Wednesday 30 April 2014

Chokoraa MENACE!!!

Since I started going alone to town, I have been hearing stories of 'chokoraas' and the harrowing experiences they offer to the innocent people of Nairobi. These stories seemed like science-fiction to me until last Tuesday in the evening as I left town for home. We had been busy troubleshooting on the event we were working on that following weekend with my partner Lucie. Little did I know that some low life skunk roaming around the city had chosen me to be one of his victims on that fateful Tuesday evening. To me, I thought it was that normal guy who always disturbs young lads fresh from high school  with borrowing money along Moi avenue. How he knew they were freshmen I don't know. But that is another case that has been sending shivers down the citizens of Nairobi who are in town whenever they see him.

Back to my little 'funny' story. But reality dawned on me when I noticed these were one of those hard core Tom Mboya street boys who are skilled in 'handaing' people to get kitu kidogo for their tummies and their crude drugs that keep them up with their day to day lives.

"Brothee, itakuaje ukijenga man kama wewe?" 

I didn't deserve to be told what to do next. The next thing I was criss crossing the street in a bid to escape this goon but his determination kept me at bay. His threats were enough to make you wet your trousers. 

"Kijana, yaani unatembea ni kama haujaniskiza? Unajua ukihepa hii shonde itakupata bado..."

Did I hear myself well?? I quickly took a glance at all his hands only to notice he was carrying  handful fresh orange human shit!!! Somebody bring me water and a basin incase I vomit. I looked around and everyone was in a hurry to get home and others were avoiding 'our conversation' with this smelly bully like a deadly plague that has wiped a whole county.  From this point on, I knew things were starting to get thick. I was left with only one choice. Comply with him.
That's exactly what I did. I started getting him engrossed in a conversation that he was too wuivk to chip in. He narrated how he can't go home when 'Baba Deno' doesn't have anything to take to his son.
After pleading with him that I only had 20 bob to get home, he couldn't let me go. Luckily, I had enough money to take me home on my other pocket. Without even wasting time, he took the ksh20 coin and like a magnet, landed on his next prey, a young naivr man who looked new in the city along Tom Mboya street and left me as ig nothing happened. I hurriedly slept between the crowd of people heading home too and made sure that I was as far as possible from my new friend, Baba Deno.
As I took my bus home, I just sat down and then many quick questions passed through my mind like an avalanche in the Himalayas mountains.

"Does this guy have a family? 

How did he get the courage to carry the watery shit on his right palm? What made him do that?? Is it that he cannot do or earn money the right way?

Will his son be proud of what he is doing, even if it's in the name of getting daily bread for him? 

How does his wife get to do when he comes home  and realises that her husband scares the society with fresh feaces so that he can get a few coins to put a meal on the table? 
Does she know he does that?"

With more thinking, I asked myself,

"What if I were one among the many Nairobians who are always done the same each and every day and different locations round the city?.

Why is something like this going on right under our noses in broad daylight in the presence of a multitude of sane people?

Where has been the city council and the necessary bodies involved done to cub this growing infamous behaviour?"


If so, then this should be a matter to be dealt with accordingly by the necessary authorities i.e the devolved government under the leadership of the Governor-Evans Kidero and the Senator-Mike Mbuvi Sonko . I appeal that clearing our streets of these street families would bring. peace of mind for many people including me. Please look into the matter with the seriousness it deserves  and let's make our streets safe for the city dwellers.

-That Mind Blog

Monday 28 April 2014

Easter Saturday for ME

Hello everyone. How have you been while I was away? I know many had missed my writing but to cut the whole story short some think I have been a D for the past few days or let's call it months. Sorry, most of the tasks and work I had were far much more demanding than to sit behind a computer and start typing a whole blog from my already full and busy mind. Please forgive me?? Thank you so much.

Now, where do we start?? Let's see. Wait. Let me tell you something.  I have had a lot to write about in mind since my last post. Trust me like 10 or so things but as per now I cannot remember a thing. Oh. I think I remember one. Hakuna Matata festival that took place during April 19th-20th. First of all I was soo depsyched to go for it after I abruptly had to cancel my event the previous week. So I just decided why not stay home think things over then plan well for all my events that would be taking place during the year. However, my small brother kept nagging me to take him for HAKUNA MATATA. I was a bit pissed inside because I had my 'own issues' which were by then much greater than I had fathomed. Nonetheless, I got convinced either way and by 8pm on 19th April, we were all crammed up in our car on our way to the famous Mutua's county- Machakos. 

As expected, numbers don't lie!! Everyone in Nairobi was there. It's as if even the county residents didn't know of the existence of the event. We looked like some.invaders in someone's land. I realized this when we were at the entrance waiting to get in when some guy started vomiting on the flowers (after much vodka I suppose) then some guy came, who I think works in the park said in a harsh tone.

    "Msikuje kutuharibia maua zetu hapa! Rudini Nairobi pahali mumezoea hizi tabia zenu mbovu".

I was shocked! I guess everyone was because something like this here in Nairobi is normal. Very normal. It kept me thinking much more on what he had just said. They were really takong care of their environment regardless of background.  No wonder Machakos will be the next big urban centre if we Nairobians don't take care of our CITY. Beside that, we eventually got in and with the much expectation I thought the event had from what I had from other people especially my Young brother, I confirmed that. The place was super packed!! Good food, good drinks and good women for the boys!! Don't point fingers sisters, you also got time to share the piece of cake together with us brothers. I am saying this because I met everyone there!! Even my primary school mates!! This made us relive memories which were once shut by the evolution and passing on of days till then. I even met some people we had not talked in ages. Some were even shocked to see that I had grown some beard. Haha. It's funny I know. Regardless of the rain, no one couldn't stop to have fun including me. I had fun even while getting rained on. Btw funny thing is I never noticed that I was wet the whole time till I went back to the car. 

However, there is never a bad piece of grain in a  whole sack. (Hey, that's my own proverb.) But for this one, a few grains were bad. The music played by some DJ  was off tune. All tracks were commercial tracks dated back to 2007, unmatched beats, and different BPMS for these said tracks. I really didn't get the reason as to why he played 'Bullshit' because for an event with a bigger name of that scale, and also his brand, I am still perturbed by that. All I can say is, next time, STEP UP baba and play at sunrise, not prime time. you'll thank me later.

But the deep groovy tunes after were just too sweet for sunrise!  I even jammed to the deep house alone. Call it love for the music. Oh oh!! Dj stylez! This guy is a fuckeen legend!  The guy who did almost a 2 hour set without touching the decks! He gave me high school memories for some tracks like Lollipop-when Lil Wayne used to rap sense and Buy you a drink- Tpain not forgetting the new tracks like Dark horse. For sure, he is East Africa's best DJ. I love this guy when's on the decks! Bro, you killed it No lie. Creme was too gooood to be true. (Isn't he always good??)one of the most humble djs I know to walk across the kenyan soil these days. He still djs at changez even after all the accolades he has on his hall of fame cabinet. Wow. You are a role model to many baba. Keep up the good job. 

