I Said Nigeria Isn’t a Real Place…Here’s What I Meant | AITL S2 EP 40

Welcome to a My Too Loud The Podcast. Welcome back to a My Too Loud The Podcast. It's your old Sophie A.K.A. The Mother Freaking Audity. My unpopular opinion for this episode or my loud opinion about this episode is sometimes as a people in the world as human beings, we suffer from the crap in a bucket's mentality. That's all I'm going to say about that. Figure out what that means. Hey, guys, welcome back to the episode. I literally let me tell you something. First of all, let me address what I'm wearing. Where's my shades? Past my shades. Because I'm in a serious mood today. Just throw it as fine. I have three producers at today, guys. OK, hold on a second. Guys, let's get into this video. Guys, I am still in Lagos, Nigeria, and I am so excited to be here. It's just been such a good time. I just got back from Delta States. I sat by one to hang out with one of my best friends in her family, and it was just fun to just relax a bit. And so before I get into this episode, I want to address my last episode, because your girl has been dragged a lot, OK? On Twitter, online, about my comments about Nigeria, I am not taking any comments back, OK? I refuse to take any freaking comments back. But what I will do is realize as I was editing the clips for my episode from last week, that I definitely was very negative in that episode, but I think it came from a place of frustration. And what I mean by that is, if you live in New York City, because I live in New York, and if you live in New York, you realize that New York is not all that it cracks up to be. New York is so pretty and so gorgeous, and it's where dreams are made of, and everybody's so happy. But it's overpriced. They're rats everywhere. The subway smells, the subway delays. People look poor. A lot of people are unfettered now. People get stabbed. People get slapped. JFK is a terrible airport. There's just a lot that you realize about New York that it's not all that it cracks up to be. That is exactly how Lagos is to me, too. Lagos is very much in New York, right? It's still very amazing. If you want to have a good time in Lagos, you would, there's special places here. But again, if you want to, you would also struggle a little bit, because Lagos also has not rats necessarily, but Lagos is also chaotic. It's a lot of stress. It's really just like putting a fake facade over the chaos this world that happens here. I'd actually usually say New York is organized chaos, and Lagos is just chaos. That's just what it feels like here. I say all that same on last episode. There's a lot of flak that I got because it came off as this entitled American who's visiting Nigeria and has nothing good to say. First of all, I'm not an American. Let's get that shit straight, please. I'm Nigerian just like you. Am I not live in the country full time, but I'm still Nigerian. I have Nigerian blood running through my veins. Oh, I don't care about abandoning me. I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't know what I'm going to do, I just have to do a really shallow, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know why, I'm going to go across stroke, okay? I'm from Washington State, Nigeria. What I told you is I grew up in Nigeria until I was 17 and I left for Green Up Pastures, which is a story that everybody can also relate to because when, first of all, sidebar guys, it is she's such a bastard. But I was watching with Nia Debiya's podcast in the UK and she talks about when there's a lot of things going on right now with the MAGA movement and white supremacy and that's just the Nazi old ass shit that's going on in America and just the world. And she talks about how whenever they talk about black people being in their countries, she's like, yeah, cause you brought us there, you stole our land, you stole our resources. And so we had to find Green Up Pastures and we're going to, we're pulling our resources to where you took them. That's kind of the mentality that I have when I think about being like a lot of people who jackal who leave our country, who leave our safe haven. Do you think I don't want to eat the little fries on a bar? And I'm a lot, whenever I fucking want, do you think I don't want to be at home with my cousins, with family, with my aunties? Do you think I don't want to go down the streets to see family? I think I don't want to be able to go through, yeah, bars, I go through kejals, go to lequise, go to our job whenever I want to. Where my bar, where my asshole, okay, go to home, where I'm back, go to Patiwa. Can my job you already meet? You think I don't want to do that? Do you think we as Africans or Nigerians don't dream about beta for ourselves in our own home, on our own soil? We all do. A lot of people who travel out of the country is because they're exhausted, they're tired, they're frustrated. And if you trace it all the way back, you realize a lot of this frustration comes from the fact that our resources, everything that is supposed to make us the giants that we are, as black people as Africans as Nigerians, has been stolen from us. But at some point, we can't blame the colonizers, we have to blame ourselves for the conditions we find ourselves in. That is where I have a lot of issue with. Because at some point, when do we say enough is enough, let's take what we want back. And I feel like bringing up Burkina Faso might be my bite me in the foot because in Burkina Faso, we see the African governments or African folks starting to rise up to the oppressors to colonizers and saying enough is enough. But also then, you know, they go ahead and say like, fuck the LGBTQ and like, God, damn it. I thought you were gonna do something great today. So it just, guys, I had a little frustrations, okay? And I poured that out in that episode because I was like my first week back in Lagos officially. But a lot of feedback that I also got was the fact that I was in Lagos only. And it felt like I was complaining about Lagos, which is such a valid critique to give me your rights. If you go to anywhere else in Nigeria for the most part, you don't get as much of the chaos as you get in Lagos, which is saying a lot because if I decide to move to Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, the problems I would face in New York aren't the same problems that I would face in those states. That is, I think what a lot of the feedback I was getting is is generally just that like, hey, you might be complaining solely about a Lagos issue and not necessarily in Nigeria issue. And you're right. Nigeria is not to just Lagos. Nigeria is Delta state. It's all your states. It's Zamfara, it's Abia, it's, you know, it's only child's worries. It's all these places I make it home for a lot of people. So I say all that to say the critique on like me ranting a lot about like Nigeria and basically just coming