WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Gina Yashere 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.080 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:12.559 Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to another episode of Quest Love Supreme. 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:17.599 I'm Questo, your host. We have Team Supreme with us 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:19.960 right of them. Now, Now what's up? 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:25.480 Steve? I never go to you first. How's your life? 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:30.639 That's how your life is? Is that a word? What 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.800 you know? Everything's great, man, New York City. We're opening up, 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:41.479 got a full audience, talent show. Everything feels good. Mentally, 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.360 I'm a wreck. Thanks for asking. Let's me okay, we're 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:47.240 gonna find out why you Maybe you can get a 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:51.720 reading from our guest today that yeah, that'd be great. 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:54.800 Fan Tikolo is also here with us. What's going on, bro? 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.920 I'm good, Bro, I'm good Man down twenty three pounds, man, 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:03.720 that louderday I usually am. 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:04.399 Okay, I'll try. 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:14.840 Was all right if she couldn't. I appreciate the enthusiasm. No, man, 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.280 you inspired me. Man, that's what's up? Man, That is 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.960 what's up? Because counting. Yeah, I was about to say 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:25.120 that I'm the king of like you know, doing zero 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.240 to one hundred on the auto bond and then when 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:30.319 you just gotta do that like that last thirty you 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:31.320 start laxing off. 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:36.360 So yeah, right now I'm drinking and eating dandylions and 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:39.280 other eat those. 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.760 Yos are so bits and horrible, but you do eat 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.560 them too, Jina. I tried. I tried. 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:49.720 They make wine out of dandelions. 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.800 If you do two weeks of this dandylion juice that 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:56.160 I'm doing, that's that I could probably drop like forty 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:58.200 pounds everybody. 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.840 I'm just I'm just trying to get to Yeah, you 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:09.440 will to live exactly, all right? Last cool, She's rather 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:10.440 disgusted by. 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:13.720 No, I'm excited. I'm excited to have Gina or I'm excited. 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.400 Happy tunesday to you, Gena. You pay to post the 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:17.160 video yet. 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:21.400 But I'm late. 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.640 Today on back to back zoom meeting today, I've not 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.080 had a chance to do my tunes on Tuesday. 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:29.040 All right. So that leads to our guests. Our guest 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:30.960 today hails. 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:35.959 From my hometown of London, England. I never I never 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.919 passed of a opportunity to speak on my little three 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:41.880 years in London, and I just claim it like it's 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:46.760 been my my, my, my city of birth. She is 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:54.040 a raw and hilarious British comedian with uh a Nigerian lineage, 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.880 which isn't too far from my people's in Benin. But 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:02.200 you know, I'll clean next door neighbor. She's also in 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.520 addition to being a hilarious comedian, she's one of the 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:09.799 co creators of the CBS smash Bob Hart's Abashola. I 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:11.960 always thought it was Bob Loves the Apashola, but of 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:17.160 course it's Bob right exactly. And if you've seen her work, 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.840 you know that her life is an absolute open book. 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:25.720 Speaking of which, her memoir, penned during the pandemic, I believe, 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:31.359 is titled cock Candate, which cock co. I was hoping 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:36.600 that cock cat candidate. Forgive me, yes, no, this ain't 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:44.240 on video, so we gotta still no cat candidate, which yeah, 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:46.320 let's hear for the lefties in the house. I'm also 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.680 a lefty, so we special. 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:50.440 You know. 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.520 She shares her life and her experiences and her relationship 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.480 with her family, the total open book. Ladies and gentlemen, 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:01.040 please welcome to quest Love Supreme Gina yash I. 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:06.240 Hope perfect, thank you. I was waiting, I was waiting 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:07.320 with breath for the name. 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:12.120 I was like, it's easy, You're you're, You're hooray with 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:13.120 a yeah. 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:15.480 Exactly. 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:17.719 You're you're a comedian, hooray. 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:22.800 Yeah, Okay, I'm stretching that, but everyone has done very 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.719 different variations of how to pronounce your last name. 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:29.000 Oh God, I get your share a lot. I'm like, no, no, 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:32.520 it's Nigerian. Yes, you almost have to shout my name. 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.200 Okay, yes, aa, Okay, I get it now. 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:37.719 You know. 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.760 I'm so glad you're here because you know I've been 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.120 I've been a fan of your work. You know, I've 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.160 seen all all three of your specials, well three and 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:49.400 a half specials on Netflix at least, very familiar with you. 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.800 But you know, I never We've never gotten a chance 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:54.440 to talk or I know. 