Sun is out and so are we!!

Fine people it’s been a while! You’re asking ‘Where we’ve been?’

Well we’ll get to that but the question you should be asking is where in East London can you buy Proud to be African T shirts, sweatshirts, hoodys and baby clothes?

Aha so you see we have not been resting but now we’re back blogging again! As the cold weather subsides, we warm blooded creatures re-emerge to enjoy ourselves and resume the round of events and markets that are popping up again.

So to recent events and happenings, we were at the Mama Afrika Kulcha Shap Sunday Market this past Sunday at 282 High Road, Leyton, where we are happy to announce you can purchase Proud to be African T shirts, hoodys and baby clothes there!!! As our first retail outlet in East London, we’re really glad to have this connection to such an important and iconic establishment onside, I look forward to supporting them in their work particularly around education and young people.

Following on from that we attended Culture 2012 at the behest of the Nigerian Student Society of the University of Hertfordshire on Tuesday 27^th . This high profile event held at the Forum on campus featured comedian Efex, traditional dances, music performances and a beauty show.

On Thursday we shall be continuing our educational round robin at the University of Surrey ACs’s AfroFusion Cultural Show, which will take place at 6.30pm at the Rubix, The University of Surrey Students Union (USSU), Stag Hill, Guildford, GU2 7XH, this event will combine performances, food, drink (fine fine girls as ever!) and fashion. You see as the sun has come out so have the good things!!

On Saturday there is the Barts and London University ACS, AfrodisiaRe:Loaded at the De Nollywood Restaurant, 319 Camberwell Road, SE5 0HQ, with a fashion show and cultural event from 7pm to 9pm. This is a charity cultural showcase in aid of the African and Caribbean Leukaemia trust (ACLT) and Touch of Light, charity for the blind in Ghana.

On Saturday evening is the Afro TV Launch Party at 6pm at Hilton Hotel, 146 Praed Street, Paddington, W2 1EE

Having done the rounds of the next generation of the African middle class, next week will decidedly different!!

Hello sunshine!

My Two Songs of Christmas- Vocal Slender and Dare Sweet Videos!!

You know the song, 12 days of Christmas? Well me I have the two songs of Christmas, because Proud to be African Clothings T shirts and hoodys were featured in not just one but two music videos!

Earlier this year we hooked up with Vocal Slender (Eric Obuh) of the BBC documentary ‘Welcome to Lagos’ fame, this young man through his drive, ambition and infectious smile kind of encapsulated for me all the greatness of Nigeria, which doesn’t lie in our oil, agriculture, size or population but is the abilities of our people to work hard and keep going despite all the odds and oddities life throws at us.

Since that documentary Vocal Slender released his first track ‘Owo Yapa’, and toured the UK twice.

Now he has come out with his latest creation ‘Konto’ which is already sweeping the clubs in Naija.

Featuring prominently in the video is the Proud to beNigerian T shirt, when I met up with vocal in London he promised to wear it in his next video, I wasn’t sure how it would come out but its a perfect illustration of all that Proud to be African is about, a good quality product that’s accessible to all, truly makes me Proud to be Nigerian!!

The second video is again so in keeping with the central themes of Proud to be African of giving the diaspora a distinct voice, the track is ‘You Rock me bad’ a song by Sweden based Nigerian sensation Dare Sweet, this singer/ songwriter is a member of Executive All Stars alongside Kenny Blaze and Tone, they are based in Stockholm and have already built up a strong following there as the video for the first club track shows. Kenny Blaze fell in love with Proud To Be African T shirt and Born in the UK Made in AfricaHoody, which all feature in the brilliant video. We look forward to hosting them on their London visit

This will be the last blog post for 2011, thanks for making this such an exciting year, I couldn’t be signing off on a better note, Merry Christmas and see you in the excellent New Year!!

Proud to be African Clothing’s First Anniversary!! 15% off all items online!!

Proud To Be African Clothing is marking its first year of business with a 15% online discount (code at bottom) for all customers on all purchases!!

Proud to be African Clothing has had a crazy tumultuous year since concept and start up in December 2010, to trading in July 2011, watching sales increase monthly and our brand awareness grow and grow.

During this period we were nominated for the New Business Award at the Black Business (BB) Awards in October, collaborated with rising jazz star Femi Temowo on his second album launch, with BBC3 ‘Welcome to Lagos’ star Vocal Slender, actress, singer and poet Oneness Sankara, UK hip hop legend Ty, Estelle, FOKN Bois, Nigerian grime artist and underground sensation Afrikan Boy, Nollywood producer Obi Emeleonye and many many others who have supported, appreciated and represented the brand.

