MACHO MEN: THE SWEAT AND THE GLORY!

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King Leonidas and his brave 300 fought in sweat and in blood till death for glory. The 300 Spartan soldiers faced without fear the Persian ‘god-King’ Xerxes and his unimaginable army of more than 300,000 men at that faithful narrow pass befittingly named the Hot Gates. Theirs was the Battle of Thermopylae and that narrow path was without a doubt their road to perdition; for that night, they surely dined in hell as King Leonidas promised. #300

"THIS…IS…SPARTA!!!"
- King Leonidas

[Switch-Up] Spartacus, Gannicus, Crixus, Oenomaus, Ashur and all the other gladiators of Capua fought gallantly on the Blood and Sand in the ludus, they were Gods of The Arena! But out of Vengance (because of babe) Spartacus himself decided to lead a revolution against the House of Batiatus and then against Claudius Glaber and the rest of the Roman Empire in a War, of the Damned! #Spartacus 

"My *Rock* Rages On!" 
- Gannicus 

[Switch-Up] He-Man was the most powerful man in the universe - with an intellect to match. He was also the Prince of Eternia and you will know him if you were born in the 90s and watched a lot of cartoons. Along with his pet Tiger ‘Battle Cat’, a mighty sword and a super sorceress (an Ekaette) by his side, he protects Eternia and Castle ‘Gray Skull’ against the forces of Skeletor!. He-Man could lift and throw a castle, a mountain or an iceburg with his bare hands and despite his strength and physique, he was quick and acrobatic! #HeMan

"By the power of Grayskull! For the honor of Grayskull!!!" - He-Man

Enough with all this reminiscing [check out Reminisce’s album ‘Baba Hafusa’, I hear say e dey blow, no carry last o]. What do 300, Spartacus and He-Man have in common? Yes, you’re right, very plenty macho men! Do you know what it takes to be built like Brock Lesnar, The Rock, The Undertaker, Me, Hulk Hogan or Triple H? Do you know what it takes to be a perfect Greek 6pac statue/demi-god? Let me tell you now, it is not easy. It takes a lot of hard work; sweat, time and effort but at the end of it all comes the Glory! Ahhhh!!!

Most people these days just want to wake up and *tada* have everything they have ever wanted right there at their feet. To them I say Ogbeni wake up well! The one that you are waking up now is from sleep level 2 just like in Inception, we are still waiting for you in the real world. 

We the people of this generation are suffering from a very terrible perception, one whose source I cannot accurately pinpoint but whatever its origin, we must change it. We are suffering from a mentality that demonizes hard work but still wants the glory; we all just want desk jobs where we can sit for 8 hours a day, do almost nothing and get paid a million at the end of every month. I laugh! - but sha if you know any job like this, abeg hook your boy up o. Do not misunderstand me, it is good to aspire to great heights but some kind of dreams, especially those not backed by solid plans and diligence are equivalent to ‘longathroat’, grand theft and larceny! You have to pay your dues because overnight does not happen in one night.

My mechanic, for instance, has an apprentice (like a Jedi padawan from Star Wars) and this apprentice is still quite young but the tenacity with which this chap is picking up the trade, I believe he might own several proper garages before he hits 30! He has started paying his dues, putting in hours a day to learn and understand and later when he blows, bad belle will start to worry some people that are sleeping now. The ability to use our hands to earn a living, artisanship, is a skill we must also never forget; not always Suit&Tie, sometimes bend back and sweat! Regardless of the level of your intellectual education; be a professor or super scholar, there is a certain satisfaction that comes from being able to create or do something tangible with your hands. Even if you want to create something that cannot be touched, there are a million and one fields for you, like music. I in particular have a thing for guitars and my guitar is named Schlum.

A danger, in my opinion, of modernization or westernization as we often call it (why west, why not east, north or south?) is that it tends to make hard work look like a sin. As I said before, people just want easy money; ‘do nothing and make millions’ kind of money. If the great Egyptians and Romans of old were like we are today, who would have built what we now call civilization. Yes I know they had slaves but at least they worked to catch the slaves before the slaves could do the rest of the work.

