MMVA 2011: “ICON THE ANOMALI” OF THE CANDY COATED KILLAHZ BECOMES THE FIRST NIGERIAN TO BE NOMINATED FOR THE MUCHMUSIC VIDEO AWARD.

MMVA nominee Icon the Anomali of Candy Coated Killahz

Icon and I during our interview on 6/15/11

Nigerians have been making musical waves once again here in Canada lately. Di'ja was the first to be nominated for a Canadian Radio Music Award in 2008 for "Rocksteady", then Stevano Ugo of the U.G.O Crew who was nominated for a 2010 Juno Awards for the remix of "I'm still Fly" and a 2011 Canadian Radio Music Award for "Change feat Sean Kingston."

Now meet Michael Akinlabi aka ICON THE ANOMALI, hailing from Nigeria where I am from. He moved to Canada eight years ago. Akinlabi is one half of the electro pop music duo of Candy Coated Killahz. Canada’s national newspaper The Globe and Mail cited CCK as the band responsible for Toronto’s emergence as an “Electronic music capital.” CCK is “Icon the Anomali” and “Tasha” Schumann who was a friend he met when they were students working in a Toronto restaurant. Tasha was away when we did this quick historical making interview but after the MMVA's, we will have a full CCK interview on their tour and more.

The video nominated is titled “Neon Black” and it’s going for the Best Post Production trophy making Akinlabi the first Nigerian in the history of the awards to be nominated. The MuchMusic Video Awards is Canada’s music video awards put together by the music channel MuchMusic. It is well known as the “MMVA’s.” We met downtown at the Dark Horse bar this week and I asked him how he came up with the group name. He told me it was a lyric in another song. The video is very addictive. KJ also did a mini photo shoot with him outside the Dark horse which you could view at his fan page here.

He told me that he’s always been a great dancer back home in Nigeria and started making beats when he arrived in Canada. Their music has appeared in the blockbuster movie by Tyler Perry “I can do bad all by myself.” He also draws cartoons and designs video games. Icon also told HipHossip that his sister “Zeal” is an emerging female music artist based in Nigeria. CCK will be touring this summer and will make a stop at the Calgary Stampede Fest performing alongside other notables artists like Classified and Rapper Flo Rida. The MMVA’s airs live on Sunday June 19^th 2011 on the MuchMusic channel. You can visit their site to watch their videos and listen to their music at www.candycoatedkillahz.com.

Photo Credits: Jennifer Conley Photography