The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (August 2011)

MTV Base is a 24-hour music and general entertainment channel from Viacom International Media Networks Europe. The channel focuses primarily on music from the world of R'n'B, hiphop, reggae, soul and urban. The MTV Base brand first launched in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland on 1 July 1999, later launching in other European territories such as the Netherlands and Germany. MTV Base Africa launched in February 2005 throughout the African continent and MTV Base in French-speaking territories launched on 21 December 2007. MTV Base began broadcasting in widescreen on 28 March 2012.

Availability[link]

MTV Base is available in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Republic of Ireland, Kenya and South Africa. The channel was previously available in the Netherlands, Germany and other European countries but was replaced by MTV Dance in some territories from March 2008.

Shows[link]

• The Lick
• The Base Chart
• Hot n Heavy
• The Official UK Urban Chart
• My Sweet Sixteen (MTV Base Africa)
• 10 Biggest Right Now (MTV Base Africa)
• Official US Urban Download Chart (MTV Base Africa)
• Official African Urban Playlist Chart (MTV Base Africa)
• Base Imports
• Big Base Beats
• Pix Me (MTV Base France)
• MTV Crispy News
• Les Lascars (MTV Base France)
• Essential RnB & Hip Hop
• The 10 Biggest Tracks Right Now

See also[link]

• MTV UK
• MTV Ireland
• MTV Portugal
• MTV France
• MTV Rocks
• MTV Dance
• MTV Hits

References[link]

External links[link]

• MTV Base (Africa)
• MTV Base (Europe)
• MTV Base (France)
• MTV Base UK - presentation, screenshots
• MTV Base France - presentation screenshots
• SES guide to receiving Astra satellites
• SES guide to channels broadcasting on Astra satellites

v t e Viacom Inc. Corporate directors George S. Abrams · Philippe Dauman (CEO) · Thomas E. Dooley · Ellen V. Futter · Robert Kraft · Alan C. Greenberg · Charles Phillips · Sumner Redstone (Chairman) · Shari Redstone · Frederic Salerno · William Schwartz MTV Networks MTV Networks Company, Inc. MTV · VH1 · Nickelodeon · Comedy Central · CMT · Spike · more... BET Networks BET · BET Gospel · BET Hip-Hop · Centric · BET UK Paramount Motion Pictures Group Paramount Pictures Corporation: Paramount Pictures · Paramount Vantage · Paramount Classics · Republic Pictures · United International Pictures (50% with NBCUniversal's Universal Studios) MTV branded labels: MTV Films · Nickelodeon Movies Other units: EPIX (co-owned with Lions Gate Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Television stations KGBS-CA (Tr3́s) · KHMM-CA (Tr3́s) · KMMK-LP / KMUM-CA / KMMW-LP (Nick Jr) · KZMM-CA (Tr3́s) Viacom Music Group Comedy Central Records · Nick Records Miscellaneous assets Viacom International · Viacom 18 (India)  · Viacom Entertainment Store  · Bellator Fighting Championships  · MovieTickets.com  · URGE See also Template:MTV Networks Europe · Viacom (1971–2005) · National Amusements · Gulf+Western Annual Revenue: $17.3 billion USD ( 10% 3Q 2005) · Employees: 38,310 · Stock Symbol: NASDAQ: VIA, NASDAQ: VIAB · Website: viacom.com

For the Marvel Comics group, see Young Gods (comics). Young Gods is also the name of an album by the rock band Little Angels. For the movie from Finland see Young Gods (film)

The Young Gods (TYG) are a Swiss post-industrial band. The band's lineup has generally consisted of a vocalist, a sampler operator and a drummer. Their instrumentation often includes sampled electric guitars, drums, keyboards, and other samples.^[1] The lyrics are depicted in English, French and German.

Biography[link]

Their name is taken from an early EP by the no wave/noise rock band Swans. Artists influenced by The Young Gods include Mike Patton, Sepultura, The Edge (as stated in U2 by U2), Devin Townsend, Econoline Crush and David Bowie; asked in 1995 if his album Outside was influenced by Nine Inch Nails, Bowie answered: "The band that I was actually quite taken with was three guys from Switzerland call The Young Gods... I’d been aware of them previous to knowing about Nine Inch Nails."

