S1E11- Sounds of the Diaspora

As we all know, everyone doing something great is Nigerian. On this episode, Dele and Uko talk about the Nigerians across the world.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

No matter where you go, remember the road I will lead you.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hello everyone, welcome to your favorite music podcast. Hear me out.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Feels like it's been a minute. I haven't touched base. I mean, I know it's just probably been like a few days, but this week has been a lot. So I haven't touched base. What's good? Talk to me.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

You know me, I'm always I'm always of good spirit. But lately I've just been missing that home vibe. Sort of like I'm homesick in a way, you know. I know. You know that time when we were like in lag and one weekend you can just wake up and just journey home to your family just to spend the weekend with them. Or is it the fact that there is always something to celebrate within like a month or two?

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Yeah, yeah. And you know the funny thing is the thing is no one is actually home because if you go home now, it's just you. You just have to go home strategically. Like you have to go home when when when boys they go out, like you have to be home with everyone.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Do you understand? Do you remember those times where like after work, impromptu, we'll just like call each other up and meet at a place at a location and just have fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Friday nights were always like times you look forward to because you know that there always be a reason to sit, you know, have a pint or two with the guys and just catch up straight like or have fish. Man, so sorry, man. I know, I know. It's it's tough, man. It is, it is now that you're even speaking about home. I'm just remembering some cultural shocks that happened when I first left Nigeria. I think one was the fact that I had to pay rent monthly. I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_01 2:29

That one will that one will forever drive me nuts. I'm being honest with you.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

What do you mean? When I was in Lagos, if I pay my landlord in December or January, I know I'm not thinking about rent until the following year.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

I promise you, that is one cultural cultural I will never like get used to. It's it's just immediately you earn your money, you're already thinking of patting away with some of it for rent. It doesn't get any easy.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Yeah, it doesn't, it's it's it was crazy. I think the wonder has happened to me like up till date is when I see a police car, my heart skips a bit. For no reason, I'm just like, God, have I done something wrong? And the guy or the lady, whoever is driving, is probably just going about her regular patrol, but my I'm panicking.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

You need to realize that where you are down, the the police is your friend. Come on. I think we both left home during the height of like SARS, right? That was that was a real thing.

SPEAKER_04 3:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

One of the reasons that like hastened my departure from home was the fact that there was a lot of insecurity at that time. It was just it just became like really rampant at that time. Like, I'm not even talking about the old kidnapping thing and whatnot. It was just like things like you walking on the road and one guy from nowhere, they call them mad beer rows. We just be like, yeah, guys, what do you get for us and all those things?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Anything for the boys.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Anything for the boys. And it's not the fact that they are just asking, like, oh, please give us something. It was more like, if you don't give us something. Do you understand? Like, if you don't give us something, we go, we go dagger around.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

My my own experience with the SARS guys was when we're traveling down to Benin. I said, my love for Benin. We're going for my guy's sister's wedding, and they pulled us over, like in the middle of nowhere. And the guy were four in the car. The guy was just like, my my my my friend was trying to like relate with the guy, like, normal guy to guy, a guy, man. I'll say, Chama, what's up? Why why they stop anything? We have our say. I was like, guy, no follow me, talk, don't talk to me. Where are you there now? I will mess you up. And nobody will know.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Imagine getting that from people. Then he gave him a slap. I said, I'm down first. These are the guys that are supposed to protect you. Do you understand? It's just it's just crazy. I think I I had a similar experience. Um, going to work one of those days from First Stack. Shout out to Feck Stack Boys. Shout out to First Tack Boys. Second rainbow boys. Do you remember that day? You drove my dad's car.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

It wasn't good. It wasn't first was the vibe, man. First attack was the vibe. Oh, we will start discussing my first carpet, first escape, man.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Oh my first tag is just different, it's just the different Lagos. As I was saying, you know, this day I was going to work and I had to take the bike, and they told me, guy, get off the bike. You know, like show me your phone. And I'm being honest. They said, show me your phone. And uh the people around were like, uh uh, why would he show you his phone? Like, what's wrong? You don't have any permission to check his phone and stuff like that. But bro, I had to unlock my phone for them.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Mind you guys, if you're listening, all this conversation was not in English, you know. It was in hardcore PG on your bar. Because those guys, you have to you have to be ready, you have to be ready, you're proper a lie.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

And these are the people that are supposed to protect you. Do you understand? Almost, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Do you know what thing I just so you get why I said my heart still beats when I see a police car or policeman around? Bro, now trauma.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Now, all those trauma we know if you come out. I just remembered something now. You know, we used bikes a lot.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

I was I was speaking with my friend just yesterday. I was telling him that one of the days I took bike straight from Ikorodu to K2. Bro, the traffic was mad.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Bikes should save you, man. Anytime, anything, bro. You can be going to the airport, right? You're about 15 minutes to your flight.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Nothing like taxi, just straight back to two of our guys. They are they were about to miss their flights because of what a jump bike.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

And then at one point, you know, when I got to where I am now, and it was one of the cultural shock for me because I was running a bit late. I looked around, I was like, ah, where my bike? Where bike my day?

