Chocolate City (music label)

Chocolate City Music  is a Nigerian record label founded in 2005 by lawyer /entrepreneur Audu Maikori along with Paul Okeugo and Yahaya Maikori. Generally regarded as one of the biggest and most successful urban record labels in Africa, Chocolate City Music today operates as a subsidiary of Chocolate City Group- one of the biggest entertainment conglomerates in Africa.

History
Originally founded as a rave nightclub in 1997, Chocolate City quickly became the number one promotions outfit in the Northern part of Nigeria and moved into the industry main stream in 2005 with the launch of the record label ('Chocolate City Music'). Chocolate City started by promoting musicians around Nigeria  aside from those in Lagos since there seemed to be no company promoting talent outside Lagos. The first artiste signed on the label was multi talneted instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and producer Jeremiah Gyang (whose debut album Na BA KA sold over 4 Million copies and won numerous accolades and acclaim for the artist as well as the label). Chocolate City went on to discover, manage and promote the careers of talents like Djinee, M.I, Asa, Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince, Brymoand other artists who have won over 70 awards both locally and internationally.

Chocolate City has sold over 35 thousand albums since 2005 quickly establishing it self as one of the biggest record labels in Africa.

In June 2007, Audu Maikori Founder/CEO of Chocolate City won the prestigious British award the International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year (IYMEY) by the British Council, making Nigeria the first country to win 2 global awards in the Young Creative Entrepreneurs Series (the first was Lanre Lawal (IYDEY) 2005), after beating 9 countries including Philippines, Latvia, Lithuania, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Tanzania, Egypt and Poland.

Accolades
Chocolate City was the first Nigerian music company to attain a global music award and recognition by the British Council in 2007 i.e. International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year (IYMEY)2007.

Chocolate City has since worked closely with the Federal Government of Nigeria as well as several international organisations such as the British Council in promoting the creative industries as well as Capacity building projects in and around Nigeria. In April 2008, Chocolate City announced a major collaborative effort in partnership with the British Council and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to take a delegation of Nigerian music stakeholders to London Calling 2008 in a bid to open new vistas for the fast growing Nigerian music industry currently valued at around $500 Million (2007). The 40 man delegation was led by the Minister of Culture and Tourism.

Chocolate City has also been active in the promotion of the Creative industries globally having participated in several workshops and initiatives. In January 2008, Chocolate City delivered a keynote address on a workshop tagged "Mapping the Creative Industries in Albania" organised by the British Council, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Ministry of Economy, Albania. The workshop was aimed at sharing experiences of creative entrepreneurs from around Europe, the UK and Nigeria.

Chocolate City activities were judged to have the capacity to affect the Nigerian Music Industry on a national scale, receiving media coverage from both local and international media. Reuters International produced a documentary on the Chocolate City success story tagged "Music and Money" in recognition of its contributions to the development of the Nigerian Music Industry.

Over the years Chocolate City has streamlined creative partnerships with many international and regional creative industry organizations, with affiliates in South Africa, U.K and the USA, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the British Council toward promoting and celebrating creativity in Nigeria which we are very passionate about.

On the 8th of December 2011 parent company Chocolate City Group won the prestigious African Awards for Entrepreneurship 2011 beating over 3,300 applicants from 48 countries in Africa to clinch the runner up prize thereby making history as the first ever entertainment company to win the prize since 2007.

Artists
Artists on the label include:
 * M.I
 * Jesse Jagz
 * Ice Prince
 * Brymo
 * Dj Caise
 * Pryse

Awards and nominations

 * International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year Award-Global Winner 2007]]
 * Record Label of the Year - City People Awards,2011
 * Best Music Company" - Effzye Awards,2011
 * African Awards for Entrepreneurship" 2011- Africa Awards

Bring The Noise Project
M.I (Jude Abaga) represented Nigeria on a 12 country tour of the UK and Africa from 2007–2008

Discography
{| class="wikitable" !align="center"|Year !align="center"|Information

rowspan="1"|2010
 * rowspan="2"|2008
 * align="left"|M.I - Talk About It
 * Released: December 11th, 2008
 * Singles: "Safe", "Money", "Teaser"
 * Sales certification: 6x Platinum
 * align="left"|Jesse Jagz - Jag of All Trades
 * Released: April 20, 2010
 * Singles: "Wetin Dey", "Nobody Test Me","L-O-V-E U","Pump it up"
 * Sales certification: Gold
 * rowspan="1"|2010
 * align="left"|M.I - [[M.I (M.I2 album)|M.I]
 * Released: November, 2010
 * Singles: "Action Film", "Beef", "Choc BOI Anthem", "Nobody"
 * RIAA certification: 10xPlatinum
 * rowspan="2"|2011
 * align="left"|Ice Prince - Ice Princel
 * Released: October, 2011
 * Singles: "Juju",Oleku "See myself", "Babyl"," Magician'
 * Sales certification: 2xPlatinum
 * rowspan="3"|2005
 * align="left"|Jeremiah Gyang - Na Ba Ka
 * Released: May, 2005
 * Singles: "Wakar Najeriya", "Gonna Be", "Kasi Tala","Ban Da Kai"
 * align="left"|Jeremiah Gyang - Na Ba Ka
 * Released: May, 2005
 * Singles: "Wakar Najeriya", "Gonna Be", "Kasi Tala","Ban Da Kai"


 * align="left"|Brymo] - [[Ara
 * Released: November, 2011
 * Singles: "Ara",
 * Sales certification: 2x Platinum
 * Sales certification: 2x Platinum