"...I even tried to bury the hatchet man, because we're all African..."

- Just want to take a moment to give it up to my BU Bear cubs. Even though they lost to Oklahoma, they took them to double overtime. Combined with the overtime loss to A&M, we're just a few plays away from being 6-1 (and bowl eligible) instead of 4-3. Even though the schedule doesn't reflect it, Guy Morris has done a great job with the team and they're playing a lot better than they have in a long time.

- Y'all remember when I ran into Flip at the Mars ILL show? Well, we were talking for a while and he asked me if I'd heard any of Late Registration yet. I think my response was something along the lines of, "No way, man. I don't like Kanye West. Yeah, he's got some sick beats but he's an average emcee at best. And I cannot stand his attitude." And Flip just looks at me for a moment before saying, "Dude, I love Kanye West."

Oh.

I seem to recall that within the past year both Goz and Ebun tried telling me how good The College Dropout is and recommending that I pick it up. And I think that I was pretending to listen while actually trying to figure out what was inside the hatch on Lost. But now I've had my homegirl Goz tells me to try Kanye, my brother Ebun tells me to try Kanye and my tropical brother Flip is telling me to try Kanye. Ok, so I'll try Kanye. I found both albums for really cheap (thank God for Amazon.com) and I spent the past couple of days listening to them. And they're pretty good albums. I don't think they're classics; they won't be enough for me to allow Kanye West into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame when I'm its curator in 2027. But there are definitely some ridiculous beats (no surprise), Kanye talks about some stuff and his emceeing improved from the first album to the second. So Goz, Ebun and Flip, thanks for proving that I don't know everything about hip hop. Yet.

- Speaking of Kanye, I remember when he first blew up and people tried to claim him as Nigerian. "You know, his real name is Olukanye." Why do people do this? They tried to claim that Omarosa was Nigerian too. Why on earth did they want to claim her? I guess it goes back to when Nigerians got burned by Nas. Everyone was all giddy because of the thought that he was half-Nigerian. His pops name is Olu Dara. But it turns out he's from Mississippi. He just took that name when he traveled to Nigeria and fell in love with the people and the country. So now whenever they feel they can pull it off, they'll try to claim anyone they feel they can get away with. What, Seal, Sade and Femi Kuti aren't cool enough anymore? Well, I'm here to start the campaign for some African celebrities who haven't received their due credit. That's right, Dave Matthews and Charlize Theron. That's my African brother and my African sister. So join me in celebrating: "Heep heep heep!!!! (Hooray!!!!) Heep heep heep!!!! (Hooray!!!!)"

- I think being African in America is a little bit different than any other hyphenated American. Because when a person sees an Asian, they're like, "Ok, Asian." Same thing with Arabic or Latino. But when they see an African, they're like, "Ok, black." It's almost like a hidden race. But things change once they find out that you're African. It happens at different times for different people. Every once in a while they may figure it out by looking at you. More often, it's when you start to speak. And sometimes it's not until they learn your name or you actually mention it. But regardless of when it happens, once they find out that you're African a transformation occurs in their eyes. At that point, you're no longer a person. Now you're a specimen.

Because people watched one hour of Africa on the Discovery Channel when they were in 10th grade they think that that's all Africa is. But now they have a real live African in front of them to test out their knowledge. And apparently, that gives them the license to start asking the most ignorant questions imaginable:

"How'd you get here? Oh, really? They have planes in Africa?"
"Did you live in a hut out in the jungle?"
"How did you learn to speak English?"

Last week I was talking to this guy at work. And I guess he had been listening to the aforementioned Kanye West. Because he asked me if my family was involved in diamonds back in Africa. Really. Dude, if I were involved in the diamond trade, do you think I'd be working here, talking to you? When I was in high school, I ran track. And people would ask me if I learned to run so fast by chasing lions and tigers back home. WTF?

One of my friends over on MySpace is my man, QD. He's not going to remember this story, but trust me, it did happen. QD and I met about 15 years ago when we were both 7th graders in the Pre-International Baccalaureate program at fair Morningsi-i-i-de Middle School in Fort Worth. First day of class and we had to do one of those exercises where we buddy up and exchange five interesting things about ourselves. I can never think of anything interesting about myself so one of my default answers is that I was born in Nigeria. When QD heard that, his eyes widened and he said, "You look like a regular person!" That was like a Dave Chappelle moment for me because I didn't realize right then that that was an insulting statement. It wasn't until later that I thought, "Hold up..." But to be fair, QD didn't mean it to be insulting. By the way, QD, when's the last time you went by Morningside? That place has changed, dude. Remember the liquor store across the street where all the dealers used to slang? Gone. There's a church there now.