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Bike who run you, take you down and not oh bro, I've been walking.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

If you think, if you if you think, oh, this is why this guy's fit, it's not because I'm doing anything special, though, not gym, nothing, it's just walking, man. You have to walk distance when you use the train, when you use the bus, you just the next day you need to walk distance. I said, Oh my man. No, it's just one of those.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah, if we keep going culture shocks, there's one that, sorry, there's one, this one is is food related. I don't know about over there, right? But what do you mean 12 p.m. is lunchtime? Yeah, I've not even eaten breakfast, and you're telling me 12 p.m. is lunchtime.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Okay, but it's it's different, yeah. It's different. Yeah, it where I am, they they eat a lot. It's uh it's a culture that is like they eat a lot. See, they have like this old breakfast thing where the breakfast is like for kings. You know, for you guys it's like beans and tea and maybe like yeah, yeah, they have like big breakfast. I'm talking big, like uh go out or go omo. Go out. You have like tomatoes, olives, uh cucumber, you have the toast, you have the eggs, and they spread it all out on the table in the morning, and everybody just the king's meal every day, and it's like that, every day. They have cheese, they have like that, and when it's when it's like tough, you have like um snacks, they have like crazy snacks, bro. They have like crazy desserts, you know. They have like all these Turkish delights, you know, they have like crazy stuff, man. And then when it's lunch, also they have like um several foods, man. I can't even stand naming them. They it's a country that draws a lot on food, bro. Like you can't walk two blocks without like seeing a place where they like sell food.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Shit. I'm well they don't joke with food, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

At all, bro.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

At all, bro. Because I mean, once it starts getting to like 11:30, everyone is all about, are you ready for lunch? Are you going for lunch? Are you gonna do the thing? They happen here. What's going on, guys? My stomach never settled.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Bro, do you remember that time we used to go to like this calabar kitchen back in lagoe?

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Yeah, yeah. Me, that's like the first thing once I learned like any part, even when even when I when I had reason to be frequent in the corridor, I said, where's the calabar kitchen? Let's let's check where calabar kitchen is.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

You know what? You know what? You know what? I'm going to give it to Calabar people. Their soups, bro, it's special. Thank you. I can't thank you. Thank you. You can't take that away from me. Let me just say this. You know, when you go to like a Yoruba kitchen, what they sell is the swallow. They say, uh, do you want tamala? Do you want like whatever? And you pay for the swallow. The soup is the extra. But when you go to like the calabar kitchen, you're paying for the soup, and the swallow is the extra. Because the meal is only the black. Yes, they did. No, come on, come on. Uh I give it to you guys, man. You remember that time we traveled to like was it calabar, right? We went to Calabar together. The the the food I uh was it not your we we went together.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Oh my sister's wedding, yes, yes. I forgot, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

All the meals I had, yeah, all the meals I had. We're not a disappointment. We didn't crazy, bro. All the meals. Insane. But what do you think about like people who like grew up in places like these, and they want to like make uh like African music, but they didn't like grow up in Africa. It was just like Africa was then like um a place we visit. They didn't like live, they didn't like experience the culture for real. But you know, at the end of the day, they still have to like when they want to like make music, they still have to like make music that like relates with their culture, that relates with their ancestry. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

So Yeah, I think I I can I can imagine how tough it must have been for them, just like how we are talking about culture shocks. Like the people around them would have been like, bro, what are you singing? I don't know this thing. I don't know what you're I don't know what you're singing. Like uh me, I'll listen to Taylor Swift, me and I'm a Swifty, you hear that kind of thing. So I'm not sure what you mean. You're playing drums, you're doing uh some kind of things, you're speaking in a language that I don't understand. So it must have been tough for them. I mean, but a lot of them still pull through, to be honest, because it's not easy, guy. Making something that first you didn't grow up with, because maybe your parents or your grandparents migrated and all of that. But yeah, you are still trying to connect back to your culture. So respect to those guys, man.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

It must have been it must have been really tough because I know during the early stages of uh an artist's career, they play like little shows, they go to like festivals, they are opening acts for other people, they do like um school tours, school performances, they go for like all these uh competitions and stuff like that to like get their name, improve on their art and all those things. But imagine growing up like away from home and the the talent you have is more like oh you're making like um African music, the Nigerian music, the Afrobeats, but you don't have places to like express yourself. Because if if you were growing up in like America, for example, they were doing rap, they were doing trap, they were doing like R ⁇ B, they were doing like all of that. And I'm not sure there were like dedicated spaces for like the Afrobeat and African music per se. So how do you improve yourself? How do you get your name out there? How do you, you know, like who do you have collaborations with? How do you improve your crafts? How do you even find like producers to produce for you?