As the hours ticked, that meant it was about sunrise and time to go home. I took my already dazed self back to the car and on the way met even my family friend who came from UK for this festival on Easter.  That's when I realized that this event had toooooo much psyche! After we were all in the car, we drove back and got to Nairobi around 6:45 am an hour later. We went straight to hit the shits. Goodnight.  To me I give this event a 7/10. They can do better next time and that was HAKUNA MATATA for me.

As a parting short, please make sure to TURN UP for the third edition of ULTIMATE HANGOUT FESTIVAL SERIES this 3rd May at Ngong Racecourse for 12 hours of Non-stop madness and pure fun!

-That Mind Blog

Wednesday 12 March 2014

MH370-COULD IT BE AN ALIEN ABDUCTION?

Yesterday as I was chilling in the living room going through my daily posts on Facebook while waiting for dinner, I just decided to scroll through the KTN Kenya page. I saw the headline page showing the missing MH370 plane. The plane searching was entering into it's fourth day. Many people's hopes of ever seeing their loved ones were by now membrane-thin. Then as I clicked on the link, it brought something different-An accident of a matatu that had taken place killing 16 on board. (God bless their souls and be with their families) I left it and then decided to Google the reports that were being channeled to the public. Then as investigations began getting deeper and deeper, my worst confirmed theories came across me. "Maybe it was hijacked and sucked up by a UFO?" Then I calmed my nerves saying I might be the only one who thinks that way. Let me keep it to myself. Then I remember during lunch break at school, we were discussing the missing flight with my colleagues and then I told them of a possible Alien abduction act. It looked like a "Hollywood" stunt but I think I made sense. Because later in the evening, the people who took to social networks to air out their views were singling out the possibilities of an alien abduction, that's if there were no wreckage or crashing of the plain(Which could have been proved by now or let's say 24 hours after crash). 

Then old stories of Aliens and UFOs become the center of discussion. I then started digging into old beliefs about the existence of extraterrestrial beings who are known to be technologically advanced considered to us Humans. One blogger speculated about everything from secret military weapons tests to "Bermuda Triangle-like ripples in the fabric of space time."If you don't believe this then check this out, reasons that an alien abduction should be the contributing factor.
"If we never find the debris," he wrote on Natural News, "it means some entirely new, mysterious and powerful force is at work on our planet which can pluck airplanes out of the sky without leaving behind even a shred of evidence."

As an internet junkie, I had to ransack the internet for any available tangible information. Ranging from Reuters to compiled documents of these proofs  for journals and even YouTube. A wide field I would not like to scare you with. This is because I will be boring you with a lot of unproven facts about these super natural beings and also I have some crazy end of trimester exams in April. So please bare with me. 

I will only talk about their characteristics and how their technology considered to the missing Malaysian jet have a relationship which looks so unclear now but if all factors are held constant will be 99.9% true living a small space for doubt. As I read through some articles I came to realize that these beings criss-cross the universe at supersonic speeds in large saucers while carrying a whole city! As a matter of fact, these saucers carry a capacity of about 130, 000 beings and they are 10 miles in diameter. Ok, using Quantum physics, an astrologer sat down with experts and decided to confirm Billy Meiers facts as he go them from Plejarens, an extra terrestrial race. They found out that these saucers gain light speed at 4.3 hours and a decelerating speed of about the same speed from light speed to zero giving them the favour to travel to the nearest galaxy which is a few light years away probably 20, 000 light years in 10 hours. 

This looked puzzling but it only verified 20% of the actual speed that Meier was given by Semjase during his contact with her back in the late 1950s. My question to this situation is, how are these beings so technologically advanced that by the '50s they could make contact with humans while we had not even felt our own space atmosphere? Was the missing of the Malaysian airline MH370 not abducted by these aliens in order to fulfill a certain purpose best known to them? I really think it's a high time someone in the high ranks talked about this situation because losing our own kind into thin air is not something to take lightly. This might be the start of some inter galaxy slavery which might lead to suffering and if not controlled extinction of the human race all together. Because you never know what they will be up to next once there experiments work well. Before you comment, please NOTE that I am an inquisitive mourner like you who just feels that something is not right, not only with the missing flight, but with our airspace. Did the aliens abduct MH370?
And if you don't think they are real, you are Ignorant!
I mourn with all those on board the MH370. Let's do all we can to get our loved ones and the right facts of what happened before we all get doomed or get into depressing situations of not getting to know the whereabouts of our loved ones.

Thursday 6 March 2014

THE WORLD OF HARDSTYLE




Q Dance logo
Defqon.1 Festival
A few days ago as I was seated in our ICT lab searching for some files, I decided to give a listen to some music. As I usually do since I get bored fast when I don't have my ears thumping to any good eargasmic beats. Then as I searched, I decided to go through my subscriptions and saw Defqon.1Holland Mix. Since I wasn't concentrating, I just clicked on it. The after-movie starts with some ladies singing in I think Danish. Then follows the hard EDM beats as the after movie unveils itself. Then I remembered my long lost found love. Hardstyle!! I got to remember the songs I used to hear in 2012. The likes of COONE and Headhunters. Before I bore you much with my history about  Hardstyle, just know it is an electronic dance genre mixing influences from hard-techno , hard house,hard trance, and hardcore. Hardstyle typically consists of a deep, hard-sounding kick drum, intense faded or reversed basslines accompanying the beat, a synth playing a melody, and detuned and distorted sounds. It bears some similarities to hard trance . Many hardcore artists produce hardstyle tracks as well, and many newer Hardstyle tracks are written in compound time.History Origins Hardstyle was influenced by hard trance, gabber , acid house and hard house. Hardstyle has its origins in the Netherlands where artists like Dana, Pavo, Luna and The Prophet , who produced Hardcore, started experimenting while playing their Hardcore records.
The love sign in all EDM events at Q Dance
The first Hardstyle events, like Qlubtempo, took place at the beginning of the 21st century. The first few years of Hardstyle were characterized by a tempo of around 140-150 BPM, a compressed kick drum sound, a short vocal sample, a screech and the use of a "reverse bass", which can be heard on the offbeat after each kick. After several successful editions of Qlubtempo and Qlimax, Q-dance registered the word hardstyle as their brand on the 4th of July 2002.


