TOP 5 HIGHLIGHTS OF 2014

2014 was the year I did my first interviews with international musicians and athletes, it’s also the year I learnt to be comfortable with how I look and sound in front of the camera. The tipping point came when I split my mind to create a new on camera personality named $kinny Mo’, he’s crazy, he’s weird and he wants to take over the world.

There were very good moments, and a few bad ones like when I was violently attacked and robbed of my brand new Nikon DSLR camera while an armed security guard watched on and coward in fear in his patrol car. Damn, I get high blood pressure just thinking about that.  

Merked in the 'Burbs made headlines on Mahala magazine

There were also many sleepless nights I spent staring at the ceiling wishing I could get more recognition and better payment for my hard work.

But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the greatest talk show hosts and entertainment reporters didn’t become legends overnight. That’s why I’m so excited about 2015, I expect it to be the year my stuff goes viral and my bank account bloats as a result.

Here are my 5 best highlights of 2014 in descending order; I just get high from the nostalgia J  

5: Eminem in Joburg

The only reason why this isn’t at number 1 is cos media wasn’t even allowed to photograph him live, let alone do a press conference or one on one interview. WHY EMINEM WHY?! Oh well, I still got to see him rap live, I even shed a tear or two when he performed Stan and The Way I Am. Read my earlier blog, Eminem in South Africa for the detailed review.

4: Red Bull X-Fighters invading the Union Buildings

That's me and the crazy + cocky Adam Jones, the US rider who finished 3rd. Respect bro!

Take the Union Buildings lawns in Pretoria, add more than 10 000 tons of Martian red soil, a dozen (FMX) freestyle motocross riders from different countries doing weird sounding daredevil tricks on their dirt bikes and you more or less got a picture of  what the Red Bull X-Fighters looked like. The media pit was right in front of the track, so we got some up-close footage of the death defying stunts. Not to mention a good taste of the dirt spewed out by the riders’ wheels, yummy. The X-Fighters were so successful that they are coming back again to the Union Buildings this year, I’ll drink a Red Bull to that. Here is my interview with the US and Aussieriders plus Nick De Wit, the only South African competing in the event.  

3. Denise and Pam’s outfits at the Channel O Awards

It’s 2015 and people still talking about what actresses Denise Zimba and Pam Andrews were wearing, or rather barely wore at the 2014 Channel O Africa Music Video Awards.  I nearly slipped on my own puddle of drool when I saw that cheeky clit ring protruding out of Pam’s snatch which her black lace dress didn’t do well in concealing. Then my eyeballs popped out of their sockets when I saw Denise’s flawless bum cheeks wiggling like jelly through her dress which was also a black see through ensemble, er, coincidence? You can actually hear me stutter and see me swallowing a few times while interviewing both ladies, may the gods have mercy on me for lusting like this, but can we have a threesome girls?

Me: Are you a nudist? Pam: Oh yes I'm a very big nudist!

2. Interviewing Crystal Fighters from London

Sebastian and Gilbert are some of the band members from one of London’s leading alternative rock bands, Crystal Fighters. Sure, they both seriously need a haircut, but what they must definitely not loose is their extreme sense of humility and respect for all living creatures from humans to birds to trees. How many white people have you heard saying stuff like, “we are glad to be in SA, the birthplace of humanity?”True hippies indeed, after the interviews they shared some cold beverages with us, then we got to watch them climb trees and they got really high ;) Check out my interview with Crystal Fighters on Channel MK...

1   1.Meeting Big Sean

It was my first time inside the ultra-luxurious, 6 star, Michelangelo Towers hotel in Sandton, we caught an elevator up to the super expensive suites near the top floors, waited a few minutes and then boom, one of Kanye West’s best protégés Big Sean came down to have an interview with me. Despite his gigantic gold rings, chains, Rolex watch he was incredibly friendly, the exact opposite of the arrogant douche bag I perceived him to be.