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Because you know when you're trying to explain or trying to that's I'm thinking like in the early days, because now obviously everyone wants to jump on an Afro-beat trend. You know, these guys that they're even they have a whole Afrobeat album and they are not African. But I'm just thinking like how it would have been like you try to explain what you're trying to do to a producer, and he or she could just be looking at you like, I'm not sure. What's he saying?

SPEAKER_01 15:19

That's why someone like uh Mologo, you know, Mologo he was based in the UK for quite a while, and yet he has been making music there for for some time. But at the end of the day, he still had to come back home. At the end of the day, he still had to come back home. It can't just be the same. You you get to work with more people. When he came back home, we we saw him moving around with like Adi Kunley Good a lot. They had like collaborations, and he was able to like get producers to who understand like his view. Do you do you get like at the end of the day? If you're trying to make this sound, you need to be immersed in the culture. So he had to come back and be around other people, and it's it's even improved his music a lot. I believe some of the songs he made after I came back to like Lagos and based in Lagos for a while, they were some of his best songs. So coming home kind of like it's important.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

He did, he he also like rode with uh Show Dem Camp. Um I remember one of the Show Them Camp shows I went for. He, you know, he has a few songs with them. He came up, he performed. I don't know if he has ever had like his own personal show, to be honest. But you know, I've seen him, like you said, around A.G. Baby, Show Them Camp. You know, my favorite song from him is the one he has with Oxlade on that his um Oxygen EP. Mologo is a solid guy. I think I love his voice.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yeah, for like 2022 to like 2024, he was in Lagos a lot. He he stayed in Lagos a lot, you know, trying to like immerse himself in that culture and get this old Afro-bate thing properly and be able to make like music people would be able to connect to. And I think that worked out for him.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

You know, one thing I like about the Yoruba's, regardless of whatever part of the world they are, they somehow still make their kids, their offspring, uh understand the language, understand the culture. So you can imagine like Bologo. He still sings in Yoruba. You know, he still flows like he's a proper uh Lagos Niger boy, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

But I mean, he's done a chunk of his Do you know how many of my uncles see me and be like, when you see me, don't speak English. If you're like good morning to be like, Who are you saying good morning to? They'll be like, mm-hmm. Ah, bro. That was one thing, bro. I have I have, you know, I had I have some friends here, and I'm trying to explain to them what our culture is and how we greet elders in our place. And when I explained to them that you have to like literally lay on the floor, you have to prostrate as a man to greet your elders, they were like, What?

SPEAKER_02 18:36

It's also it's it's also something that sorry we could go back again. You know, when back in in uni, like when Olufiagawa or the professors or any of the lecturers, you have to say, sir. Then you're telling me that my lecturer's name is Sam, and I should call him by Sam.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

I'm still trying to get used to it. I see kids here, they'll be like, Ayo. I'll be like, who are you talking to? You're you're being disrespectful. Come on, get off it. What do you mean, this old man? Ayo. This maybe gray hair, you're calling me Ayo. Come on, lay on the floor.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

So, yeah, I mean, it's it's a really good thing with the whole, you know, still connecting back, you know, NSG. NSG, like because the guys that they are both Ghanaians and Nigerians, like those guys, I think when I listen to them, I never get tired because it's like every song or every album, they always have one new lingua to give, that kind of thing. They always have something to say. See, area boys, that kind of thing. So when I went to Afro Nation in Ghana in 2019, that was when I knew NSG. I heard them speak. I I I heard what they kept playing one song. I'll make money online, money online. As a Nigerian, when you say you're making money online, only one thing comes to my head. Only one thing.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

So I'm like, what's going on here? You know, that's part of the that's part of the culture shock we're talking about. I mean, um, we there are dedicated spaces here for like people who walk from home and stuff, and they just want to get out of the house for a bit, and they just go to these cafes and sit down and you know, just work from there. And when I came even initially, then I'll see like people just spend the whole day in like this cafes just with their computers. And I will back then I was still a student, so I had time to like stay in those places. I'll be like, doesn't this guy like work or something? Doesn't he have to go to work and whatnot? And eventually I made friends and they were explaining to me that they are working, they are earning money this year. I was like, eh, these people depress from this side, bro. You can make money online without it being illegal. Open your mind. I know.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

So yeah, that was how so obviously, because they were playing they were playing more of NSG, like that particular song. That's in 2019. I know NSG had been on before then. But the song had something to it was it was cool, it was good. I think it was with Tian Way. So after Afro Nation, and I say, Oh my, these guys, there must be something. And obviously, I met a lot of um UK people uh that came all the way from UK. But they were coming for Bonner Boy. But I'm like, bro, Bonner Boy is in my backyard now. Why am I coming for Bonner Boy? So that was how I knew NSG and it's been good since then. Seeing the Alupitan Youngo song, Kate Winslet, you know. They have a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