from a Lagos perspective is valid. So I say all that to say, bring all the way back from the first point I was making. I went to a Sabah Delta state this past week and you guys were right. A lot of other places in Nigeria also have their shortcomings, right? A lot of the critique and problems I noticed in a Sabah is safety is, you know, some social military presence in some way militia as all kidnappings that happen in Delta state. There's a lot of, you know, frustrations. There is no all of money being moved around, but at the same time, there was peace, there was cleanliness, there was organization, there was, there was safety in a way, outside of the kidnappings and killings, you know what I mean? Or something that struck me a bit because I don't think as Nigerians we travel off into different states. I see a lot of content creators now traveling to a bunch of places and like speaking on those places and like I think Tobias is a good example of the ice a lot of TikTok creators doing the same thing. But ideally, even Africans who tend to travel are across Africa, which we can also talk about with regards to like flights and problems with airplanes and African countries and access and xenophobia, oh God. So if you woo saw, woo saw. Am I too loud if I say I'm exhausted? Am I too loud if I say I'm tired? Am I too loud if I say that one of the reasons when I first started my new my journey that the African continent was not the first content that I thought of to travel is because I realized if I had an Nigerian passport, the problems would be even more exorbitated, exorbitated, I don't know the English word, I was trying to. Thank you again. Like, um, hold on. I hand that English words because of the fact that I have an Nigerian passport. That is something that's jarring to me to think about, right? And I think sometimes we get into like the native greedy and when you try to get out of the native greedy or you get to try to get out of the mud, you still feel frustration. I still feel frustration. I mean, guys, I have a master's in peace and conflict studies and I think the first thing that sort of made me a bit jaded about the world with peace and war is the fact that when I began learning about the world issues in that specific way from the lens of looking and seeking peace and understanding war and why war happens, the only thing I realized was because of human nature, we would always be at war. You can say that could be because of greed, capitalism, racism, humans, just being human selfishness. So many things that when you actually deep it, the Bible underground was telling us to detour out of it. You know what I mean? I realized during that program that essentially because it's always going to be war, peace is not as easy as we could think it would be, right? So when I talk about them, like, oh my God, guys, like, then you're so frustrating, I wish the airport would be better. But then it's like, okay, how do we go there? Okay, well, then maybe the government will make steps in place to make sure, you know, the airports is run efficiently. But then what about the common man, right? What about in the common man in terms of just like an everyday person whose livelihood now depends on the business they had to create because of that government's inability to regulate the airport at the first place. What happens to them? Where how do they feed, right? It's the same thing when you talk about, so sometimes in Lagos, if buildings are built under high tension wires, the government goes and it just demolishes the buildings. Doesn't matter how much you paid, doesn't matter if it's your home, what's not your home, the government just goes and demolishes your building. Like your heart and money is dust because the government just breaks that down. And I think about that lawlessness, that lack of accountability, how it sets seeds into the minds of the people themselves because as a person who works really hard, pays my taxes, does everything. I build a home for myself, build a business for myself and the government wakes up one day and says, I'm going to destroy everything you've ever built. I'm not telling you why, I'm not giving you anything for it. I would be mad. Like I can't, I will be mad. Like I would actually run mad. I would actually want, I can never see past that anymore, right? So I'm not going to apologize for my comments and thoughts from my last episode because they're all valid. And for the comments we're saying, oh, but what about America? Things are just things are not always only like this in Nigeria. Yeah, no shit. I'm not talking about America. I'm talking about Nigeria. The whole point of the podcast, was to talk about Nigeria, my experience in Nigeria because the match law is currently in Nigeria. When I go to the Bahamas, I'm going to talk about the Bahamas. When I go to Tanzania, I'm going to fucking talk about Tanzania. When I go to Kenya, I'm going to talk about Kenya. When I go back to America, I'm going to talk about America. Right now, if you're following the podcast, I might talk about it on the road and we're in Lagos, Nigeria. So I'm sharing with my audience how it feels to be and live in Nigeria in Lagos, Nigeria. Okay, guys, because of that, I'm going to read some responses that I got from people about my recent comments that I did because, of course, people had a lot to say. Okay, hi Sophie. Per usual, love the recent episode. It's so refreshing to hear an omoy Bile, which means that someone who is from that place, from the outside, give real perspective on Lagos. And honestly, I felt shame. Not mine to carry was still there. Born and raised in Lagos, I've stayed hopped across like seven or eight states, most recently, Jars. When I went, it was a road trip and I stayed for months. So peaceful, the serenity, crazy. But what's even crazier is how insecurity shows up. It's also very cold, like the UK cold, but that's by the way. There were literally areas divided by religion and tribe, and you'd be warned to tread carefully. That's when it hit me. It's not just a Lagos problem, it's a Nigeria problem. The curse of pick one and what you're picking in between is basically basic of the basics. And about that point in comfort, I think we're quick to forget 2020. The toll gate, the sacrifice, and how it still feels wasted. No justice, no accountability. So when we the youths judge, we're really judging the past and asking, is it even worth it? I don't know if I'm making sense. I'm just an Nigerian girl who loves being Nigerian but is stuck in a toxic relationship with her country. Like, can we just fix it already? I don't like wearing winter clothes or being away from the people I love just to have access to basic things. Woosa. Oh, girl. Girl, girl, girl, girl, girl. That was the perfect summary of how I was feeling. But also what I just explained to you guys. And if you're listening to this