The most interesting story though, comes from Kuli. He told me about his freshman year at UTA when another student found out he was from Africa. So from then on out, everytime this guy saw Kuli he would ask him the same question: "Hey, how come those kids with the flies on their eyes just don't blink?"

On the other hand, you can also use the ignorance to amuse yourself. Like when Ebun managed to convince half of his friends that, due to a uniquely developed digestive system, most west Africans have no need to defecate.

TITLE TAKEN
Hieroglyphics (Del the Funky Homosapien); "At the Helm"

"...what used to be is no longer important to me; it's all about family..."

I am back from Pittsburgh.

Now, I have to say that yes, I did miss the Red River Shootout. The ABC affiliate there was showing West Virginia vs Rutgers. What was that all about? So throughout the day I was receiving texts updates on the score from Tayo, Kuli and Ebun.

Ah, Ebun...yeah, early Friday afternoon Ebun called from Sactown and said that he had missed his flight and was on standby for the next available flight. Then he calls me about 4 AM while I'm asleep in Pittsburgh and said that he hadn't been able to secure a seat on that flight either and was not going to be able to come to the wedding. And I'm thinking, "Ah ha! The old "accidently"-miss-my-flight-so-that-I-have-an-excuse-to-miss-my-
friend's-wedding-and-stay-home-and-watch-the-Red-River-Shootout trick! I invented that trick! Why didn't I think of that?"

However...if there was a reason to miss the game, this was as good as it could have been.

I arrived Friday night and didn't really do much other than find out where I was staying. Actually, I kinda crashed Tobi's ladies only get-together and as soon as I showed up people started finding reasons to leave. Eh, well. Whatever. Anyway, I was staying in this suite in Tobi's apartment building and I have to admit it was a rather nice place to stay. Only thing was that it looked like it had originally been designed in the 70s, then maybe around 1987 someone decided to renovate but then just gave up. But it had a bed and I'm not picky.

Saturday morning I woke up with a mission. See, I had somehow forgotten to pack a dress shirt with my suit so I had to go buy one. And I figured, "Ok, I'm in downtown Pittsburgh, with approximately 33,000 universities built right on top of one another so there has to be a clothing store within walking distance, right? I mean, all these college students need some place to shop, right right?" So I set off walking to find a store. Of course, I was wrong. Within walking distance of the University of Pittsburgh (which is pretty much where I was staying) I could find plenty of pizza parlors, drug stores and laundromats. I could even find a freaking Porsche dealership and a BMW dealership, but apparently kids don't need clothing stores that close by (I was eventually directed to a Gap within driving distance by the very nice people who worked in the lobby of Tobi's building).

Now, while I was out I noticed a lot of people staring at me. Don't ask me why, because I never did figure it out. Ok, at first I was doing the whole southern thing where when you pass by someone you smile, nod your head and say, "Hello." The first few people I did that to either gave a startled "Hello" back or just quickened their step. Then I remembered that I wasn't in Texas anymore so I stopped doing that. But people kept staring at me. At one point I was walking down a street and this Italian guy on the other side of the street stared at me for about 30 seconds before yelling out, "Hey, how you doin', buddy?" So I just replied that I was fine and wished him well as well. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe people were staring at me because I was initiating the looks. I was looking everyone in the eye, which might be a big no no in the Steel City.

The wedding and reception were cool. Well, first it was cool for me to see everyone in Tobi's family in one place again. That hadn't happened for me since 2001. Uncle Sola can't help but be poignant and funny. Auntie Moji could NOT stop cheesing (and if ever a family should put a patent on smiles, it's this one). Ibie is brown, beautiful as ever and I'll be danged if Temi isn't a grown man (I remember summer 1991 when Ebun was nine and Temi seven and they were in the basement watching Friday the 13th when they weren't supposed to. I sneaked up on them with a screwdriver in my hand and screamed as loud as I could. Scared the bajeezus out of them).

And then there was Tobi and Sola. My goodness, but if you ever wanted to see joy personified, all you had to do was see the two of them on Saturday, October 8, 2005. It was like the joy was oozing out of their pores and you couldn't help but notice it. I overheard some people later on aluding to the fact that the reception wasn't quite "Nigerian" enough but I really liked it and I'm glad that Tobi and Sola did what they wanted. This was supposed to be their day so bugger what other people think they should have done. This was the best wedding I can recall seeing that was truly representative of what we are: Nigerian. American.

I was really excited during the whole wedding and reception (I even drank a whole glass of champagne, and you know how much I hate the taste of alcohol). I couldn't figure out why I was so happy until I was talking to If E on the plane back to Dallas. That's when I realized that Tobi is the first childhood friend that I've kept to adulthood to get married. Other weddings I've gone to or been a part of were either people I've met as an adult or friends of friends, that type of thing. But this was different, more special. We'll see how I feel next May, June and November.