I think I had discovered them late. I I I didn't discover until Shay Vibes. Oh, that's two albums ago. Yeah, I didn't I didn't I didn't discover them until Shay Vibes, until that song was Shay Vibes. Um I I saw them tweeting on Twitter and they were like, oh Shahiba just jumped on a song with us. I was like, ah nah, you know, Shay Vibes was blown, it was blowing up then, so everybody wanted to get a feature from me. And when they got a feature from me, you know, people would talk about something Shahi Baj is on. And I was like, oh, let me check out these NSG guys. And that was how I discovered them. And then I listened to that album that has like them. Um the album mat is like them being the Beatles, you know. This yeah, they were trying to cross it with like the Beatles sort of uh thing on the album mat. And that was the first album from them. I'll like listen to the entire thing, and bro, I love that album. You know, like you said, you don't get tired of them because it's like six people. So when one is like done with his own verse, another one comes with a different voice, it's a different flow, it's a different, you know, vibe to it, and they all you could sense like each person's personality from it, and yeah, true. You know, something funny about them that energy, I'm sure to them, to all of them, it has different meanings. So the the last word I saw was this word I I can't even say the first one, what the end starts for. I wouldn't say it here. The end stands for something, then yeah, the S is sucking, and the G is gang.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

I mean, what came back to my head would be number one street gang.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

It's worse than that. It's just some people have called them no sense group, so many names.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

But that's that's something what we should we should actually find out what's in existence, but may I just say Area Boys?

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Yeah, that they call themselves that. I mean, the album I'm talking about, the one with them just crossing, it's basically what they call themselves, the entire album, Area Boys. And the albums before that, Area Boys, it's it's their it's their second name. You know, yeah. Um, I I I love what the energy people are doing as a group, and because they're like a group, I remember some as in it came to us like it was a group also, but eventually we realized it was just him. It was Jidena and what's the name of this lady?

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Jenny Monet.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Jenny Monet, yeah. When I saw them at first, I thought like, uh, is this like a group? Because they had like the same kind of uh fashion sense, fashion sense, yeah. They had like this casual corporate thing going on, they would wear like their suits. Was it even casual? Bro, those guys were not casual.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

It was full full on corporate, man.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Full on corporate, and then uh that was how we discovered Jidenna. Yeah, bro, bro, that takes me back all the way back.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Jidena. No, that was actually a a seasonal because I think back then. Were we still in school? I think so.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

I think so.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Yeah, so and you know what the vibe was back now, corporate and all those things. You know, everyone would just be like, oh, classic, man.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

You can be me when you look this clean.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

That was, I think it was the day now that got me into wearing like this vest, or what some people will call a waistcoat.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

It was it was the day now that I got me into the person I know for waistcoats is actually Gary Southgate.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Is it what is it Gary Southgate or is it uh the guy from suits?

SPEAKER_02 26:12

I'll be specter.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Yeah, you know, he had all those outfits. Oh he had all those outfits also and stuff, but Jidena really got me into wearing like vest and waistcoat and whatnot, and all those pocket square.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

You know, music and music and fashion go hand in hand because you're a brand sort of. So Jidena was kind of selling the whole corporate lifestyle, Wall Street kind of guy, see, yeah, which is music.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

We've had a machine keep, then after Amaki Keep. My money grows like grass. We went to the we went to the uh what's it called? The corporate look from Jidena.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

Yeah, yeah. My my favorite song from Jidena would be Bambi.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Oh, Bambi special. Bambi Bambi.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Yeah, so well I it's it's I haven't heard anything, or maybe I just stopped listening to listening to listening to him. Because in the past maybe two, three years, I haven't heard anything Jedenna. Have you?

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Not really. I haven't been paying attention to him. I know he dropped like a couple of albums after that, maybe one or two after that, but you know, I haven't paid any real attention to him again since like Bambi and Classic Man and the other. And you know, around that time, around that time, he also came home. Of course. There's no way you want to like get people to enjoy your stuff without really understanding the culture itself. Didena will always be a Nigerian at art, and but at the end of the day, if you still want to like get these people to like experience you and enjoy you, you need to come home and get a feel of it.

SPEAKER_04 28:11

True.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Because like most of the guys are back home, so you have to come relate with them, like do collabs, you know, interact with the people and all. Because the actual listeners uh are Nigerians, like not necessarily Nigerians are back home, but you need those guys as well. Of course, you need everyone, you need every Nigerian across the globe.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

But when you start from home, if anybody's going to champion you, is those at home. Do you get they would take you to the bro? Do you know the funny thing is that Nigerians can actually be real fans, like stands. The only thing we don't have is like maybe the money to push these guys. You know, we can't go to shows and be paying 150 pounds from Nigeria and whatnot, you know. But they will listen to your songs, they will talk about you, they'll rave about you, they will support you to the end. I mean, even Jidena, when he came home, he knew he had fans then.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

Yeah, yeah, true.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

He he he felt the love. Even when Wally came home. I mean, when Wally jumped on Blood on the Dance Floor with Odumodu, bro, we were eating Wally's bass, like and it's not as if that was our first time um discovering Wally. You know, we've always known Wally, but Wally doing Afrobeat just felt a different kind of special. It was just nice. Wally's on blood or the dance blood, he always teared my head to now.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

