Dear SamKlef,
How is the weather on the island? You said Lagos Island is your Hollywood. Awesome, awesome. How are you? Everything cool? Baby, wife? Every one is fine? I know you’re doing well, only that WizKid is giving you headache. I am not happy and this is why I am writing this letter openly to you.
I have your phone number and I could have also emailed this letter to you, but I was weakened when I read that interview you granted to NotJustOk.com. I was completely heartbroken. You sounded like a woman whose heart got broken by a lover she loves dearly. That is not a cool interview at all. It broke my heart into pieces. When we met, I did not see such weakness in you. I don’t think I’ve met any Nigerian with so much weakness in them. There are so many things you don’t show and weakness is one of them. Once you show your weakness to the world, they will use it against you.
I want to tell you a story: when I was very young, I picked up a book called The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli somewhere from my uncle’s study and read it. I was young. I did not quite understand what I read. I was just fascinated by the words on the pages. Years later, I read the book again and I learnt from Machiavelli, that it is often necessary for a leader to use immoral methods to achieve fame and success. It is a shame that most musicians don’t read, which is why some of them lack depth. I’ve been opportune to stay around Seun Kuti and Kelly Hansome. Seun Kuti reads Noam Chomsky all the time and carries his books in his bags, even while on tour. That is why Seun is very sound and can’t sound like a weakling. Kelly Hansome, too. I’ve been in that his room where he has lots of books, all open. Kelly reads, which is why he is radically thoughtful. Kelly will not say the things you said in public.
Wait, how could you be going to WizKid’s house uninvited? Isn’t that disrespectful? Why would you do that? Why would you carry any man along? Are you their father? Is it your job to save the world? Why would you work towards other people’s success when you are not successful, Samklef? Don’t you know that a man who is climbing a ladder should never carry any one on his shoulder? I am confused. Very confused.
I could have sent this short message directly to you, but this is for other young people, who keep waiting for someone to come help them. For me, I have forgotten names of my classmates from secondary school. The thing is that we all come into this world alone and we are not obliged to remain friends with people. You can’t be forcing yourself on WizKid because you produced the songs that made him successful. Maybe your spirits don’t align? Maybe he doesn’t feel any positive vibrations towards you? Maybe he doesn’t feel a friendly connection with you? You should also try to understand that WizKid is a man and has every right to say to you, ‘Man, stay away from me!’ If he owes you money, that is fine. If he doesn’t owe you money, then, you need to chill out and stop going to his house and the weakest part of the interview is that you went to greet him.
Stop acting like a boy-boy. Pretend like you’re a boss and all these goats will come back to you, Samklef.
Goodnight.
Onyeka Nwelue is award-winning author of The Abyssinian Boy (DADA Books, 2009) and Burnt (Hattus, 2014). He’s currently Professor of African Studies and Literature at Instituto d’Amicis, Puebla in Mexico. He is a founding member of The Trent Voices and he runs La Cave Musik, a record label, specialising in quality music from Africa and the Caribbean.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
