I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again: “The average human being has Mondays to Sundays, but for me...everyday is a traeday”. But when you talk of traedays April 17 is prime. Yes I’m turning 23 in ten days time. Kinda early to announce it but hey I don’t post that frequently so better early than never :). But this year I’m indifferent about my birthday. I’m not brooding about getting old and my failures thus far nor am I hyper excited about it. I’m taking it in my stride, its going be like any other day….well sort of sha. And being that there are so many tagging games going on in the Nigerian blogosphere I’m getting with the trend. Yes I’m tagging myself :). TRAE name seven things you’d love to achieve in your 23rd year.

1) Win the lottery and get myself a pimped out handset with all the works (camera, radio, MP3 player, GPRS etc), a laptop to die for and…a nice little car.
2) Be on the come up for real…i.e. commanding a steady monthly income of at least 100k for starters.
3) Get myself a down ass chick. i.e. a girlfriend who’ll always be there whether we’re flying okada (motorcycle) together to the park for a picnic or we’re on the plane together heading to Calabar for the weekend. Yes Rihanna, I’m ready to make you my girl. Holla at your boi!
4) Serve Nigeria and then move on with my life. I.e. undergo the NYSC stuff definitely in the September 2006 batch but if I miss that and end up not killing myself then in the March 2007 batch.
5) Live to see OBJ abort his third term plans and then have worthy presidential aspirants step up to the challenge in the April 2007 elections. You know really sharp and smart people with positive attributes. E.g. NAFDAC’s Director General Dora Akunyili.
6) Be at the stadium for at least one of Nigeria’s qualifying matches for Ghana 2008 dressed in full green white green regalia. If possibly an away match, Uganda versus Nigeria in Kampala would be lovely.
7) Get a verse on one of the hit Nigerian singles in the near future (i.e. being featured or being a guest artist on a song). Or alternatively cutting my teeth in the events management business. Specifically by taking part in organizing a tour, concert or show in Nigeria.

I know all in all I might be dreaming as if I’m to achieve any of my targets it’ll most likely be when I’m past 23, but it never hurt anyone to dream once in a while.

Now back to reality. I’ve being reading Chidi Afulezi’s diary. He’s a US born; Naija bred guy repping Owerri in the USA. Nwannem a nam ekele gi (forgive my written Igbo). The entries in it were made between 1999 and 2000. By today’s standard that was a damn good blog, probably the first ever Nigerian one! He should be like 34 now, possibly with wife and kids and earning them big bucks from his engineering stuff. On the real does anyone know what the brother is up to these days? Is he now writing else where? Anyways I’ll shoot him an email, hopefully he’ll get it.

Sorry to spoil the lovvy dovvy stuff with politics. But it was the best picture available to me as at press time :). Anyways I’m anti-third term. Why? Read the placard. One!

The phrase for today is “man must wack!” It’s Nigerian Pidgin English and it means the same thing as “person no go chop again?”, “man no go chop?”, “I suppose eat now”, “I gotta get paid” and “man must survive”. Now here are some examples of the use of these phrases in everyday human speech.

Some many wack guys dey this game of hip hop/
If you ask dem dey go be like: “ah ah man no go chop?”/
Massai in “onye kwulu oto…”

You gotta operate the easy way/
"I made a G today" but you made it in a sleazy way/
Selling crack to the kids. "I gotta get paid,"/
Well hey…well that's the way it is/
Tupac Shakur in “changes”

For real in Nigeria we’re using these phrases more and more everyday. We knowingly go ahead to do what we’re not supposed to do all because of the material gain that can come out of such actions. At times we’re pushed to do so by poverty, at other times it’s plain laziness and not wanting to follow the long but right way. I got thinking about this phenomenon because unlike before we’re now watching Nigerian films in my house like crazy. Ever since my younger sister started studying Theater Arts at the university it’s been all borrow this film this, attend this audition that. I must confess some Nigerian films are really good but the majority are crap, crap, crap (anyways, somebody please tell Stephanie Okereke that I think she’s sexy). But the fact remains that despite all the mediocrity, day after day auditions are being held, scenes are being shot and films are being marketed. Why is this so? The answer is “man must wack!” Let me spell out the “man must wack” scenario in Nigeria for you starting from Nigerian films.