Roli Mosimann of Swans has worked with the group as a producer. In 2007 they did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session. Notable hits are: "Did You Miss Me?", "Envoyé!", "Longue Route", "Skinflowers", and "Kissing the Sun".

Members[link]

Previous and current members are:

• Vocals: Franz Treichler (aka Franz Muse, the only constant member)^[1]
• Keyboard: Cesare Pizzi (former member), Alain Monod (aka Al Comet, current member)
• Drums: Patrice Bagnoud (aka Frank Bagnoud, former member), Urs "Üse" Hiestand (former member), Bernard Trontin (current member)

Discography[link]

Studio albums

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• The Young Gods page at Ipecac Recordings
• Young Gods interview from Chaos Control Digizine, May 2007

Forbes list of billionaires is based on an annual assessment of wealth and assets compiled and published by Forbes magazine on March 10, 2011.^[1]

Forbes list of billionaires (2011)[link]

The following list is Forbes ranking of an assessment of the wealth and assets of the world's billionaires as of March 10, 2011, and does not reflect changes since then. There are 1,210 names in this year’s list.^[2]

This section requires expansion.

Legend
Icon	Description
	Has not changed from the list for 2010
	Has increased from the list for 2010
	Has decreased from the list for 2010

No.	Name	Net worth (USD)	Age	Born	Citizenship	Residence	Source(s) of wealth
&100000000000000010000001	Slim, CarlosCarlos Slim and family	$74.0 billion	72	Mexico	Mexico	Mexico	Telmex, América Móvil, Grupo Carso
&100000000000000020000002	Gates, BillBill Gates	$56.0 billion	56	United States	United States	United States	Microsoft
&100000000000000030000003	Buffett, WarrenWarren Buffett	$50.0 billion	81	United States	United States	United States	Berkshire Hathaway
&100000000000000040000004	Arnault, BernardBernard Arnault	$41.0 billion	62	France	France	France	LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton
&100000000000000050000005	Ellison, LawrenceLawrence Ellison	$39.5 billion	66	United States	United States	United States	Oracle Corporation
&100000000000000060000006	Mittal, LakshmiLakshmi Mittal	$31.1 billion	60	India	India	United Kingdom	Arcelor Mittal
&100000000000000070000007	Ortega, AmancioAmancio Ortega	$31.0 billion	74	Spain	Spain	Spain	Inditex Group
&100000000000000080000008	Batista, EikeEike Batista	$30.0 billion	53	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil	EBX Group
&100000000000000090000009	Ambani, MukeshMukesh Ambani	$27.0 billion	53	Yemen	India	India	Reliance Industries
&1000000000000001000000010	Walton, ChristyChristy Walton	$26.5 billion	55	United States	United States	United States	Walmart

References[link]

See also[link]

• List of members of the Forbes 400 (2010)
• List of people reported in the press to be billionaires

External links[link]

• Forbes: Billionaires in the News

Aliko Dangote
Aliko Dangote in 2011
Born	(1957-04-10) 10 April 1957 (age 55) Kano, Nigeria
Residence	Lagos, Nigeria
Nationality	Nigerian
Ethnicity	Hausa/Fulani
Citizenship	Nigeria
Education	Business Studies, Al-Azhar University, Cairo
Occupation	Chairman & CEO, Dangote Group
Years active	1977—present
Net worth	US$ 11.2 billion (2012)[1]
Title	Alhaji
Religion	Islam
Parents	Mariya Sanusi Dantata (f), Mohammed Dangote (m)[2]
Website
Homepage

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, MFR, GCON (born 10 April 1957, Kano, Nigeria) is a Nigerian self-made business magnate, with an estimated net worth of $11.2 billion USD as of March 2012.^[3] Based in Nigeria, he is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has interests in commodities with operations in his homeland and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia.^[4]

Dangote is ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 76th richest person in the world.^[5]

Business career[link]

The Dangote Group, originally a small trading firm founded in 1977, is now a multi-trillion naira conglomerate with operations in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo. Dangote's businesses include food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight. The Dangote Group dominates the sugar market in Nigeria: it is the major sugar supplier to the country's soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners. Dangote Group has moved from being a trading company to Nigeria's largest industrial group, including Dangote Sugar Refinery (the most capitalized company on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, valued at over US$3 billion with Aliko Dangote's equity topping US$2 billion), Africa's largest Cement Production Plant: Obajana Cement, Dangote Flour amongst others.