Festival Grounds for Defqon 1 Aussi
Around 2002, more Hardstyle labels emerged. Fusion (with artist as DJ Zany and Donkey Rollers) and Scantraxx (founded by Dov Elkabas ) are two of the Dutch labels that started to bring out Hardstyle tracks around that time. Around 2004-05 the genre became more melodic and uplifting, somewhat faster (usually 150 BPM), and distorted, sharp kick drum sounds were added. Many producers started to pitch- shift a distorted kick drum to create a melodic bassline that usually plays in pitch with a typical hard trance supersaw or a thinner electro house synth melody. The melody often is in tuplet form, which gives the genre a pulsating rhythm, whereas older Hardstyle as well as other genres such as jumpstyle have more basic melodic structures to them. Thus, nowadays many people refer to the older style as early Hardstyle.
Rawstyle Since around 2008, more terms to identify developments of Hardstyle were introduced. Rawstyle is a type of Hardstyle influenced from Dutch Hardcore or older Hardstyle resulting in darker melodies and deeper-sounding kick drums with more distortion through VST plug-ins such as Devastor, CamelPhat, Ohmicide & TriDirt.


Coone live at a Q DANCE event
Dubstyle In early 2010s, a new variation in hardstyle, named Dubstyle was introduced. Dubstyle is the name given to the genre fusion of Hardstyle and Dubstep. Dubstyle tends to have reversed wobble basslines and take the kick styling of hardstyle tracks, while combining them with the rhythm, groove, and dubstep tempo and effects a fusion of elements of hardstyle with a dubstep rhythm, usually a 2-step or a breakbeat rhythm. Because of the sporadic beat in Dubstyle, the bass is often more dragged out and/or it doesn't follow a strict offbeat pattern that regular Hardstyle incorporates, which in turn results in Dubstyle basslines bearing similarities to dubstep basslines. The first mainstream Dubstyle track was Headhunterz & Brennan Heart's "The MF Point of Perfection".




Tent Arena, Defqon 1 Aussi
These are the genres that were given birth to by Hardstyle. However, before Hardstyle was born a few people came up and did parties. Today they are recognized as the World's premiere Hardstyle festival warriors. They are Q DANCE!!! Q-dance is a Dutch company that organizes events and festivals that focuses on the harder styles of dance music like Hardcore, Hardstyle, Dubstyle, Techno and Hardhouse. Popular events and festivals organized by Q-dance are Defqon.1 Festival , Q BASE, Qlimax and X-Qlusive The events of Q-dance are easily identified by the letter “Q” on the event names.The logo of Q-dance is inspired by the power button, which if turned 120degrees to the right creates the letter “Q”. Q-dance was founded in 1999 as Qlass Elite by a couple of friends in the northern suburbs of Amsterdam (Landsmeer, the Netherlands). The first event created by Qlass Elite was Houseqlassics, an event that played old school house music. After two editions of Houseqlassics, in the year 2000 a few more events were scheduled for the year: 91-92 and Qlimax . A year later, in 2001, the name of the company was changed into Q-dance and a new concept was introduced

MASSIVE Q Dance stages
But what I can say is, I love this genre. Looks creepy by the attire of the revelers, the creatures and the whole setup of the stages.. Even the DJs dress sooo gothic! You might think you're in a rock n roll concert. But Defqon.1 Aussi is my first go! When I take a trip down there (Australia), I will go to Bondi Beach to experience this Hard Q dance experience!

Wednesday 5 February 2014

My letter to my 'true' friend

The other day I was telling my friend to come for my friend's birthday party only for her to reply that she won't come if she will have to pay. For a moment I got raged and angry then I kept calm knowing the situation of the type of business I am in. It prompted me to write to her a long text inform a letter. I think as a promoter would be of help to you as a party goer in future. This is just one long letter a promoter who is your friend would like to tell you but will never tell you because of the fact that They are your friends, schoolmates or even neighbours.As for her, let's call her Pascaline. I think no one is called by this name or are rarely called this way. So let's use it.

Pascaline,

I might respect the fact that you use money 'wisely'. Anyway,  I thought I should make this clear to you because no one and I mean NO one will ever tell you such.But before you continue, I just wanted to let you know that the below letter is just nothing but business. Nothing personal.No feelings attached! Feel free to call me anything and any day after going through it. If you think it's a lie also, share it with your pals and let them give you their views.

Ever wondered why there are events? Ever wondered why there are entertainment allowances once you land a job? Ever wondered why people buy tickets to various events for example to  go watch movies, football matches and go for talk shows? The main fundamental reason is TO HAVE FUN.Nothing else! 

Ever wondered where the fun facilities come from?? Ever wondered who pays for the DJs, the performers? The security during these occasions?  The power? The brands ? The wristbands you wear at events??
Someone uses money in everything of what you enjoy and use at these events.  That's why there is IMagine-nation , 6:AM and Tomorrowland and the likes. These are the people who are behind these such big events where they give you 'plot' to do in a lonely Saturday night or during the Holidays.

Ever wondered if people had the same mentality you have, would there be events?  Would there be DJs? Would there be that person that prints tickets, posters and banners for a promoter like me? Would there be a job for that security guy who makes sure you are safe the whole night in the cold as you party and get drunk?? Ever wondered if someone like me, who takes through all the hustle to make an event for a living and passion would do events? Would get money to text you? 

So I see that an event was discriminated on the papers! It's not their fault, but if we keep on discriminating someone else's hustle that's where the problem comes in. The organisers might have done some mistakes, Everyone does. But that doesn't mean we go around messing someone else who is really trying to work on their livelihood. Yes they have learnt I hope the next one they will be careful.
Now here is my main point of view. EDM is a Lifestyle everywhere in the world. A Lifestyle that started way back in the '70s and now BOOM! It's a way of life.

EDM has changed the economies of many countries Let alone the host cities. Let's take Miami for example where the world's Largest Music festival with an assured attendance of 330,000+ people takes place-ULTRA Miami, makes a clean $90mill + for a weekend. Mind you the festival goes for two weekends!! Crazy Figure but trust me, that is what the city if Miami makes from the event. Not forgetting talent, Suppliers and the organizers if the festival. That's US! And you ask why they are a Super power, yet the world makes it a Super power. The mentality is what we should change.

If we had the city council supporting these events, the government and also Sponsorship would be easily gained through willing companies, we would be far not economically but also in development as we would open up to International talent who would open and brand Kenya out there.
In this world, we need happiness or want to be ever happy because it feelz good to be happy.
Pascaline,  it's a high time you stopped being self centered and opened up your eyes and mind to foresee the world in a different way. Not everyone would but I think you would see that.

Thank you

Regards, 

That Mind Blog

After writing that letter, I felt a relief. She never even bothered to reply. I guessed so from the start because I knew she wasn't even going to. But, what the hell, she got the message. That's my happiness.(Because she's online on whatsapp till date!). 

Nonetheless, is we as organizers should love what we are doing and strive to improve talent, both local and International. We should work in harmony and seek advice from each other! Let us work and produce the best and to our fans. Support is really needed. It won't make us move a step if we want free stuff! free Tickets, free drinks, and free stuff. There is a mentality that we need to really work on since if we want to change the EDM face, the change has to start from within not without!

