samsong - Blame it on Tha Most High 

Samsong's 2012 single, Blame it on Tha Most High, is remarkably different from the mostly R & B type songs that this artiste is known for.  This one has more of a pop, funk feel to it.  But, change is good, and he pulls this off in his usual easy-going "I-make-this-look-so-easy" way.

Samsong // Facebook

No means NO | Featured Artiste: KingJames


[Picture from HERE]
I don't know how many ways a person can say "NO" to get the message across.  But for the sake of sanity, let's assume that No means NO! In case you were wondering, I am referring to that dirty word, 'Rape.'  However way you define it, it is non-consensual sex, i.e. whether the victim is a man or a woman, if he or she did not consent to the act, it is rape.

While I don't want to make this post an all-encompassing "let's-discuss-every-possible-aspect-of-rape" post, there is one particular excuse I have heard, one particular justification that irks me to no end, i.e. the victim was dressed provocatively.  I mean, COME ON! Even if a person walks around the streets stark naked, you cannot and should not use that as an excuse to justify rape.  I am all for decency in dressing (more on that later) and really advocate dressing the way you would want to be addressed (cheesy, I know, but you get my point), but we live in a diverse world and we are not all on the same moral frequency.  If a woman (or man) says NO, just assume that the person really means NO and don't go any further.

Misprints of a Recipe | Featured Artiste: Samsong


[Picture from HERE]

No, I am not about to launch into a detailed recipe for 3 ways to prepare garden egg (Does anyone actually "cook" garden egg? *curious*) or how to make guava pie for Thanksgiving. The title was inspired by a section from H. L. A Hart's "The  Concept of Law" where he discusses mechanical jurisprudence.  Without boring you with the details, I thought of that phrase again with respect to the education plan for Nigeria.
Apart from the infamous "6-3-3-4" system, I wonder if the current educational system was constructed with the Nigerian child in mind.  While I do not advocate re-inventing the wheel, there surely is a need to tailor the educational system to fit the unique needs of the Nigerian child while still making him/her competitive at the international level.

You see, I am not saying anything new, neither am I even referring to something Nigerians in general have not thought about and even debated.  At some point, we did have a system that worked, with degrees from our universities such as the University of Ibadan being recognized as solid and respected degrees due to the rigorous training and instruction that was given to students before they graduated.  I don't believe in lamenting about the "good old days" because I believe there are better days ahead, but we absolutely have to figure out what went wrong and learn from past mistakes before we can hope to make any progress in the future.