A couple of weeks ago, Wale tweeted.
Omo naija
— Wale Folarin (@Wale) June 14, 2013
An inoffensive tweet for all intents and purposes which would have been lost in the endless stream of tweets that inhabit my timeline had not a snarky reply made a “beep” sound on my radar.
“@Wale: Omo naija” You’re the fakest Nigerian alive, we don’t claim you foo
— Bishop Smoov (@smoovly) June 14, 2013
To this dismissive reply, Wale who is known as an artist who does not shy away from confronting negative tweets from his fans responded.
@smoovly @CallMe_QTip only when a nigga stop reppin.. U aint gotta claim me my family does
— Wale Folarin (@Wale) June 14, 2013
To those who dismissed his Nigerian identity, Wale seemed to suggest that as long as his family claimed him as a Nigerian, their opinion didn’t matter. If you didn’t know who Wale was before this post, know that he currently has the number 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart.
Around the same time that this twitter exchange between Wale and his fans occurred, I was accosted on the train by a fine sister who said: “Hello my brother! How are you? Are you a Nigerian?” Unfortunately, this fine sister had waited until her stop to speak. So taken aback was I that by the time I had composed myself and readied a complete answer to her last question, she had stepped off the train which continued it’s inexorable rounds of stops. That same weekend, a bus driver with whom I had struck a conversation was dumbfounded when the question of my nationality came up. His jaw dropped when I told him that I was not Nigerian.
These virtual and real life encounters got me thinking about identity and what it means. On a personal level, identity means how I see or perceive myself in space and time regardless of how society classifies or categorizes me. How I see or perceive myself in space and time may intersect with how society classifies or categorizes me. Also, how I see or perceive myself may evolve over space and time. To the fine sister on the train and the bus driver, I am Nigerian. They are both correct in the sense that my ancestry can be traced directly to present day Nigeria but this is just one aspect of my identity.
Wale was born Olubowale Victor Akintimehin in Washington D.C. He has made it a habit to regularly assert his roots with tweets which proclaim his Nigerian identity to the chagrin of some of his followers who believe he is a fake Nigerian. Who is Nigerian? It seems to me that Wale is as Nigerian as he is American. Identity is complex and fluid. As William Shakespeare would say: “We know what we are, but not what we may be.”
Perhaps, Wale’s number 1 album is a good pretext to celebrate his “Nigerianness”. Check out his album (The Gifted) on iTunes. There is something to be said for a rap album which succeeds in being relevant to a mass audience while for the most part not rehashing the usual money, drugs, and women themes so common in mainstream hip-hop.