Instagram has returned invalid data.
Browsing category

Uncategorized

Uncategorized,

Headphones and Epiphanies – Josh’s Story

Music can be a beautiful and sweet escape from reality or sometimes the cruel revealer of our ugliest realities. The words, the rhymes, the melodies, the highs and lows; music is almost an exact replication of life.

Now that I’m done been deep (smh), let’s get down to business. Here are some songs that mean something to me – five of them.

Oritsefemi – Double Wahala
I know it’s not the deep song you were expecting but stay with me, there’s a story to this. So it was a while ago and I was out with a girl – a love interest, and we were having a good time. There was this TV playing in the background but I don’t think we were giving it much attention.
Then Double Wahala comes on. I didn’t know a lot of Nigerian songs back then but I’d heard this one before and I liked it. So I told her I liked the song but didn’t even know who sang it. Thank God she knew and she told me it was Oritsefemi. The name is a little confusing so I didn’t quite it. What’s the best way to teach someone how to pronounce a name? I don’t know what your answer is but she just picked a pen, took my hand and wrote the name on it. Okay, I don’t know if you went ‘awww’ just now but every time I remember that scene my brain goes ‘awww’. And I always remember that scene whenever I hear Double Wahala. So now, Double Wahala isn’t just a Nigerian jam to me, it is a love jam. It’s okay to shake your head, I am too.

Trip Lee – To Live is Christ
I grew up with very conservative Christians. Let me explain. I grew up on hymns and ‘clap-clap’ choruses. Christian music was always a classical piece sung standing still. Unfortunately as I grew up I developed a liking for all sorts of genres, most of them unavailable in the Christian world. Imagine my shock when one day I stumbled on “To live is Christ”. It is a very well done rap song based on the book of Philippians. I was amazed. I fell in love with the song. It was my introduction to Reach Records and Christian Hip Hop. Today I know more than a dozen Christian rappers and my music library is filled with Christian music in several genres. Such joy.

PSY – Gagnam style
I don’t care how spiritual you are, you have to know this song. I was serving (NYSC) when this song became popular. I remember how I’ll be playing FIFA with my friend Dave (shout out to my guy from back in the day) and Gagnam style will come on MTV Base and Dave will just jump up, switch the TV to DSTV and we will rock to the song. ‘Rock’ usually meant trying and miserably failing to do the dance. The song was mighty. It had more than a billion views on YouTube, a very big deal. Here’s what this song did for me. Most of the world had no idea what PSY was saying but we loved it all the same. The dude wasn’t American or some popular, sexy pop star. He was just a guy. Gagnam style was the proof that anything could be done by anyone. All our perceived limitations are just that – perceived. I shake the world from anywhere; even Nigeria.


Mustafa Ceceli – Husran

How did I find this song? I was YouTubing, looking for French love songs. I’d found some but you know how you start looking for something and you just waste all your data checking out random things. Husran was one of the songs just below the song I was checking. Like most music buffs would, I decided to just check this song out and was I glad I did. I absolutely loved the song and promptly downloaded it. After listening to it a few times I then googled the song. Found out it was Turkish and since I didn’t speak Turkish – not yet – I had no clue what the song meant. This song just proved something to me, music is a universal language. And sometimes, there’s more to music than the words. Now, I have some Spanish songs, Portuguese and even some languages so funny I don’t even know what they are.

Dunno – Dunno.


I’m sorry I don’t know the title of this one or who sang it. Maybe you know, here are the lyrics.
“What no man can do, God has done it all for me, that is why I testify, I serve a very big God o. He made a way where there’s no way, opened doors no man can shut, that is why I testify I serve a very big God o.”
This song is the story of my life. I think that pretty much explains all you need to know about why it’s on this list.





March 14, 2017
Uncategorized,

Headphones and Epiphanies – Moyo’s Story



At first glance I would have picked my 5 favourite songs and extolled their virtues boisterously to no end. In that path lies a couple of obstacles, first of which is that I have no favourite songs. I love music with a passion so fierce it seems a betrayal to single out any one(s) over the other(s).