-Yes the film industry is in a mess but it’s better to get a waka pass roll (be an extra in a film) and collect your #2,000 while waiting for your big break, then to keep on writing job applications. Or if you’re lucky get a minor roll and be paid #20,000. And knowing that Nigerian films are shot in one week you could actually collect that salary four times in a month. Now that’s something ain’t it? For the established actors they know most of the films they act are repeats but “man must wack”. And so they keep acting, bumping out a film every fortnight and smiling home with their 2 million Naira check every month. For the producers and marketers they keep putting out the below par films knowing that they can make a fortune by selling them in African where people are Nigerian film crazy or to Nigerians in Diaspora in North America and Europe where Nigerian films helps to kill the home sickness.

-Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu is also a fan of the “man must wack” phrase. As the chairman of the sub committee on the review of the 1999 constitution he went ahead to recommend three terms of four years for Presidents and Governors. And by what means? By a dubious voice vote. He backed up his actions with the claim that as a representative of the people he is only doing their wish. Crazy ain’t it? Because we all know that if a survey is conducted today, the result will overwhelmingly recommend that OBJ retires come 2007 and heads back to his Ota farm. But alas “man must wack”. Mantu and his colleagues in power must continue to collect their fat salaries, get the juicy contracts, move about the corridors of power, have people bow down to them and see their faces on TV and in the papers.

-Obasanjo’s mouth piece, Fani Kayode is another lover of the man must wack phrase. Before his appointment he never wasted time to point out the errors of the government. But now that he’s in the presidency he’s kissing major ass and regards OBJ as a god that can do no wrong. To justify his salary he’s ready to verbally harass anyone that questions OBJ’s actions or words. He very much reminds me of Daniel Kanu of the YEAA (Youths Earnestly Ask for Abacha) fame.

-Chris Uba the self acclaimed God father in Anambra politics also knows what the “man must wack” phrase implies and uses it to his full advantage. For all his evil deeds to the people of Anambra and to Nigeria as a whole he deserves to be imprisoned. But instead he was readmitted into the PDP while Ngige was expelled and as being forced to leave the country after being dethroned as Governor. All this is because he’s financially useful to Anambra politicians, to the PDP and to the presidency.

-Also in this league are Nigerian girls, ladies or women. Right from their childhood their mothers have schooled them on what the “man must wack” (woman must wack) phrase means. Thus young girls forget about guys their age who really love them but ain’t yet made and go ahead to marry much older men who they hardly know, talk less of love but who are made. And in some cases marry such men as the second, third or fourth wife. Others become groupies. Yes we know it’s cool to fuck a celebrity but more importantly, it pays.

-And finally men of God in Nigeria. Particularly those of the non-Catholic, Anglican or Methodist type. Being that competition is high in the field, opening of their own churches is something that must be done to perfection. Not just because they love God and genuinely want to partake in evangelism but because “man must wack”. The more people you’re able to bring into your flock, the more money for you. As for me, I no go lie. E get as e go be man pikin go…. You know every now, “man must wack!”

“Man must wack” and so the rich keep enjoying the best of the harvest, while the poor keep doing all sorts of menial jobs to keep body and soul together

My man zero from africanhiphop.com said in one of his threads that a lot of us don’t do enough to support our local artists by buying their albums. I admit I’m guilty of that, so to set things straight I’ve copped some albums. Marvellous Benjy’s “take control”, Resonance’s “Chinwe Ike”, Massai’s “last man standing” and Bouqui’s self titled album. And now I think it’s only right that I drop little reviews.

Marvellous Benjy (take control)

Take control by Kennismusic’s latest signing Marvellous Benjy is a dance hall/ragga album. Liking some of his past and present stuff I bought it, but after feeling it I admit I’m quite disappointed. Minus the two great songs “swo” and “just a little” featuring Luccy along with their remixes (in both cases I prefer the originals) the other songs in the album didn’t really appeal to me. And for a producer/artist releasing a mere seven tracker (minus skits, intro, outro and remixes) is really poor. In a scale of 5 I’m giving it 3.5 stars. I wonder why Black Face wasn’t on the album, in the past they’ve done some good things together.