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:56.960 I've seen you. I've walked past you on planes and. 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:03.839 Gone hi, oh so we we We've been okay, a. 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.320 Flame once tight and I didn't want to make a 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:11.000 big deal. You should have said something inconspicuous like I 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:12.640 don't want to No. 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:17.080 I call that a Tuesday me and conspicuous. I don't know, 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:20.920 so you were okay, So I'm I'm glad you're here 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:26.960 simply because knowing how open you are about uh, your 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:32.000 life living in London and growing up there, and your experiences, 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:36.320 which of course as an outsider with me, I didn't 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.359 get to see those things. And of course also in 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:43.880 the pandemic taking a crash course on Small Acts. 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:46.000 Which is. 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:51.960 You know, Steve McQueen's series, I was like, Wow, did 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:56.200 I did I ever live in London? Because I didn't 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.279 realize that these experiences were going on over there as well. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.640 Like mine was slightly different because we were just a 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:05.240 band trying to get our next gig, so you know, 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:10.200 we very rarely did we get to truly like mingle 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:12.600 with people that didn't have to deal with like work 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.680 or interviews or that sort of thing. So hey, talk 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:20.560 talk to me about your experiences living in London. Like 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:24.320 I assume that everything that you speak on in your 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:25.960 life is true. 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.000 So I was born in London, East London, bethnal Green. 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:37.200 I am a Cockney by birth, like proper okay, geezer geezer. 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:40.840 So I was born in East London. I'm a child 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:43.760 of the seventies, child the seventies and eighties, and England 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.320 was super racist when my parents came to England in 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.880 the sixties, super racist. That's when they had you know, 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.839 when people used to put signs on their doors. No dogs, 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.800 no blacks, no Irish. So when you're going to rent 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.000 a place, you know you don't you don't even need 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.080 to bother ring that doorbell if it's got that sign 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:00.839 on the door. So this is what my mum and 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:04.800 dad faced in England in the sixties it was openly racist, 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:07.520 and seventies and eighties not much different. This was the 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:09.840 time when the National Front were prevalent. National Front was 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:14.440 very far right organization in England. They tried to sort 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.360 of style themselves a political party, but they were just 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.800 a bunch of thugs and their graffiti was ubiquitous. It 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.280 was all over London f n F n F and yeah, 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:26.000 I remember being changed and spot by skin heads a 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.280 lot when I was a kid, like eight years old. 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.920 I remember eight years old being spat on by skinhead. 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.559 I remember me and my mum walking down the street 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.960 and people shouting fits out the cars and swerving into 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:41.160 puddles and splashing us. So that was London. That was 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.960 the Americans view of the British being so genteel and polite. 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.720 It's absolutely now what we know. 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:50.760 Listen, when I went to London, and that's how your 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:52.200 niggas eating beans for breakfast. 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:58.440 I understood how y'all used to rule the world. That's no, 0:07:58.920 --> 0:07:59.400 you're not doing that. 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:03.040 Had to eat beans, is supposed pudding beans on toast 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.640 is the best thing on that. 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:07.600 That's some savage ship. 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.520 Are you Are you really about to say that is 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.640 English food better than Nigerian food? 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:16.200 Food is the best? Come on right, come on now? 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.480 Everything came from us night? Are you watching high on honk? 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.960 So you're saying that you ride for all English things 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.160 like marrowmite sandwiches and. 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:36.000 I hate mam no being toast. Yes, bubbs and mash mash. 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:37.800 I love a bit of bangers and mash. You can't 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.280 feed it, but some of it not. So I don't 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:41.080 do the black pudding. 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:42.880 I was going to ask. 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:49.679 Audience, latinous pig blood Philly close. 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:50.800 Eyes, wait time out. 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.280 I didn't wait all all these years that I've been having. 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.559 Uh, I'll usually have the black pudding. 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:02.199 They'll serve that when we're on like a fairy coming 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.920 from like Europe headed to the UK, and they will 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.000 have like black pudding as breakfast. 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:09.760 You're telling me there's blood in that. 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:12.559 It's made from pigs blood. 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:17.240 I did not know that anyway, You're not going to 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.559 make a comic moment out this, Like have you seen 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:21.360 how much I weigh? What do you think I'm being? 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:22.439 Man? 