Symba on how his trip to Africa Changed his Life: "I Stopped Wearing Jewelry"

Summary

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Earn Your Leisure Podcast

Episode: Symba on How His Trip to Africa Changed His Life: "I Stopped Wearing Jewelry"
Date: November 16, 2025
Hosts: Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings
Guest: Symba (musician, entrepreneur)

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Overview

In this compelling episode, Symba shares the transformative impact of his recent trip to Nigeria. The discussion centers on how the experience shattered his perceptions of material wealth, reshaped his sense of community, and inspired him to invest in the continent’s youth and infrastructure. The conversation explores themes of identity, bridging African and African American culture, and the healing potential of reconnection.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Catalyst for the Trip to Africa

• Symba's Awakening
  • An encounter during his tour in Atlanta led Symba to reflect on his identity as an African American who had never visited Africa.
  • (03:07) “So I was like, I need to go to Africa… so I got a homie named IO who's from Nigeria... telling me how everybody comes over there bringing clothes or money, but they never really bring things to help these kids or whatever.” – Symba

2. Giving Back: Technology for Youth

• Symba and his friends decided to bring laptops equipped with AI learning programs to Nigerian children, addressing a real need beyond clothes or cash.
  • (03:45) “They got computers and different things like that, but they don’t have it in abundance like we do... We was already talking about bringing laptops over there for the kids.” – Symba

3. Cultural Shock and Adaptation

• Arrival in Nigeria
  • Symba describes the immediate culture shock: extreme heat and basic airport facilities.
  • Dressing for impressing lost all meaning; focus shifted to community and contribution.
  • (05:14) “It was so hot to where immediately... you ain’t worried about your outfit... That process puts you in humanity.” – Symba

4. Materialism vs. Community

• Transformation in Mindset
  • The trip prompted Symba to re-evaluate attachment to status symbols like jewelry.
  • (09:43) “If you peep, since I got back, I ain’t really been wearing jewelry... over there, it made me realize, like, bro, this shit don’t make me a better rapper or a better person.” – Symba

5. Profound Encounters and Perspective Shifts

• Gift of Simple Pleasures
  • Symba recounts sharing a hamburger with a 14-year-old local rapper named Lucky who'd never eaten in a restaurant before.
  • (07:17) “He eats rice and these things called bones every day… I watch him eat the hamburger, and it immediately made me just be like, bro, we got life fucked up over here… We be so consumed with the bullshit to where it’s like we don’t even really see the life in front of us.” – Symba

6. Security and Safety Perceptions

• Despite being a foreign figure, Symba felt a sense of community and safety unlike the constant vigilance required in the U.S.
  • (08:18) “One thing I noticed was just like, the love... I ain’t looked over my shoulder one time... It just felt like love.” – Symba
  • He clarifies he did have security with him, emphasizing responsibility for family.
    • (11:29) “I had top flight... I ain't one of them rappers that be talking… no security. That ain't me, champ. I was running around. I got my son out there… I got to get back home, bro.” – Symba

7. Creative Collaboration and Youth Empowerment

• Recording and Uplifting Local Talent
  • Symba brought portable studio gear and hosted impromptu recording sessions with Nigerian youth.
  • Distributed 100 laptops at a local school, integrating technology and creativity.
  • (17:11) “I brought like a laptop with like a mic and like a studio setup... finding random people on the street that singing… come to the crib... these dudes is talented as hell.” – Symba
  • Helped Lucky (the rapper) secure a new living situation, a studio, and access to education.
    • (20:56) “We actually ended up signing Lucky... got him a spot over there. He has a studio now… But the thing that impressed us about Lucky the most was... the main thing he wanted in life was to learn...” – Symba

8. Bridging the African and African American Divide

• Cultural Reconnection
  • Project with Vector, a prominent Nigerian rapper, and a forthcoming documentary titled “Bridge the Gap.”
  • Focus: Explores differences and misconceptions between African and African American communities, aiming to foster mutual respect and collaboration.
  • (22:25) “The documentary... goes into the difference between the African and African American... why we are the way we are, and really kind of highlighting that to motivate people over here to stop looking at Africa as a place with just kids with flies in their face...” – Symba