Play “just a little”

Resonance (Chinwe Ike)

Resonance is a rhythm and blues/hip hop gospel duo made up of a half-caste girl and a guy (a couple perhaps). The chick does the singing while the guy does the rapping. They’re very popular in the South East where their hit song “chinwe ike” is receiving massive air play. And for real that song is the shiznit, it belongs to the class of great Igbo gospel song’s like “ibu Chineke” by Kennismusic’s Slam. It’s the kind of song that makes lukewarm guys like me love gospel music. And did I mention they are (or were) UNN (University of Nigeria, Nsukka) and UNEC (University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus) representing. On to the criticism: an eight tracker album is really poor. And I think the CD would have been a whole lot better if it was filled mainly with her singing. She’s got a soft, sweet, angelic voice. The raps by the guy and other guest artist were just of the banal type...unimpressive. Truly she’s the active partner (makes Resonance what it is) while he’s the sleeping one. That said, in a scale of 5 the album gets a 3.5 rating from me.

Play "chinwe ike"

Massai (last man standing)

Massai a fourth year Law student is another UNEC guy. And like most albums by Nigerian youths “last man standing” his debut album is all hip hop. If you like 2shots and Biglo you’ll definitely like Massai, who with a thick Igbo accent raps mainly in Pidgin English with heavy use of Igbo vocabulary. The album is generally comical, has got party tracks (“onye kwulu oto…” and “hey hey hey”), social-conscious tracks (“in ten years”, “dance 4 mama”, “rite attitude”), a really good breakup song (“you left me”) and an overdose of girl-themed songs (“story to tell”, “oyi m”, “landlord pikin” and “this na UNEC”). By the way my boy Kenieflex is featured on “in ten years”. It gets a 4 star (out of five) rating and it's definately worth the price.

Play “you left me”

Bouqui (album is self titled. Bouqui is pronounced Bukky)

Nigeria lacks really good female rappers. A lot of those in the lime light don’t really deserve to be there. If they were guys they’d be in the wack or infant league (also true for female footballers). But after seeing so much Bouqui buzz online I decided to cop the album in hope of a miracle. To be honest I was quite impressed but someone should have told me that she’s a gospel artist! Unlike a lot of other debut artist it seems Bouqui had a lot of studio time (female artist always have a lot of benefactors), because minus the skits et al the album Is a 14 tracker! The down side is that there are one too many beat and chorus samples and the skits et al weren’t really worth it. My favourite tracks are “roll like that”, “major problems” (the beat reminds me Mase's "i really like it") and “dead man walking” (has a Dr Dre like beat which the Xzibit of the “restless” era would have done good justice to). Minus this three the other tracks are about average to me. On the whole the album gets a three star (out of a possible 5) rating.

Play "major problems"

All this listening and reviewing makes we want to go record. But I’m not motivated to write these days and in my present state I’m not ready for studio sessions.

Bouqui. Voice...nice, songs..not bad, looks...definately a knock out

Note: This post is used for the purpose of cultivating interest in the featured musicians. It is more of a promotional tool rather than an illegal file sharing means. However, if you are an artist or a label represented here and you would like your music removed let me know and it will come down immediately.

I’m getting really addicted to reading blogs, especially those with a lot of personal stories to tell. It feels good seeing life through other people’s eyes and learning a new thing or two. But it’s a shame that I can’t be that personal on my own blog; I ain’t got it in boldness like some other bloggers. Worse still I’m not blogging anonymously so my ranting license is limited; how sad. I started blogging un-anonymously so I gots to keep to the status quo. It reminds me of the hint that one has to be careful about what you put online. Because after your stuff has been indexed a zillion times by Google and co; getting it erased off cyber space at a latter date is as hard as erasing the trauma of rape from an abused child’s mind.

That was some sad shit. But on the happy side I recently put face to another of my anonymous peoples’ name…Chxta. As is common in these cases what you conjure up in your mind is often not what you see. I thought he’ll be all big bros and shit and be a little too mature/serious minded for my liking but the Chxta I finally met was one chubby, cool and down to earth guy.

For those who don’t know, Big Brother Nigeria is finally on. I hardly ever follow reality shows or more correctly I hardly ever get the chance to follow reality shows. Things might change this time around though because I know two of the contestants (Maureen and Ebuka)! Maureen and I were mates at UNN. Matriculated the same year, were in the same faculty and even took a few courses together. But back then I was really on the low socially so up until the last time I saw her (late last year) it was basically all light chit chat. As for Ebuka he’s an old boy of CKC Gwagwalada, same as my bro and I. They still got a little under 90 days to keep doing their thing; I wonder how far they’ll both go. ***Shakes head, TRAE which day you join groupies them? ***.