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.439 Just talk about drinking dandelion juice. I don't think. 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:31.000 From the chops are delicious. It's blood. Just the blood. Yeah, 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.560 black pudding, it's made from blood. It's close. 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:38.200 And as we were explaining earlier that you know in America, 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.520 I think like the beans, the beans that are source 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:44.160 associated with pork and beans or hot dogs and porking 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:49.840 beans are kind of an afternoon evening dish, whereas in 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:50.959 England and that's. 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:57.040 A breakfast breakfast bean eggs and beans, chips, eggs, beans, eggs, beans, sausages, 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.760 that's a proper breakfast. When I first came to America 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:01.800 and I'm like, where's the beans? Where's the beans? 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:07.200 I mean, Mexico doesn't Mexico does it in l A. 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:09.760 But it tastes way better. I think probably, yeah, But. 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:14.520 I ain't got that. When Gina Yashid, I can't. I 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:16.520 can't right the bankers and mass I can do the 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:18.160 bankers of mass I could. 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.439 Put the beans on trumpet makes the difference. God, beans 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:28.800 have no idea, no don't know, don't know. 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:32.560 Gina, I'm gonna tell you this much. I miss I 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:38.600 miss touring so much. I'm actually I'm actually gonna side 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.920 on your your your side of the fence this time around. 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:43.079 Normally I'd be with them. 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:46.960 Okay, Wait, can I ask the question though, because even 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.520 though Gina is born and raised in London, her mother 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.080 is not, and so I must think that your mother 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.440 does not feel the same way about this English food. 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:56.360 And on the. 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:58.719 Back of that question, can you also break down like 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:02.319 how dope and royal of a situation your mother came 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:03.959 to to come and they came to London and it 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:05.319 was a flip of the switch. 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:07.560 Oh yeah, For one, my mom loves a bit of 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:09.680 bait beans. Don't even knock it. My mom is full 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.720 Nigeria now. She loves Nigerian food. Like when we were kids, 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.040 we ate Nigerian foods in the house. But my mom 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:19.480 loved mashed potatoes and my mom loved baked beans. So 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:23.520 it was the dichotomy. But yeah, yeah, my mom was 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:25.760 from a wealthy way well on her family. My mom's 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:28.200 from a family called the Abasaki family and they are 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.120 practically royalty in Nigeria. And my mom was from a 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.200 wealthy family. Her dad had a load of wives. She 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.680 was educated. Her dad traveled all over the world on 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:38.920 business and he took her with him and she went 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.160 to private school and she was a school principal in 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:44.760 Nigeria before she was twenty four years old. So she 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.720 was very you know, she did yeah, she was very 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.120 She achieved a lot and then she came to England. 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:52.840 Did before. 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:55.680 Why did she come to England? 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.679 Well, long story short. If you read money book that's 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.559 coming here, that's how you know that. My my mother 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:05.680 was the daughter of the first wife. So my grandfather 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:07.800 had many wives. As you know, polygamy was why I 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:09.000 practiced in Nigeria. 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:10.040 Tell me about it. 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:15.560 Oh yeah, lots of wives, lots of friend and lots 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:18.000 of wives. And my daughter, my mum was the daughter 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.880 of the first wife. But the first wife was very 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.280 powerful as the first wife is as the first the 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.079 other wives were very jealous and there was the other 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:28.839 wives murdered my grandmother. 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:32.559 They put you, oh yeah, well we never get into 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.160 the beginning this throne ship. 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:37.680 Yeah, yeah, for real. 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.000 So yeah, the other wives did not my mother. My 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:44.840 grandmother was like, listen, the other wives don't like me. 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.560 These bitches are trying to kill me. If anything happens 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.800 to me, get my daughter out of Nigeria. So she 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.320 ended up dying. She was poisoned and when she died, 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.120 she had a mark on her throat. Now, before my 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.360 grandmother died, she always used to say when I come back, 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:59.720 when I come back, I'm going to I'm going to 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.360 speak English. I'm going to be in England. I'm not 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:04.720 going to have all these children because my mother, my grandmother, 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:06.720 had eleven kids and I don't want to all these children. 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.000 I'm going to do a man's job. I'm going to 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.319 have freedom, all everything. When she died from a poison 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.920 she had a mark on her throat. Obviously, when she died, 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.800 my grandfather sent my mom out of the country because 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:20.880 who's like, world, I've killed the wife. I'm not going 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.200 to have them kill my daughter to so he sent 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.680 my mom to England to study and that is where 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.319 my mom met my dad. They met each other, they 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.400 had me, and I came out with this mark on 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:35.199 my float. So basically, I'm a reincarnation of my grandmother. 