9. The Power of Youth and Education

• Africa’s Demographic Potential
  • The continent’s vibrant youth population is seen as a resource to be developed through education and business infrastructure.
  • (22:02) “We always look at Africa as a place... of tremendous resource. Because imagine if you give, or you help import, education, import mindset, import infrastructure and business. What does the country look like? What does the continent look like?” – Co-host

10. Elders, Wisdom, and Lost Connections

• Symba is struck by the Nigerian reverence for elders, contrasting with American tendencies to place elders in retirement homes.
  • (26:59) “Those are the people who have the information to feed the children... those are the people that lived it. They're supposed to pass that down. That's something. We don't do that over here.” – Symba
  • Echoed by co-host’s reference to Akon's similar sentiments on respecting wisdom of elders.

11. The Black Panther Analogy

• Co-host relates the divide between Africans and African Americans to the themes in Black Panther, likening it to familial separation and mutual misperceptions.
  • (24:34) “The only way to really heal that trauma is to be reconnected... music is now starting to bridge that gap and we realizing that there’s more similarities than differences… If we can lend our expertise with their traditions and their resources now, that’s an unstoppable combination.” – Co-host

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Materialism:
  “We buy things here to showcase a part of ourselves that we never took time to find.” – Symba (09:27)

• On Simplicity and Authenticity:
  “Let life happen. However it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.” – Symba (10:30)

• On Community:
  “It shouldn’t feel like I gotta have a gun to go to this spot because bro might take my chain… It just felt like love.” – Symba (08:38)

• On Helping Youth:
  “Feel like a lot of kids over there don’t really get the time to dream, you know? So that’s something we want to provide for him.” – Symba (21:30)

• On African American and African Reconnection:
  “If we took time to actually go over there and like, okay, let’s build a school. Let’s build a gymnasium. Let’s build studios... Let’s go build some gas stations over there. You know what I mean? Even if we can’t figure out how to do it, let’s figure the process out so the next generation can.” – Symba (23:27)

• On Wisdom and Elders:
  “How are the kids supposed to learn? When you in the midst of living life and learning yourself, those are the people that lived it. They’re supposed to pass that down. That’s something. We don’t do that over here.” – Symba (27:58)

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Important Timestamps

• [03:07] Symba describes the moment he realized he'd never been to Africa and making plans to visit Nigeria.
• [05:14] First impressions in Nigeria; climate, community vs. materialism.
• [07:17] Lucky’s first hamburger: A revelation about priorities and privilege.
• [09:43] Symba discusses transformation in his relationship to jewelry and status symbols.
• [17:11] Recording with local youth, bringing studio setup, and distributing laptops.
• [20:56] Lucky’s story: from difficult circumstances to education and music.
• [22:25] Announcement of “Bridge the Gap” documentary; reflections on African diasporic unity.
• [24:34] Black Panther analogy: trauma, separation, and the work ahead.
• [26:59] Elder wisdom and the importance of intergenerational connection.

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Final Thoughts

The episode delivers a passionate reflection on personal growth, cultural exchange, and the immense potential of unity between African and African American communities. Symba’s experiences in Nigeria are a call to rethink material success, invest in people, and build lasting bridges across the diaspora. The conversation remains candid, insightful, and grounded in lived experience, providing inspiration for personal change and collective action.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

So I was sitting in Atlanta when I was on tour, and I was talking to this guy, and I was like, you know, saying all these different things about where I want to go. And he was like. I said something like, I'm an African American, man. We was talking about something. He was like, oh, you ever been to Africa? And I was like, nah. And he was like, so you're African American, man, and you'd never been to Africa? And I was like, damn. And it hurt even more that a white dude said it. It was like, damn. So I was like, I need to go to Africa. So I started looking into, like, you know, what I could do to go and all these different things. So I got a homie named IO who's from Nigeria, met through my guy Frank. Shout Out Frank. And IO was telling me he was actually getting ready to go back over there and do some things for the kids and, you know, telling me how, like, everybody comes over there and they usually bring, like, clothes or money, but they never really bring things to, like, help these kids or whatever. So I was like, man, let's go. Like, I'm down to go. So we all go over there, and immediately when we get over there, we realize, like, well, right before we kind of knew, like, it was a. They're not as advanced in technology as we are over here, right? As far, like, they got computers and different things like that, but they don't have it in abundance like we do. So we was already talking about bringing laptops over there for the kids. But I got a homegirl who works in AI. She has a dope pro program that we was like, we could put onto the laptops to where it could help the kids learn to navigate through the computer faster. So we go over there, bro, and immediately, dog, when I get over there, it was like a culture shock. It was like a real culture shock. Because the first thing is so hot.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

