The Way of the world.

or, "Good Girl No Dey Pay" and 4 other blurbs.

From my view of history and personal experiences, the worst reason to be a good person is because you believe there’ll be some reward for it anywhere on earth - not necessarily - or some punishment for being bad. Well, only if you’re sloppy enough to get caught.

The books I’ve finished this year on African and Nigerian history have told different versions of the same story of how west Africa’s history was altered forever by our contact with the West.

Born in blackness by Howard French chronicled the impact of (west) African contact with the outside world, and how much of industrialization and development was fueled by unpaid labor of slaves.

Nigerian soldiers of fortune showed the same names across our elite as complicit in any where belle-face, no conviction politics, and the outsize effect of the military and individual egos of sometimes otherwise unimpressive men on the fate of a country of millions. I was struck by how the same names and families have recurred, sometimes even from before independence! Privilege0

What Britain did to Nigeria was the most uncomfortable, littered with stories that make you see the larger game at play and also the place of tribal conflicts and egos in ruining things from time immemorial. People with no scruples did what they wanted and everyone bears the consequences. Ultimately I finished with a stronger sense of understanding of our shared history and a belief that this diverse country was better together.

In summary? The way of the world is trickery brigandry, chicanery. The things you do to get an advantage become less relevant after your advantage has been firmly established. Just make sure you get away with it, and then you can write history as you see it.

A fourth and only tangential tidbit is that from reading Jerry Heller’s memoirs this weekend I got a closer glimpse into the music industry and the “show business”. He managed N.W.A during their breakout period in addition to managing other stars in other stints of his career. A remarkable thing about the book was that he included an appendix of the people in his industry - Agents, Managers, Promoters, etc with careers who’d impressed him. The ranking was Top of the heap, Number one with a Bullet, Way up there, Shoulda Woulda Coulda.

Two takeaways:

• I think experienced folks in any industry should make and share such lists. Definitely adding that to questions if I ever interview anyone interesting.

• A manager or player who-is-not-an-artiste in Afrobeats who’s seen several generations of artistes should do memoirs or a bio, or at least several long form interviews.