Dangote played a prominent role in the funding of Obasanjo’s re-election campaign in 2003, to which he contributed over N200 million (US$2M). He gave N50 million (US$0.5M) to the National Mosque under the aegis of "Friends of Obasanjo and Atiku", and contributed N200 million to the Presidential Library. These controversial gifts to members of the ruling People's Democratic Party have contributed to concerns over continued graft despite highly-publicized anti-corruption drives during Obasanjo's second term.^{[citation needed]}

On 23 May 2010, Britain's Daily Mirror reported that Dangote was interested in buying a 16 percent stake in Premiership side Arsenal belonging to Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith.^[6] Dangote later denied these rumours.^[7]

On 14 November, 2011, Dangote was awarded Nigeria's fourth highest honour, Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) by President Goodluck Jonathan.^[8]

See also[link]

• Dangote Group
• Economy of Nigeria

Currently the Richest man in Africa.

References[link]

Natty Brain

External links[link]

• Nigerian wealth fails to trickle down
• Dangote Sugar, Most Capitalised Company
• Aliko Dangote: The Ultimate Volume Player

Source[link]

This article lacks ISBNs for the books listed in it. Please make it easier to conduct research by listing ISBNs. If the {{Cite book}} or {{citation}} templates are in use, you may add ISBNs automatically, or discuss this issue on the talk page.

• Barau, A.S. (2007) The Great Attractions of Kano. Research and Documentation Directorate, Government House Kano

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2011)

Olubankole Wellington^[1] (born March 27, 1981^[2]), known under the stage name Banky W, is an American Nigerian R&B artist.

Life and career[link]

Early life and career beginnings[link]

Wellington was born in the United States to Nigerian parents, but the family moved back to Lagos Nigeria when he was five years old where he began singing in his church choir at the age of 8. After completing his secondary school Education at Home Science Association Secondary School, he moved to New York to attend college on a scholarship; earning a degree in Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.^[3] While still in college, he won the 'Albany Idol' competition, which catapulted him into the spotlight. He overcame many personal trials and obstacles to quickly become an in-demand artist on the local music scene; performing alongside major acts on tour. He wowed audiences with his silky smooth voice while building a loyal following; he established the Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E.) record label as a platform to get his music to his fans and began work on an EP.

[edit] 2003–2004: Undeniable

Under the name Banky W, he released the EP Undeniable in 2003, as the first release on his jointly owned E.M.E Records. The EP was released on his own label, and was sold on the internet and out of the trunks of cars.^[4] The buzz around the album caught the ears of the executives at Fox 23 News New York who promptly dispatched a reporter with a camera crew to investigate the phenomenon sweeping the area. They were surprised it was a three person company executing a highly successful grassroots marketing campaign. The report became a two part special they aired leading to a distribution deal with TransWorld (Coconut's, Warehouse Music, Spec's Music); one of North America's largest music distributors. It became one of the top selling independent records, won him the 2003 R&B/Soul Artist of the Year at the Urban Independent Music Awards.His career was for a while threatened by cancer in the shoulder, but he managed to make a recovery from the illness.^[3]

[edit] 2005–2006: Back in the Building

In 2005 he released his first album, titled Back in the Building, containing the award-winning song "My Regret".^[4] The R&B/Soul album was released to critical acclaim; he had crafted a classic record and solidified his status as ground breaking artist. The album spawned the award winning song 'My Regret' and on the strength of this enduring single he became an urban-underground-yet-international icon. The awards and accolades followed with a US Songwriting Award, 2006 Nigerian Entertainment Award – R&B/Soul Artist of the Year and 2007 International Single of the Year to name a few. Banky followed this up by winning the prestigious worldwide John Lennon Songwriting Award in the R&B Category and signing a lucrative US Publishing deal. He was also a featured artist on AOL and Cingular Wireless Hip Hop Superstar with MTV's Xzibit, numerous magazines covers, as well as touring North America Africa & Europe.