At the airport, bro. The airport, like a bus terminal. No disrespect, but I'll let you finish. But we got a story.

All right? We got a few stories.

We got a lot of stories about, bro.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

It was so hot to where immediately, like, it make you take the labels off. You feeling like you not worried about getting fly every day. Nah, you ain't worried about your outfit. You ain't worried about that. So that process Puts you in humanity, you know what I'm saying? So now you moving, like, how you don't have to move over here. A lot of it over here is about elitist and status and all these different things. What kind of shoes you got on over there? It's like, you know what? You really contributing to our people. You know what I mean? Like, how are you helping us as a people? So I get over there, man, and I'm moving through. So we were staying on the island, and then we were going to the mainland every day. So he going into the mainland, and I'm seeing just, like, cows and, like, people just, like, selling everything they could find and, like, doing all these different things. So I met this kid, kids in front of the store. He's rapping or whatever. I'm like, damn, this kid kind of dope. I ended up posting the kid or whatever.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah, I saw it.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah, posted them. It went up. Everybody in Nigeria start tagging them. Yeah, start tagging them. Everything right? So I immediately started getting hit. Yo, we want you to come to this radio station. Yo, we want you to come to this thing. Like, we want you to come to Africa today. It's like the CNN Africa over there. So now I'm on a press run, you know what I mean? I'm on an organ press run. Just, like, literally went there to see the city. I'm on a press run, and I'm bringing Lucky with me, bringing them with me, talking about everything. So on the first day, we go do some interviews, and I'm like, man, I'm hungry. So we go over to this restaurant across the street, we get some food, and I'm like, what you want to eat? And he like, I don't know. You know what I mean? Like, oh. I'm like, what you mean? So my homie, he like, look, you ever ate at a restaurant? He like, no.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

How old was he?

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

14. He was like, you ever had a hamburger? He was like, no. It's like, pretty much like he eats rice and, like, these things called bones every day, which is like these, like, small chicken. Like chicken gizzards, kind of. So we get him a hamburger, bro. And I watch him eat the hamburger, and it immediately made me just be like, bro, we got life fucked up. We got life fucked up over here, bro. We be so consumed with the bullshit to where it's like we don't even really see the life in front of us. So from that day, from when I seen that, I just started living in it, bro. You know what I mean? Like, I just start going where the people was at. If people was hitting me, like, yo, you got this going. I'm like, I'm pulling up. DeVito had a concert. I pulled up. He brought me out on stage, you know? So one thing I noticed was just like, the love I'm doing, all this movement. I ain't looked over my shoulder one time. I ain't felt like nobody was about to rob me one time. I ain't feel like nobody was finna take my jewelry or do something to my son. Not one time. Now they gonna ask you for some money. They gonna ask you for some money. You know what I mean?

[Co-host or Interviewer]

I saw when you pulled up with the van.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah, they gonna ask you. But it wasn't like I felt threatened if I didn't give him any. You know what I mean? It was just like, God, like, this is. This is how it should feel with us amongst our people. It shouldn't feel like I gotta have a gun to go to this spot because bro might take my chain or I gotta park my car over here. Cause, you know, like, it didn't feel like that. Not one time. It just felt like love. So it just really put me in a space, bro, of, like, living and just letting life happen instead of trying to make it happen.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

How long was you there for?

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Two weeks. Was there for two weeks. I was supposed to go to Ghana the second week, and then I just fell in love with the people in Nigeria. I was like, bro, I'm staying here. Like, fuck it. I'm here with the people.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

You said something. So is that what you found? Because you said this quote. You said that we buy things here to showcase a part of ourselves that we never took time to find. And so I'm wondering, is that what you found, that inner piece to saying, like, this is what life should be, bro?