and you're not Nigerian or you're a fan of me, I hope this gets you interested in visiting Nigeria, visiting Lagos. And it might feel crazy that I am speaking like this. So because this is also episode 40, I wouldn't be sharing 40 things that make Lagos Nigeria and Nigeria it's self-special that you should still be excited to visit. I also just wanted to talk to my listeners who aren't Nigerian and also just share because I think I also have a responsibility to do that. I'm Nigerian based in America. So I live two lives essentially. And right now it feels like the life I really, really want to live for and love is going through it. And all I can do is be a voice for those who are voiceless but also share my thoughts and sentiments in this space. OK, so what she said is so ab because like I said, I went to Delta State and it was so peaceful, it was so nice, it was so serene. Guys, they honked, but they honked to like, so let me give you an example of how crazy this is. And Lagos, if you're a tourney, you just turn. Talk. You just turn. Like you don't traffic it unless you probably feel like it. Cars are everywhere. It's like driving in India is what I've heard. And I said by before they turn places, they honked to tell me make sure the cars around it are selling them, hey, I'm about to turn. For the most part, they stop at traffic lights. There are lines that people queue on. Like we were traveling on the flight. And people were like queuing in their lanes. Like nobody was going crazy moving to different lengths. And I know that sounds so little. But it generally felt like I was in a different world from leaving Lagos to a sabah. And I'm heading to Ibadom as well. So I'm really, really excited Ibadom is in all your state. I'm so excited to see what Ibadom also has to offer. Because that to me was such a shock. It was like, oh, shit. This is normal. This is what people could just do. So yeah, I think what she says is valid and what she says is right. Especially when we think I'm breaking down to tribes and tribalism and the issues that we face as well, I think it's very interesting that we all sort of share the same sentiment. I also want to pick back up from when I said that Nigerians are not self-sacrificial. And I say that because there was an incident that happened in 2020 when the youth, especially were protesting, tolls that the government was trying to enact in certain areas in Lagos. And the government responded with killings of a lot of young people at that time. The sacrifice that the youth did then was just, I remember like just the conversations that were happening then, even when I was in America and feeling defeated. Because I don't think, besides, in my lifetime, and I was born in 1997, very few things that hit me in the way that did. And I was far removed from the situation. Because we hear stories sometimes about the war of the past. You know what I mean? We about Biafra, we are about the fight for independence. We hear, and I come in Lagos right now, we hear about the issues in the North with the Herod's men, Boko Haram and stuff like that. But they oftentimes feel like they're there. They feel far away. They don't feel like they're close by to you. And for the first time, I think that felt very close because it was in Lagos. It was in my home state. It was with people who you knew, right? Because it was young people like me who were protesting this increase. And I say we're not self-self-self-refacial because when that happened, we did feel defeated. And there was no more, nothing else to do because they've shut us up. And that is something that I think a lot of us struggle with, like how to walk past the defeat. Like what you hear stories about in Nelson Mandela staying in the prison, and after the prison going back right into the activism, I don't know if our generation is capable of sticking through regardless of the outcomes. Like she mentions it here and she says, is it even worth it? Because I think the response now to stuff like that is before you kill me, I'll leave it for you, right? Like, oh, you want to kill me? Let me go out and apply for visa to America. Let me go to Australia. Like we, there's a recent Nigerian actor who's really famous. I think he's a Miss Frank Doha. No, no, it's Frank something, I think. He's like bald. He's a really, he was a hilarious comedian who spoke a lot about agriculture in Nigeria then. And now he works for like the Chachan, or Cheswan government in Europe. I think that's in Europe, forgive me if I'm wrong. Because of the issues that Nigeria faces. Did you get what I'm trying to say guys? Like, I left because my mom needed a better place for me. I left Nigeria because I, I don't think you understand how deep this issue goes. I left Nigeria because I was going to law school to be a lawyer at home. My mom didn't know what me to travel out. We could know how far to travel out. But I was raped in a university in Nigeria. And my peers told me, oh, it happens. That was why I left the country. I said enough is enough. I'm not saying that doesn't happen everywhere else. But I'm saying at some point, the lack of accountability here, the percentage of how much it affects a lot of young women here, you just, you just feel defeated. That's essentially what it is. You feel defeated. And I think in that episode, I felt really, really defeated. I got posted on Twitter talking about the episode. And of course, the comments, especially from the men, were hilarious because people just don't like to be called out. There's this full, I read the comments, so you guys understand it. It seems your channel is dedicated to bashing Nigeria for the entertainment of your haters. OK. How long are you going to continue to do this? How long have you lived in America to be this naughty towards your own country? Do you understand the level of hatred towards Black people in general in America? Last year, a low and more than 24,000 people were killed in America due to gun violence. I don't hear you talking about that. I don't hear you talk about the homelessness and crime in America. What does it have to be negativity towards your own country in all your videos? You allow other African countries who hate your country to come on here and pile on Nigeria, while they cannot even talk about the horrendous things going on in their own country. Stop this insanity. Oh, shut up. You know as people who are like, why are you complaining that you're bleeding? What means I'm bleeding? Why are both bleeding? You're no wrong. My team send that comment to me, and they're like, guys, that people are actually watching what's going on, like what's going on with this episode. They're a bit worried for my response. And every time I get comments like this, I tend to laugh because first of all, you cannot bully me out of my opinions. And second of all, everything you said there is valid. What is happening in