He said, on one of the one of the lines, he said, Dobale, where you see me when I when I pass on undo, dobale, but the way he pronounced undo was different, undo, something like that. I'm like, ah, the guy is still trying to relate back with home. But that was a good verse, actually. But you know, early days of Wally was pure rap now. You if you put the big three, Kendrick, back, back then, back then. Uh-huh. Kendrick, Drake, Cole, you'll probably say Wally.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Even before Cole, it was Wally. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Um, Wally has never been, he has never been forced to call. No. Wally, Wally was Wally was before Cole, then. When Kendrick dropped that control verse, he named like Drake, Big Sean, then my buyers.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

I will not agree with Cole. Cole is my man.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

But then when album about nothing dropped, when those earlier albums dropped, Wally, Wally was on top. Come on.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Oh, yeah. Uh anytime I think of Wally, what comes to my head is the album about nothing.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Yeah, that's is that not like his magnum post? It's I think that's like the peak of his career.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Yeah, the album was good.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Is that is it the album that has the song with Jeremy? Baby, you got a body like a band.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

Yeah, he also has a song with Cole, funny enough.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Yeah. No, Wally, Wally is just special. That's Nigerian boy for life. I just, and you know, I just like the way he raps, his cadence, and the way it flows, you know, his rhymes, and it it just works. It works well all through the album. You can always, and he's enjoyable, an enjoyable listen. Wally, shout out to Wally, man.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

There's this since we're even speaking of Wally's versus or like who he's collabed with, he also collabed with another of the diaspora guys, Rotimi.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Where is Rot? Oh, Rot. Kai, the only thing I remember about Rotimi now is the fact that he got married. He got married to uh Tanzanian? East African. I think she's Tanzanian, yes. He got married to the Tanzaniana and then he just went off radar.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Come on, Rotimi did he did music to Tietha. Yeah, he just moved straight to power. So I don't know if he probably still makes music, but what a lot of people might know him for would be power.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

I don't really I didn't really watch power. Do you uh you people were raving about power then? Like one of our mutual loves power so much, and but I didn't I didn't I didn't really get into it. It wasn't my it wasn't my me. I was watching Game of Thrones. I was watching Game of Thrones, I was watching Breaking Bad, I was watching Breaking Bad, White and you have White on today. One of my favorite series of all time is actually Breaking Bad. I love Breaking Bad. And oh yeah, oh come on. I love Breaking Bad. It's it's I think that's one of the best series ever made.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

It's it's just a different kind of special man. When when we will dedicate an episode for movies, we'll dedicate an episode for movies.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Okay, we can just make it like music that I featured.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

My own favorite, it's not a series though. My all-time favorite movie is Shorshank Redemption.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Guess what? I know it's a classic. I haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

Ah, you should. No, you should. No, this one I'll give it for free. The same way music. I'll give it a few.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

I need to watch it though, because I I know it's a classic. I know it's a few. I know it's it. You know, my brother was just telling me the other day that uh have I seen Fight Club? I was like, you know what? That's another classic I have not seen. So I'm missing out on like classic movies. I haven't seen Fight Club. You know, he it texted me and he was like, the first truth about Fight Club is I was like, what's that? It was like, you don't know the complete sentence. I said, no. He said the first rule about Fight Club is you never talk about the Fight Club. Nice one, nice one, nice one. But you know, my actual favorite music uh movie of all time is about music because I'm always about the music. It's whiplash. Yeah, it's whiplash, it's about a drama. Oh, really? Yeah, it's about it's about a drama. That's my favorite movie of all time, you know.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

The ticket. I haven't seen it, but okay. So you don't beat me to one now.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

But I know of it. I've heard I've heard of whiplash. It's a classic.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

You definitely should say when you say drummer, the thing that comes to my head is drum line, Nikanon. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

Nikanon, are you sure that boy is not like Nigerian low-key? I mean, everybody doing great is a Nigerian. If you're a black man out there doing great, you're you just check your roots.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

You know when they do those DNA tests that they say I'm 2% this, I'm 4% that. Everybody must have a pint of Nigerian blood in their body. At least, at least.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

All great black men they are from Nigeria, what we are doing. You know that time where like Skepta was like, I need to find my roots and all that. And Skepta came home, went back to his village and all that, and he got his chieftain sea and all that. I think Skepta is a big part of like diasporans coming home also. So he played a big role in that. When Skepta came home, had like all this collabs with like the locals, you know, from like Wii's. He even did with uh this crazy guy, this this boy. This no, this crazy, like uh, what's it? This crazy otter boy now that um had his first breakout single with Olamide. This Joruba boy that had like um wine bleach like this. He had his breakout single with Olamide. I'm trying to remember his name. Come on, I'm a Skepta.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

Zazuz, portable big smoke fellow with tobacco.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

I'm telling you, I'm telling you, Skepta, Skepta played a huge role in taking that Zazu. I I was trying to remember, bro.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

I mean that was a bubble, proper one. Uh-huh. I remember breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