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Like, I ain't really. If you peep, like, the last. Like, since I got back, I ain't really been wearing jewelry. I wear my watch. You know what I'm saying? But it's like, I don't really wear it because over there, it made me realize, like. Like, bro, this shit don't make me a better rapper. It don't make me a better person. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just something to show people, to get them to pay attention to me. I could find another way to do that. I'm creative enough to find another way to do that. So it's like, I ain't about to just feel like I gotta just put on jury every day to go do an interview or make people rock with my music. You either gonna rock with it or you not. And I'm at peace with that. I'm not trying to impress you. No more.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Liberating feeling.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah. It is what it is. Like, let life happen. However it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

And that was it. That was because of Nigeria.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Oh, because of Nigeria, bro. The whole time. Like, the first two days was rough.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Why?

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Because you can't really shower the way we shower over here because we can't drink they water. So as nice as a house that we was in, the shower thing was still like a sprinkler. So it's like I'm washing my body, but I can't really wash my face. I'm washing my face with a bottle of water, brushing my teeth with a bottle of water, you know? So it was just like. Yeah, it was a culture shock. But it's like, once you get used to it, you get used to the heat. You ain't really tripping off, like, clothes and what you gotta wear and, like, all these different things. It's just like. Like it's people in the club actually partying.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

Now the parties is crazy.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

You said dance.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

You didn't move around with any security.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

You know, I had security.

[CJ Toledano]

Okay.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

I had top flight.

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Yeah.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

I'm like, security of the world.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

Okay. Okay. You know what I'm saying?

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

We had cops.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Like, I ain't one of them rappers that be talking. I'm out here, all my jewelry all good every day. No security.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

That ain't me, champ. I was running around. I got my son out there.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

I got to get back home, bro.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

No, that's a fact. That's how we was moving, man.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Everywhere. They slept at the house.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Outside waiting for us.

Yeah.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

They was at the crib. Like, it was serious.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah. I was like. I thought that part got left out there. I was like, wait, do you have.

[CJ Toledano]

No.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Okay.

[CJ Toledano]

You did.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah. Nah, I definitely did, but safety first. Nah. Going over there, like, it showed me. And then, like, I shot the music video that we just dropped top g over there. And even how that happened, like, I.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Was in the projects, bro.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Like, one of the worst hoods over there is called Lagos Island.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

How'd that happen?

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[Co-host or Interviewer]

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[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

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[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

The reason why? You never seen it on me. I've never been dropped. I never been ducked on. There's a picture of me going up against LeBron. It looks like I'm about to get dunked on. My kids clowned about that too, but I fouled him and he missed the layup, so the poster looks like he's going to turn it on me, but he never did. And I don't think I'm ever going to be the guy that gets duck done just because. And if you ever dunk on me, it's like you're supposed to. I'm 5 9, so I'm not tripping. I'm not tripping at all.

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[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

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[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

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[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Duh. I'm. I'm in the. I'm in the crib. Now, keep in mind, I bring a studio over there. So my crazy ass.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

What do you mean bring a studio?

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Like, I brought like a laptop with like a mic and like a studio setup so my ass over there finding random people on the street that singing like, bro, come to the crib. Like, get on the sprinter. Like, come to the crib. Like, I'm to the point, my homie. I was like, sim, you can't be.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

You gotta chill, like, doing too much.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah. Like, everybody can't just be coming over there, like, way too much. So I'm like, all right, I' ma chill. So I'm. I'm bringing people to the crib, bro. And they just recording like they Record and they record. And I'm like, damn, these dudes is talented as hell. Like, you know, they talented as hell. So the engineer who I had engineering, I kept telling them, like, no, we had got back the day. We had got back from taking the laptops to the school. We got 100 laptops to the school. We went and did that. I got back, and my homie self, who was the engineer that was engineering all the kids that was over there, he was like, bro, is this something you wanted to do, like, before you get up out of here? Because I was leaving in two days, and I was like, man, I did want to shoot a video, but I couldn't really get it how I wanted to get it. He was like, what you want to look like? I was like, bro, I want to show Nigeria. Like, I don't want to show the island. You know what I mean? Like. Like, we could show that too. Like, let's show both sides. Let's show the difference between the island and the mainland. So if you watch the video, it's a conversation with me and myself. Like, that's kind of like the island in the mainland. So I'm starting off in the mansion, right where I'm in the crib. That's the island where the cribs is nice. And it's gold trimming on the tile and the marble and everything.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Banana island.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Nah, it's Lagos Island.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Okay, okay.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