Nigeria is happening in Nigeria. What is happening in America? It's also happening in America. Two things can happen at once. Three things can happen at once. Or other things can be happening in Sudan and Congo and Nigeria. I can speak about Nigeria because I'm in Nigeria currently. Tomorrow I can speak about Congo. Because I am not speaking about Congo and America and going violence in this moment, that's what I mean, I don't speak about it. That's what I mean, I would never speak about it. That's how that works. You know what I mean, like, who's that? I think that's what we forget, right? I think when this commenter commented, I think their frustrations is a lot of people who also say, like, it's an African thing, guys, isn't it? Why are you bringing eyes into our shame? Let's focus on our shame ourselves. Ta, we bring the eyes there to play me. They need to know. I'm not cloning on Nigeria. I'm not bringing negativity on the haters. I'm just speaking the truth. Everything I say is isn't wrong. Everything you say isn't wrong. Like you did it in this comment, you didn't once say, everything you said is a lie, Nigeria is perfect. You said, oh, stop it. Yes, Nigeria is bad, but look at those people too. Don't look at us, look at them. Look at them. They're bad, too. Yeah, they are. Okay. We're all bad. We're all struggling. But let's address ours. Like I'm addressing ours right now. And I think that's where the entire point of the conversation was. So yeah, I just want to quickly touch on that. And I think the last thing that I would also say, another comment that I definitely want to read for you guys. Let me pull it up before we head into and know that conversation is a lot of things you said, this one I'm not going to show you all because it's personal from someone I really respect. A lot of things you said make sense, but someone not that crazy. Like we'll travel to different states and nothing happens. God protects everyone. London, they can kill you for wearing a nice watch and carrying a nice back. That doesn't really happen here. Nigeria is still safer than a lot of places. Everywhere definitely has its bad sides. When I was in Mexico last year, the cartel went to the next resort and killed a hundred people and people still into loom are living it up. But a lot of other things definitely are right. The classes are in no love for disabled people, corruption. Rich people don't care about this around is just their personal space. Yes. To all of that, yes. But yeah, I think every sentiment is true about the conversation we had last week. And I want to round this segment of the podcast up because I don't want to continue talking with you guys about issues in Nigeria and how to fix it. Because I'm nothing more than a piece in conflict master degree holder. I also said to political science. I went to law school in Nigeria, even if it was just for a year. I read books, I study, I like to learn. I'm also educated. So whenever I open my mouth, I'm not just a pretty face. I also have sense. So you're not going to come on my channel, on my page and my podcast and yapa, yapa, yapa, yapa, your way. It's telling me that I am black labeling my own country. I am speaking about my own country. I don't have sense. I'm dumb. I'm stupid because one thing about me is I'm not a suddenly of those sins. One thing about me is I have not any of those things. And if I am wrong, I will always come back on this fucking mic and say, oops. My bad guys, I shouldn't have said that. In this situation, I should have definitely said that. And I'm going to stick to it. Like I support women's rights and wrongs. I support Nigeria's rights and wrongs. Because Nigeria has, I don't know, it's like the book. I got support. Women's rights are wrongs. I support Nigeria's rights. And I would always call out Nigeria's wrongs. And it's the same thing in America too. Like I would always talk about the inequalities and the issues that happen in America as I feel like doing so. But I'll also always call out the good things that are happening because everything can happen in tandem, right? I think maybe it's the way we are in social media now. We all forget that things can happen in great spaces. Not everything is black and white. There's a lot of great that happens in the world. And also there's a little conversation and nuance to everything. If you're watching an episode where I'm solely talking about the issues Nigeria has, there's going to be an episode where I'm talking about the fun things that happen in Nigeria. I mean, I was talking about a three-something, that same episode, relax your blood, man. OK? So yeah, I want to just clear that up as well. And also understand that because you are used to mediocrity, doesn't mean you have to accept it, right? I think in a lot of ways, we all sort of struggle with accepting and saying, what can we do about it? That's OK. No. No. As black people, as Africans, we cannot be accepting mediocrity. And I see this in a lot of spaces that I even find myself in, where people say don't talk. I have as a black influencer in America, even face that, right? There are times where I know I'm getting on an opportunity that my white counterparts are getting paid more for. And people around me would say, be grateful. You're getting this opportunity because at least they gave you something. At least for who? So people that, in an African-Americans' voice, they would have the more than me. They would have two heads. They would have three heads. They have the same head I drew. What is this? Melanen in their body. My own is more than their own. That's why they get more, oh, police. Oh, that's not good there. I think because if you're used to accepting mediocrity, you then accept it to the extent where you're suffering, but you don't know you're suffering. So you continue to champion that suffering. And so some point of the time, you're just existing in a vacuum that was created by your pressers and you don't have a way out. I think if we don't keep talking about the issues that Nigeria has, at some point we're going to get so used to the issues that there's no place or there's no way to get out of it. And I want to get out of it. I want to get to a point where things are more people have a lot more to say. People are doing better for themselves. I think that's where I'm sure I'm going to get to essentially. All right, guys, whoo. I did go in. Jesus, guys, poor fat. That was so stressful. Oh, my God. They was stressing me. Oh, guys, like all the get put your put your put your butt so fear blackly. Oh, just because I want you to this. You know, having to park out the law of work, you know, you know, I mean, like people to make it yourself to know, oh, you want to end the entire world because you have an opinion. I named this park out of my two lab, but now I'm looking at myself like, why would I do that? I should have named it like, I