Nigerian-American singer Jidenna was
interviewed on The Breakfast Club today alongside Janelle Monae and
the group Deep Cotton.
After
speaking about The Wondaland's group effort 'The Eephus EP' the discussion turned towards country
of origin. Jidenna popular for his hit single 'Classic Man'
revealed Nigeria is a proud country where excellence is demanded.
"Nigeria is a very proud place,
and it's also a place where you try to humiliate if you don't see excellence. I
always tell the story of my father. I remember coming to America, in the US you
get a highest score on the test and your teacher says "bring it home to
your parents. show your parents." So I brought it home to my father like
"dad I got a 98 on my math exam", and he said "ah ah 98? Where
are the other two points? Go there and bring them back, then I will celebrate
with you" narrated Jidenna.
"And
that's how I grew up with everything I did, basketball, soccer, football.
Everything that I played. In Nigeria its standard to try to check somebody if
you see them making misstep. With the words that I said I didn't make a
miscalculation in my experience, but I can see how certain people perceive that"
he further said.
Jidenna
also revealed that he has "plans to do a few shows in
Lagos."
When
the discussion moved on to his controversial comments on DJ Vlad in June, Jidenna
further clarified his statement.
"What I said was...I was
referring to my mixed heritage, and being a man who may be perceived as more
valuable because you are light skinned, because you look really closer to a
white man which all around the world, a white man, the white man is perceived
as more valuable. Unfortunately light skinned is often perceived as more
valuable. So my comments were referring to that. When I went home to bury my
father it was the highest kidnapping time in our area, the area that I am from,
the South East Nigeria. So my family in the village was concerned about me
burying my father so they said "look you have to take extra precautions
this time because one-you are a foreigner, you are coming from America, and then
two- your appearance is going to make you a target" he said.
"So
my comments were revolving around that but some people took it as me believing
that I am more valuable or believing that light skinned people are kidnapped
more than others, and it wasn't really about that. It was about a perception of
wealth" he further explained.
Co-host
of The Breakfast Club Charlamagne Tha God asked
Jidenna if his success scares him from going back to Nigeria, and Jidenna said
he is not scared and Nigerians have embraced him.
"No I am not afraid at all. I am
not really afraid of standing anywhere. I have always stood out, and I will
always stand anywhere. In fact already the Nigerian community embrace me. They
have from the beginning, and they do today. That little miscommunication on
Vlad TV is pretty much dead and gone right now. I just did a show with some
great Nigerian, Nigerian-American artistes a couple of weeks ago in Jamaica,
Queens so that show went well" he said.
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