So these were the big cribs and everything at. But then when you go into the mainland, it's more poverty. So we showing both sides of it. So I'm like. I'm telling him that I want to show that. And he like, I got the perfect people for you. So he called his production crew called whack people, and they come through and literally, bro, like, two hours. Like, just pull up to the crib. They like, yeah, bro, what you want to do? I'm like, man, I want to shoot a video. But, like, I want it to look clean. I don't want it to look like we just had a regular DSLR camera, and we just shot whatever. And he was like, nah, I got you. He was like. It was like, give me a couple hours, right? So he called back in, like, six hours. He was like, when you wanna shoot? I'm like, shit, we can shoot now. He like, I'm on the way. So they pull up, bro. They got all the equipment. We go to this spot where my man Vector, that's his neighborhood that we was at. So that whole community over there, Vector, take care of A lot of that community. He's a big staple over there. He's like what Kendrick Lamar is to us. He's debt to them over there. So go meet Vector. Tell him what I want to do. He's like, come on, bro. I take you through. We go through the neighborhood. We just film the video, bro, like all night. And we just chilling. Like, we eating. Like, I'm taking they herbal shots and everything.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Got you some jello fries.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah, I ate jello off every day. But I was just over there, bro, just rocking with the people. I had my son with me outside, bro. It was like 12 midnight. We just out there, the neighborhood, kicking in with the kids. And it was just love. It was love. So it's. It's definitely something that's a part of my life at this point, because we actually ended up signing Lucky.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Oh, yeah.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Wow. Yeah. So we got him a spot over there. He has a studio over there now because he was living in a straw house with seven siblings. His parents don't, you know, less fortunate. So we actually, you know, got him in a better situation. He's making music. But the thing that impressed us about Lucky the most was more than the music and everything. He said the main thing he wanted in life was to learn because he never really had the chance to go to school. So we helping him, you know, get in school and learning. So more than just putting his music out and, like, trying to turn him to a rap star, it's like allowing him the ability to grow up and have a dream. Feel like a lot of kids over there don't really get the time to dream, you know? So that's something that we want to provide for him.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

That's dope.

That's context, man. We. We talk about education reform.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Here. But we miss the part where it's like, there's people who only have access to education.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

So that. That's big. I mean, when you were there, one of the things we saw was the amount of youth.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

There's so much youth.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

And so we always look at Africa as a place, especially Nigeria, as a place of, like, tremendous resource.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Right.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Because imagine if you give or you help import, education, import mindset, import infrastructure and business. What does the country look like? What does the continent look like? Is that something that you plan to do going forward? Continuously going to Africa, going to different countries inside the continent.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