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We have so much demonised hard work that some people will even be forming ‘bad guy’ to sweep their own rooms *sigh* just filthy. We like to pretend that we never have to do any dirty deeds, always forming fresh, and then some of these ‘fresh bad guys’ wonder why their bank accounts are dusty and collecting cobwebs. Clean up your act; bend your back and sweat! Now, let me tell you a story that will tell you something.

[Story, story…stooory] For the longest time, my father had this newspaper vendor, one of those ones that go from street to street blowing those infamous newspaper horns. I don't even know how to transcribe the sound of that thing, I think it goes *poopu poopu*, lol. There was something special about this vendor; it was a sleight of hand that could easily be missed if one was not very observant because the gentleman carried out his job with a certain degree of poise and panache. Mr Vendor was special because he reminded me always of Blood Diamonds (hmm, the second Leonardo Dicaprio Movie in this piece so far) simply because he was missing a hand. Not a whole hand, just from his right wrist up. Despite his handicap, however, the man marched on day after day, in sun or under rain to deliver the morning papers.

Finally, there is a certain ‘feel good rush’ that can only be felt from sweat. Even if you unscrupulously become as rich as The Wolf of Wall Street, without hard work, your story will remain as tragic as the Titanic’s or that of Romeo and Juliet. We need to Unchain ourselves like Django, but this time from the slavery of laziness, so that we can become as Great as Gatsby not because we work with the Gangs of New York or because we are snitches from The Departed but because we are simply great like J. Edgar, founder of the FBI. 

We need to fly like Aviators above any form of Compulsive Disorder that makes us want to take that devilishly quick route and remember, that the devil’s road only leads to the mad-house on Shutter Island.

So be a Macho Man (or woman), Sweat and feel the Glory!

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[PS: If you are a true Leonardo Dicaprio fan then you will truly understand the last two paragraphs, if you are not, well, then you have a lot of movies to watch, 12 by my count]



Next

HUNGER GAMES – IYA BASIRA IS SERVING

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So the other day I was in the kitchen cooking - boiling water - and then guess what happened. A fly appeared! You don't know how much I detest pesky flies when I'm boiling water. First, Le Mouche (French for The Fly) and I had a stare down like in an old American Western and next came the high flying Jet Li manoeuvres; full scale forward back-flips, Chinese bending, Liu Kang dragon shadow kicks, Chinese get-up, afternoon tiger strike, another move named after China, morning peacock assault, omo see fight! At the end of the battle, the fly was victorious and I was shamefully defeated but just as Monsieur Le Mouche turned his back to celebrate, I struck a low blow; I swatted! Muhahaha-ha! Don’t judge me, it was a fight to the finish so it had to be done. Now that I have mentioned kitchen, cooking, fighting fly and boiling water, my stomach has been tickled and so I might as well talk about food.

There is nothing like osikapa ne ku anwulu, smoking hot rice, or amala to gbono feli feli, savagely hot amala, that has been placed on a plate before you and you know you are about to do justice, "Mine, mine, all mine!...my precciooousss!" Good food really is one of the greatest reasons to be alive and even Smeagol, aka Gollum from The Lord of The Rings loved to eat fresh fish every now and again; nwanne ifukwa point and kill. So what do rice and amala have in common, what makes them so special, what makes nothing else quite like amala or rice? Quite simple, they are both food for the masses, national saviours from starvation. Rice here stands for cereal, not cornflakes, and grain while amala stands for all swallowables: eba, starch, fufu, samovita, wheat, pounded yam and you know the rest. Whenever you see men lined up at Iya Basira’s shop and anwulu ne ku n’ebe ni ne, there is steam everywhere, then you know owo o ti wole o! dem done get alart! God win!  

