I have always wondered how people choose a topic or subject matter for their songs. I guess its has a lot to do with talent in the sense that people just know what to sing about. For me , i have cracked my brain and if I was given all the money to make a hit record......i still dont know what i'd sing about. I asked a couple of my friends what they'd sing about and almost everyone established the fact that they'd sing about their mothers. I guess that means there are some damn good mothers out there, besides my mum. I think i'll drop a track or 2 about my mum and dad. When you look at songs and observe the subject matter such as ..sex,money, girls, fame, social change, poverty, the world, making money, killing, politics, bitches and ho's, tricks and baby daddys .............. i tend to wonder what goes on in the songwriters head . Here's a list of songs and corresponding subject matters.
Gongo Aso- Something good is about to happen
Iya basira- a favorite food joint
Why me- why wont this girl leave him the hell alone
cyclone- i guess the girl knows how to wind well
soulja boy - #$$%%%55&&****
Irreplaceable- I get another bobo, so get out.
I talked to a couple of my friends, and this was the list i got of songs they'd write about.
Mother - (almost everyone)
High school experience- (M)
Family- (f)
Social Issues/change (M/F)
Women and children (F)
Clothes (F)..........i guess the song "my lip gloss is popping" is not stupid afterall
Boooty Radar (M) which is my own personal fun favorite from the list.
So i ask you, if you were given the chance to write a song...... what would be the subject matter? what do you think is the most important thing you need to voice? what travels through your channels of thought? Perverted or Not ,Please comment.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
I refuse to title this cos i frankly don't know what to call it. I would say in the past 25 years, ive been to a fair share of places and I'll like to share my experiences of some places ive visited and lived.
Bauchi 1988,
I must have been about 6,7 or 8. My mum was working in Lagos and my dad had a sports festival he had to go to in Bauchi. Being the weird man he is, he took us three girls on the trip with him. It was a road trip and believe me, that ignited my present love for road trips (as long as i am not the one driving). Anyway we got there, and it was the same time there was some jihad uproar of Muslim killing Christians and the mopo people (mobile police) killing the jihadists. Well there was a lot of blood shed and my dad was almost running crazy trying to shelter himself and three girls from the killings. I remember being hungry in the hotel and my dad having to scale fences to find food for us only to come back with one biscuit like this cos he ran into a collision btw the jihadists and the mopo. I also remember on out way back to Ibadan, seeing roasted bodies on the road, damn it was a horrible sight to see. One great thing about the trip was seeing Ant hills the size of a house and seeing Zuma rock, lokoja and the "alleged" death place of Mungo Park or him finding it. By the way i love the word"allegedly". Allegedly, if you are in the press business, and you want to report a story, a way of not getting sued for wrong info or defamation of character is by saying allegedly, before the report or the gist.
Benin City,
I went for my Uncles wedding and men, that was the first time i saw prostitutes in their millions. There was this place probably their "ho stroll" more like ho interstate. Men it was like a drive through coochi store. All shapes and sizes, standing neck to neck down a long ass street. Was just very interesting to see something like that.
Unilag 2000
I hated most of my time there. Thought almost everyone was fake and condescending on folks like me from Ibadan ( Ibadan is nice at least to an extent). Anyway you'd hear girls say "oh i cant if u dont have car and Ac" the girls father probably drives an okada oh. The guys ....hmmm trying all their best to keep up the "cream boy" image, but also begging for food on the side. I still love Archi though!!!1
Saint Peter Minnesota 56082.
Damn cold as hell, racist as hell and boring as hell. My school was on a hill surrounded by corn fields, apple orchards and lakes. I had to run away oh, the cold wan kill me. One day i was walking to a daycare were i voluntered. I was drinking cranberry juice and before i knew it, the remainder of the juice had frozen. I was so scared, i wanted to imagine what would have happened to my body.
Scranton Pennslyvania, 18509 AKA Scrantonia
more like a love hate relationship. cos i leave and i keep coming back. Boring as hell, snows like theres no tomorrow, but i like the serenity. Spent my Undergrad here, and what is seems to be my grad here. (i still dont know why i came back). Love the scenery though, lovely mountains and great during the fall.