don't know. It's like, I can't actually think of it. Shucks, I was just joking. I don't know. I feel like my two lab has to be what is. Hi guys, okay, that was fun, I think. I feel like I'm getting so comfortable now with you guys. Like, oh, chill, like guys, that was a lot. So I'm gonna like to you guys. This whole public figure thing is crazy. I'm not gonna be a public figure yet, but in the words of Madame Joyce, tall, what kind of this thing? What can I say? Your girl was dropped a bit on Twitter. That was what that whole 30 minute montage apparently from the beginning of the episode was. Just responding to a lot of the comments we were getting because I feel like this is episode 40. This is episode 40 for zero. F-O-U-R-O. Episode 40 reminds a lot of the fucking podcast. Get into it. Oh, my mama. Okay, well, it's just me celebrating. So what can I say? What is episode 40 of the podcast? And we're even gonna get deeper. Like, I feel like I'm not even there yet. Like some episodes I'm like, I don't think it's gonna be a good episode. I don't know if it's gonna get good response. Like, I'm still not sure what I'm gonna say. But I have a lot to say, but guys, it's like, you're watching me grow. Shucks, man. I can't wait to be on like the big screens. Imagine us doing like a live show. And we're like, oh my god. Welcome to the part from where you guys are like, ah, well, hopefully don't drag me too much or because I don't know. Like I just, I see my peers being dragged. I think I should channel my inner simply shyo. If you don't know who simply shyo is, she's an incredible podcaster now. Host, comic, entertainer, everything. She does not give a fuck. Like if I show you all that girl's Twitter or ex, I'm just, I'm telling you, I wish I could be her. I'm so sensitive. Like every time I see stuff, I got, now I'm not really as sensitive but before I used to be so sensitive with like negative opinions. What am I saying? That's not true. I used to lie sometimes, just don't provoke. Do you know what I mean? Cause I just think it was, I was like, oh, I was, it was nice to laugh. I think it was one point I would be used to be happy. I got negative comments because I was like, shits me, look at me being famous cause someone is going out of their way to write a negative comment about me. Period. That's how it's supposed to be. No, it's not. But I think this would happen more as I get more opinions because context is everything and for a lot of times with podcasts like this, context is everything in the grand scheme of things and sometimes when you see a clip of someone speaking so negative about something, the context matters a lot. Guys, I took a break cause I had to put lip gloss on and my great co-host here also producer right here is sharing with me that when I brought up a conversation about houses getting broken down in Lagos, fun fact. A lot of people actually get notices about those houses. Might not be all, might not be some, might be just a few, either way, some people do get notices and because of selfishness again, greed, most landlords would not even share that. The houses might be broken down. So tenants are caught on the wares. People who are actually selling land under it. Oh, so can we talk? I don't want to start. I just, I can't. I can't. Guys, I just, as I was talking about that, just I saying, oh my God, I can now start ranting about the fact that if anything, I lost my genome thought. I was going to go into the whole problem with land and Airbnb and houses in Nigeria. Enough is enough. Know what? We're going to get into 40 because it's up so 40. Yeah. We're going to get into 40 fun facts and positive things about Nigeria and Lagos specifically. So I'm not going to drag anymore. So if you're watching a my two lot of podcasts and you're not Nigerian, maybe this is some facts that now you know about one of the most popular countries in the frickin world. Okay, I have my notes here because I'm, you know, going to try my best. Number one at Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world. There is literally an Nigerian everywhere. I know Nigerians in Korea. I know Nigerian in North Korea personally. I don't. I just lied. I like to lie. I know Nigerian in Russia. That's usually actually a lot of Nigerians in Russia in Germany. It's an Nigerian South Africa. There's an Nigerian in Cape Verde. There's an Nigerian in the coldest country in the world. I forget. But Taya in those videos has a place. What's the name of the place he went to? I can't remember. It wasn't Antarctica. What producer? Producer just said Antarctica would discuss that later. What? Okay. Nigeria's film industry, Nollywood, turns out about 50 movies a week. Second only to India's Bollywood by volume. Sidebar, sidebar, sidebar. That is true as Nollywood in terms of cinema. Do you guys know that Nigerians are so smart. That right now, I saw this on another podcast. The We're My Brain moves. This is another podcast, Afro-Politan podcast. They have some incredible hosts. They talk about some incredible things about just being African and diaspora connection, all that stuff. But in their podcast, they talk about, they had a host there. I'm so sorry. They had a guest. I forget his name. I'm sucky at this. But he talks about how innovative Nigerians can be. Because do you guys know when we're growing up, is Nigerian? So even I feel like black people around the world, we always had like home videos, like cassette tapes. But a lot of times like that was how we all watched like the old, old G-Nollywood movies was cassette tapes and all this stuff. And with the internet and YouTube, people just started going to the movies and that sort of faded away. I mean, they lost their money, all that stuff. And Nigerians is so innovative that because we're still not necessarily a cinema community. Like we're not a cinema country. Like I don't think Nigerians choose to go to the movies. Like yeah, the movies are there. But most people wouldn't, why would I carry my children? I was going to watch a movie before I'm watching like I sit in the outside, like, we don't have the money. We're not like fully middle class in that way. And we don't also respect our movies, which we will talk about in a different episode because Lord have mercy. The more those movies stress me out, but we're getting better. But one of the things I've done now to replace home videos is if you've seen those Ruth Cadyri movies on YouTube, the level of quality might be shitty storytelling, but the level of quality and intention behind those movies is insane. Like, I forget Ruth Cadyri, Kiki TV, Cheneze, like these are like people who have repurposed home video and the Nollywood from like a cinema perspective to online. And these movies have like 6.5 million views. So if you're any African and that's right, interested in like Nollywood movies, like go on YouTube. Like they are like