Our first line of male and female T shirts and hoodys with the Proud to be African logo, Afrobeat tribute and Born in the UK Made in Africa logo, have found a strong resonance not just with people of African descent in the diaspora but with a wide variety of people, it is often surprising to us that at some of the events and markets we attend, the greatest enthusiast are actually from Asia, the middle east or Europe, who all seem to love the designs and resonate with the message.

As summer turned to autumn we branched out with sweatshirts and poloshirts and to commemorate Nigeria’s Independence Day in October a line of Proud to be Nigerian hoodys, T shirts, and sweatshirts.

Our T shirts are still made from 100% reactive dyed cotton with male crew neck style T shirts and fitted female T shirts, the baby’s and children’s clothing is made from 100% organic ethical cotton from Tanzania and fits kids from 0-18 months (for babygros) and 2 to 12 years (T shirts)
Bigger and better things are promised for next year, with more African National day tributes, more designs and more offers and events.

We’d like to thank the various people who have supported us, Ty, Afrikan Boy, Estelle, Caroline and Greg for photography, Nathaniel, Fayola, Bimpe, Ayo and Fatimatou for modelling, WOMATT, The Shrine, Afro News for the lovely article, Chinelle and Amaechi of Africa Rocks Expo, Kiskirine Events, Open the Gate Dalston, Bola Agbaje, Inua Ellams, Tayo Fatunla, 100 Black Men of London and so many others but most importantly our fans and customers
To show our appreciation we are giving everyone a 20% discount on the website with the code LEWI15 from 5th December 2011 to 9th January 2012.


Have an extra merry Christmas and a Super Groovy New Year!!!!!

The Shrine-Ty, Estelle and Afrikan Boy at Rich Mix

Estelle-Proud to be African

Born in the UK Made in Africa is not just a catchy slogan but the reality for many of us of African diaspora, some of us are literally Born in the UK and then grow up in Africa whilst others just grow up in African households, a comment I get a lot is why don’t the T shirts or sweatshirts say ‘Born in Africa, made in the UK’? Well other than a load of practical stock management reasons it just doesn’t seem catchy enough. However this weekend we met the 2 people who fit both descriptions.

Ty-Born in the Uk Made in Africa

Ty is a British Hip hop artist with 4 studio albums and collaborations with everyone from Tony Allen to De La Soul. He was born in the UK to a Nigerian family and in his own words was ‘the first to rep the N-IG-!’ on Friday at the Shrine at Rich Mix he headlined alongside Afrikan Boy also known as Olushola  Ajose, who was born in Nigeria and then came to the UK rapidly building up a following on the grime scene with his tune ‘One day I went to Lidl’ followed by his collaborations with M.I.A.

Ty backed by his yellow clad DJ got the crowd swaying and dancing to tracks and was well in the swing of things when who should walk in but Estelle, he dragged her on stage to massive applause. He finished his set with a humorous tale possibly setting stall for a side career as a comedian!

Afrikan Boy- Thanking Jesus!

Afrikan Boy followed with tracks from his new EP Lagos Town. Stand out tunes were the tribute to Da Grin and his final tune ‘Kunta Kinte’, with the immortal lines

“My name is Kunta Kinte,

I don’t drive a hummer,

but I’ve got many whips from my old slave master,

Praise be to Allah, thank Jesus for Obama,

they can never change my name to Toby or whatever....but I go dance!”

 Powerful stuff abi!

For Proud to be African Clothing it was a bumper night with Estelle buying hoodys for all her crew and Ty and Afrikan Boy kitting themselves out with T shirts and hoodys.

All in all a great night for music and a great night for PTBA.

This week and the Weekend

This week sees Proud to be African Clothing at the African Caribbean Business Network 11^th Annual Conference  at the BT Auditorium, 81 Newgate Street, EC1A 7A on Tuesday 6^th December. This will be focussed on Contacts for Contracts the Olympics, with seminars for small businesses on how to profit from the Olympics

Friday the 9^th sees two excellent events, at The Tabernacle, Powis Square, WOM@TT (World Music at the Tabernacle) at 7pm presents Best of British Awards Breakthrough 2011 with Bumi Thomas and Asheber and  The Afrikan Revolution in association with Carnival Village, Colourful, Afropop Live and KMT. Its £10.00 on the door or £8.00 in advance, don’t miss this chance to see these excellent musical talents!