We drink Pami.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Skepta is an OG for all he has done for Afrobeat.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

I'm not going to solid guy, solid.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

It was the one that like Weez and like Drake then too. It was it was Skepta that like put that into work.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Did the whole link in, yeah? Yeah, so it's very impossible.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

He has done like great stuff for Odi Module too. So Skepta has he has been there. He has done he has done some nice things for like Afro.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

No, there are a lot of there are a lot of guys that still come home, like solid guys. You know, um Manuel's. Yeah, that's another one.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

You know, Manu Wells was so fed up one time, he said it's not making enough money from music, like these distros, they they they are taking a bulk of their as an artist putting out music on this platform, the DSPs, and they say if you sell, if you have like a 10 million listings in Nigeria, you're only getting like very minute amount. It was like, bro, I can't keep making music this way. I'm not earning enough from this. So he said he's going to like create his own website and just be releasing, releasing the music through that um platform for now. So that he can like give directly to the fans and earn that way. So it was pissed off.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

My my view on that, because I think he's not the only artist that has threatened or has tried to do something like that, is Spotify, Apple, even Deezer, like they are the bigger platforms. Those are where like probably 50%, 60%, 70% of the world listens to music. So if you're going to create your own website, bro, you're on a long thing, nobody's gonna discover you. And Manuels, I bet a lot of people don't know Manuels.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Not yet.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Yeah, so you can't do that. If if if a big name, proper big name, is doing that, you can say, okay, the fans will do. You know what J. Cole did before his uh album? That he dropped an EP or a mixtape, and people were paying a dollar to listen to it, that kind of thing. So, because he has the fan base. Well, Manuel's guy, you you deliver good stuff, bro.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

This same thing you said was one of the comments on um on the tweet he made, and the person was like, Yeah, it's too early to like lock your songs behind like a paid wall. You still need to drop on um DSPs for now because you're still trying to get discovered. I mean, he probably, I don't want to be mean, probably the ooh ah song got to his head and he felt like this is it. Uh, I think I'm blown enough. Everybody was singing ooh ah then, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

So there's one of uh Mutras where I was talking with him the other day about Manu Wells, and he was just like, guys always make it, he's dragging his music. But I like his song with Wally. I like Wally has done it with everybody.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

Was Wally just my Nigerian brother? Oh, yeah. I'm sure Wally is probably one of those people that would be like, but probably when artists like reach out to him, they think, oh, I'm going to pay like an heavy amount to get like Wally on this feature. But Wally will probably be like, Your Nigerian and Nigerian, no, no, he shunned all this money talks. Let me jump on this for you. I I don't know for a fact though, but he just seems like he's giving that kind of vibe.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

No, I agree, it's giving that kind of vibe, and that makes sense. Oh Manuel's Wale, Manuel's Thames. So before all this UA, Holy Father, all these ones, these ones are commercial music, like that is EP. That EP that has terms and wale.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

Fire, serious music. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

But let me just let me just say something. You know, Manuels has like this bald-headed kind of style, but kind of in a way, every time I think of Manu Rose, I always confuse him with like Obon Jaya. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that name correctly. I don't know why. I don't know why that guy.

SPEAKER_02 41:35

I've heard people say obongjay. I've heard people say obong jaya. So even me that we are from the same place, right? Yeah, I'm not sure. I just know the obong because obong is like king in my language, right? Oh so I'm guessing he's I'm not sure. I've not looked it up. His actual name might be Jay or something, or Jaya. So he's like King Jaya, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Okay. Yeah, I'm just probably pronounced Obong Jaya.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

Yeah, Abong Jaya, yeah. But that's another solid guy.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

His last album was different from what he had done in the past. His last album was more electronic, experimental, and I loved it. I loved listening to that particular album. I just Obong Jaya is someone who doesn't like make like just one type of sound. He's always exploring new sounds. You can even tell from the way he like carries himself, his like his style and everything. You can always tell like he's alternative and he's willing to like try and go into new spaces. When he made that um album with SARS, or is it an EP now? I was like, oh that's that's my own sweetness.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

Sweetness.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

He had that, and then just right after that, he dropped an album that was a completely different sound. So I really love when artists do that. Obunjaya is one, and by the way, you know we were saying about how artists eventually come home and they spend a lot of time at home. Obunjaya spent the better part of like 2025, 2024 being in Nigeria. I'm guessing he's trying to like embrace the culture now again and learn from it, gain some new like perspective into things and it should reflect in his music again. The same thing with this Igue guy. You remember I think it was the song of the week. Yes. I went back to listening to like his previous procs, his previous project, and he had this like this um old American flu where he was rapping, you know, like the um how do I explain his sound now? It's rap, but it's like low key, it's not the hardcore rap. It was vibe kind of.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Maybe once again, like Kidakuz.

