'I don’t want him to dumb himself down for me' - Pearl Thusi

27 February 2017 - 23:00 By Azizzar Mosupi
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What would a lip sync battle battle between hosts Pearl Thusi and Denrele Edun sound like?

A touch of Michael Jackson’s Thriller‚ Lil Wayne’s A Millie - which the queen of clapback raps perfectly at the drop of a hat -  and Babes Wodumo’s smash hit Wololo.

The pair‚ who will host season two of Lip Sync Battle‚ are like a perfect dance recital‚ feeding into each other’s strengths as they speak about the show on its set‚ which is lit in bright blue and filled with displays of classic vinyls behind them.

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“She’s my in-house producer‚” says Denrele of Pearl‚ who is presenting the show for the second time around while it’s his first season‚ following in the footsteps of Nigerian musician D’Banj.

“D’banj is Africa’s baddest so I just thought to myself‚ I’m going to be doing this? I was worried. But she would come to me and say I have these lines and just give me extra direction for us to make it more vivacious‚" he explained.

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“All in all‚ it’s [an] unequalled‚ unparalleled and unrivaled‚ beautiful madness – try not to watch us; we dare you!”

Denrele is an internationally renowned television presenter who has interviewed the likes of Akon‚ Beyonce‚ Snoop Dogg and many other A-listers and was a contestant on the first season of the show‚ in a battle against TV personality Ebuka.

Pearl‚ who recently scored a gig on America’s drama series Quantico‚ and has been living in New York over the past couple of months‚ says that the experience has made her less rigid.

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“I’ve learnt the importance of adapting to different people and to different situations and different things. I made it my job to adapt to him‚ because he’s gonna be here the first time and I don’t want him to dumb himself down for me or to change anything about himself when he’s here. I want him to get up there and do the best that he knows he’s capable of and I need to make sure that I bring that out in him.”

Pearl says that the show is like her baby‚ because it is the first thing that she did not take over from someone else and she has been able to put her stamp on it from the beginning.

“But I don’t want to get possessive because this show belongs to Africa – it belongs to the African people. I am an instrument to deliver it to them so I always have to get that clear - the way I was raised and the kind of people I surround myself with‚ whatever happens‚ the idea and the dream and the vision is always bigger than me."

Lip Sync Battle Africa Season two premieres on MTV Base‚ DSTV’s channel 322‚ on Thursday‚ April 6 at 9:30pm (CAT)

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