Bumi Thomas is an inspiring singer/composer who has made large strides this past year sharing the stage with such artists as Sona Jobarteh , while Asheber   is an innovative and mutil talented producer, musician, workshop leader and community activist.

On the other side of London at 9pm at the Babalou Bar St. Matthews Church Brixton Hill, SW2 1JF in Brixton, El Crisis presents the Dark Sea Scrolls, 9 artists with 9 minutes to perform, these are always excellent events with spoken word, singers, drummers, DJ’s and comedians getting up and performing in an excellent intimate setting. 9 minutes sometimes stretches to 30 but that’s all the groove! headlining is the legendary Hip Hop pioneer, Jonzi D. There is also award winning poet Kat Francois, powerful singer songwriter and poet FLOetic LARA, Lyrical comedic rhyming master Miraculous as well as Hayereyah Pure Feminien Energy, Cerebral Hyper, Ma’ankha Baast and word and drama groupSilhouettz in the Dark. All of this with KMT on the decks as well! £9.00 less in advance on the door, last one for the year so get involved.

Again on the same day the Igbo Cultural and Social network (ICSN) will be holding their ChristmasParty at 9pm at Biagio, Bankside, 32 Southwark Bridge Road, If we are looking for fine, fine Naija girls and cool Naija boys then you need to be there, apparently their going to party like its your birthday! Early bird tickets are £5.00, £10.00 on the door.

Friday is not going to be easy for me as you can see, but Saturday is worse!!!!

Saturday the 10^th of December is equally jampacked between 11am and 5 pm the Hackney ChristmasMarket will be taking place at the Stoke Newington Town Hall, Stoke Newington Church Street,N16 0JR, its free entry to get in and will see a variety of stalls from fashion, food, arts, music etc, this highly popular local event is building on past reviews and extends over the Saturday and Sunday, its free entry so if you are passing through Hackney, come buy say hello and grab a hoody to keep out the cold!

In the afternoon the Akhaya Cookery School will be holding their Akhaya African Christmas Fair as well in Tottenham Green Enterprise Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, N15 4RX. In addition to the obvious food related stalls and activities there will be hampers for purchase. It starts at 2pm and finishes at 8pm and is free entry.

At 6pm AJAMU will host their 5^th Year Anniversary at the Chesnuts Community Centre, 280 St Anns Road, N15 5BN, this event will be full of music, poetry, stalls, food and entertainment from Oneness Sankara, Mangaliso Asi, King 'Le Cha' Lion, Maskelah, Silas Zephania and Vibs.

Also at 6pm Eagle House Ministries will be hosting Feed the Lamb Charity Fashion Show at 24 Wandle Way, Mitcham, CR4 4NB. This show aims to raise money to rebuild a school in Ghana, entry is £5.00, please support this excellent cause

Sunday sees day 2 of the Hackney Christmas Market as well as Renessence 360 from 12-5pm at Scandals, 82-84 Norwood High Street, West Norwood, SE27 9NW an event for small businesses to showcase their goods in the pre Christmas shopping rush

All in all  very busy weekend again, you have no excuse to dodge us this time! Come over to Hackney, Mitcham, Norwood or wherever and say hello.

Hopefully there's enough here to warm you up and turn your winter into Harmattan!!

Back to the South

Emmanuel Idowu

Another day another waka. I spent Saturday at UEL selling Proud to be Nigerian sweatshirts and hoodys and Born in the UK Made in Nigeria T shirts and sweatshirts at the Nigerian Student Union UK launch.

Alongside all the hoopla and extravaganza I met Emmanuel Idowu the man behind the Naija ‘What's my name (Pounded Yam) Remix'.

Considering I pissed myself laughing (not literally oh abeg) watching that video I went into crazed fan mode when I recognised him.

It turns out Emmanuel is not actually a comedian but a professional actor with credits in Elminas Kitchen, Doctors, Holby City and so on with an upcoming parts in which he plays a Nigerian and also got the producers to play Wizkids tracks as well! Very Proud to be Nigerian on that one, we look forward to Emmanuel’s new work coming out and seeing his work blossom, one day as he’s receiving his Oscar I’ll be reminding him about ‘Pounded Yam’!

Afrikan Boy

Nurture 1^st Foundation held their fundraising party at the Funky Brown, Crouch End, well attended with prizes from Proud to be African Clothing, Lekan and Krispy Kreme. Next week we will be wandering and perambulating again.

