Read In Case The World Ends
And Just Like That...I'm In My Carrie Bradshaw Era
Would really like a definitive answer on where the world is headed before I send over this rent cheque. In the meantime, welcome to I Really Mean It! Enjoy :)
Jeen-yuhs, the Netflix documentary chronicling Kanye West’s come up, has expectedly put Twitter in a frenzy. As opposed to some of the fingerpointing taking place on the timeline, I was most struck by Kanye’s interactions with his mother. The scenes featuring Donda West are some of the few times that viewers witness Kanye actually listen without his mind wandering. Ms West poured confidence and support into her child in such a way that Kanye had no choice but to fly. Aware of that, she was also there to gently pull him back to the ground. In one scene, in between spitting his rhymes back at him, she warns him, saying, “A giant looks in the mirror and sees nothing.”
Directed by Coodie and Chike, the first part of the trilogy focuses on Kanye’s drawn-out transition from producer to rapper. Most fans have heard this story in detail on the track “Last Call,” but seeing the rejection and despondence play out on-screen makes it difficult not to feel sorry for young Kanye all over again. For all the rejection Kanye experienced, he was also surrounded by deep love. Midway through the episode, Mos Def and Kanye trade bars backstage at a Talib Kweli show. Mos Def, very much a rapper’s rapper, stares in admiration at Kanye, wincing at every punchline as he raps his verse for what would become “Two Words.” Kanye appears satisfied, revealing a smirk as he spits his last bar; “from the bottom so the top is the only place to go now.”
Since then, Ye has denounced his “backpack roots”, shrugging off those early affiliations as a front to get into the industry. Realizations such as this kept occurring to me throughout the documentary, making it difficult to digest some of its most genuine moments. For me, being aware of how the tale ends made watching jeen-yuhs an emotional tug of war. On the one hand, knowing that Kanye eventually becomes a superstar makes it a lot easier to stomach seeing the bright-eyed artist struggle to gain respect from his idols. On the other hand, Donda West’s wisdom and motherly guidance juxtaposed against Kanye’s current media tirade is sobering. Nostalgia aside, jeen-yuhs is a testament to faith — Kanye’s faith in himself and Coodie’s faith in his story. Highly recommend.
Sidebar: Leave Chaka Pilgrim alone, the woman was just trying to do her job!
February 18, 2022 marks 125 years since the British attack and looting of the Benin Kingdom, located today in Nigeria’s Edo state. To commemorate and confront this history, Victor Ehikhamenor, also of Edo heritage, unveiled an imposing work of art located in London’s St Paul’s Cathedral. Titled Still Standing, the piece is made from Ehikhamenor’s signature rosary beads and depicts Oba Ovonramwen, who presided over Benin at the time of the attack. The sprawling tapestry of the Oba sits next to a brass plaque in honour of Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson, the admiral who oversaw a brutal burning and ransacking of the Oba’s palace. In response to clamour from African nations, some institutions have begun returning stolen artefacts, many of which are religious in nature. On February 19th, two Benin Bronzes, the Okpa and the Uhunwun Elao, were repatriated to the Oba’s palace in Benin city. The bronzes, which were handed over by the University of Cambridge and the University of Aberdeen, are now financially valued (heavy on the “financially” as other forms of value exist) at £2 million and £500,000 respectively. However, not everyone seems ready to give up on the old way of doing things. St Paul’s Cathedral has opted not to return any of the treasures it currently houses holds hostage, and according to its chancellor, would like to instead “engage in a conversation with history.” In discussing his work, Ehikamenor describes the mixed media piece as a “reawakening Oba Ovonramwen and every other person that was violated during that oppressive attack on the Benin Kingdom.” If I was St Paul’s Cathedral, I wouldn’t mess with Edo people. IYKYK.
Here is a Twitter thread of photographs from the 1897 attack held at the Pitt Rivers Museum.
Pop princess, Bajan baddie, style savant and fellow February icon Rihanna, announced her pregnancy. The couple bucked the soft fabric billowing in the wind format and instead tapped street photographer Miles Diggs. In a still snatched straight out of an uptown dream, Rihanna and Harlem native, A$AP Rocky, take a leisurely stroll underneath what looks like the 1 train on 125th street. The photographs fit nicely into New York’s canon of winter propaganda and perfectly captures the winter days I like to pretend exist in real life — fresh snow, the last half of Brown Sugar and vibes reminiscent of J. Lo and LL Cool J’s All I Have music video (honourable mention: Fab’s Baby video). To mark the occasion, Rihanna wore a striking pink 1996 vintage Chanel puffer jacket over distressed baggy jeans. However, Rihanna’s bare belly stole the show, adorned by a myriad of multicoloured jewels in the form of a waist-length Chanel necklace. The shoot summarized everything we’ve come to love about our favourite Badgal — relatable yet unattainable. Rocky looked fly too. Now stream Fashion Killa for good luck.