Are you hungry, when last did you eat? But first of all, go down low! (Lol, sorry bad joke). [Now really] First of all, let me clearly state that hunger is not a game nor is it a joke. Who is playing with you? Someone is hungry and then you will be calling hunger game, e be like say you don dey mad abi. This title is not a play sometin, we are not here to smy with anybori; Hunger games?! People are starving and oyibo are using hunger as games, omo see rough play. To add pepper to pepper soup, they now called the Hunger Games Part II 'Mocking Jay', ahh *sheds one tear* they don’t know Mockingjay is bush meat here. Wadannan fari mutane za su kasha wani! Oyibo go kee pesin o!

When I finally started writing this week’s piece, I decided that I would write about the hunger of the masses in Nigeria, hunger in Africa but I really didn't know what I was getting into. The moment the actual staggering depths of suffering and starvation hit me was when I opened google images; I could not stop real tears from filling my eyes. The pictures of human beings looking more like simple skeletons covered in thin films of skin and children with distended abdomens brought first of all, real tears and then heaviness to my heart but in a flash anger took over. Anger because those who are deliberately leaving thousands and millions to starve to death are jejely sleeping with two loaves of bread under their pillows. We will talk about these evil men another day. For today, let me give you a better perspective of the real Hunger Games, no sci-fi.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (UN FAO) estimates that in 2010, 925 million people were hungry. That is approximately a billion people and about 15% of the world’s total population, fifteen percent! Of this gastric (ghastly) number, Asia and the Pacific take the cake with 578 million while sub-Saharan African is chewing the cord in second with 239 million but weighing in pound for pound, sub-Sahara is the main chef with 30% of its population being simply hungry while Asia and the Pacific with their plenty plenty people is at 16%.

The causes of this magnitude of woe and misery include poverty, conflict, terrible economic decisions, negative environment and population growth. They are more often than not intertwined but intertwined or not the end result is the same; misery and despair. Kevin Carter was a South African photojournalist who received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for his photograph that aptly captured the 1994 famine in Sudan. He immortalized a once in a life time image of a fat and healthy vulture patiently waiting for a sickly and starving child on the verge of death to become its next meal. He was told not to touch the child for fear of transmitting infection to the child. Kevin Carter committed suicide three months after winning his career defining prize and these are his last words as written by his hand:

“ I’m really, really sorry. The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist…depressed…without phone…money for rent…money for child support…money for debts…money!!!...I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain...of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners….I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky ”

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Who was Ken? Honestly, I have no idea and I did not seek to find out. What caught my attention, however, was the fact that vultures have now added freshly starved Homo Sapiens to their menu and even the world’s greatest prize for photography could not keep the dreadful images from hunting Kevin Carter. Mr Carter happened as far back as 1994, it makes me wonder how many children that vulture and his friends have had between their meals since then.

Today, for the first time since I can remember, I could not finish a whole loaf of bread. I was shocked to say the least then considered that it must be the effect of the unsettling information and images I have recently acquired, yes I eat a loaf of bread on my own. Most times I take good food and clean water for granted because like most of you who can afford to read this, I am fortunate to have three square meals every day but after seeing what I have seen, I doubt I can ever forget to be grateful. Beyond my selfish gratitude it is more clear to me now that the number of people, children dying from starvation even if it is just 1 is 1 too many. We as a race, as a species need to get our act together and at least resolve the poverty, conflict, economics and population growth that we can control and then fight tooth and nail against the environment.

An International Non-Governmental Organisation, Save the Children says: “In Africa, hunger is a constant, chronic pain gnawing away at hungry children. Starving children in Africa can, and should, become a thing of the past. We must put an end to starvation in Africa and we can’t do it without you. The good news is, Save the Children has many proven ways to help stop hunger in Africa...”

Some 3 idiots - the Indian Movie - once said “All Is Well” and if idiots can see hope then why can’t I? We must all join the fight to save the children and not just the children but also the youth and the adults that have been forced to face the torment of starvation and sleeping on empty and growling stomaches.