Friday will see us at Rich Mix, 35–47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA where The Shrine presents 2 giants of UK/ Nigerian hip hop Ty and Afrikan Boy supported by Nogabe Randriaharimalala, Max Reinhardt and DJ Juls.

 Afrikan Boy otherwise known as Olushola Ajose has risen to prominence first with his underground track ‘One day I went to Lidl’ and his partnership with M.I.A. on her album Kala, this June he released his mixtape ‘What Took You So Long’ on his website.

Ty

Ty as we all know is one of the most innovative rappers on the scene with 4 studio albums, numerous collaborations and an ability to mix wicked beats with thought provoking lyrics as well as always repping Nigeria, (check out the tune ‘Jekelewa’ with Tony Allen), he’ll be wowing the crowd at Rich Mix.

A night to look forward to, £6.00 in advance and £10.00 on the door,  you can’t get more Born in the UK Made in Africa than this!!!!

Saturday the 4^th December sees AfridiziakGifts and Occasions Christmas Shopping Boutique on the 1st Floor and 2nd Floor, at The Bussey Building, CLF Art Cafe, 133 Rye Lane, SE15 4ST, this Christmas market will start at midday and end at 7pm and involves retailers selling culturally inspired gifts for men, women, and children including hair and beauty products, books, toys, educational gifts, paintings, jewellery, accessories, bags, clothing, gifts for the home and greeting cards too.

There’s lot of free stuff as well either a mini cup cake by The Fancy Baker, a mini Dee’s Luxury Jamaican Rum cake or a small cup of warm sorrel to the first 50 shoppers. There will be lots of children’s stuff, complimentary face-painting for the first 25 children by Estar Artistics and free card making workshops by Strange Fruit

The winner of the best card design will receive a family ticket to see Cinderella at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) will be in residence with a raffle draw by Jimmy Akingbola  of Holby City and  Rev actor and ACLT supporter at 4pm.

Afterwards at 7pm to 2am there’s the after party however PTBA will be at the eLook Casting and Dre Designs Website Launch and Sickle Cell Charity Fund Raiser at Portobello Earl, 36 Golborne Road, North Kensington, W10 5PR. The event starts at 7pm, with the fashion show starting at 8pm, followed by a launch party, raffle with plenty, plenty giveaways. £5 all night!

Lewisham Market will also be hosting a Christmas Market on the High Street which we hope to be attending

You people have been buying hoodys at such a rate that I’m out of stock of Large Black and Greys but don’t worry more are on order.

See you in South London this weekend

Nigerian Students and Nurture 1st

When you wear a hoody with Proud to be African on it or a sweatshirt with Born in the UK, Made in Nigeria, it kind of drops a broad hint as to what your about and where you’re from, so it is a little bit surprising that at an event last week someone decided to engage me in conversation in fluent German.  As my Deutcsh is limited to ‘Ja’ and ‘nein’ (those school boy comics) this was not just a surprise but a rather awkward moment.

So I will start with a hello, move on to a jambo and follow up with a sannu!

After the British Youth Achievement  Awards last Saturday at the Jurys Inn Hotel, Croydon, and Natural November event at the Africa Centre we spent the week checking stock and consolidating but this weekend.

I’m in Naija mode again because Saturday sees the grand launch of the Nigerian  Students Union of the UK (NSUUK).  This event marks the start of an organisation that will be the umbrella (or is that umbullerra?) organisation for the various Nigerian student Unions around the country. The jam packed event will see business and networking (na Naija people after all, business first!), a fashion show and entertainment and key note speeches by invited guests such as the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK Dr Dalhatu Tafida, Dr Olusegun Mimiko (Ogun State Governor) and Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi Federal Minister for Youth Development. This FREE event starts at 11am on Saturday the 26^th November and is being held at the Docklands Campus of the University of East London (UEL), Room 2, Ground Floor, 4-6 University Way, London, E16 2RD.

Proud to be African Clothing will be there selling and grooving so make una bring money!

Later on that evening at 9.30pm the Nurture 1st Foundation will be holding, their  launch at Funky Brown, 5 Tottenham Lane, Crouch End, N8 9DJ.

Proud to be African Clothing is always seeking out organisations that talk less and do more and Nurture 1st is one of these, having set up a school in Obigbo, Rivers State and is providing, education and training for 520 school children ranging from nursery to secondary school level, with 205 children on full scholarship and is supplied with uniform and books.