Charity begins at home, I hope you know that. Let's build Kenya and develop it through EDM. This is our chance. We lose it, we Forget about it. FOR GOOD!


Tuesday 4 February 2014

Pasquale Rottella:The EDM mogul(unfinished)

So today I just decided to write something. I really don't even know if it's something or a book I just wrote. But who cares anyway, I love to write and I write a lot. So I have decided to write about this young man who is behind the most coveted festivals in The United States and the rest of the world with famous international EDM acts like Tiesto and the likes. Holly Madison announced Thursday that she is 12 weeks pregnant with her first child with boyfriend Pasquale Rotella. Congratulations were offered and then followed up with the question, "Wait... Who is Pasquale Rotella?" It turns out Madison's beau and baby daddy, though joyous over the pregnancy, is Rotella is a party promoter and CEO of Insomniac Events, which hosts the Electric Daisy Carnival, an international electric dance music festival held around the nation each summer. But that is not all!


This is where the story starts, for anyone who has been there they all know that Electric Daisy Carnival is the happiest place on Earth come spring in the United States. The Las Vegas motor Speedway Below has two Ferris wheels, a roller coaster, a mega slide, a Tilt-a-Whirl, Burning Man–style art gardens, clown-faced dance troupes on stilts, seven main music areas — including what organizers say is the largest festival stage in North America — and a lineup that includes more than 200 of the world's biggest DJs, including Avicii, Afrojack, Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Calvin Harris and Fatboy Slim. During EDC, the 20-minute drive from the Strip to the Speedway can take two hours. It's a massive, outdoor Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, a party dreamland come true.

Rotella's rise as rave master has been meteoric. Ten years ago, nearly half a dozen Southern California promoters were vying for the electronic dance music festival dollar, and Rotella's was just a face in that crowd. Today EDM is on an American high. Acts like Calvin Harris are getting radio play, Deadmau5 and Skrillex are performing at the Grammy Awards, and Avicii's "Levels" is heard in every other TV commercial.
And now there's just one EDM concert king from coast to coast: Rotella.
"If I had to pick one person at the top of the game, it would probably be him," says Gary Bongiovanni, president of concert-industry publication and data service Pollstar. "Pasquale really was a pioneer in helping to bring raves out of the warehouses." But with Rotella's rise has come controversy.

The 39-year-old has been under indictment for more than a year, facing six counts of conspiracy, bribery and embezzlement. Together the charges could bring nearly 14 years behind bars, although a hearing to weigh arguments for dismissal is set for Sept. 18. Rotella remains free after posting bond, but he must ask for the court's permission to jet to his far-flung events.

Meanwhile, when a 15-year-old girl died after taking ecstasy at a 2010 event thrown by Rotella's company, Insomniac Events, some L.A. leaders seemed genuinely scandalized to learn that raves were happening on public property under their supervision. The combination of the death and the bribery accusations were enough to get EDC unceremoniously booted from its home at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
So what does a self-made man from a hardscrabble, Westside background do in circumstances like that?
He takes EDC to Nevada and, beginning in 2011, transforms his 160,000-person, two-day L.A. party into a three-day rave with twice as many clicks of the turnstiles at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
He fends off mainstream concerns over drug use at his parties to take on the most mainstream of corporate partners, Live Nation, which this summer reportedly bought a 50 percent stake in Insomniac for a whopping $50 million.
He fights the criminal charges — welcoming a reporter into his helicopter at a time when many criminal defendants would be ducking. Importantly, Rotella beats a civil suit brought by the Coliseum, which includes allegations similar to those still pending in the criminal case. Last month, the court dismissed all civil claims against both Rotella and Insomniac Events.
He travels to New York and London. He lives large, even as he maintains that he has stayed true to his roots. Of the criminal charges, Rotella told a reporter last spring, "I don't lose sleep over it because I didn't do anything."
Oh, and he gets the girl: He and Holly Madison welcomed a baby girl, Rainbow Aurora Rotella, into the world on March 5.
Take that, Los Angeles.
Pasquale Rotella was a comer even when he was a "16-year-old with a fake ID, just going out to the undergrounds," Tef Foo, one of L.A.'s veteran rave promoters, recalls. Rotella says he went to his first rave in 1990 and never looked back.
Growing up as a relatively poor kid in bucolic Pacific Palisades, he was attracted to street life. His Italian immigrant parents were serial entrepreneurs: Dad was a construction worker, which came in handy when the couple opened its first eatery in Eagle Rock. Soon they had a deli, La Rotella, in Venice.
But the family struggled. They even lived in a youth hostel near the beach for a spell while Irene and Vincent Rotella "worked to get us back into the Palisades," their son recalls. Young Pasquale bussed tables and cleaned up at the Venice deli, but for the most part, he says, he was "unsupervised on the Venice boardwalk," break-dancing as an eighth grader, showing other kids "what's up" on the cardboard mats of Ocean Front Walk. He also joined a tagging crew.

He was part of a lost generation of street-smart white kids — including Venice's "Z-Boys" skate team and surfing's Strider Wasilewski — who grew up on the Westside when it still had some grit.
"I used to wear Dickies pants and white T-shirts and Raiders' Starter jackets," Rotella says. "My mom would give me a meatball in tinfoil for lunch. I wasn't a bad kid at all, but I just couldn't pretend I had a white picket fence. ... I was an outcast in the Palisades. The kids' parents didn't let them come to my house."
But his success today is a real contrast to some of his wealthier peers: "The families there were afraid of me, but a lot of their kids ended up getting into heroin."

When early rave music hit Los Angeles at the dawn of the '90s, it was an epiphany for Rotella. The sound captured the urban grit of electro music (his break-dancing soundtrack), featured street art in its visuals and adopted the neon smiley-face fashion of England's acid-house scene. The 1960s psychedelia of Bill Graham's Grateful Dead concerts and Tom Wolfe's literary accompaniment, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, were updated with new sounds and new drugs. Acts like Prodigy, Altern-8 and 2 Bad Mice mixed tough-guy breakbeats with futuristic synth sounds.

9136797.t.jpg

Rotella was all over it. "It was happy music," he says. "And it had some hip-hop culture behind it."
While Rotella is today a multimillionaire, he still brings the swagger in a T-shirt, backpack and stiff-billed Edmonton Oilers baseball cap — all black. He has the cold gaze of someone who has some street experience. Which he does: As a teenager he ran with some tough Eastside party crews, joining one called Latin Pride. His wasn't Bill Graham's street-hustling, foster-kid Bronx childhood, but you can see the roots of his egalitarian, for-the-people stance.
"The one thing people didn't appreciate about Bill, and the one thing Pasquale admires, is [that they] care about the audience experience," Pollstar's Bongiovanni says. "Having worked with Bill in the early days, I understood his passion to make sure the hot dogs were fresh and the restrooms were clean. He was concerned with the environment he was putting audiences in."
More often than not, a young Rotella would end up at an underground party near downtown called La Casa, a venue in the 18th Street gang territory.
 
