T.K.O. wins Nokia Don't Break The Beat contest

IT was a night of hope, victory, and fun at the Grand Finale of the popular rap competition, Nokia Don't Break the Beat as one of the Benin finalists, T.K.O, emerged the winner of the rap competition, carting home a cash prize of N1millionT.K.O. (Tosin Kolajo), a 200 Level Geography and Regional Planning student of University of Benin, was selected among the 16 national finalists to compete at the grand finale. At the event, he endeared himself to both the judges and audience. He got the crowd hailing his rhythmic punch lines, and commanding stage presence, which crowned him the king of the freestyle battle.Speaking on his victory, he thanked his fans for believing in him during the competition while expressing his appreciation to Nokia for giving him the opportunity to use his God-given talent. He pledged to forge ahead in the music industry by getting signed on to a record label to develop and promote his musical talent. He also urged Nigerian youths never to give up on their dreams, using himself as an example.First runner-up, Black Jeez, who won a prize of N500, 000.00, was also grateful to Nokia for bringing him to limelight. He also thanked God for taking him to the last line in the competition, 'I registered for the competition here in Lagos and did not expect to be called. I was so happy when I got a text message inviting me for the regional competition. I'm overwhelmed to be chosen as the 1st runner up among 16 of us that made it to the grand finale. I am also happy for T.K.O. because he is a very talented rapper.Mr. Kesiena Ogbemi, Marketing Manager, Nokia West Africa during his opening remark at the event said: 'Nokia Don't Break the Beat is an initiative designed to give hope to the Nigerian youths. Our new range of Asha devices are messaging tools that allow users stay connected to friends and family through social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Skype. Asha means, 'hope' thus, our giving hope to these young talents. This has been the maiden competition and to our surprise, Nigeria has lots and lots of talents waiting to be discovered. The competition has involved hundreds of contestants from different parts of the country.'The Chief Executive Officer, YDX, Nokia experiential agency, Charles Abraham commended Nokia for coming up with this initiative, noting that Nokia lives its connecting people slogan. According to him, 'the competition has harnessed Nigerian youths with music in freestyle, which has no barrier whatsoever. More than 500 talented youths from different regions of the country put in for this competition.
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