Of course there are certain genres I prefer to others, certain artistes or bands I prefer to others, certain albums I dig over others but I’d be hard pressed to pick favourites. The closest I come to doing such is when I put a particular song on relentless repeat, in my memory those songs end up being the soundtrack to that particular point in my life.
As I write this it dawns on me that I could as well write on those events and their corresponding musical scores… but nah, this post is not for that.
Second, I have an eclectic taste in music and I want THIS to be a reflection of that, left to my own whims I’d probably pick and write about songs of love in all its varying flavours (because Moyo is a hopeless romantic)…but nah, neither is this for this post.
To surmount these obstacles, I take inspiration from the desultory devices of the timeless gods of shuffle. To further sweeten the pot, I’ll be writing whatever these songs bring to mind in the time it takes for these songs to live and die. Along with my epiphanies are my favourite excerpts from the song lyrics. Bear with me if you see the entire lyrics there, some things are too good together to take apart. Brace yourself.

Hillsong United – Look to You
Yayy! We get an easy start! Brethren, if you’re yet to listen to a Hillsong song (chuckles) you haven’t lived. And really this is as good a place to start.
Somewhere on my virtual bucket list is going to Australia and experiencing Hillsong worship. I am truly indebted to their ministry, days when I’ve been at the fullness of my humanity, full of myself – self-pity, self-loathing- unable to see past my pains, my desires, my doubts, they’ve been the voices of God teaching me to worship, to glory in adversity, treasure and experience everything life brings to fore. Hillsong has been indescribable help in giving me an eternal perspective. I can’t begin to mention all they’ve ministered to me.And this song best shows that.

Tedashii ft. Tauren Wells – Paradise
Oh my days! I just realised Tedashii wasn’t referring to his wife when he wrote this! Probably was speaking of Jesus. Always assumed it was a love song, well a love song for the Mrs. The song has a bit of melancholy and along with its lyrical theme reminds me that despite being a recluse in the making, my happiest moments are usually as a result of human interactions. And that is sad, it irks me that I’m seldom happy on my own. Pfft!

1 Last Autograph – See Ehn
Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you to the Nigerian Rock Music Scene! Bruh! 1 Last Autograph is frigging awesome! And for now See Ehn remains their magnum opus. I had this song on repeat for a week, so now when anyone says See Ehn to me, I always respond in a death growl.
1 Last Autograph’s Sickle Cell Amnesia EP really left me wowed, I lowered my hopes but not only was I left impressed, it left me hungry for other Nigerian rock acts. I thoroughly enjoyed the growls and in me they have a fan. Lyrical content was also impressive, embodied what I have come to expect of rock music, and it is pretty easy to identify with the theme.

The National – This Is The Last Time
The National! Yayy! *twerks in reverse*.  This song gets me every time. I’d give an arm and a leg for Matt Breninger’s vocals ( Definitely not  my arms or legs).  It reminds me of my long walks from school home while I was serving in Jos, about 5 km. Played a lot of The National during those times, funny thing I find certain emotions get me moving. Of which when I start moving, I’m afraid to stop. Deathly frightened of no longer moving. So I usually put songs like this that can evoke such emotions on my running playlist.
Oh! I remember the day I danced from all the way home from school. Lolabonga, the looks on people’s faces was worth it. Odd though I was really bereft while I did it, and I’m glad for that it’s a great memory to have and I wouldn’t have been able to pull it off if I was happy ( by dancing I mean something between a slow shuffle and a waltz).

Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland – Promiscuous
This song is such a jam. Hehe. Holds so many memories for me. Picture me, precocious kid whose parents just got DSTV into the house. Despite all efforts I binged on Samurai Jack and Megas XLR and co for a month.
My parents ban me off TV and I wanted to die, Fortunately they put a caveat with the ban : I can watch TV when my next door neighbour Ayomide comes around, O! what joy! But I was so naïve and I let Ayomide know the power he could wield and that’s how he became Comptroller General of the TV remote.
It took me 2 terms and some of my most cunning wiles to wrest back my power but that’s a tale for yesterday. Anyway, his first day of rule he doesn’t even let me watch Kids Next Door(It was the Battle Ready Amour episode and I had heard loads about it). Nigga changes the channel to some other stupid one called MTV Base and that was when I first heard this song. This piqued my interest in music. For this I’m grateful. Huhuhu. Good times.

This is not a song review, if it looks like it is, blame it on the unkind gods of shuffle. So maybe I took advantage of the pause button a few times.

You can click below to listen to the songs on the playlist














March 11, 2017
Uncategorized,

Paper Hearts & Plastic Pins: Love: Its Reality & Transcendence




Love: Its Reality & Transcendence by Pelumi Kayode 

The season of love in all its romantic glory is here again and of course memes are abundant; depicting fleeing men, demanding women and a harsh economy, while ads for cakes, chocolates and other Valentine’s Day gifts at discounted prices are equally as ubiquitous. The euphoria is everywhere, oh and a fun fact, just look how many November babies are out there, do the math and you’ll see this season is a rather “productive” one. 