Pasquale, Holly and their daughter
"I remember getting patted on my head at La Casa one night," he says, "and someone said, 'Shouldn't you be home by now, kid?' I would wear top hats, giant overalls and Dr. Martens, fill my backpack with lollipops, and go to the events and dance like crazy. It was the best time of my life."
In 1992, as an 18-year-old, Rotella opened the doors to his own party, Unity Groove. Reza Gerami, whose Go Ventures would later become Insomniac's chief competition, remembers Rotella as a teenager "handing out fliers in his little orange jacket with his sideburns and baggy rave jeans." Promoter Foo recalls partnering up early on for a party with Rotella — and Rotella putting his older sister on the cash register at the door.
Rotella was getting his start even as the underground rave scene looked to be winding down. By 1992, rave culture was on the front page of the Los Angeles Times but not for good reasons: In March three young men were found dead in a parked pickup truck, victims of nitrous oxide. Rave fliers were found in the vehicle.
Party crews and Eastside gangsters were starting to infiltrate the scene and, in Rotella's words, turn things "dark." By the last day of that year, when promoter Gary Richards brought the culture to new heights by hosting a rave for more than 17,000 people at Knott's Berry Farm, the bubble seemed to burst. The party was legendary, sure, but people crashed the gates as police in riot gear tried to stop the madness. Knott's would never again host a rave.
"The scene died," Rotella says. "Rave became a bad word."
But even as the Orange County white kids who kept the underground afloat slunk home, Rotella decided to dive in, hosting weekly $5 events. He called them Insomniac, and when 500 people started showing up, he raised the price to $7. It was 1993.
His parties were a hit, and Rotella learned an important lesson he carries with him today: It's all about the venue. A contact who worked in real estate would give him the keys to unused spaces, allowing Rotella to move Insomniac from week to week.
"I did some break-ins," too, he recalls. "I was arrested twice."
Police raided his parties countless times. But Insomniac quickly became one of the only true, positive-vibe raves in town, drawing 1,200 people a week. At its one-year anniversary in 1994, Insomniac brought 4,000 people downtown to the old Shark Club.

Daniel Wherrett, better known as DJ Dan, met Rotella and started spinning for him about that time. He says the promoter immediately struck him as unusually passionate about the stages, lighting and theatrics at his parties. Rotella would ask to come by Dan's studio to talk party planning in the middle of the week.
"He never stopped thinking that the next one could be bigger than the last show," Wherrett says. "He is genuinely into it."

At other parties, methamphetamine was taking over. Gangsters were invading wholesale. An event called Grape Ape 3 at Orange County's Wild Rivers theme park concluded with fights, guns displayed and a van set on fire. In 1994 the weekly party known as Sketchpad in Rampart Village was so meth-crazed that people ended up strewn on the floor passed out as the sun came up. "That was a nightmare scene," Rotella says, "everything I was against."  He saw his own lows. Someone he trusted swiped $3,000 in profits he had saved up, he says, to help his mom and dad pay rent.

But Rotella had found something positive in his life — rave's mix of music, street art and huggy feelings — and he wasn't about to let go. In February 1995, he organized a party billed as "Insomniac Presents Nocturnal Wonderland" in East L.A. It sold out, becoming Insomniac's signature, annual event.
Slowly, he was bringing raving back into fashion. Rotella helped organize Organic '96 in the San Bernardino Mountains, a before-its-time mix of Coachella-style crowds and European dance-music massives, featuring the Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Orbital and The Orb. It was financially unsuccessful, he recalls, but still "sparked interest in people who thought EDM didn't exist anymore."
That same year he took Nocturnal Wonderland to a venue that would, in a few years' time, become the epicenter of American rock festivals — the Empire Polo Club in the Coachella Valley.
By 1997 artists like Moby and Prodigy were being billed as the Next Big Thing for a music industry looking to replace grunge. Raves from Rotella's Insomniac — as well as Go Ventures, B3 Cande and Fresh Produce — reached new heights by expanding to the National Orange Show fairgrounds in San Bernardino, the desert and the San Bernardino Mountains.

"I wasn't the only one doing raves anymore," Rotella says.
By the mid-aughts, electronic dance music wasn't just back, it was huge. Daft Punk's performance at Coachella in 2006 introduced a new generation of alt-minded hipsters to the edgier side of dance music, a side that would be reflected in the launch of the next year's HARD festival.
EDM fests were starting to take over the biggest venues the West Coast had to offer. Raving was now Bill Graham–level stadium rock. That made Rotella a hot commodity.

He'd gotten his foot in the door almost a decade before at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Both the arena and the L.A. Coliseum are essentially owned jointly by the city, county and state. The Coliseum — which hosted its last NFL game in 1994 — was eager to get in on its sister venue's action.
"The Sports Arena was making money," Rotella says, "so the guy who ran it was, like, 'Can you do more of these?' "

That guy was Coliseum events manager Todd DeStefano, he said. DeStefano was a well-paid football fan who came to the sister venues in 1998. He quickly saw raves' economic potential and worked closely with the promoters to make them happen, beginning in his first year on the job. By 2005, DeStefano, realizing millions could be made, wanted to do the parties four times a year. He tapped Gerami, who muscled in on Rotella's longtime Fourth of July Electric Daisy Carnival weekend with an event of his own at the Coliseum, called Independance. It flopped. So two years later, Rotella says, DeStefano invited him to bring EDC to the Coliseum instead. The party drew 29,000 people in 2007. By 2009 it was rocking 120,000. Raves now were bringing in 28 percent of the taxpayer-owned venues' revenue.
That following year, EDC at the Coliseum was the national rave champion, drawing 160,000 people over two days and featuring the cream of electronic dance music at the biggest DJ stage America had ever seen. Other festivals, including Ultra in Miami, Electric Zoo in New York, Movement in Detroit and Love Festival (renamed LovEvolution) also had gotten big, but Rotella's EDC was king.
Electric Daisy Carnival was so massive that Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am jokingly complained that he couldn't get a decent set time for his DJ performance in 2010. So massive that chaos broke out as ravers gate-crashed to get to a lower level. So massive that there were more than 60 arrests, mostly for drug-related allegations, and 200-plus "medical emergencies," officials said.
The idea of a government-owned venue hosting such huge parties, with all the attendant risk of drug abuse, was always awkward. More than a few ecstasy-overdose deaths have taken place following Insomniac and Go Ventures events over the years, including a 20-year-old who died after a rave at the Sports Arena in 2007. But the age of Sasha Rodriguez — 15 — shocked L.A.'s political establishment. The 2010 EDC, held at the Coliseum, had been designated for those 16 and older, but ID checks reportedly were lax. After sneaking in, Rodriguez took ecstasy and fell into a coma. She died two days later.