Baltimore MD, 2005
Those were my roughest years. hated hated hated. NO car so i was bussing like a fool. One day i ran for the bus, fell down busted my knee and tore my jeans and no one said sorry. Imagine. Poeple you meet on the bus in MD.........................................
South Riding, Virginia 20152
Nice place but i was job searching that time. I remember getting hired by this indian woman who was mos def crazy, I just worked there one day. Imagine she did not even pay me. Probably cos i did not sign any papers or no acceptance letter or anything. Fraudulent woman. Also i had my first car accident. ................. Bad memory.
Laurel Maryland 20707
Plenty naija folks but hmmm was bored as hell throughout and paranoid as hell. one time it was snowimg so hard and i decided to go to work. Got to work and they were closed. Tried to go back home but i lost my windshield wiper on the way. To cut a stupid long story short, i pulled over on the highway, walked about a mile (having faith that i was going to find it) and found the wiper in the middle of the highway. Anyway i got to pick it up without getting hit (thank God),
Bauchi 1988,
I must have been about 6,7 or 8. My mum was working in Lagos and my dad had a sports festival he had to go to in Bauchi. Being the weird man he is, he took us three girls on the trip with him. It was a road trip and believe me, that ignited my present love for road trips (as long as i am not the one driving). Anyway we got there, and it was the same time there was some jihad uproar of Muslim killing Christians and the mopo people (mobile police) killing the jihadists. Well there was a lot of blood shed and my dad was almost running crazy trying to shelter himself and three girls from the killings. I remember being hungry in the hotel and my dad having to scale fences to find food for us only to come back with one biscuit like this cos he ran into a collision btw the jihadists and the mopo. I also remember on out way back to Ibadan, seeing roasted bodies on the road, damn it was a horrible sight to see. One great thing about the trip was seeing Ant hills the size of a house and seeing Zuma rock, lokoja and the "alleged" death place of Mungo Park or him finding it. By the way i love the word"allegedly". Allegedly, if you are in the press business, and you want to report a story, a way of not getting sued for wrong info or defamation of character is by saying allegedly, before the report or the gist.
Benin City,
I went for my Uncles wedding and men, that was the first time i saw prostitutes in their millions. There was this place probably their "ho stroll" more like ho interstate. Men it was like a drive through coochi store. All shapes and sizes, standing neck to neck down a long ass street. Was just very interesting to see something like that.
Unilag 2000
I hated most of my time there. Thought almost everyone was fake and condescending on folks like me from Ibadan ( Ibadan is nice at least to an extent). Anyway you'd hear girls say "oh i cant if u dont have car and Ac" the girls father probably drives an okada oh. The guys ....hmmm trying all their best to keep up the "cream boy" image, but also begging for food on the side. I still love Archi though!!!1
Saint Peter Minnesota 56082.
Damn cold as hell, racist as hell and boring as hell. My school was on a hill surrounded by corn fields, apple orchards and lakes. I had to run away oh, the cold wan kill me. One day i was walking to a daycare were i voluntered. I was drinking cranberry juice and before i knew it, the remainder of the juice had frozen. I was so scared, i wanted to imagine what would have happened to my body.
Scranton Pennslyvania, 18509 AKA Scrantonia
more like a love hate relationship. cos i leave and i keep coming back. Boring as hell, snows like theres no tomorrow, but i like the serenity. Spent my Undergrad here, and what is seems to be my grad here. (i still dont know why i came back). Love the scenery though, lovely mountains and great during the fall.
Baltimore MD, 2005
Those were my roughest years. hated hated hated. NO car so i was bussing like a fool. One day i ran for the bus, fell down busted my knee and tore my jeans and no one said sorry. Imagine. Poeple you meet on the bus in MD.........................................
South Riding, Virginia 20152
Nice place but i was job searching that time. I remember getting hired by this indian woman who was mos def crazy, I just worked there one day. Imagine she did not even pay me. Probably cos i did not sign any papers or no acceptance letter or anything. Fraudulent woman. Also i had my first car accident. ................. Bad memory.