Anyhow sha, I have said my piece, "Sistah Iya Basira abeg gimme flied lice and cully", Ogbeni don’t come near my food o, my love no dey reach that side o, because I was asking you if you were hungry before? If na play stop am nw o, don't be a fly, lol. I will end this piece with a Hausa song I seemed to have picked up at some joint a while ago, it is simply a song asking for some bread from heaven:

Abinci alheri shine zamunci

Abinci alheri Eh, abin ci rai shir ye-ye

Daga wurin adah on

Abina al-he-ri zamunci!

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Next

GLO WITH PRIDE

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Before we begin I must first and foremost state that this is not a paid editorial, in other words, neither Globacom Limited nor any of its subsidiaries has remunerated me in cash or in kind to affect the title of any of my art, to in anyway positively or negatively influence the ministry of Globacom Limited. Now that I have said that, let me equally say this:

"Uncle Adenuga, your boy is loyal o!" 

*Prostrates* 

So where were we? Ah, yes. On May 16, 2001, MTN became the first GSM network to make a call in Nigeria - ah ahn clap for them nw, is it easy?. I can remember this vividly because both my parents got new sim cards at a price of about ₦20,000 each and my mum in particular purchased, to use with her new MTN line, a rock solid Nokia 3310 that could survive a drop from the top of Aso Rock, Zuma Rock or even Mount Kilimanjaro, aswear! It was a period of euphoria because this new wireless technology had just saved millions of Nigerians from the ineptitude, nonchalance and outright disrespect of the service called NITEL that they had been forced to live with, without choice, for innumerable years; those were darker times. For saving us, I will forever be grateful to the ‘Everywhere You Go’ network. 

In August 2003, Glo Mobile was launched in Nigeria and as soon as Uncle Mike’s team hit the ground, we all realised that our ‘saviours’ had indeed been exploiting us, milking us like the ignorant cows that we were. Globacom Nigeria came in with lower call rates, gave us the option of per second billing and drastically crashed the price of sim cards amongst the other gifts that they brought in their goody bag. At this point, it is important you know that Glo was the fourth GSM operator to be launched in Obodo Naija. This means that before the coming of our brother’s company, three foreign corporations were in cahoots to do us strong tin. Fortunately however, Glo stepped in With Pride and saved all of us some hard cash. I even remember that at some point, one could buy a Glo sim for ₦200 only and would receive ₦200 airtime for free! For saving us, I will forever be grateful to the ‘Rule Your World’ network.

I briefly mentioned in a previous piece titled After School Special that Nigerians have a certain ‘KKK-Kobo’ proclivity that is neither healthy nor healthful for our economy and I am about to pick up from where I left off. What I am about to say is completely and uttery biased so if you have a problem, feel free to use the door *opens door*. 

Many of us, Nigerians, are very guilty of using phones, yes mobile phones - give me a minute. You are probably curious as to what crime you have committed by owning your very own mobile device; probably a Turaya or a Sagem sef. I will tell your offense, it is called sim card - give me another minute.  A service provider sets up towers and masts in and around your neighbourhood and sells you a trademarked sim so that you can access his/her facilities to call babes/bobos, mugus, magas, colleagues and lest we forget, your family - they should come first you know. 

Now, let me ask you a question. Why are you using any other line but the one you should be using? You are probably foaming at the mouth now with excuses like their network is poor, their data service is slow and the likes but news flash people "Monkey no fine but im mama like am!" If we do not support our own, who will? We keep selling out our profits and opportunities for improvement and expansion and by so doing we deny our motherland of activating so much rife potential. I know our problems seem to be more intricate than a Shakespeare’s prose and even greater than the works by the world’s most published author; L. Ron Hubbard (1084 publications) but we still must do our best to untangle the intricate web and reduce the number of our problems by at least 1084. We need to support Made In Nigeria or Offered By Nigeria!