The day after Rodriguez's death, L.A. County Supervisor and Coliseum Commission member Zev Yaroslavsky called for a "moratorium" on raves at the public venues. Then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also questioned the wisdom of holding the parties there. The whole rave program was about to be wiped off the Coliseum's calendar.
Rotella could have moved the party somewhere else. But that wasn't his way; he was a fighter, and determined to keep the events in L.A. Instead, as part of its response, Insomniac vowed to strictly enforce an 18-and-older policy with ID scanners — which struck many critics as too little, too late.
But to understand Rotella is to know that his festivals are playgrounds for the faithful, and the faithful often are kids like he once was, backpacks, baseball caps and all.
"For decades there were no piles of money in this," he says. "That's why people abandoned ship. The only people who kept the scene alive was other kids. I love them. I love my people."
Rotella hired a lobbyist, contributed to Councilman Bernard Parks' re-election campaign, and soon found an ally in the former LAPD chief and Coliseum Commission member, who argued that the parties were no different from sporting events or Hollywood Bowl concerts. He was making some headway.
Then the bomb dropped.
At a closed-door session of the Coliseum Commission on Feb. 2, 2011, then-commissioner David Israel revealed what he'd recently learned: Rotella and rival promoter Gerami had allegedly paid more than $1.8 million to DeStefano outside their Coliseum rent and concessions deals. The raves lost all support and were shut out of the venues that year. Even worse, in March 2012, Rotella, Gerami, Coliseum events manager DeStefano and Coliseum general manager Patrick Lynch were indicted as part of a case that alleged corruption, bribery and embezzlement.

The charges are still pending. The case against Rotella relies on emails and a 2008 contract, apparently drafted by DeStefano but never signed, that called for the promoters to hand over 10 percent of event proceeds to him in exchange for his work to minimize their costs at the venue. Payments then allegedly were made directly to side companies controlled by DeStefano. A civil suit filed by the Coliseum against the promoters alleged that they had deprived the public venues, including the Sports Arena, of cash from 37 raves organized there since 1998. But the suit was dismissed last month, with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Terry Green saying, "I just don't see the elements of a conspiracy."

Deputy district attorney Max Huntsman, who is prosecuting the criminal case, admits the promoters "had some good results" when the lawsuit was thrown out. But, he says, "The facts and the law are very different in our case. "We have a piece of paper," Huntsman says, referring to the unsigned contract, "where they agreed to rent the Coliseum from an employee. That to me seems outrageous."

He says DeStefano "clearly discussed that he was working on their behalf to get terms they wanted. That seems like bribery to me." As for Gerami, he has a conspiracy theory of his own: He thinks the corruption case and lawsuit were about ridding the venues of moneymaking events so USC would have an easier time taking over the Coliseum and Sports Arena, which it has since done. He likens the USC takeover to a backroom deal, with the people's property being handed to a wealthy private university for nothing. Profitable raves would have pointed to more market value for the venues and a better deal for the public, Gerami says. "They just handed it over for free," he says of the Coliseum Commission. "They used me and Pasquale as a smoke screen for why."
The promoters' attorneys have argued that any money paid to DeStefano was for his event-consulting work on his own time, and for his help with their events' expansion to state-run parking lots that didn't belong to the Coliseum.
Their best defense may well be one of timing. The payments to DeStefano allegedly were in place for years before 2010's EDC controversy. It doesn't make sense that the promoters would need to bribe DeStefano "to continue to hold the events," as prosecutors allege, at the Coliseum or the Sports Arena before the controversy erupted, particularly since they were clearly a cash cow for the venues.
Prosecutor Huntsman, however, notes that ravers had died before 2010, even if those deaths were more under-the-radar than Rodriguez's shocking overdose, and says Gerami and Rotella needed DeStefano's support to keep their events out of the political line of fire.
Indeed, the manager lobbied his bosses, the Coliseum Commission, to keep the raves at the Coliseum and Sports Arena even after the teen's death. In an email to the promoters, DeStefano said he was "working the politics big-time behind the scenes."
If the judge grants Rotella's motion to dismiss next week, he's home free. Otherwise, the criminal case against him could take a year to wind its way through the court system.
The tough kid from the Palisades doesn't seem to be too worried.
He just married girlfriend Madison this week at Disneyland. A reported $50 million richer as a result of selling 50 percent of his company to Live Nation, Rotella has plans to move Insomniac's modern, black-walled offices from the east end of Melrose Avenue to Beverly Hills.
The nation's largest concert promoter is facing competition for the lucrative and growing EDM festival market and, as such, has been staking out turf with its checkbook.
With EDC now part of the Live Nation family, Rotella is officially in bed with Gary Richards' HARD events, which was purchased last year by the concert giant. (In February Richards tweeted to Rotella, "Wonder twin powers activate.")
The buying spree pits Live Nation, the corporate grandchild of Bill Graham Presents, against Robert Sillerman's SFX Entertainment, which has snapped up rave company "Disco" Donnie Presents and European festival promoter ID&T. (L.A.'s AEG Live also is an EDM player, with one-off DJ concerts and a little thing called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.)
Pollstar's Bongiovanni says living with a publicly traded company could prove to be a challenge for an up-from-the-streets promoter like Rotella. "There's always pressure to make money when you're working for a public company," he says. "Before, it was just his wallet. Now he has other people to answer to."
In the introduction to rock promoter Bill Graham's posthumous autobiography, Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out, co-author Robert Greenfield writes of Graham, "Rock was never a business. It was an ongoing war in which he did battle each and every day with not only egotistical rock stars and their self-centered managers, agents and lawyers but also Hell's Angels and any city official who dared stand in his way."
For Rotella, like his hero, music events can mean going to war. That's clear in his fight with the Coliseum — but also in his relationship with rival promoter (and fellow defendant in the Coliseum kickback case) Reza Gerami. In 1998, when Rotella first got hard-earned access to the Sports Arena, he thought he was on top. But then the Coliseum events manager also offered a date at the venue to Gerami. Never mind that Gerami had known Rotella since he was a teen raver; the way Rotella tells it, Gerami elbowed Insomniac out of the Arena. Rotella retreated to the Inland Empire, where Insomniac found a home at the National Orange Show fairgrounds.
"I ended up owning the Orange Show and he ended up being the Sports Arena guy," Rotella says.
Three years later, the two kissed and made up and double-teamed for one almighty New Year's Eve's party, aptly named Together As One. And after Gerami allegedly flubbed his shot at the Coliseum in 2005 with Independance, Rotella was in prime shape to take over that venue for EDC.
Then, in 2011 Rotella pulled out of the partnership with Gerami that was responsible for the annual Together As One. Soon, it seemed, Gerami's Go Ventures was shut out of the market: unable to book top DJs, unable to get decent venues, unable to cash in on the corporate gold rush.
By 2012 Gerami's parties were essentially finished in L.A.
"Reza's demise was his own doing," Rotella says. "He wasn't able to find venues after the Sports Arena."
For his part, Gerami says, "I don't think it's personal, where he elbowed me out. Business is business, and competition is competition."
In recent years, Rotella has embarked on a steady takeover of L.A.'s EDM club scene, wringing its neck like a boa constrictor. The expansion includes one-off DJ concerts at the Hollywood Palladium, a partnership with SBE Entertainment Group's new super-club Create, and regular weekend bookings at downtown club Exchange Los Angeles. One promoter, who asked not to be identified for fear of invoking the wrath of EDM's king, reports that the only way he can book big-name DJs is with Rotella's blessing.
Another promoter, who also declined to be identified, says that Rotella reached out to metaphorically slap his hand for handing out a competitor's fliers at one of Insomniac's SoCal parties this summer. A no-no in '92 is still a no-no in the corporate world of festivals today. And Rotella is not afraid to be a micromanager.
"I don't like when people attack me," Rotella says. "I can be fierce."
He adds, "I don't like confrontation. But I am never going to stop what I'm doing when my life is on the line. I do have business sense. It's because of my upbringing. I wasn't given toys. I grew up with parents who had nothing and wanted to start businesses. I'm very strategic. I want to protect what I do."
Rotella denies any attempt to dominate the local market, saying he only does the local shows because they "just kind of fall into my lap." Underlings handle those bookings, Rotella says, while he focuses on EDC.
He describes his company's signature event as "fulfilling people's fantasies." To that end, he says the Live Nation deal won't change his events — he retains creative control. "I have some big things I want to accomplish. I'm not even close yet."
For Rotella, the party is the attraction. Always was. Forget the $250,000-per-gig superstar DJs and the same old lineups featuring Avicii, Afrojack and Tiesto on a permanent loop. At this year's EDC in Vegas, the stage was noticeably more concentrated, with DJs barely discernible inside the belly of Rotella's hallmark, a massive, "wide awake" night owl. (Insomniac's motto is "Wide Awake Since 1993," a nod to the drug-fueled, party-till-dawn raving of the early days.)
The ideal party for Rotella would be "10 percent music, 10 percent DJ names" — with a much bigger focus on the lighting, the costumed guests, the art. For him, it's about the whole experience, not just the names on the marquee: "I want to have the best theatrics and art and people coming for many reasons. The biggest thing is trying to get people to connect."
In Vegas for EDC, Rotella commands a motorcade of golf carts that shuttles his retinue from the helicopter landing area to his trailer next to the main stage. As the conga line reaches a gate, however, an assistant refuses security's command to slow down. One of the guards steps right in front of the first vehicle and is almost flattened.
"Do you know who we're with?" doesn't seem to cut it. The security guards, now aided by local police, grow suspicious and start searching people. James Frey's backpack gets a worse reaming than Oprah ever gave him, and even Madison's little clutch is not immune from the TSA treatment.
Rotella and Madison, who's dressed in a long, butterfly-print skirt, sit in back of the first cart, facing the rear. As the carts get the green light and begin to meander through the crowds, with a sweating bodyguard jogging on the ground behind the couple, ravers run up to say hi and take pictures. Rotella gets recognized 2-to-1 over Madison, the Playboy beauty, reality TV star and tabloid fave. The raver kids point and shout, "That's Pasquale!"
"That's the biggest success," Rotella says later. "I have the best, most loyal crowds in the world."
Later that night, Rotella meets up with his mom at his row of VIP tables. She's wearing a sparkling black top hat and oversized, heart-shaped sunglasses. As a way of greeting, she slaps a reporter's cheeks as only an Italian grandmother could.
At Rotella's VIP corral above the main stage, vodka flows and childhood friends who have never left his side enjoy the fruits of a bro's labor.
Rotella is a true believer that raves are a force for good, presenting a great equalizer in the form of the dance floor, even if he now observes the festivities like royalty, from a couple stories above.
"There are people," he says, for whom "the rave scene was good. I'm one of them."