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.000 So that that's the story. Because Nigeras believe heavily in 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:41.520 the incarnation and I came out doing all the things 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:47.120 that my grandmother said. Ful I fulfilled everything. So when 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:48.880 I said my mo, mom was like comedian, you want 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:50.920 to become a clown. I was like, mom, remember this 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:55.400 is what your mother wanted. I am your mother. That's 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:57.960 how I get away with her. But yeah, my mom. 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.560 So that's how my mother ended up in England studying 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:02.840 and she was a teacher. She came to England. She 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:05.040 wanted to carry on working as a teacher, for England 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.719 was super racist. She couldn't. My dad. She met my dad. 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:11.040 My dad was studying for his PhD. He was and 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.000 he was also a qualified lawyer. They could he couldn't 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.240 get work as a lawyer in England. So basically they met, 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.720 they got married, they had us, and then my dad 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.600 was like, forget this, I want to go back to Nigeria. 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:24.600 This is not I am driving a bus when I'm 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:26.840 a lawyer. I'm a lawyer in Nigeria. I'm not staying 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:28.640 here to drive a bus. Let's get the kids, let's go. 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.600 And my mom was like, no, I've had my children 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.480 in England. They are British. I want them to stay 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.960 in England and be afforded all the opportunities that being 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:42.120 British entails. I'm staying here with my kids. So basically 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.280 my mom and dad. My dad went back to Nigeria 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.040 when I was three and I didn't see him again 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:48.800 till I was thirty seven when I went out there 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:50.920 to do a show in Nigeria. So that was it. 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.680 Wait, you met your father backstage at a show. 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.920 He came to my show. So at that point I 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.320 was pretty well known in England and pretty well known 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.680 in Nigeria. Done a couple of sketches on television in 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:03.880 England that had gone viral in Nigeria. So I got 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:07.040 flown out to Nigeria to do a show. And obviously 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:09.640 I still carry my father's name, so my father was 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.600 like when I was going, my mom was like, oh, 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:13.520 your father is going to turn up you watch, it's 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:14.120 going to. 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:16.760 Claim you. 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:18.720 And he did. He turned out for the show with 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:21.640 a bunch of brothers and sisters I'd never met. So 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:23.320 it was it was, It's all in the book. It's 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:24.800 all in the book, people, it is. 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:26.640 And also in the book, I remember I want to 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.720 tell people too. You give a good history on the 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:30.480 Empire of Benin and whatnot. 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:32.480 I was like, oh wow, I had no idea, so 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:33.800 can you. 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:36.040 Can you briefly let me know about I just recently 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:41.600 found out my lineage to Benin like this a year ago, and. 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.160 The inn the country next to Nigeria or been in 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:48.000 the city in Nigeria. I've been in this because there's 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.400 two minutes there's been in city in Nigeria, which is 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.800 where my family is from. And then there's been in 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:57.280 the country which is next to Nigeria where they speak French. Yeah, 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.240 so are you. But if they say Banina your I'm 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:01.440 assuming it's been in the country. 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:02.600 Okay. 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.840 I believe that it was the country simply because when 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:11.440 there was a civil war happening, the Nigerians had some 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:19.640 beneath prisoners that they used as leverage to negotiate. My 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:21.720 great great grandfathers was one of. 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:26.080 Those, uh those captured and sold in the slavery in America. 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.480 So the country, Yeah, it's. 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.560 Definitely the country then in yes, but yeah. I opened 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.600 my book with history of Nigeria and within Nigeria which 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.680 is now Southern Nigerian where my family was from, and 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:42.200 and how advanced the society was, and how the British 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.400 came and tried to take and they got their asses 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:47.960 handed to them by the Bnin warriors. And then they 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.000 came back and burnt Been into the ground and stole 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.040 all those bronzes. And hence while you've got all these 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:57.680 bien In bronzes in museums in New York and around 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.040 the world, because the British came, burned down, stole all 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.080 the bronzes and sold the bronzes to pay for the 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.920 army they've used to burn down Been in. 