Laurel Maryland 20707
Plenty naija folks but hmmm was bored as hell throughout and paranoid as hell. one time it was snowimg so hard and i decided to go to work. Got to work and they were closed. Tried to go back home but i lost my windshield wiper on the way. To cut a stupid long story short, i pulled over on the highway, walked about a mile (having faith that i was going to find it) and found the wiper in the middle of the highway. Anyway i got to pick it up without getting hit (thank God),
Smoke Detectors......... a Nigerian necessity.
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200805180504198
I read that tragic news and almost fell into tears. It was so sad to hear such a tragic and painful loss especially when it has to do with Fire. Very gruesome. I know loads of people blamed NEPA /PHCN (Nigeria's power generating sector)or whatever their name is for the incident but taking a further look into it, i think a smoke detector would have saved the day. With the situation in Nigeria, almost every house hold i know has a generator. Mosts of these generators are located in very hazardous locations. My sisters house for example, there are 2 generators located under the stair case which is their only and i say only exit out of the building. In my parents house in Ibadan, our generator was always located far away and enclosed from us. We did not have a smoke detector but most houses in Nigeria, especially Lagos becos of space restrictions, are forced to having their generators besides their house and also kegs and containers of diesel right besides the generator. SUICIDAL I MUST SAY. As soon as i heard the story, i told my sister to go get a smoke detector in her house and she must have thought i was out of my mind. With the situation of NEPA, No light, Candles, Generators, Diesel,Slow to no response from the fire dept, i think it should be a law that everyone owned a smoke detector in their homes. It is not that expensive and it runs on battery so i say if you can afford a generator and fuel it with the high costs of diesel , OGA YOU CAN PURCHASE THAT SMOKE AND FIRE DETECTOR. IT WOULD SAVE YOUR LIFE ONE DAY. Excuse me, i need to go and check my own smoke detector in my house, so I am practicing what i am preaching
I read that tragic news and almost fell into tears. It was so sad to hear such a tragic and painful loss especially when it has to do with Fire. Very gruesome. I know loads of people blamed NEPA /PHCN (Nigeria's power generating sector)or whatever their name is for the incident but taking a further look into it, i think a smoke detector would have saved the day. With the situation in Nigeria, almost every house hold i know has a generator. Mosts of these generators are located in very hazardous locations. My sisters house for example, there are 2 generators located under the stair case which is their only and i say only exit out of the building. In my parents house in Ibadan, our generator was always located far away and enclosed from us. We did not have a smoke detector but most houses in Nigeria, especially Lagos becos of space restrictions, are forced to having their generators besides their house and also kegs and containers of diesel right besides the generator. SUICIDAL I MUST SAY. As soon as i heard the story, i told my sister to go get a smoke detector in her house and she must have thought i was out of my mind. With the situation of NEPA, No light, Candles, Generators, Diesel,Slow to no response from the fire dept, i think it should be a law that everyone owned a smoke detector in their homes. It is not that expensive and it runs on battery so i say if you can afford a generator and fuel it with the high costs of diesel , OGA YOU CAN PURCHASE THAT SMOKE AND FIRE DETECTOR. IT WOULD SAVE YOUR LIFE ONE DAY. Excuse me, i need to go and check my own smoke detector in my house, so I am practicing what i am preaching
Saturday, May 17, 2008
St Francis of Assissi Vs. Sango (god of thunder)
I met this guy one day at the airport on my way to Naija, and he gave me an insight to things i was fascinated by. He spoke to me about deities in Naija, like sango, obatala,and many others. Well, as a born again christian brought up in the way of the anglican church, i told him all that was fetish and devilish. He then asked me what i thought of the saints e.g saint theresa, st james, st. francis of assissi. Well im not too familiar with them since they are related to catholism, but he made me understand that they were both the same.Both saints or gods were humans that had been deified after their death. Sango was a human being who had been imortalised and so were these saints too. So why does Sango (god of thunder ) strike people , especially naija folks as fetish and devilish and St. francis of Assisi otherwise. Well, I say it was part of the plan of colonization to eradicate our culture and consider tradtions and our ways as fetish and devilish.