However, the growth to the top usually comes with a little falling here and there. Pasquale has never escaped this.It was at the 2012 EDC show in Las Vegas where trouble for Rotella first brewed.
Two people died after attending the festival in Vegas -- a 31-year-old Florida man who died after being hit by a truck when leaving the festival and a 22-year-old University of Arizona student who fell to her death from the 27th floor of her hotel room, the Las Vegas Sun reported. When Metro Police attempted to investigate Rotella's Insomniac, standard operating procedure when issuing a carnival license for a temporary event like EDC, they incurred some difficulty.
"According to an investigation report obtained by the Sun, Metro wrote requests to various law enforcement agencies, did a local background check, a Department of Motor Vehicles inquiry and obtained records from various public and private sources," wrote the Las Vegas Sun's Joe Schoenmann. "Metro summarized its findings: 'This investigation also revealed multiple Areas of Concern, all surrounding the character of Mr. Rotella and the business operations of Insomniac Inc.'"
This was not Rotella's first problem with the law, regarding his controversial raves.
In March, rave promoter Rotella and five others were indicted on charges of conspiracy, embezzlement and bribery for allegedly stealing millions of dollars from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena, reported ABC News. Rotella and his associate allegedly paid former Coliseum events manager Todd DeStefano almost $2 million to limit payments due to the venue and to ensure the use of it for their events.
Madison's 38-year-old boyfriend pled not guilty. He faces a potential 13-year-8-month jail sentence, according to L.A. Weekly.
The 2010 EDC at the L.A. Coliseum came under such scrutiny after 15-year-old Sasha Rodriguez died of a drug overdose after attending the rave.
Although the event was not included in the indictment, prosecutors claim the Insomniac promoters were undeterred by the death and pushed for more raves, offering bribes for access to the venue, The Associated Press previously reported.
“We feel as though we are the safest festivals out there,” Rotella recently told The Huffington Post. “Whenever anything tragic happens, whether it’s at the festival or even hours after the festival and the attendee just came to the show, it’s always suddenly about the genre of the music and about the style of the event.”
If Rotella is convicted in the LA scandal, EDC could lose its Vegas permit, Weekly reported in June 2013. More than 300,000 three-day tickets were sold for the Sin City event this year, according to the Village Voice. Madison attended the event with Rotella this year. Despite these legal woes, Rotella is thrilled about his growing family with Madison.
The former "Girls Next Door" star was previously romantically involved with Hugh Hefner. She broke up with the Playboy honcho back in October 2008.
"I want to be with somebody I can have more of a future with eventually," Madison told "Extra!" about her breakup with the 82-year-old. "Hef and I can't get married and have kids...so it was fun while it lasted but it wasn't right for my old age. I got too old for Hef." Ok, see? Ladies follow you with success. They need to know that they are bunking on someone who's responsible enough too for a family like my Role model here Pasquale!

