a single story abi?

The truth, they say, is hard to bear.

I guess several blogs have brainwashed people into thinking Naija is all roses. Look, Naija is a mess. I love that country, I will always do, but you gotta be honest. The country is a mess. BN shows us weddings and fancy photos and it grants us a small time away from the mess, but it’s still a mess. I like these videos. They tell the truth about our country, the same way Fela, Sound Sultan, Eedris Abdulkareem, Trybesmen, Kush, and others have been saying. These artists have sang these songs and made these videos but somehow it has not gotten through. No one wants to do anything about it, or no one knows what to do about it. You have a government (Fashola, I’m looking at you) whose head is so far up its ass it doesn't know what to do with itself.

I was born in Mushin. I lived in Mushin. I have been to Ajegunle. I have been fortunate not to experience poverty but I do know it exists. These scenes exist. If you have such a big problem with foreigners telling your stories for you, tell them yourself. I am tired of hearing only party songs and seeing videos that show such a tiny populace of Nigeria. I am tired of pedophiles (Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima) who get to abuse children and not enough noise is made. But when there’s a party or some mediocre musician does something, it makes front news. I want Nigerians to care more. I don’t listen to Rick Ross but this video is familiar to me because I have seen it in Lagos. I applaud Rick Ross for this video, it is different from what Naija artists make nowadays; it is authentic. I see the video as a real part of Naija, the part no one wants to acknowledge or talk about or even fix.

I disagree about the video being a single story. Ross showed what he saw on his way to the concert, which took place at Victoria Island. The thing is that he showed both sides of Naija, the ‘bad’ part and the good part and the ‘bad’ part dominated the video. The slums dominated the video because there are more slums than there are non-slums in Naija, and that is the uncomfortable truth. This was not a single story. He did not go under the bridges, and let’s not kid ourselves into believing people don’t live there or have families there.

This video is the gritty Naija I have not seen any contemporary Naija artist do, save for Tha Suspect's Twale. Naija has more 'bad parts' than good parts. The video was and is the truth and if folks are upset then it is DEFINITELY the truth. People want to hide the fact that there are more poor people than rich in Naija. Nigerians need to wake up.

This video:
- is daily life for majority of nigerians
- depicts the life of many nigerians
- is the most humane video I've seen of Naija, BBC's Welcome to Lagos was 'worse'
- shows a truth many Naija artists nowadays ignore
- is shockingly realistic
- is an uncomfortable truth

But let’s not stop there. If we are to prevent this single story phenomenon, let’s call out our own artists when they make videos only in the good parts of Naija because that is also a single story. Let’s call out Psquare, Wizkid, DBanj and whomever else when they show the club scenes with the Brazilian hair and summer collections wears because that is also a single story. Let’s call out our filmmakers when they make movies about places majority of nigerians will never go, unless to hawk goods because that is a single story. Let’s call our own people out when they do the same thing and not just harp on the foreigners who show us what our house is truly like. We should also not accept single stories because they paint Naija in a good light.

How about we actually take a stand against what is shown rather than take a stand against the messenger.

Fortunately, youtube has both the ‘good parts of Africa/Naija’ and the ‘bad parts of Africa/Naija’. If anyone believes this video shows all of nigeria or that nigerians live on trees can go do their own research. Whomever finds the video stereotypical can wallow in ignorance or do research: google is their friend, Tumblr and Youtube can join in.