SPEAKER_01 43:59

No, no, no. Not even that uh it's not like it was like Xtation, you know, XXX. Yeah, yeah, again. I don't know if I'm pronouncing his name correctly, but XXX, the triple X Tession guy, uh it was more like that. The yeah like those sounds, and but when he came home, he he linked up with Tochi Bedford and they made um Kapal, which is different sonically from everything else he has done. And guess what? That was that was the single yes, or that uh Canada's Canada Juvenile has been making music in the UK for a couple of years and whatnot, and then he came home, he had this glitching video uh thing he was doing, kind of creativity sometimes. You know, sometimes you just need to come home. Sometimes you just need you just need to come home. Everything you're looking for is at home. Oh, yeah. Wallai, guy, yeah, everything, everything. And and the only thing we have that is like making people not want to come home immediately is the fact that the economy itself is is a bit limiting for artists.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

It's oh yeah, true.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

That's the that's the I'm sure like a couple of guys want to come home and do shows, but when you rent the venue for a certain amount and you can't like charge the the fans and the um guests a certain amount, then it doesn't it doesn't add up. There's no like break-even. So how do you do that? How do you do that?

SPEAKER_02 45:49

No, I it's it's it's it's sad because I was I saw the other day um, I mean, it's not Nigerian anyways, but Travis Cotts went to SA and like the place was packed. And then someone was like, uh-uh, Travis Cotts won't be able to come to Nigeria. I said, guy, you can't now, bro. They would have done the logistics first. Who come out and listen to Travis Cotts? Like, so just back to the whole break-even stuff. Like, you can come and do all those things, and at the end, end of the day, the amount you spend, you've not even been able to get it back. Yeah. So I can understand when some some guys don't come back, but it's always good to come back. It makes you connect, makes you have like good rapport with your fellow artists, you know, good relationship. Like you see, Odil and Whiskey now, since they did that song, Odil has been going. Not like he wasn't going already, but Whiskey has the Africa, he has Africa on luck, that kind of thing. So Odil will keep flying.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

Let me tell you something, you might find, you might find like, I can't believe this. You know, the the you would expect you would expect like the UK guys to have like a bigger audience, and you know, the economy there can actually cater for an artist. But Times gave Dave his first billboard entry. Not not in Central C. I'm being honest with you. Wait, not Sprinter. Not Sprinter was on Boblin 100, but Times gave Dave his actual first entry into the Billboard. So, you know, that's that's that's that's the old thing. I'm I'm thinking about this diasporan art and whatnot. In fact, you can you can like grow up in the US, grow up in the UK, even, but those people kind of like still deep down in their art, they still know that, oh, like you're Nigerian, so they don't want to give you like their all. I don't know. They it's not like the acceptance you get at home itself, it's it's different kind of acceptance. The acceptance you get from your own people, it's just more, it's just more true.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

Look at the question. We've been topping billboards since kid has top billboard now.

SPEAKER_01 48:25

Borner has done only eight entries, eight entries. Guess who doesn't have an entry into the billboard? Guess who does Storm Z doesn't have one?

SPEAKER_02 48:36

Big Mike.

SPEAKER_01 48:38

Big Mike doesn't have an entry.

SPEAKER_02 48:39

I'm the billboard and his Ghanaiano.

SPEAKER_01 48:43

Come home, guys. So sometimes coming home might just be the best bet. Do you guess come home?

SPEAKER_02 48:50

We'll change your life.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

I wish we didn't have to leave at all. Do you get like you don't see a case where like someone is saying I'm going back home to the UK? They've always been in the UK, they don't they don't have to live. They don't need to leave to any place, they've always been known. You can start out in the UK and get big in the UK and become one of the most known artists in the world. But I am not at home, you're not at home. A lot of talented people are not at home now, and they will struggle trying to like get a place, find their place in whatever country they are now.

SPEAKER_04 49:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:43

But assuming we were all at home and the economy is able to cater for us, we will be doing amazing things.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

You'll be doing amazing things.

SPEAKER_02 49:53

I mean, on a real, to be honest, you always be second best, like when you're not in the place that's not home.

SPEAKER_01 49:59

Do you you're you you couldn't have said it any better? You will always be second best when you're not home. Which is unfortunate. Oh man, that's I mean I'm listening to I I found a girl on Instagram, Lodu. Let me produce, let me pronounce the name like a proper Europe. Which one is Lodu? Lodu. Lodo. Lodo. She makes like this old RB kind of music. She she she calls it Afro Soul. She has like this, she she doesn't have like a lot of songs or project outs yet. She's when I checked on. Yeah, when I checked on Spotify, she had like four songs out or whatnot. And I listened to the four. The new, the latest one as attended was like Olo Rimi or something. And it's beautiful. I mean, you know, maybe I'm just like because she's probably Yoruba or something. I don't want to be biased, or because she's Nigerian, uh, probably high power. But I'm saying she's on like level with like Olivia Dean and stuff, but she's going to struggle, except she's like fully accepted back in Nigeria first. You can't just go and try to compete toe-to-toe with someone like Olivia Dean in the UK in the British space.