[edit] 2008–2009: Mr Capable

In 2008 he moved to Nigeria after the completion of his latest highly anticipated album Mr Capable under the name Banky W.^[4] With the sole mission of exposing African music to the world and bringing a high profile presence to the industry. On MySpace he garnered over 1 million song plays; on YouTube, hundreds of thousands of views for his videos; and on Facebook, his recently created fan page has over 26,000 registered fans, growing at a rate of over 500 new fans per week.

[edit] 2009–2010: The W Experience

In December 2009, Banky W dropped his much anticipated second album in Nigeria, titled The W Experience . A strong contender for the best album of 2009/2010 in Africa, it features production from Nigeria’s most sought-after talents, and showcases Banky W. as he combines global R&B/Pop with African rhythms and influences to create an entirely unique and impressive sound. The 15-track album features collaborations from the internationally acclaimed and Interscope-signed artiste, Verse Simmonds; it also introduces his newly signed E.M.E acts, WIZKID and SKALES; and solidifies Banky W as the crown Prince of African Soul/R&B.

Philanthropy[link]

Not to be outdone by his exploits in the music world, he is also accomplished in several other fields. He’s a published writer, as articles from his blog (http://bankyw.blogspot.com) have been featured in numerous Nigerian Newspapers, magazines and websites. As a philanthropist, he launched the “I AM CAPABLE” scholarship fund, which provides tuition, room & board at private universities for youth who are in need and meet the grade requirements. He’s also on the board of trustees of the “LightupNigeria” Project, which is focused on achieving constant electrical power supply in Nigeria, as well as various other charitable society building and empowering projects. He has also been extremely successful in many Corporate Marketing Campaigns, having been featured prominently in projects like Etisalat’s 0809ja Launch, Cocacola-Nigeria’s World Cup Theme Song, and Microsoft’s Anti-Cyber Crime Initiative. Last but not least, he is an accomplished Master of Ceremonies/Host, as he has successfully anchored numerous high profile events such as The HipHop World Awards (2009), Nigerian Breweries Legend Extra Stout Product Launch, and The Gulder Ultimate Search Celebrity TV Show Launch.

Activism[link]

Banky played a major role in mobilizing the Nigerian youth to participate in the Occupy Nigeria series of protests in January 2012. The protests were to resist the implementation of the government's fuel subsidy removal policy.

Discography[link]

• Undeniable (EP, 2003)
• Back in the Building (2005)
• Mr. Capable (2008)
• The W Experience (2009)

Nominations[link]

• Recording of the Year, Best Vocal Performance (Male) - Hip Hop World Awards 2010
• Musician of the Year, Future Awards 2010
• Artiste of the Year, Dynamix Awards 2010
• Semi-finalist, African Artiste of the Year, KORA Awards 2010
• Best R&B/Pop Album (Mr. Capable), Hiphop World Awards 2009
• Hiphop World Revelation 2009
• Best Pop/R&B (Don’t Break My Heart), Soundcity Music Video Awards 2009
• Best Male Video (Don’t Break My Heart), Soundcity Music Video Awards 2009
• Best R&B Singer, City People Entertainment Awards 2009
• Musician of the Year, Future Awards 2009
• Best International Artiste, Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2009
• Best Music Video and Best R&B Act, 2010 Nigerian Entertainment Awards

Awards[link]

• John Lennon Song Writing Award 2006, R&B Category, for ‘My Regret’
• Best R&B Artiste, Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2006
• Best Male R&B Artiste, Urban Independent Music Awards, USA, 2006
• Best International Album, Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2007 for ‘Mr Capable’
• Best R&B Video, Nigerian Music Video Awards 2008 for ‘Don’t Break My Heart’
• Best Male Vocal Performance, Hip hop World Awards 2009 for ‘Don’t Break My Heart’
• R&B Single of the year, 2010 Hip Hop World Awards for ‘Strong Ting’
• Best R&B Singer (Male) and Best Music Video 2010 City People Entertainment Awards

References[link]