full on two hour movies on YouTube. You can watch for free or with ads if you don't have YouTube Premium. Why wouldn't you have YouTube Premium? Let me not talk like a class that's good. You get two points. So just in terms of innovation, that's one of the fun things I really love about Nigeria. Nigeria has one of the highest twin birth rates in the world. That is true. Right in front of me behind the camera is one of a twins themselves. I have a tie in front of me. One of my cousins is a twin. Her sister is nowhere around. So yeah, I actually have a close connection. I wonder if I have twins. I don't want to have children. Let me move on. Mommy, I didn't mean that. I'm so sorry. What did you say? That I don't want children. They know me so well. Okay. Number three, 90. Okay, I said that already. Number four, the name Nigeria comes from the Niger River. I don't know if you guys know this, but Nigeria does have a river called the River Niger. And but there's also a love conversation around colonization around what the Nigeria, like Nigeria actually means in grand context. And who gave us that name? I don't want to get into it. But that's a fun fact. That's exciting. We have rivers in the country. Okay. Number five, Nigeria is super linguistically rich. We have hundreds of languages, like Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa, Fula, Edo, so many great languages. Over, I think 250 ethnic groups as well in Nigeria. We don't tend to have the focus beyond a lot of those ethnic groups. They're really, really small pockets. The main three is what people usually know which is Hausa Fula and Ibo and Yoruba. I'm Yoruba. So fun fact about that too. So we're very, very linguistically rich. And then we can go into the fact, no negativity, Sophie. Moving on. Nigeria, once fully paid off its external debt of $30 billion to the Paris Club in 2006. Now, okay, guys, I'm not going to lie to you. This one was chat GPT. At some point, I didn't know find 40 fun facts. So I asked chatty and she helped me. So I found out that Nigeria also pays their debts back. Do you know people who have not paid their debts back? America. Yeah. China. Russia. So we paid money back. It might not be all the time, but sometimes we do. The debt culture in Nigeria is crazy too. Moving on. But look at that. Chatty helping with that one. Nigeria's or has been Africa's largest economy. Power moves, even when everyone's doubting it. That is true. I feel like we have, Toronto, I once said the best. It was a Chimamanda. Can I remember which one? Either way, one of my favorite people said that Nigerians move around with such courageous audacity. I don't think that's how she said it. But it was around that same area. I'm just going to steal that. I think Nigerians move with courageous audacity. Period. OK. We are in any place and space of power to be feared or revered. English. So I want to mean by that is you hear a lot of great Nigerians doing great things. We also hear Nigerians doing really, really bad stuff. But they have the brains to do the bad things too. Which means they're fantastic. Like when you hear Nigerians, all these scammed men, people are like, that's a really smart person. Bad use of your free will. You could have used that thought to do. Like I had a friend. Oh, guys, I had a friend in college when I first went to America who's in prison right now in America because he was so good at math. He instead of just applying himself and going to university and being a math genius, he started stealing. Yeah, started sitting inside doing like credit card fraud and FBI found him in nice in prison. But he was smart. And he was Nigerian. So yeah, you could have been the next CBN governor. But look at him now. But the point is he had a brain. Like it was really smart. So well, I shouldn't going to get to fun facts. OK, back to fun facts. Nigerians called the Giants of Africa. Half-Rekites crazy. Nigerians called the Giant of Africa. And that is true. I did see a tweet recently that said, are we really the Giants though? Oh, shut up. There's plenty of us. We are the Giants of Africa. And I stand by that. Our government might be shitty and the people are going through a lot. But one thing you cannot say is that Nigerians aren't like our resilient, our strong people, our powerful. And so that's why we are the Giants of them the day. Like we are pioneers in a lot of the things we do. So please speak nicely about us. Nigeria also hosts the Africa's oldest dipit dating back to 1498, where traditional fabric dying still happens. Again, you could tell this one's who is tragedy and who is Sophie. OK, again, 40 fun facts was hard to find without the help of Google. So who knew? That's a lot of our direct fabrics. I show okay and stuff like that. We do do a lot of dying ourselves. Where even style icons don't play. Nigeria loves adding flavor. So Nigeria has like a drink called Chapman, which was invented in Lagos, which is basically a national icon. If you've not drank Chapman, what are you doing? Chapman is great. Again, Chachabitzi did this one for sure. That was not me. All right, moving on. Lagos, we're going to talk about Lagos now. Because I feel like a lot of the conversation about the episode last week was bashing Nigeria from Lagos lens. But Lagos is also, I kind of told you guys, pretty much like New York. So Lagos contributes something like 30% of Nigeria's economy. It's not just big. It's the backbone of the Nigerian economy. And I feel like in a lot of countries, you always tend to see the failings of that country through the lens of the economic backbone because of the fact that there's overpopulation, people are hungry, and people are going to that place to seek better opportunities. I think the chaos in Lagos comes from people's unanswered dreams. I think everyone comes from across the Nigerian continent. That's crazy. Everybody comes from across Nigeria to come find something in Lagos. So that can also lean on the resources of the little, really, really small state. It's not really big in Lagos. You know what I mean? And I think that's normal. And similar to in America, the tech hubs now are very split before they usually were concentrated in certain areas, when they're being diversified across different places. But coal mining was very much around the West Virginia area in America. Now it's not anymore. It's not like West Virginia is just dilapidated and going through a lot. Again, it just happens as a cycle that we just based just through economy we struggle with. OK. Lagos used to be called a coal, a name given by the binning people. And now it's an iconic slogan that people say. Again, chat GVT, you know this piece. Before colonization, Lagos was just a fishing center of settlement now global. That is fun. Number 14, the third million bridge was once the longest bridge in Africa was once this crazy chatty. I told you to give me fun