Let me utilize this opportunity to admonish and sternly warn all our indigenous companies. Bia, wetin dey worry all of you!? People are looking to support you and your struggle yet all you think of is how to cheat and exploit them and then you cry that there is no local support. Masa (Ghanaian slang for bros) better behave yourselves if not we will just completely ditch you! Have you guys seen the size of some local biscuits these days? Those things are so small! It is almost like they are now being made for dogs and pussy cats, no longer children going to school - *sings* 8 O'Clock is the hour of school. The one that busts my head the most is some very popular sausage roll whose name I shall not name that no longer has sausage inside, they are now just empty flower rolls painted pink in the middle. My mother swears that some new superior packs and hungry animal packs of our favourite spaghetti used to be the original size, so one can infer from this ‘swearing’ that the spaghetti producers have just #broughtbacktheoriginal product and are making us pay more for it, ridiculous!

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[Substitution] If you have been following my blog then by now you would have noticed that I tend to have a little extra gist midway every now and again and since the English Premiere League has resumed it is only apt that I call this one ‘Substitution’ - I hope you also watch the Nigerian Premiere League. 

Right, so almost everywhere you go in Nigeria today: shop shop shop, have we lost all sense of decency and planning? I know I'm saying Glo With Pride and support local industry but Nigeria is turning into a rowdy market! Even in our traditions and customs, a man does not make a market out of his own home let alone his father's house. That is why we have different words for home and market in every language. Today, however, in the middle of the express we sell pepper, in front of our houses we sell chewing gum and to my utmost irritation, we have converted parks, playgrounds and just good to see open space to flea market stalls for almost always not made in Nigeria products. We need to restore some discipline to our society. Maybe now that Buhari is here again, he will bring back his Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Campaign.

[Back To Glo] We have so many local products that are striving, competing with international products despite the difficulty of their operating terrain; I will give shout outs to Tito’s Furaghourt (Fura yoghourt), Beloxxy and God Is Good transport services; GIG has really stepped up its game. The essence of today’s revolution is to plant a seed in your mind so that the next time you decide to procure a service or buy a product you will either look at the competing labels to ensure that the one that wins your money is the one that is Made In Nigeria or you will ask to confirm which of the service providers is owned solely or mostly by Nigerians. Only and only when there is no Nigerian option should we then consider anything else but that should never even be the case.

Now let me end this piece with a lesson in economics to my rich kids whose parents have plenty free money lying carelessly around. The best way to save wealth is in the form of an interest yielding asset/venture, you should have noticed by now that liquid assets aka kudi/ego/owo will always just flow away and disappear. Now, even Bill Gates initially borrowed money from family to start up Microsoft and Dangote did the same to start up Dangote Industries. You too can try to do it big, especially if you know losing the cash will not hurt your daddy’s pocket, take the risk, the rewards could be far greater than you could have ever imagined, you could be the next numero uno on Forbes List. Besides, people with plenty money in the bank that are not doing anything with it are stalling our economy; be creative and invest!

The bottom line is whatever you do, in whichever way you decide to do it - please keep it legit o - support Nigeria and Nigerians and you will truly Glo With Pride!

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Next

CROWD MENTALITY – LET’S TALK ABOUT IT!

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[Spoken Intro]

Now we're gonna talk about something serious

Yo! M.I., Yo! Chocolate City, Yo! Rythchus Era

[Before we begin, download the song ‘Crowd Mentality’ by MI and listen to it before or as you read; whichever you prefer, it is like the groundnut and this piece is the garri…soak up!]. Have you ever been the victim of a crowd action, flash mob or even a church mob, yes I said it, Church Mob? If you haven’t or even if you have, let me tell you my own story. The other day, the guys and I were driving home from a new joint just a few minutes from the house (don’t ask me what type of joint it was *evil smile*) and as we got closer back home, we noticed that a portion of the street leading to our crib, yes crib, had been completely blocked by a group of some sorts; this was past 11pm on a Friday night. It happened to be a crusade and the church people had set up chairs, speakers and all their ‘shuu the devil’ paraphernalia right there on the road; they were not simply passing by. The crusaders had apparently planned a week long campaign and were set to go against Beelzebub himself, their soiree was titled ‘Fire For Fire’ and this should have been my first red flag! 

[Rap 1]

If you don't have a mind of your own

Don't be disappointed, this is fine, be a clone.