February 26, 2022, is the 10-year memorial of Trayvon Martin’s death. The 17-year-old’s death, and the trial that followed, irreversibly shook the social fabric of the United States and underscored a decisive entrance of protest culture into the mainstream. Social media had already begun functioning as a recognized arena for political discourse and organization post-Arab Spring, but Trayvon’s passing marked a pivotal shift in the way society practised and discussed activism. We saw the birth of Black Lives Matter (the organization and the hashtag), the subject matter for live-tweeting stretched to include court proceedings and in the last year of his first term, an increasingly deracialized Barack Obama found it fitting to remind the world of his Blackness saying, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
As a college student in 2012, Trayvon’s death signified the end of a misguided innocence for my generation — an innocence nurtured by the illusion of a “post-racial” America. But it also marked the beginning of a decade-long dance with activism. Today, we’d much rather wear our politics on our sleeves than anything else and for better or worse, activism now belongs in the public arena. It is in the way we speak (see “woke” making it into the dictionary), who we chose to do business with (see #buyBlack) and how we determine which public figures are no longer deserving of a platform (see cancelling). February 26, 2012, paused the U.S. and its tune has sounded different ever since.
Trayvon Benjamin Martin, February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012.
Love To See It
4th Republic: A Podcast by Culture Custodian
As described by its makers, the 4th Republic podcast contextualizes key events in the Nigerian political space following the 1999 return to democracy. As Nigeria approaches the 2023 presidential elections, this scripted series serves as an informative, riveting, and at many times, humbling charting of the country’s course since the end of military rule. While listening to the complexities of democracy in a post-colonial African context, it is hard to ignore the recent wave of coups rippling across West Africa. But even more troublesome, is the subtle ways abysmal leadership coupled with nostalgia have seemingly started whitewashing the effects of military governance in collective memory. With episodes clocking in at 10 minutes or less, each listen is just long enough to recognize this eerie feeling without sitting in it. If you’re the type to do the reading AND still look for extra credit, Culture Custodian hosts a Twitter Space conversation after each release.
Hate to See It
“Peru’s” World Tour
Fireboy DML’s undeniable hit song is currently on a world tour and I would like to ground the tour bus. First came the December remix with Ed Sheeran and more recently, a version with 21 Savage and Blxst. If we get an EDM remix, I may lose my mind. After the golden year Nigerian music experienced in 2021, I was hoping to see fewer (solely) crossover-driven collaborations from our biggest musicians. Ironically, with a catalogue dotted with tracks that toe the line of indie-folk, Fireboy actually has songs that Ed Sheeran would sound great on! But alas, the game is the game. In Ed’s defence, he rode the beat and the song’s incredible chart success makes it hard not to respect the business decision. As for the second remix, 21 and Blxst perform satisfactorily but in the grand scheme of things, I’m unsure of what this version can really do to extend “Peru’s” shelf life. Despite three noteworthy versions of the song being out, there is one artist missing from the “Peru” remix roster. After Fireboy teased fans on the original with his exceptional Wande Coal vocal cosplay, Mr Black Diamond was the only feature I was looking to hear on my third favourite song of the year (especially in the middle of “Detty December”). Throw in Buju, and we could’ve had ourselves a nice little posse cut.
The more established artists become, the more I expect cultural impact to outweigh chart success as a KPI in their decision-making. But just in case it wasn’t clear, Peru is an anthem…with or without a feature.
Other Things I Really Mean
Speaking of collaborations, for my first story of the year, I put together a wishlist of six cross-continental collaborations I’d actually like to hear.
Doja Cat and Sho Madjozi
… and Summer Walker
Tems and Rihanna
… and Koffee
SGawd and Flo Milli
Arya Starr and …
Head over to Amaka Studio to find out why I think these collaborations actually make sense!
SELECTA
Seven songs I had on repeat in February:
Money Bag by Ria Sean
Scholarships by Drake featuring Future Safe to say I’m thinking about how to stop spending my money.
Got Till It’s Gone by Janet Jackson Getting this out of the way because of the documentary but I think about this song (and video) every three business days.
Sungba by Asake
Brooklyn Love by Lolo Zouaï
Like That by Amaarae
Johnny P’s Caddy by Benny the Butcher featuring J. Cole How I like my winters in New York to sound. May or may not have asked what the weather was like on the day I was born.
Loyalty Freestyle by Ajebo Hustlers