facts. I think she's third longest right now. Lagos has the tallest building in West Africa, knee-comhouse on Marina, Lagos Island. I did not know that. Now I want to go see the tallest building in Africa. Can you make that happen? Thanks. We can do that for a video on that day. Maybe, yeah, just for the fun of it. Lagos is a mega city. One of Africa's fastest-growing urban areas. Number 17, it was Nigeria's capital from 1914 to 1991. Number 18, Makoko is a floating city on water in Lagos. And people live and do business on water. Now, Makoko is a slum. And it's messy. And it's crazy. However, it is a functional floating city. So again, going back to the fact that Nigerians are just really smart people, we're going to make use of the struggles we have to go through life. Is that a bad thing? Yes. OK. Number 18. Number 19, the Lagos Cannibal, aka Lagos Black Heritage Festival is this wild and colorful streets that are meant street party that mixes Europe, Brazil, and Cuban heritage. And number 20, Lagos has incredible beaches and beach fronts, like El Asha Beach and so on and so forth. So what I was going to say, so if we did better with tourism and we took care of Lagos, then probably would be more of a tourist hub like the Bahamas. But I'm not speaking about negativity here. I'm just telling you, fun facts. OK. OK, guys, I don't feel like saying 40. It's just my mouth hurts. I really don't feel like saying 40. Yeah, I don't feel like saying 40. So I'm going to say 20. I just said 20. Yeah. OK, let's do 20 fun facts about Lagos. Let me see if I want to tell you guys some more. I'm sorry, guys. I don't want to lie. OK, well, this is fun. I'm reading through my notes, because I actually wrote this down. So I feel like my mouth is yapping a lot. I can also say if you can survive a Lagos traffic, you can survive anywhere. Lagos is a city that never sleeps. So light, sound, movements, all day, all night. Lagos is definitely a melting pot. Again, the connection to New York is just there for a reason. Though it's Europe by dominance, you find all tribes in Lagos. The energy in Lagos is very magnetic. Lagos is raw and refined. Lagos is no apology. There's tension in Lagos. And I always say like it's a chaos versus order. But I think that's what makes people so creative. Like imagine persevering through that chaos to make beautiful things. Like that's why I think like imagine building an event knowing that people will move mad at that event. I will drive you insane. What that event must happen. I can go through all the odds to make it happen. You're too low and also you get the right stress. Your car will break down. Police will stop you on the road. There will be potholes on the streets. There might not be falls fully in your car. The events might ask you for more money. But that event will hold. And it will be creatively inspiring. So you see like guys, we're so crazy. We're great, great, great. Lagos is resilient. Every time I walk the Lagos streets, I always feel like I'm walking through a million stories. And lastly, Lagos is that beast that you would always fall in love with. I just... The world right now is such a chaotic place that as I travel the world in this nomad journey or time or era in my life, I am sort of like reflective a lot on where I want to stay, where I want to do, where I want to be, where my goals are for my content, for my voice. And while I'm still figuring out, being Nigerian, being someone who lived in Lagos for most of her life, all she lived here, I'll be remiss to not also have conversations on the podcast about Lagos and what that means to me. All right guys, rant over about Lagos Nigeria, which is where my soul has currently been recorded at. Shout out again to the social atelier for having me record in the beautiful space. That's not an ad guys, I have to tell them thank you because your girl loves this space. I feel like the quality has been so amazing. So let's talk about some odd fun topics from across the world. Let's bring back everything I was going on. Did you guys see the backlash about first of, you know what? Then me relax. Let me not yell yet. So first of all, Injuries becomes the first pro athlete to walk a Victoria Seeker fashion show. The Victoria Seeker fashion show is back for year two. They did the one last year. I was not invited to that one. They did the one this year. I'm going to rest if I want to talk. Am I hurt? No, I am not hurt at all. I am not in pain at all. Am I hurt? No. Yes, I am. But I was falling along a little bit and Angel Reese is an incredible women's basketball player. If you don't know who she is, she's fricking fantastic. And she, I think is the first ever pro athletes to walk in the show. And of course, the racists were like, oh, she has, like, she doesn't have an unattainable body. She should not be one. OK, so here's the thing. The Victoria Seeker fashion show, when I was a kid watching it, was toxicly aspirational. That's the word to use. It was toxicly aspirational that we didn't talk about. So it was really skinny blonde models, right, to walk the runway. And they were in itty bitty bras because in the early 2000s, that's what, and even in the late 90s, that's what people wanted. That's what the woman's body was supposed to be looking like allegedly. So it was toxicly aspirational. I don't think people were looking at the body positivity movement the way they do it right now, right? So toxicly aspirational. And so that, of course, died throughout the years when folks are looking for real women, real beauty. Shout out to Ari, A-E-R-I-E, love Ari down, love all my heart. They talk about celebrating real bodies because I don't know if you guys know this, but women's bodies don't comment one shape in size, tall. I don't think you know this, guys, I just say tall. Okay, we're gonna get used to it. I think for the next two episodes, but women's bodies are shaped very differently. Boobs are shaped differently. I have tear drop like boobs. People have watermelon boobs. People have guava boobs. People have berries. People have no boobs. People have some boobs. Boobs, I like boobs. Sidebar. The point is people have very different bodies. And, huh? The point is people have very different bodies. And so I think when the show left, it was because there was a decline in people wanting to see skinny models on screen. And people wanted to see more bodies. And so now they're back. And last year, they had not the best representation, but they had some representation. And this year, the show opened with a pregnant. It was gonna be pregnant Jasmine Tokes, who is an incredible model. Who's nine months pregnant. She opened the show. And then Angel Reese is a pro athlete. Quinn Blackwell is an influencer with an amazing body. We have Gianna, who's an incredible model and influencer as well. Then you have the models that typically walk and knock was incredible. Like