In a blink of an eye, the final quarter of 2021 is here and we’re worse for wear. It’s October again in the city and while this month is typically viewed as a placeholder for the frivolous Detty December season, this year, it carries more weight and trauma than ever before. A year ago today, young Nigerians took to the streets to protest a rough anti-robbery unit SARS which carried out extra-judicial killings on unarmed citizens.

With one voice and under one accord, we marched in streets and roads across the country, and even in the diaspora, chanting and calling for the end to several injustices that have plagued us as people. As we mourned the labours of our heroes past and looked to the future of a better Nigeria, we were once again reminded that as young people are voices and our votes are not regarded by the very people charged to protect and provide for us.

October is a bittersweet month for several reasons but for this writer specifically, it has come to signify endings and seismic change, unlike that many of us are used to. With that in mind, we will never forget the atrocities that took place on October 20th, 2020 and neither will we let the lives of our fallen peers be in vain. To lighten your load this October, I’ll be taking the reins on our Hot Takes column with my nearest and dearest, Damilola to dish about all the wackiest cultural moments out there. It’s not much but it’s guaranteed to take your mind off the heavy news cycle and provide a bit of balance in your hot October days. So sit back & enjoy!

BBLU: Tems and Amaarae

After the seismic change caused to the music industry last year, we’re coming into times where things are returning to the status quo. All around the world, live musical experiences are making a come back and we’re seeing our favourite artists on stages and festival lineups. One of the better-enjoyed parts of this is watching this new vanguard of Afropop stars, who’ve long been talented enough to perform on the world stage, receive their current career-defining milestones. It’s mostly especially heartwarming to see these young stars support and uplift each other through this moment particularly Tems and Amaarae who’ve both recently been seen at each other’s shows in the US, offering moral support and a bit of liquid luck. My take on this is that there’s never been a more nurturing and supportive moment for women in Afropop than there currently is. From Tiwa Savage and Amaarae teaming up on her most recent album ‘Water and Garri’ to SGaWD and Somadina coming together for “Pop Shit,” a bouncy cut where they both talk their shit and share affirmations for women just like them.

 

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Adele, fatphobia, new music, great life

When Tami and I decided to take on Hot Takes this week, I picked this Hot Take thinking I would be weighing in to give a detailed and light drag for people who refuse to be challenged when confronted with their fatphobia. In between Adele’s virility this week from the discussion about society’s engrained fatphobia, and the promise of new music (who else has been playing the preview every time it pops up on Instagram?), I sat with a cup of tea and read her interviews with Vogue to gain context for my light drag, and I was amazed by what I came across. First of all, Adele seems like a joy to interview. From her quotes and the candour both interviewers describe in their pieces, it feels like she actually wants to talk to us and let us into her world. While the Twitter timeline has been arguing about the difference in Adele’s public reverence since her ‘surprise’ weight loss, Adele reveals in both interviews for Vogue and British Vogue that she lost weight because she was working out multiple times a day to fight her anxiety. If you spend all day fighting the thoughts in your head (and those mofos have hands) it makes sense to channel it into something physical. This made me think season 2 of ‘Sex Education’, when Jackson was under a lot of pressure from his mum about being a swimming champion, but he didn’t want to swim anymore, and so to get her off his back, he had an ‘accident’ in the gym which prevented him from swimming. While Jackson doing that bought him some temporary relief, it wasn’t particularly useful for his long term healing and until he confronted the issue, he didn’t find actual relief. Adele working out to quieten her anxiety seems like the opposite of Jackson in some ways, and the result of that is she’s spent some time in her head and turned it into new music. She’s dropping an album soon, (which the British Vogue interviewer got to listen to btw, God when?) and she said that she’s addressing herself in this music, rather than the people who have done her dirty in the past and that’s a stage of growth I’ve been very interested in for a while. That face Adele pulled in that IG Live when someone asked her what her body count told me she’s either an A1 troll or she genuinely has no parts in that baseless conversation in 2021, either way, that’s my kind of energy and I’m more than ready for her to drop this album.