So me and Victor actually is working on a project together, and we actually are shooting a documentary that we started over there. It's called Bridge the Gap. And it speaks on. And the documentary will be the first documentary produced by my media company that I was telling you guys about. But it goes into the difference between. And so does the project we making with the music to it. It goes into the difference between the African and African American. And statistically, a whole bunch of different things that we cover and why we are the way we are. And really kind of highlighting that to motivate people over here to stop looking at Africa as a place with just kids with flies in their face that, like, what America shows us over here. Like, America, like, a lot of Americans think that a lot of Africans don't rock with us over there. And I asked that question over there, and that's not necessarily true. The media paints that perception. So we look at them that way, and there's this combative spirit. But really, bro, our people love us. They love us over there. So if we took time to actually go over there and like, okay, let's build a school. Let's build a gymnasium. Let's build studios. Let's build, like, I seen three gas stations the whole time I was there, bro. Like, let's go build some gas stations over there. You know what I mean? Like, what's the process? Even if we can't figure out how to do it, let's figure the process out so the next generation can. But I feel like that's something we need to look forward to because on some real shit, like, America ain't doing too good right now, champ. You know what I mean? And eventually, we gonna have to go over there and see what's going on with our people. So it's. It's important that we start somewhere. We got to start somewhere. But that's definitely something I'm interested in, is, you know, getting some things going over there and bringing more people back over there so we could unify over there.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah, no, it's interesting. We. We've been tapping in a lot with the continent, and we were in D.C. a while ago, and we was talking to some people from East Africa, and one of the. The women specifically, she was talking about the movie Black Panther. Right? Very insightful. You from. You from the Bay Area. So, like, the Black Panther movie, especially that first one, it's a lot of hidden messages in that, you know what I mean? Obviously, the Black Panther Party started in Oakland, but as far as, like, how she described it to me was ill. She was like, you know, it's like a parent that has a child right, where the child might have been abducted, and the parent didn't really fight for the child. So it's two parts to this now. The child starts to act out, right? Becomes more sexually active, joins gangs. It's all out of, like, frustration because they have an attachment to their biological parents, but they don't necessarily know them. But they've never really gotten over that feeling of just being kicked out and left alone and not like, you never came back for me. And then the parents have some sort of a grief, and they kind of feel some sort of blame for not going after the child. So it's trauma on both sides, right? And it's like the only way to really heal that trauma is to be reconnected. And it was like killmonger in the movie. Like, he's a very rebellious person. And it's like his story to me is like the story of African Americans, right? And it's like, I feel like we've both been played against each other where it's like, we look at it big time. Not everybody, but there's been a campaign in the media to be like, all these Africans don't care about you. Da, da da da. Like, they sold you to slavery. Da da da. And then the Africans is like, well, they're slaves. Like, they're nonsense. They always troublemakers in America. They always get in trouble. They're killing each other. They're doing all of that, right? But it's like, there's reasons for both sides, why there's dysfunction. And now I think it's dope. And especially with the music is now we starting to bridge that gap and we realizing that there's more similarities than differences. And we have expertise that could be beneficial because we went through a system in America that nobody has ever gone through, and we survived it. And they have the resources. So it's like, if we can lend our expertise with their traditions and their resources now, that's an unstoppable combination.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

It's very unstoppable. It will make us, like, the most dominant place on earth. You know what I mean? Like, I'm. I'm fully forward, bro. Like, I'm all for it. That's a great. That's a great analogy. You just broke down too. I gotta re. Watch the movie now from that perspective because that's dope. You know what's crazy? Somebody told me over there, it was like. It was like one of the main reasons, like, we. We look at you guys with an eye up is because you guys put your data in retirement homes. And I said, what you mean? They was like, you guys Put your grandparents and your mothers in retirement homes. When those are the people who have the information to feed the children, how are the kids supposed to learn? When you in the midst of living life and learning yourself, those are the people that lived it. They're supposed to pass that down. That's something. We don't do that over here.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

And I never looked at it like that.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

That was one of the conversations we had with Akon as well. He was like the wisdom of the elders.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Like even at a level of success, or quote, unquote success that he's had, he still, before he makes a decision, checks in with his elders because they have wisdom, even if it's not in the business sense, they have wisdom of life.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

And he thinks that's one of the things that's missing, that when we talk about generational gaps, it's like, how do we keep our elders as a part of the lineage of information to a younger generation? Right. We talk about the population being so young in Africa, but do they know those traditions of tapping in with the elders?

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Right.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Because there's a certain level of knowledge that they can pass down. Right. And you add that knowledge to the creativity, the innovation and the energy that the youth have and that becomes an unstoppable force. We gotta realize it though.

But I think that was done intentionally.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

My graduates from my school being Forbes.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Bag drop. Bag drop. Mic drop. Bag drop.

[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

Bag drop.

[Podcast Host]

Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes.

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[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

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[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

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[Guest Speaker (likely a musician or influencer sharing Nigeria experience)]

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[Podcast Host]

This is an I Heart podcast.