Click on this caption to view the Rolling Stone SA interview 

Just a day earlier, i got into a physical altercation with SA’s most infamously arrogant rapper AKA and his dick riders, ironically he was Sean’s opening act yet acted like the night was all about him, this is the same hypocrite who complains about the poor respect local musicians get when opening for international stars like Big Sean, er, maybe its cos musicians like you are assholes!  Enough talk about girls… I was hella nervous, and fumbled a lot during the Big Sean interview but ever since, my confidence in front of the camera has skyrocketed and $kinny Mo was eventually born as a resultant. My first interview of the year, my first international interviewee, is also my number 1 highlight of 2014. Love you Sean, NO HOMO!  

View the I Speak Hip Hop interview here

WHAT WERE THE MOST EXCITING HIGHLIGHTS FOR YOU IN 2014?

Africa's Own Evil Knievel

*This story is in the current August 2014 edition of Indwe, inflight magazine for SA Express Airways. Read the online version here

I’m interviewing ‘Sick Nick’ De Wit, world number five and Africa’s number one ranked FMX (Freestyle Motocross) champion at a coffee shop in Hatfield, Pretoria. I’m asking the 33 year old Joburger if he ever gets scared of crashing while doing summersaults on his dirt bike and ending up paralyzed or dead. His reply stings like a back hand klap across the Grim Reapers face.   

“If you’re going to die, you’re going to die, don’t let fear of death stop you from achieving your destiny.” He pauses to take a sip from his frothy coffee, locking eyes with me, as if examining if his answer unnerved me somehow…It did, and I think he noticed. “You have to be extremely cautious and have 0% fear to avoid crashes.” 

He says it annoyingly, like talking about crashing will jinx his next stunt. His tone softens while discussing his love for the sport however.

Nick grabbed his first pair of handlebars at age 13 doing motocross races and never let go, but he disliked FMX originally. “When I first saw FMX in the late 90s I thought the riders were insane and I’d never do it.”  Only after winning the FMX competition at Cape Town’s 2002 Woodstock Music Festival did he discover his FMX calling. He won every show until the competition’s liquidation in 2009. In 2003, Red Bull approached Nick with a sponsorship offer that changed his life.

Since then Nick has been stunting in exotic locations worldwide, barely having time to hose his bike before getting called to ramp it in another international venue. He’s also the first African to compete in the Red Bull X Fighters, the boss of FMX competitions. “I rode at the X-Fighters in Spain and Germany in 2009 and Cairo in 2010. I’ve also rode in Singapore, Tunisia, Columbia, Taiwan, Japan, Peru, Dubai, Germany, Namibia and Brazil.”

 He also performed at the world’s biggest action sports tour Nitro Circus at its first tour of Africa in SA this year. Other noteworthy stunts he’s accomplished include setting the world record for the highest FMX show at 3.5km above sea level in La Paz, Bolivia.

On August 23^rd, Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour will host its finale at Pretoria’s Union Buildings for the first time in Africa, and Nick loves it. “I’ll have home ground advantage, and the best thing about it is that I won’t have to sit in a plane for hours and endure jet lag.”

Preparations include tough physical training at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre, and punishing his bike in his backyard motocross circuit, “I’m lucky to have a big piece of land I could develop into a FMX course. It’s got landings, ramps and a foam pit.”

Nick knows he will be up against the meanest FMX riders like feared Frenchman and defending champion Tom Pagès. To gain advantage Nick urges South Africans to show up and show love, “bring vuvuzela’s if you want” he says. But can spectators expect any new teeth gritting tricks? “I’m working on many new tricks. I can’t divulge my secrets but you’ll be blown away.”

With that the interview ended, and the waiter brought our bills on one receipt, I requested separate bills, but Nick politely offered to pay both tabs under one condition, “as long as you promise to come and support me at Union Buildings.” While rising to leave we bumped fists and I confirm, “Ofcourse, I’ll even bring my vuvuzela.”