Listen to me rhyme, I'm done trying to be mine all alone

And to make things connect like a spine to a bone

I've changed my mind I'd rather be the same as

All these fake ass entertainers

Make bad music just to rock in arenas

Use words like? (no bad language on radio)

‘Cos I tried hard to make the difference

Make the kind of music youse can use as reference

Everybody else say: let's dance

Who am I to tell them otherwise?

That's a job for Reverends

So I'm ready now to join the movement

Together press for negative improvement

Everybody or not

To forever end the search for life

The story starts to get interesting when we step out of our humble tokunbo motto (second-hand vehicle) and ask the ardent apostles to kindly clear a path for us to reach our own salvation (home). Believe me, there was no alternative, if there was, we would have taken it. At first, they completely ignored us but we continued to insist. I, in particular, thought it was utterly ridiculous for them to have blocked a road that is shared by many; Muslims, Native Doctors, Atheists and even other Christians, for whatever private reasons they might have had. So as you can guess, I spear headed the “Please move off the road” campaign and that was when it happened. Before the twinkle of an eye, these saintly singers suddenly transformed into a red-eyed ‘Kill The Boy’ (KTB) mob! I believe someone from within their ranks whipped up the frenzy by shouting “The devil has sent his agents to disturb us!” If we were still in the times of pitched forks and torches, I would have probably been toast, burnt at the stakes; but me sef I for know, I for no follow dem craze people talk, we for just jejely drive go my grandmamma house go sleep, lol (too long to translate). Fortunately, your boy has muscles - you know I am buff nw - and my brother and my cousins, the guys, were on the scene, so the battle of 'The Boys versus The Mob' was a stalemate.

[Hook]

So when I say jump (jump)

Everybody in the place dance (dance)

Everybody in the place move (move)

Everybody in the world just scream (scream! scream!!)

When I say jump (jump) Everybody in the place dance (dance)

Everybody in the place move (move)

Everybody in the whole world stop (scream? Huh? Oh-uh?)

At times I wonder what it is that makes people want to fit into the crowd and flow regardless of the direction, I wonder if they truly do have minds of their own. The funny thing about a crowd (negative ones especially) is that the individuals would alone probably not dare to do what it is they are doing as a bunch. In my opinion, this is cowardice! Real women (and men) stand on their own feet and own their own words and actions, they do not hide behind the mask of anonymity that numbers may provide. If you cannot stand alone to make a statement or take an action, then you have no right to hide in Simba’s pride to throw stones at Scar; Be a man, fight Scar mano a’ mano. I could recognise some faces in the KTB mob of that inglorious Friday and I can say without mincing words that up until then, I would have classified the owners of those faces as regular sunny-side-up citizens; docile as doves. 

[Rap 2]

If you don't have a mind for yourself

Don't be disappointed, this is good for your health

It's the road to riches and to diamonds and wealth

Redesigned it myself, to all Black people put your mind on your shelf

It's Ok to be poor, be needy

Better yet still care for more, be greedy

Everybody get mis-educated

Be lazy, fat, stupid with your mind sedated

No matter how many songs I sing

About truth, honesty, it'll never change a thing

I just wanna be rich and famous

The world is screaming out: Please entertain us!

Yo, the whole world is glass or plastic

It's split like refraction, need action drastic

So forgive me I'm a tad sarcastic

These venomous lyrics on my lips like chopsticks

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Classic examples of mob actions in Nigeria are so many, the most popular of which has been trademarked by the dastardly duo of Tyre and Petrol, needing only the loud cry of “Ole, ole…thief, thief!”, to bring an end to life of any unfortunate individual who may or may not have partaken in the act of borrowing without asking. If you remember the story of the ‘Alu-4’ of UniPort, Port Harcourt or if you even saw the gruesome images of what was done to those four alleged university students who probably woke up that faithful morning not knowing how their day (and sadly their lives) would end, then you will appreciate the urgency with which this buffalo mentality needs to be addressed. Nigeria and Nigerians have a Midas’ touch; whatever they set their hands to turns to gold, unfortunately, this is also true of dark arts. If #NigerianAtHogwarts were to be real, Lord Voldermort and all his Deatheaters would probably kiss our tushies but on the bright side, Harry James Potter would have been Hassan Jindu Pelumi.