This goes hand in hand with the myth of language that if you spoke your native language, your Engish would be tarnished and also how Nigerian art such as the masks , sculptures and carvings considered fetish and demonic, but we'd think the head of Augustus caeser was not fetish but art. I actually went to one retired Naval officers house in Lekki Lagos, where at the foyer of the house, there stood the head of caeser on a pedestal. I wonder what people would say if it was the head of Oduduwa (Father or yoruba people) on that same pedestal. Hmmm colonization...i have mixed feeling about that, sometimes i just wish they left us with our Empires and huts, but then again i love my Tv and computer. BUt then again who says our oyo empire would not have soared in technology as well. For this we shall never know.
This goes hand in hand with the myth of language that if you spoke your native language, your Engish would be tarnished and also how Nigerian art such as the masks , sculptures and carvings considered fetish and demonic, but we'd think the head of Augustus caeser was not fetish but art. I actually went to one retired Naval officers house in Lekki Lagos, where at the foyer of the house, there stood the head of caeser on a pedestal. I wonder what people would say if it was the head of Oduduwa (Father or yoruba people) on that same pedestal. Hmmm colonization...i have mixed feeling about that, sometimes i just wish they left us with our Empires and huts, but then again i love my Tv and computer. BUt then again who says our oyo empire would not have soared in technology as well. For this we shall never know.
Silver Jubilee
Well, last week was my 25th birthday parry parry, and as much as i hate the fact that i am growing older, i am glad the lord has added another beautiful year to my life. Men 25 years is no joke at all, being the fabulous me, (Phygenia Oluwafemi Beckley omo Akinbayo Beckley) i have had the wildest of 25 years i can imagine. 25 years filled with drama, action, comedy, horror, suspense. oh my!! i've lived almost all the genres of hollywood movies. I have had SSS and National Treasury come look for me (im not a criminal oh) stepped on a rake, squirted fast drying super glue into my eye balls, broken ankles, toes,gotten robbed,box cutter knife found in my luggage about to board (i am not a terrorist),been hit on by an Ugly lesbian with no front teeth,had my drivers liecense suspended for 10 months without my knowledge, etc. Anyway i love to share my bizzare stories, so here goes one of them
My first bizzare moment i can remember was geting robbed at gun point with my mum. OH my , I had been chosen to be the chairlady for the juvenile harvest for that year. Being about 5 years old, i was so excited and i must say it was the most prestigiuos thing ever. it could be compared to a Miss america baby/toddler pageant. maybe....Anyway my dad had dropped my mum and i at the store to buy shoes for me (since i needed to look fly at 5) Well, the store looked like it had closed but a man came out and told us it was still open , so my dad left us and drove away. We entered the store, and boy did i see this beautiful pair of red "dorothy, theres no place like home" shoes. I picked it up and told Mrs b ( my mum) that i wanted them. She asked for the price and the man answered her pointing a gun at her face. Well the rest is kinda blurry as i was young. I only remember the red shoes, the gun, the mans face, lying down in a small room and my mum asking me to plead the blood of Jesus and the man yelling at mum to shut up unless he would blow my brains out. Well i guess it wasnt that blurry again since i remember most of it. Anyway that was my first robbery experience but my most recent happened in 2006 dec. I had travelled to Nigeria for my sisters wedding and i was in lagos just hanging out with friends. I decided to go to see Lagbaja at motherland with my friends but my sister suggested that i stay on the island ,since it was safer. Anyway knowing me and my stubborness, i decided to go to ikeja to see Lagbaja.( Oh I love Lagbaja) We got safely to ikeja but stopped at a bar to wait for my friends cousin. then all of a sudden some random chic convinces my friends that we should go to bacchus or whatever the place is. Bacchcus happened to be on the island, so my friends try to find the fastest way back to the island. Anyway to cut a horrible stupid story short, the next thing i saw were flashing lights and we were asked to stop and pull over. At this point i am thinking they are over Jcops (also known as "i too know" cops) trying to get some money from us. So i tried to be as coorperative as possible, i even helped one of them to prevent the trunk from hitting his head. Anyway they told us to get down and realizing that i did not want no "cop" to be snooping in my bag, i clinched the bag to my chest but before i could say jack robinson, one yeye stupid guy came to my side and started pulling my bag. "Ki lode ? what is wrong? Leave my bag jo." We continue struggling till i got distracted by the loud noise coming from a sound slap given to my friend. By this time, i had lost my bag. I then see my friend complaining about the slaps and he then runs away with the cop chasing him with a gun. i was so clueless and i asked my other friend around "whats wrong with these police people?" He goes "they are robbers" . OMG!!! the first thing that came to my mind was what am i going to tell my parents..and Tosin warned me about this. Then i see the guy ransacking my bag like he was looking for something he lost. One of the robbers then told us to lay down on the floor. In my head i am thinking "shit and i am wearing white". Anyway another one says, jump into the bush and one other says enter the car. Now i am really confused. I ask them what exactly are we supposed to do with all these different orders. Then i hear one of them say "wheres the girl wheres the girl?" No one told me before i did james bond and jumped into the bush. They drove away and left us on the highway with no car no bag no money and then i realized all the contents of my bag. My visa bank card, social security card, drivers liescense, N. I card, Work Permit card,, check books,state id, bank details and cash (naira and dollars) Damn was i so screwed. Some of these items i was never able to get back and some like my SSN card i got 2 years after the incident. SEE LIFE. But i still love naija.