Again, well done Pasquale!!!

Friday 31 January 2014

Lupita:The new name of success

Ok Ok. Let's start it here! I have many role models and big figures who have helped me in emulating them. I have had many things in mind to write about them as a way of appreciation but let's just say I was too lazy then(Of which I was. No offense!) I hope I am forgiven Trump, Russel and the rest, am I? :). First of all let's start it this way,I am a Kenyan African man who was taught in the bush not to show emotions and feelings especially towards a girl.Lord, don't think I have a crush on her!(Yes, I do! Who in his right mind wouldn't? Maybe if your genes mutated during the embryonic stage before you were born.). Even if I were to... her,(anything that leads somewhere), the fact is, She is ten years older than I am. Something I detest very much, sometimes I ask my father, why he married my mother late. I would have joined the league of Bradd Pitt and company in submitting my CV to her for vetting as a potential 'nani'. Ok, by now you have all the clues on who is about to be the topic of this context.But for my blonde fellows, let me help you. She is female, she is Kenya (Woohoo! I AM KENYAN!) and the fact that She is in freaking Hollywood just ices the cake very well!

Her name is...Stop , you guessed right!!  So she was not that famous for 29 years, and not until recently when all of a sudden, she became new kid in in the corridors of Hollywood!! What does that mean?  She became an household name. Not only here in her mother country, Kenya but the world!! Imagine that?? A whole planet talking about you! Because of what?? Success.  The stunning Kenyan actress has taken the film world by storm with her gripping performance in 12 Years a Slave, and the role has garnered her best supporting actress nominations at the Golden Globes and Oscars. Most recently, she took home a SAG award in the category and was also honored at the Critics' Choice Awards, where she was welcomed to the stage with a standing ovation by her idols and peers before giving an emotional, heartfelt acceptance speech (it was one for the books; if you haven't seen it yet, we suggest you grab a tissue and watch :link). While there's a lot to love about Lupita — her raw talent, wide-eyed ingenuity, and incredible sense of style included. Lupita was born in Mexico City, where she and her family were political refugees. Her parents decided to adhere to Kenyan tradition — naming your child after the events of the day — and give her a Mexican first name. Her father, Hon Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, is a former minister and current member of Kenya's parliament. Thanks to his notoriety there, Lupita has a realistic view of fame, telling the LA Times,
Look at that caption, I don't need to add mine! 

"I grew up in the limelight and being the child of someone famous, so my relationship with fame is not bedazzled." But Lupita's still not quite used to her growing stardom; as she told The Huffington Post,
Lupita at the 71st  Golden Globe Awards
"I'm trying to get over the fact that my name is being mentioned with freakin' Brad Pitt! It's a lot. My name is coming up alongside people that I have grown up watching and who I respect so deeply. That is incredible and unbelievable."

Lupita graduated from Hampshire College with a degree in film and theater studies. She went on to earn a master's degree from Yale's School of Drama in 2012, just months before landing the role of Patsey in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave. She speaks Spanish! She learnt this when her parents sent her back to Mexico at age 16 to learn the language.

Lupita in one of the scenes in "12 years a slave"
Also it looks like success is just not far away from her family, as her cousin Isis Nyong'o Madison was on Forbes's  list of Africa's Top 20 Youngest Power Women. Lupita also brought her brother, Peter Jr., as her date to the Palm Springs Film Festival and thanked Julia Roberts for "making him the coolest kid in school" by taking a photo with him that night. Lupita landed a job as a production assistant in 2005 when The Constant Gardener was being filmed in her Kenyan neighborhood. She spent some of her time helping the film's star Ralph Fiennes.

Lupita with her brother, Peter Jr. at the Palm Springs Music Festival
In 2009, she wrote, directed, and produced the documentary In My Genes, which explores the treatment of Kenyans with albinism. She credits Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple as inspiration for her performance in 12 Years a Slave. Lupita told the Independent ,

"Whoopi looked like me, she had hair like mine, she was dark like me. I'd been starved for images of myself. I'd grown up watching a lot of American TV. There was very little Kenyan material, because we had an autocratic ruler who stifled our creative expression."

Lupita also drew inspiration from Michael Jackson: 

"There's something very Michael Jackson-like about Patsey, the childlike quality he always had."
Her breakout role has earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. This is how we imagine Lupita reacted when she found out the news. She's into '90s TV just as much as we are; growing up in Kenya, Lupita's favorite shows were Full House, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Friends. Hear that, Jennifer Aniston ? Lupita's first time seeing a roller coaster was in the opening credits of Step by Step . Watch her hilarious interview with Jimmy Kimmel where she explains her first time riding one.Lupita's interview with Jimmie

Director McQueen, Lupita and Ejiofor. '12 Years a Slave' Premieres in London
For her first-ever time at the Golden Globes, Lupita had an adorable "checklist" of stars she wanted to meet and take photos with. She nailed it! The red-caped Ralph Lauren gown she wore that night turned lots of heads and landed Lupita on many a best-dressed list . Lupita told the LA Times that she's also been keeping a journal to track her journey through award season. Prior to starring in 12 Years a Slave, Lupita appeared in a short film called East River, as well as an African MTV miniseries called Shuga. She's a fashion-industry darling! Lupita covers the February issues of W Magazine and Dazed and Confused and has already landed a gig as one of the new faces of Miu Miu 's Spring campaign. Nyong'o picked up the very first SAG Award of the night, beating out American Hustle star (and Golden Globe winner) Jennifer Lawrence for the Best Supporting Actress honor.
"Being recognized by fellow actors is an honor of the highest order, and I want to thank all of you so much,"

she said in her emotional acceptance speech. 

Lupita looking emotional during her speech
"First of all I want to thank the man without whom this would all not be possible, Solomon Northup, for a life well lived..."

She went on to thank director Steve McQueen, as well as her alma mater, Yale School of Drama, for the "amazing training." Last but not least, she thanked her family, who "have kept it real." Recalling the moment she got the role in 12 Years a Slave, Nyong'o told the crowd,

"I said, 'Daddy, do you know Brad Pitt? I'm going to be in a movie with him.' And he said, 'I don't know him personally, but I'm glad you got a job."
The invitation letter she got to the Oscars

Well as a young guy in his last teen years, I am happy that I can have a person I can look up to, a person  who has garnered a lot of accolades within weeks and has grown. And if you think she's stopped at it, you're wrong! We'll next see Lupita in the upcoming action film Non-Stop with Liam Neeson, Michelle Dockery, and Julianne Moore. Not too fast young lad! She is going for the Oscars too! Let's hope she wins! Wait! Hope?? No!! She is going to take all the Oscars she has been nominated for! I am that optimistic!