Comments on Nigeria kicks off that the 11:00 mark
“The controversy, or wahala as we call it in Nigeria, started when I made some comments on VladTV about my father’s burial, which is really a very personal thing, and unfortunately that wasn’t focused on at all by my fellow Nigerians– I was hoping that that was the focus, but you know, things go the way they go. When I went to bury my father, my family in the village said, ‘you know, you have to take some extra precautions,’ because at that time, the specific area that we were from, it was the highest kidnapping rate in the history. So to travel along that road to our village that I know very well, which was already a road that has some challenges and some obstacles in place, my family said, ‘look, you’re a foreigner, you’re an American, and your appearance, you being light skinned, or what some people say is mixed… because you’re a foreigner, because you’re light skinned, you have the perception of wealth. So that’s all I was talking about, is that because of that I had to take some extra precautions, which in Nigeria we call a MOPOL, or mobile police. And I was talking to Vlad, who is not Nigerian, who is a white man, and to really communicate to him I used certain words, which is true, mobile police don’t carry handguns, they carry AK47s. And they are in military uniform. That’s who I rolled with just to bury my father, and really I was just opening up about my own experience, because when I was five, I was in an armed robbery and a kidnapping with my family. So I’ve been through it, it’s not something that I’m just saying.”What do you think?
On the Nigerian Excellence…
“Classic Man” was inspired by the Nigerian Excellence – Jidenna
“Nigerians are proud, we care about excellence. So the moment you have some little misstep, or what could be perceived as a misstep, everybody around you… and I love that though… I always tell the story about my father, when I first came to America, and I’m like six-years-old. You know in school, when you get a good score, the teachers like, ‘Bring it home, and you can hang it on the fridge for your mother.’ So I brought it home, and I was like, ‘Dad, I got a 98.’ And my dad’s like, ‘Ah ah, where are the other two points? Go and get them, then bring them back.’ And that’s how it is, those two points matter in Nigeria. And that’s a beautiful thing. And that’s actually what inspired “Classic Man,” that excellence for me in my personal life comes from being in the Nigerian community, as well as the African-American community that I’m in, and Wondaland as well. So all that was inspiration. And I think we cleared up the miscommunication, everything is gravy now.
hitmanuzy47 
Jaytee