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:10.359 The British have done to the world. 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:14.920 Man Jesus like, yeah, exactly, when you guys go, oh 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.960 Britain is so polite and genteel, it's no, it is 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:19.680 they are straight savages. 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.200 Well and also not for nothing. 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.560 Nigerians usually act like ain't nobody come and mess with 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.240 them at all, So this history is not always told 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:29.560 in that aspect. It's like anybody comes, try to colonize us. 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:31.479 We got no, We're good, Oh no, we were. 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:34.360 We only got our independence. Now, you only got air 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:40.200 independence in nineteen sixty and nineteen sixty. We got our independence, 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:42.960 and even then the economy was completely messed up after 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.040 that because the white people came out and took everything 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.600 with them and they've already raked it of all the resources, 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:52.119 all the oil, all the everything. And then there was 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:54.120 a lot of money in oil for a while, but 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.680 it all collapsed. It all collapsed. The school systems was 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.400 based on the British school SYSM. The you know, they 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.639 took away the element that Nigerians were all about. Africans 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.800 were all about family and learning trades and passing down 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.199 stuff within the family, and the British came and went, now, 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.720 I don't forget about family stuff. That capitalism. It's all 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.480 about capitalism. You learned to get these qualifications and then 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.240 like it. And so they completely changed the way that 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.040 Nigerians worked and it's just ruined, in my opinion, ruined 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:24.080 the country. Now you've got a few greedy people just 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:29.600 creaming everything off there. Just so that's the history. 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:30.879 He at least you know yours. You don't have to 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:32.520 go to Africa ancestry right somewhere. 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:37.040 Oh yeah, yeah. 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:40.320 When you were speaking of your family earlier, are you. 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:46.119 In an active kind of communication with them now, Like, 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.680 how does the idea of family reunion work? 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:53.040 Or well, my dad's my dad died a few years ago. 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.199 That side the family, you know, he wasn't there for me, 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.480 you know, when I went to Nigeria, and I was 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:03.840 very polite to him because he you know, he's the 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.760 other half of my genetic tree, and I was very 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:08.439 you know, I'm Nigerian, so I was brought up to 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.159 respect my eldest So when I met him, I'm not 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.240 going to go mother, you I ain't seen the hilst. 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:16.040 I wasn't gonna do that, So I was very polite. 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.879 We sat, I told him to dinner. We talked. I 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.200 asked him all the questions that I'd had from my childhood, 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:23.439 like why didn't you come back for us? Why? And 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.520 he had a stack of letters that he'd been sending 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:27.920 to us as kids that had all been returned because 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:29.399 my mother was like get out of here because she 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:30.760 he broke her heart. 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:31.119 You know. 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.720 My mother was pregnant with my younger brother when my 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:38.800 dad left. So imagine in England in the seventies, given birth. 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:41.280 By herself as a single mom. 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:43.920 As a single mom in the seventies in England where 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:48.159 she had no family, nobody, and she and I was 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:49.560 I had another brother, so it was me and my 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:51.679 other brother were toddlers at the time, and she was 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.840 given birth to my youngest brother. So me and my 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:58.159 brother had to go into foster care temporarily while she 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:00.320 went into the hospital to have this baby because she 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:04.560 had nobody, so we went into care. You know, she 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:07.160 got a wife, I need to look after us while 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:08.920 she went to hospital to have this baby. So my 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.000 mother never forgave my father for that. Can you imagine 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:13.760 being in the hospital all these all these women, all 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.280 their husbands are coming in with flowers for their wives 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:19.040 who've had these babies, and she's lying there by herself 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:23.400 with absolutely nobody. So she never forgave them, never forgave them. 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.080 So as a result, I kind of you know, I'm 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:27.880 not going to say I hated him, but I was like, look, 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:31.800 you you abandoned. That's you know. I went through life 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:36.919 with a horrible stepfather, horrible as you never came for us. 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:40.560 So I give you your due respect as my father figure, 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:42.520 but that's all you're getting. So I met him the 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:44.719 once and after that I was like, all right, I've 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:46.280 met him. That was great. I took a few tears, 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:50.160 that's all I need. So, you know, when he died, 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:52.399 these other kids that came, you know, are you coming 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:54.639