SPEAKER_02 51:25

That's my that's that's my girl, by the way, Olivia Dean. You know, we would always say, Come be the man I need.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

You go twist the lyrics more now for you. Oh, there was a time we were singing, like listening to Pink Print, and we were singing the old song on that, but you go sing out for private.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

Maybe no year you they sing, you switch it up.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

You don't want to sound like a Barbie, maybe not year you they sing, Olivia. Oh, but guys, I can't wait to like go home and do amazing things at home. You get like it'll be amazing just to be home, be a creative at home, and not have to like go outside of the country, you know. That would that would just be an amazing stuff. Or we have like a festival of just diaspora and art. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 52:28

Oh, that would be a good one.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

You know, we have a lineup.

SPEAKER_02 52:32

Imagine you have Skepta, Wally, Audio, NSG, yeah, you know, probably Stormzy Dave.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

Of course, of course. There's no way you have Skepta and you have like Stormzy, J Hoss. Oh, bro, J Hoss. You know, Jay Hmm. J Hoss is like uh, what's it called? Uh is it Kenyan?

SPEAKER_02 52:54

Gambia. Gambia.

SPEAKER_01 52:56

Gambia Juju J. He called Juju. I took I love J Hoss. Guru. When he when he when he had a song that we used to sing back his key, uh, what's it called? The one with like did you see did you see his did you see his mainstream? I'm talking about deep coats on that album. Like spirits.

SPEAKER_02 53:15

Even when we never had a penny.

SPEAKER_01 53:17

That's the song. That's the song yeah. Bro, I'm telling you, when I got my first job, right? When I earned my first salary, that was the song I was playing in my head. Like, even when we never had a penny, we always had this spirit.

SPEAKER_02 53:36

I I've put more more people to J Hoss than any other artist. Like, that's that that's that's when I heard when I heard the guy, I said, no, if you know me, you must know J Hoss. It's it's no J Hoss is proper, proper guy.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

There's this guy that sang, um, what's the name of this? Um what's the name of this? Um uh I'm trying to remember. It sounds just like Jay Hoss a leap a beat. And I can't. Who's this one? It sounds just like Jay Os. Okay. So um I'm still trying to like get his name. You you don't remember? Um, send them. I think one of our mutual leaves, it's a place in London. Uh send them to Coventry, Pasaleu. Send them to Coventry, Pasaleu. Uh even. I I was you know, it sounds kind of like Jay or seat. Or is it just me? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why did I uh you is it from is it is it Gamb Gambian also?

SPEAKER_02 54:52

Yeah, yeah, they are they are both from Gambia, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

Wait, it a lot of these UK guys actually have like African descent, yeah. They have African roots.

SPEAKER_02 55:06

I mean, I think all of them, to be honest. Come on, there's this uh DC3 guy, he's uh he's from Zimbabwe, but I think he's more like gospel rapper, kinda. He's like 16, 17, he's a youth, as as they call it. But yeah, they love diaspora guys, like a lot of amazing African artists.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

The other day I was listening to one guy also currently based in Canada. He's one of the underground guys, Tommy Field. I think he has gone home, he has gone back to Canada, he's shuffling now. Tommy Field. That's the but the the spelling is a bit different. I listened to his stuff, he raps and he sings at the same time. He's still like trying to. That's what I'm that's what I'm saying. You know, imagine Tommy Fuel is able to like base in Nigeria, he's going to develop his act really fast. He's going to get better, he's going to work with like a couple of guys that they can get big together. You know, look at these guys, like they are popping up now. The um J, then Zeus, JDO, these Cotio Loring guys, Egati. They are sharpening each other's skills. But if you're locked away somewhere like Canada, it's going to be a bit difficult to like catch up with those ones that are home-based at the moment. Yeah, except if you want to do something different, like the UK guys are doing, just make like drill or the kind of sound they are making in the country you're staying in. But I don't think Canada has like any specific sound per se. Except the none that I can think of.

SPEAKER_02 56:45

But chase is North America, it'll probably be like R and B that might. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:50

One to flow there, you get. Yeah. Well, let's go on, guys. Let's go home. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 57:04

We've come to everyone's favorite part of this episode.

SPEAKER_02 57:09

Hey guys, so just like we've mentioned in the past, you can always send us a song that you think should feature on the song of the week. You can send as many songs as possible, either on our page on Instagram or shoot me or delay a direct message.

SPEAKER_01 57:30

Yeah, you read it, and now the man himself is going to tell us the song of the week. What do you have for us today?

SPEAKER_02 57:38

So the contender for this week's song of the week is barries, Fuji, explosion. But we had to go with Lodu's Olowo Orimi. Lodu.

SPEAKER_01 57:57

I'm glad Lodo got the song of the week. Love that song.

SPEAKER_02 58:03

It was a tie. So, guys, thanks for listening. I hope you find Fuji to explode you as Olo Orimi. For a layman that doesn't understand you as much. So look for Fuji explosion and find someone to pay money on top your head. See you in two weeks, guys.

SPEAKER_00 58:29

See you guys.

SPEAKER_02 58:31

We love you.