[Hook 2]

So when I say sit (sit)

Everybody in the place stand (stand)

Everybody in the place jump (jump)

Everybody in the place scream (scream! scream!!)

When I say sit (sit)

Everybody in the place stand (stand)

Everybody in the world just jump (jump)

Everybody in the world be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)

Yeah, break it down, break it down, break it down (x3)

Here we go!

I remember watching a live study on television that was masqueraded as a live British game show. This unsuspecting live UK audience bought tickets for what they thought was a nice evening out and had no idea that they were to be part of an experiment. In the ‘show’, each person was given a replica of an identical mask (smiley face mask sef) and they, the audience, got to decide the fate of some bloke who was to be picked at random from a random drinking bar. The night went on and the audience had a blast (I honestly even caught a laugh here and there) but not a soul in that theatre knew that they were a living petri dish. The result of the experiment as juxtaposed to one in a lit room without masks, however, showed that as the night progressed this ‘faceless’ group become more and more comfortable with making decisions that would cause harm to their random bloke until the point where they made a choice that led the said John into a speeding car. Needless to say, that was the end of the show and also the point at which it was revealed to them that they had just part of a research (The real bloke never got hit, at the point where things began to become dangerous, a professional stuntman became their guinea pig and the blissfully ignorant bloke was left alone). 

[Rap 3]

So the moral of this song is

There are people walking around just like zombies

And it's so strange, how people are afraid of change

Afraid of what would happen if we re-arrange

So most Black people are just doing what the crowd do

Doing what the system say, that we're allowed to

So break free from the crowd mentality

And then we can start to build a new reality.

(Now you've got to know

Said you've got to know

And you've got to know

Who you are)

What am I getting at with all these words and rapping in-between? People tend to behave like yaks (Mongolian cows) and it can be irksome. I understand that there is a time to follow and be lead but this does not mean that one should become a cow. It no way on earth means that if you have a goat as a leader you should follow him (or her) and jump off a cliff, or am I wrong here (feel free to correct me)? Do not follow the crowd to do mumu; popular guy/babe will come out to say I do not like mathematics and you sef will follow and chant instead of sitting down to study or someone will say how can I work where I will only be paid 100k a month and you sef, mumu, will follow and talk instead of starting humble and growing, you don’t know his father is a Senator sharing  ₦9 billion wardrobe allowance.

[Hook 3]

So come on, everybody in the place fly

Everybody in the place dream

Everybody in the place be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)

When I say shine (shine)

Everybody in the place fly (fly)

Everybody in the place dream (dream)

Everybody in the place be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)

When I say sing (sing)

Everybody in the place speak (speak)

Everybody in the place c'mon shout (shout)

Everybody in the place be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)

When I say sing (sing)

Everybody in the place speak (speak)

Everybody in the place shout (shout)

Everybody in the place be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)

[The Talking About It Part] The way I see it, crowd mentality is a tool and like every other tool needs to be wielded by one who is worthy of it; a true leader. Unfortunately, a true and righteous leader may not always exist and that is why we are all still blessed with individual discerning to tell right from wrong. One thing people fail to realize is that once you are part of a group and that group is guilty of an act, each individual in that group is by extension guilty because as long as you were not vocally or otherwise opposed to the group action then it is taken that you either verbally acquiesced or gave your silent consent. The blood of every soul lost to Tyre and Petrol is on the hands of every individual that has ever joined to shout Ole and all those who stood idly by. The bottom line still of my story is be yourself!

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Be yourself

Yo! Be Black/Beautiful/Strong/Correct/

Nice/Good/Right/Tight/Alright/Creative/

Native/Real/Have Skills, Stand Tall

And be all you can be

(Now you've got to know

Said you've got to know

And you've got to know

Who you are)

And that’s all I have to say about that

Lyrics c 2008 M.I. & Chocolate City Music

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