Of course, I also started thinking about myself. And I realize that I'm looking forward to being married (well, it's a unique hybrid of anticipation and trepidation). I'm just not looking forward to getting married. Weddings are just too much wahala. But then you have some women who have been planning for that moment every day since they were seven years old, so I guess guys have to give in some time.

Oh, if it's important, Texas ended their losing streak to Oklahoma by winning 45-12. And Baylor beat Iowa State, which means we're probably just a third down conversion against Texas A&M away from being undefeated.

Oh, and I saw a commercial for an Amish website. What exactly do the Amish need with a website?


- Yo, Common's "remix" of "The Corners" with Scarface and Mos Def is dope.


TITLE TAKEN
LPG (Dax Reynosa); "Too Late"

"...you can't have me, I'm too young for you, miss..."

- I am slowly coming to the realization that I could seriously miss out on the Red River Shootout. Kuli and I were talking about it today and he reminded me that the game starts at noon our time, which means that it'll be at 1 PM in Pittsburgh. I don't know what time the wedding starts, but I'm probably going to miss some of it. And they'd better not pull any regional coverage crap. I would definitely have to open a serious can.

Why why why why why did they schedule the wedding for the second Saturday of October? I should probably cut them some slack since they ain't from 'round these here parts. But why wasn't I consulted on this? The year that Texas can finally unload five years of frustration on those Sooners. I know some of you don't understand why this is so important. And if you don't there's no way I can explain it to you. Either you get it or you don't. But the Red River Shootout is probably THE premiere rivalry in college football (I guess Ohio State-Michigan comes close) and one of the best in all of sports. And pretty soon tradition will be altered drastically. Sources close to me tell me that whenever the current agreement is up, either after 2006 or 2007, the series will no longer be played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas (as it has been since 1927) but will become a home and home, which means it'll be that much closer to every other rivalry in football.

All I know is this: when I finally find a woman willing to put up with me, our wedding HAS to be in the summer. That way there's no chance that it can interfere with college football or the Mavericks season (it just dawned on me that Ayo's wedding is scheduled during the NBA playoffs). However, even then all bets are off if it's during an Olympic year.

The previous paragraph is only about 10 percent joking.

- Funniest lines from yesterday's Lost:

Locke: Where are you going? Sayid's on his way!
Desmond: Give 'im my best.

That cracked me up.

- On Sunday, after we'd done the thanksgiving for my dad's birthday, Ebun and I were standing around and some lady whom I don't ever recall seeing approached us. I don't know how much this has happened to Ebun, but I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen the moment she came up to us. And as the questions unloaded, I became more and more certain:

"So you are already done with school?"
"Where do you live?"
"What do you do?"

And then it came:

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

And then it REALLY came:

"I have two daughters..."

The curse of being Those Handsome Oh-So-Original Boys.

TITLE TAKEN
Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick (Slick Rick); "La Di Da Di"

"...he took me from a boy to a man so I always had a father..."

Before you read this, I need you to go grab something to drink. Any kind of beverage will do. Go ahead, I'll wait.

No, seriously...go grab something to drink.

Ok, here we go. Please raise your drink, I would like to make a toast:

-Here's to the man who once put his wife and three children (ages 4, 2 and one month) on a plane from San Francisco to Dallas and then drove that entire way by himself.

-Here's to the man who, for as long as I can remember, has been a full time husband, full time father, full time pastor AND has had a full time regular job but has never complained.

-Here's to the man who won't hesitate to put you on blast when you deserve it but couldn't hold a grudge if he knew how.

-Here's to the man who would have his children write book reports for him during their summer vacation.

-Here's to the man who's never turned down someone who needed a place to sleep.

-Here's to a black man who has gray eyes.

-Here's to the man who inspired his eldest son to sneak out with the family van when he was 15.

-Here's to the man who's never met two kinds of food that don't go well together.

-Here's to the man who sees people as people and has inspired me to do the same.

-Here's to the man who has raised three kids to be just as stubborn as he is.

-Here's to the man who has a PhD, two masters and God knows how many undergraduate degrees.

-Here's to the man who has the most erratic sleeping schedule I've ever seen.

-Here's to the man who would come sit with me IN CLASS whenever I had trouble in one of my middle school subjects.

-Here's to the man who has set the standard for me when it comes to being a man, a husband and a father.

Happy birthday, Daddy.



TITLE TAKEN
Pete Rock and CL Smooth (CL Smooth); "T.R.O.Y. (They Reminisce Over You)"