Anyway, let us pause for a moment and ask once again this often repeated question; “What is love?” Now, what makes this question so important is the very fact that love is the one thing everyone desires to experience whether or not they acknowledge it (I’m looking at you cynics) and the abundance or lack of it affects our lives in very profound ways and also because, well, not that many people really understand how it works (Disclaimer: I do not claim to understand it fully as well, however, I will share some of my thoughts and little bits of knowledge I’ve found in and from personal experiences, candid confessions, books and the corridors of the Internet). 

The origins of our understanding of love are rooted in our early experiences as children while being fed by our mothers’, in the warmth of our fathers’ embrace or in the custody of anyone who cared enough to cater to our every need, our caregivers eventually became our first lovers and consequently formed our first inklings of what love is, a seemingly wonderful and flawless experience. This narrative is further enhanced by the tales of love we’re told in movies, books, music, and art and by the people in our lives. 

We are taught that love is expected to give us a constantly happy, emotionally passionate, perfect and effortless state of being, we are subconsciously led to believe in the “beautiful happily ever after”. We are taught to aspire towards this form of love in our relationships and anything contrary to it is probably not “true love”. 

At some point our parents and caregivers eventually disappoint us, we get confused at first and then begin to question their love for us, correctly and incorrectly so. Gradually we are brought to accept a much harsher reality, we become disappointed and less expectant or doubtful of love. However, others are born, sadly into a world that immediately batters them with abuse, suffering and pain, leaving them longing for and wondering if they would ever experience love someday or end up discarding the concept altogether from their minds. 

As we grow into adolescence and ‘teenhood’ (by the way this is not a real word) we suddenly realize that we can experience love with people other than our family members. 

At this stage, once more, our notions about love are crushed over and over again as heartbreaks occur, sometimes as the brokenhearted and at others, the heartbreakers, all as a result of letting our hormones lead the way. By the time we’re adults we are probably expected to have a fairly good grip on how love works right? Wrong! Interestingly many of us still hold on to these misguided notions of love (don’t worry you’re not alone, I did too, it’s largely because they’re deeply rooted and are repeated to us on a regular basis). 

To prove this, take for example how we sometimes expect our partners to know what we’re thinking, or we expect that they should react a certain way when something happens. Over time we convince ourselves that we are in fact with the wrong person and have to call it quits while some others who do not acknowledge the authenticity of love, sporadically go in and out of several relationships, further exasperating the situation as this same cycle continues. 

So what’s the truth about love? Love is first and foremost real. It is beyond feeling and more about choosing. It is liberating, a safe place to freely be weird and awkward without fear of being shamed or judged. It is a long turbulent river leading into a vast ocean of joy. Love isn’t about a sole pursuit of another, it is in fact about two people in pursuit of one another. 

Love isn’t a prize to be won, it is a gift to be given, oh the joy of giving yourself to another, willingly baring your being to them as they gloriously bare theirs to you, and though delicate, it is amongst the highest and most powerful forms of human expression, this is love. Love is perfect, however, the journey of love with another human isn’t, simply because no human is perfect, so be prepared for conflict, confusion, anxiety, blame, misunderstandings, mistakes, lies and more, however you must be even more prepared to work on yourself and with your partner, nurturing and cultivating your bond and yourselves by letting the principles of love remain your guide. 

The work to be done is mostly internal. The decision to say sorry, to forgive, desist from saying harsh words when we’re hurt and choose instead to communicate, to see beyond outward behavior and focus more on its cause, to not lie about how we genuinely feel, freely laying out our desires, fears and dreams, continuously sacrificing even when you’re in the right by choosing to be the sheep, displaying a deep sense of compassion for and desiring the other’s success and happiness, the willingness to stick to it for the long haul and the acknowledgement of our imperfect nature and that of others, love makes us accommodating to that fact, but beyond that makes us want to help them become better versions of themselves by caringly showing them the way (aka telling it as it is); all these and more will be the result of the internal work we put into ourselves and our relationships when we allow love to win. As cheesy as this may sound, love transcends time and space (check out the movie “Interstellar” if you haven’t, and yes, I’m a geek). 