My first bizzare moment i can remember was geting robbed at gun point with my mum. OH my , I had been chosen to be the chairlady for the juvenile harvest for that year. Being about 5 years old, i was so excited and i must say it was the most prestigiuos thing ever. it could be compared to a Miss america baby/toddler pageant. maybe....Anyway my dad had dropped my mum and i at the store to buy shoes for me (since i needed to look fly at 5) Well, the store looked like it had closed but a man came out and told us it was still open , so my dad left us and drove away. We entered the store, and boy did i see this beautiful pair of red "dorothy, theres no place like home" shoes. I picked it up and told Mrs b ( my mum) that i wanted them. She asked for the price and the man answered her pointing a gun at her face. Well the rest is kinda blurry as i was young. I only remember the red shoes, the gun, the mans face, lying down in a small room and my mum asking me to plead the blood of Jesus and the man yelling at mum to shut up unless he would blow my brains out. Well i guess it wasnt that blurry again since i remember most of it. Anyway that was my first robbery experience but my most recent happened in 2006 dec. I had travelled to Nigeria for my sisters wedding and i was in lagos just hanging out with friends. I decided to go to see Lagbaja at motherland with my friends but my sister suggested that i stay on the island ,since it was safer. Anyway knowing me and my stubborness, i decided to go to ikeja to see Lagbaja.( Oh I love Lagbaja) We got safely to ikeja but stopped at a bar to wait for my friends cousin. then all of a sudden some random chic convinces my friends that we should go to bacchus or whatever the place is. Bacchcus happened to be on the island, so my friends try to find the fastest way back to the island. Anyway to cut a horrible stupid story short, the next thing i saw were flashing lights and we were asked to stop and pull over. At this point i am thinking they are over Jcops (also known as "i too know" cops) trying to get some money from us. So i tried to be as coorperative as possible, i even helped one of them to prevent the trunk from hitting his head. Anyway they told us to get down and realizing that i did not want no "cop" to be snooping in my bag, i clinched the bag to my chest but before i could say jack robinson, one yeye stupid guy came to my side and started pulling my bag. "Ki lode ? what is wrong? Leave my bag jo." We continue struggling till i got distracted by the loud noise coming from a sound slap given to my friend. By this time, i had lost my bag. I then see my friend complaining about the slaps and he then runs away with the cop chasing him with a gun. i was so clueless and i asked my other friend around "whats wrong with these police people?" He goes "they are robbers" . OMG!!! the first thing that came to my mind was what am i going to tell my parents..and Tosin warned me about this. Then i see the guy ransacking my bag like he was looking for something he lost. One of the robbers then told us to lay down on the floor. In my head i am thinking "shit and i am wearing white". Anyway another one says, jump into the bush and one other says enter the car. Now i am really confused. I ask them what exactly are we supposed to do with all these different orders. Then i hear one of them say "wheres the girl wheres the girl?" No one told me before i did james bond and jumped into the bush. They drove away and left us on the highway with no car no bag no money and then i realized all the contents of my bag. My visa bank card, social security card, drivers liescense, N. I card, Work Permit card,, check books,state id, bank details and cash (naira and dollars) Damn was i so screwed. Some of these items i was never able to get back and some like my SSN card i got 2 years after the incident. SEE LIFE. But i still love naija.
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