In addition to a Head Teacher the school has 15 teachers, 2 lab assistants, a nurse, a bus driver and 4 security men. Everything is provided by the charitable donations of the members and through fundraising events such as this, so please turn up show support at 9.30pm at Funky Browns, Crouch End, tickets are £10.00 and there will be DJ’s, Male and Female Auction, Raffles and Prize giving

This night is part of their fundraising efforts and alongside a wide range of entertainment they will be selling some items. Funky Brown is right next to Hornsey Rail station

On Sunday we will be back in North London for the 1st Annual Ghana-UK Fashion Show-. This is taking place at RS Lounge, 20 Woodford New Road, E17 3PR and will see top African designers all under one roof, tickets are available from Bongo Bar, Kumasi Market and Kenkey House

Other events we have an interest in are TedX Euston on Saturday, unfortunately tickets are sold out but this fascinating event with a focus on Africa will be taking place at Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), 66, Portland Place, W1B 1AD London. The theme is ‘Inspiring Ideas about Africa’ and will feature great presentations from people such as Lola Shoneyin, Femi Temowo, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Paula Akugizibwe, Rt. Hon Paul Boateng MP, Arnold Ekpe and so many others.

Saturday evening at the New Empowering Church Dalston, Dele Sosimi will be demonstrating that Afrobeat never die, with his Afrobeat Vibration Sessions.

Last week’s events were hectic enough but as you can see we will be running around trying to be in as many places as possible, if you see me and you are the first person to tell me who wrote ‘Things fall apart’ I will give you a free T shirt.

A Colon and a Bracket aka Dat Facebook Song Single Launch

Oneness Sankara launched her new single ‘A Colon and a Bracket aka Dat Facebook Song’ at the Tabernacle, Powis Square this Friday, complete with Ty, JonziD, LyricL, Geniyo, Best Kept Secret and dancers dressed in Proud to be African Clothings finest attire!

The single launch by the renowned spoken word poet, songstress, actress, director and song writer saw performances by various luminaries of the Spoken word and hip hop scene.

The show was hosted by JonziD and kicked off with a moving performance by Nigerian/British hip hop/ spoken word performer LyricL entitled ‘Daddy Does’.

Best Kept Secret Collective

The three male elements of the Best Kept Secret Collective, with each dressed all in white approaching the stage from different parts of the hall in starting with AmeN NoiR then Tuggs.t.a.r ending with ShakaRa.

Each performed a spoken word piece ending up with Oneness making her first appearance on stage also dressed in white at the end of Tuggs.t.a.r’s contribution, where she gave an interesting interpretation of Angie Stone’s ‘Brotha’ sharing her love for her poetic bretheren.

JonziD then introduced the legendary UK hip hop performer Ty, the former Mercury prize nominee didn’t disappoint launching into a hilarious story that most Nigerian kids can relate to of his stern fathers' attempt at giving them a colour television, suffice to say as a typical Nigerian father his solutions were not quite what you’d think.

He then launched into an acapella rap on that touched on the immigrant experience with all the verve one would expect.

The interval was characterised not just by frenetic selling by the various stall holders but also by a game where people went around sticking ‘Like’ stickers ala Facebook, taking photos and emailing them in.

The second half started with Oneness backed by her all female band and two backing singers, she began with Hair a paean to black women’s hair (yes that again!!), following up with I love you accompanied by a touching dance by two dancers poking each other. This hauntingly poignant tune seemed to resonate with alot of the audience, a tale of love gone sour.

A humorous interlude spoof with a faux Skype conversation was alongside a lovely hymn to her home island of Grenada.

The gig was characterised of by several brilliant interpretations of standards, such as Bob Marleys ‘No Woman No Cry’,with Trenchtown becoming Tottenham!

Oneness with Geniyo, wonder what the girls kept screaming about?

 An even greater crowd pleaser was the duet with brilliant singer/ songwriter Geniyo of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgeralds ‘Baby its cold outside’, fleshing out  this story of romantic temptation, with a back story of how she met 
the warmth seeking lothario in the first place, attempting to involve the ladies in the audience in the decision making process. As most of the women seemed to cheer spontaneously every time Geniyo sang, methinks there was an element of hypocrisy in them telling her to go home!

Oneness ended up with the reason we were all there, the ‘Colon and a Bracket song’ a take on the current Facebook obsession, (obviously I can’t comment on that!), this catchy finale was made all the better by the spontaneous Electric slide performed at the end by ShakaRa, AmenNoir, JonziD and the dancers.

A Colon and a Bracket is available here