Regardless of difficulties and trials, love will always win because it will always choose right. Take broken relationships for example, a good friend of mine would always tell me, “If in fact you loved someone you were once with, no matter the fallout or separation, you will still always love them”, I actually consider this to be true. 

Now, I’m not attempting to invalidate feelings of hurt, regret or anger, in fact these are also very real and valid responses to heartbreak, but if you can momentarily sweep away or permanently overcome all those negative feelings, if the love was there, you’ll find you still care for and wish the individual all the good you have always wished them. 

Above all these, I usually recommend one last thing in order to experience love’s transcendence: Seek guidance from the author of love, God. I mean from who else can you get better direction? No really, who? You’ll find that letting God be your guide along the journey of love with your partner will bring to you both something much deeper, happier, purposeful, conscientious and fulfilling than you would otherwise have had (the extra accountability partner does a world of good). 

All of these principles and guides equally would apply regardless of the type of relationship, be it with your boss, friends, colleagues, family members, neighbors, in-laws or even strangers. You’ll come to realize that your life will take on a new level of vitality, color, calm and progress. OK I’m done here. XOXO
February 17, 2017
Uncategorized,

Paper Hearts & Plastic Pins: Pictures




Pictures by Bukky Tijani 

Driving round the streets of Venice
With no care in the world.
The wind in my hair…
I’ve been kissed by the sun
And my glow on fleek!

Strutting down the beach…
Picking precious sea shells as I go
The feeling of peace as the sea flows past my feet is overwhelming
Watching how beautiful the sun set in this wonderful city of love…
Oh! How I’m ready to explore 

Sadly I’m called back to reality 
By the hesitant cry of my name
It’s nothing but pictures in my head
‘Oh! I wish you were real’ I say!

February 15, 2017
Uncategorized,

A Love Mashup



We interrupt our ongoing series Paper Hearts and Plastic Pins to bring you the ”A Love MashUp” from Pop/Rock Band RepJ360. 

RepJ360 has a love story to share along with a once in a lifetime  ”Love MashUp”, which I am sure you will all enjoy.

Paper Hearts and Plastic Pins will return tomorrow.

The band has a story to tell.



Graduation was great; after graduation was even better. We finally had time to spend with one another, but we both knew that the fantasy was going to come to a screeching halt. I guess in your own caring way you began to pull away because you didn’t want either of us to get hurt. You felt it was better we forgot each other. One thing you didn’t realise was that wherever I go, wherever you are, [….] you’re never far away, you’re always on my mind.

But, you just didn’t seem to believe me. You were just not the girl I used to know. I remember when I first met you, I was not a contributing member of society, my grades were nothing to write home about and home was about to write me off. There was no possibility for me to be rescued, thank God I found you because you brought me joy and blessings. I just want to let you know now, I could do anything for you, no matter what we go through.

Of course You didn’t make it easy at the beginning. I ask you out today you say “yes”, tomorrow you tell me you never said yes, you said “no”. I wonder why I thought you will make it easy for me this time, you confuse me because every time I look into your eyes I can see you want us to be, as bad as I do. I am giving you my all on a platter of platinum. Everything I have, my one Naira, my one million, I  want you to take it all.


You have rendered me stupid, I never thought I could be sprouting such lyrics to get you to stay. It is obvious you stole my heart away.


Imagine that.

So no matter, where I go, no matter the distance I want you to know you are the one I want. I want you to be my wife, I want you to bare my kids. This is the future I see for us and nothing can change that.  

Watch “A Love Mashup” by the band RepJ360


Story inspired by Lagbaja’s “Never Far Away”; Niyola’s “Toh Bhad”; Dare Art Alade’s “Not the girl”; P-Square’s “No one be like you”; Djinee’s “I no dey shame”; Banky W’s “Yes/No”; Tuface’s “If love is a crime”; MI’s “One Naira”; Tuface’s “Ole”; Styl Plus’ “Imagine that” & Wande Coal’s “Ololufe”


So the band is having a competition where the winner gets to either hang out with them or request a mash up of their favorite artiste. 
All you have to do is write a short story that follows the line of the mashup. To make it more interesting make sure you find a way to include a lyric from each song. 

Competition closes at the end of the month. Email them your story at repj360@gmail.com or you could send it to me. It should be not more than 500 words.

The band will pick the best story and let the winner know. Follow their Instagram page @repj360, like their Facebook page and keep in touch with them on Twitter. 



February 14, 2017
Older Posts
Newer Posts