we have aspirational bodies all around because everybody's aspirational. And there's a lot of conversations that people are saying. If you're curious who is going to walk that, the whole point of the show is that we want to see skinny models, cause I don't think that's the case. Cause all of us watching, some people might look like those glamorous women, but not all of us do. Like I think the whole point of the fashion show should be about the glamour, right? The story behind it. And I think Madeline White said it best on her TikTok the other day where she said, I think the story about the physical fashion show was the stories around the angels. So I wonder if the show would have hit differently if it was televised and Jasmine Tokes who opened the show was introduced and like she shows her body routine, her bumper routine. She has how she's preparing to walk on a fashion show with nine months pregnant because it's an incredible feat to be nine months pregnant walking in a fashion show in heels. It will be fun to see Angel Reese do a spot. It was fun to see a knocker. Like take us around how glamorous these normal women are who look the way they do. I think pressure is another example. She's a plus size model who looks fantastic. I want to know what her body routine is because she looks incredible, right? So I think that to me is what I think is missing. The story behind the bodies on the runway. I think even with fashion, when I look at fashion shows now and I just see models wearing clothes, people tend to be like, oh, this designer had this story to tell, but I'm like, isn't the story funner when you have more normal people glamorized on your shows? Because then I think it's not ever going to be relatable because nobody's gonna ever walk a fashion show in their lives, right? So at that point, even the relatabilities go on out of it. Anyways, two cents. Tyra Banks wasn't at the show this year. I will say Tyra Banks is in Australia right now selling ice cream. Miranda, I've read that somewhere. And that threw me through me for a loop because I was like Tyra Banks, ice cream, Australia. These celebrities just be doing anything. I support. I also really want to go to Australia, guys, but they have spiders and snakes. Hey guys, final thing before I close out this episode is I am so tired of this conversation around influencers and celebrity culture. Like people get so upset that influencers are breaching that layer, that wall between being a celebrity and the way we know it, right? Cause you know how the usually would like be a list celebrities, be a list celebrity, see list celebrities, whatever, whatever. I don't think people are able to understand what the trajectory is for an influencer in that space. Like do we think Mr. Beast is an a list celebrity? He has 400 million subscribers on YouTube. So he's relatively known around the world. What do we describe celebrity status as? Is it because he's not Hollywood? So it's because I think people typically use that celebrity status in terms of Hollywood, right? People usually use that celebrity status in terms of Hollywood actors and actresses and songwriters and that and like artists. But we have moved past traditional media into what I think is called global media now with digital literacy being everywhere. I mean, a person who has 400 million subscribers on YouTube is a celebrity. You might not like it, but he's a celebrity. So I think when the opera with Gwen Black were walking, walking the Victoria C. Gritz show and being like, this used to be for celebrities. Why is she just an influencer walking on it? You know her. You probably know who probably know Gwen Black were more than they know to Roger P. Henson now. That's just the truth, like the way digital media is moving. That's how life works. So I'm not saying all influencers who might be 10 million, like 10 million followers of 10 are going to be celebrities now because that's not how that works. And I'm not even sure if anyone knows what that breach or that wall looks like. But I think we need to get past this idea that celebrities are behind a wall and influencers are punching their way through. I think we need to revisit and reimagine world where everyday people can start online, work their way up, and become movie stars, singers, actors, because access to traditional spaces is now open for creators. And I don't think we need to break them down, fight them for it. I think if anything needs to uplift them because it's so special. I don't think why people are so negative. It is so special to think that sometimes I can one day have my own TV show that will also be streaming on a streaming platform and it's also available online. I think media has become so much more widespread, but it's even more beautiful to see. So shout out to Quinn for walking this show. I've been a huge fan of her. I love her down. She's super talented and her body is insane. So she doesn't even have like a normal body, guys. Like it's not something she's thick thing. She's like, I don't know about cheeks. She has ass cheeks. She has titties and she look good. Okay, you guys are just haters. Everybody's just, honestly, well haters, aren't we? But that is it, guys. That is today's episode of Reminds a lot of the podcast because I got to run because your girl is dressed for an all-star as charity competition. I think I told you that already. I'm going to be meeting some fun Nigerian creators to raise money for charity. If you want to support, I don't know if you can still support by the time you're watching this episode. I will let you know and then I'll put it in the caption down below or the description down below. To watch on Spotify, you should be able to click the link somewhere. If you're listening everywhere else, you should be able to find a link in the description for the podcast. But guys, I am so dramatic because this outfit looked so bad when I first put it on, but I talked to my fucking skirt underneath my boxer and put my top on me, my crop top. And I'm like, I put my hoax shoes on and I look like a baddie. I look like Sophie. You know what I mean? I'm also running really late. This is supposed to start at 11 and it's currently 130. That is crazy. 130 is absolutely insane. Yeah. I'm about to run in there. I'll keep gauging all my friends. I keep gauging all my friends to see if they're there yet, but trust that I'm in typical Nigerian fashion. No one is... Okay, never mind. Three hours ago. Okay. 12 minutes ago. Winner is one hour. One hour. Okay. People 32 minutes ago. Please look at me. Okay. Perfect. Oh, they're there already. Oh my god. Go. I love you. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I can't wait to hang out with you guys next week. I'm going to invite a lot of podcasts. I was still being in Nigeria, but by then I think I'm going to bring a guest. I wonder who's going to be here. We'll see. Bye guys.