Revenge porn

Over the weekend, Tiwa Savage appeared on the Power 205.1 station in New York City, following her performance at the Lost In Riddim festival. While she was meant to be promoting the release of her latest EP and the standout Brandy-assisted single “Somebody’s Son” which recently caught the attention of the internet, the singer’s visit to the station was marred by the shocking tale of revenge pornography. The Nigerian singer revealed that she was being blackmailed over some intimate footage with her current partner. The blackmailer was requesting a sum of money to avoid the release of this tape which was unknowingly downloaded when Savage’s partner accidentally uploaded his video to his Snapchat account. Though the situation is clearly distressing, Savage shared with Angie Martinez that she was not going to give into the threats as the tape was an intimate moment shared between two consenting adults. The singer said she would not be blackmailed for something that is natural and we wholly support that statement. In 2021, it’s needless to keep harping the same tune about women’s autonomy and the need to respect women’s privacy but in this world, women aren’t allowed to exist as sexual beings in their own rights. Savage has especially borne the brunt of this maligned view as she’s hardly ever been given the space to exist as a mother and a woman capable of making her own choices. She’s typically been slut-shamed and berated for her actions, lyrics and even outfit choices and this situation just takes the cake. It is welcoming to see that Savage is now disarming the power that this attacker has over her by not giving in to their threats for an action that is hers to make and not anyone else’s.

Yvonne Orji and the heat of Ogbono

My least favourite brand of Nigerians are the Jesus and Jollof kinds, and I don’t really think I need to say much about why that’s the case. We’ve all lived through the shift in paradigm over the past few years, that has seen repatriation of sorts for loads of first-gen kids in the diaspora and so many good things have been born from that – like Wizkid & Tems in the Top 10 of Billboard Hot 100 (whut?!) and Burna Boy & my second favourite rapper at the moment, Polo G, on a song together. A constant problem that has arisen from this cultural exchange, however, are things like podcasts called Jesus and Jollof. Which has now graduated to being the ‘sweetness of chin chin and puff puff mixed with the heat of Ogbono’. I can’t. First of all, let’s reel it back in all the way to say that this very tired trend of people in the diaspora using those exaggerated ‘Nigerian’ accents for comedy is just not funny. The accent is not funny, the content is not funny, and I think it should stop.This Hot Take, was to unpack that Instagram post for Independence Day, you know the one. Let’s get into it.

Nigeria made me, America raised me. I am the daughter of an Igbo Chief, and the granddaughter of an Ogbuefi.  – This didn’t annoy me as much, I just rolled my eyes halfway when I saw it cause, first of all, this Independence Day was not a thing of pride.

Then it got bad.

I am the spice of pepper soup and the force of kolanut – O Lord.

I am the sweetness of chin chin and puff puff mixed with the heat of Ogbono. –Ogbono isn’t made to be spicy, I’ve never eaten a spicy ogbono before, so what kind of heat? Is it hot from being cooked? Or hot spicy? Cause if it’s the first, then it saying doesn’t make sense, and if it’s the second, again, it still doesn’t any make sense. I also don’t know why anyone would ever mix chin chin or puff puff with Ogbono so it just didn’t bang.

I am the party starter like Naija Jollof – Jollof Rice is not a party starter. Isn’t it like music or people who are party starters? Food does not start a party.  It might have landed better if it said ‘I am hot like party jollof’ or something like that, but again. I also don’t believe that in 2021 anyone should still be saying ‘Naija’, we left that before the turn of the LAST decade, nobody should still be talking like its 2007. But then again… 80’s millennial.

I have withstood the madness of Lagos traffic and the chaos of Balogun Market – Deeeep sigh. Why? Out of everything, this is what offended me the most because Balogun Market isn’t the best example for what she was trying to achieve and doesn’t really speak to how ‘rugged’ Lagos is. I’d like to see her withstand the chaos in the middle of Oshodi Market or  Mile 12, or better still, just not try and win comedy points with things like this.

I know I’ve been harsh, but this column is the only space on The NATIVE where there’s absolute unencumbered speech welcome, so I’m open to continuing this dialogue, tweet me your thoughts

Featured image credits/NATIVE

Words by Tami Makinde and Damilola Animashaun