Also we got “a first” coming up tomorrow. It’s the Hip Hop World Awards. It's the first ever awards dedicated solely to Nigerian Hip hop. Too bad that my ass won’t be in Lagos to witness the whole shit.

Maureen and Ebuka. My peoples: when I shine, you shine; when you shine, I shine. It’s all love.

Nah nigga I don't know, I don't know who got you/
I don't know who stabbed you, I don't know who shot you/
I don't know who cut you, I don't know who robbed you/
But you think I know cause you know how my squad do/

That’s 50 Cent on “I don't know officer”. You dumb fucks out there ain’t got nothing on me.

You might have recognized that I’ve been firing from all cylinders in the past few hours; forgive me. It’s just that a recent post on naijablog got me all angry. Dude a.k.a. Mr. Nigeria is at it again. He’s straight misinterpreting and dissing a chick, same thing he did to me some weeks back. Such stuff makes me want to ask him to hold his peace and leave the country if he hates it so much. In my case he started the whole falsities and then his good friend Black Looks took over. And man it hurt so bad. Black Looks a.k.a. Mrs. Activist (In reality she sucks at it. Her whole blog is a joke. Straight copying, pasting and summarizing. You’re a news editor now huh? Mam if you have nothing original to say I suggest you stop blogging) went ahead to brand me as being homophobic (for your info I do dislike homosexuality but I’m not exactly like “kill all homosexuals”) and misogynistic…one who’s canvassing for the raping of lesbians. She did the branding in posts and comments on her blog and on her beloved Global Voices Online. It just wasn’t fair at all. An apology would be a good way to start setting things straight.

Away from that now. I was going through my blog news aggregator like I love to do and stumbled upon this “soul on ice” post. Obi I’m totally with you. It reminds me of one of them Christian pamphlets I read recently. Story goes like this. There once lived a pastor and his son. They usually made the evangelism rounds together distributing pamphlets and preaching the word. Then came this very cold winter morning; dad opted out of the walk but son volunteered to do the rounds alone. As he was on his rounds he came to the house of an old widow. Son knocked, knocked and knocked until she finally opened her door. Son does his delivery and leaves immediately. Next Sunday widow goes to church to give a testimony. Says she was heartbroken over her hubby’s death, after which no one cared for her. Thus she was about committing suicide until son’s persistent knocks made her to go attend to the door. Son’s cheerful smile and the pamphlet he gave her with the bold title “God loves you” made her change her mind and give her life to Christ. Bullshit if you ask me. Very unrealistic to say the least. Can you imagine someone who’s really depressed suddenly change her mind for three words and a smile (most likely a fake one at that). Christians should stop spreading this “God loves you” stuff and instead start spreading the word “we/I love you”. What does a depressed person care about God? God that he/she cannot see. As is said: "God lives in us", therefore if we really care for her we would tell her that we love her and really try showing it to her in our words and actions. Also the habit of trying to make converts with "the world is coming to and end and damnation stuff" is straight bullshit. that’s intimidation. The main message should be that one should be good because it’s good to be good and not because one could otherwise perish in some eternal fire.

Enough said, I’m out

A lot of bad stuff has happened in the past months: Katrina, Tsunami, London bombings, Bellview-Sosoliso crash etc. And being that they didn’t directly affect me I’ll be like: “nna na wah oh, which levels na. Nothing do me sha, so no le le”. In line with that the bird flu stuff came and I didn’t really pay attention to it. Then all of a sudden I heard it has spread to Kaduna and even down to Abuja. The news finally hit me in the face when the FCDA (Federal Capital Development Authority) Development Control Department visited our street on Thursday 16th February. You see our Neighbours rear chickens, turkeys and goats in their backyard…while we (my mom to be specific) have a garden in ours. Who ask you sef? Ajayi work, no payment. Ok back to the story. Because of the bird flu scare, rearing of birds has been banned in residential areas in Abuja. Thus our neighbours are by law in the wrong and the FCDA guys came to set things right. Like joke like joke they raided our neighbours chicken coop dry! They took the chickens, dipped them into some chemical (most definitely poisonous) and then stuffed them in a bag. I felt our neighbours pain; another source of income gone in these hard times. And according to madam, she devoted a very large part of her salary into the poultry project. Now all her labour amounts to nought. I’m sorry if this is dumb. I know we gots to be careful and all, but them birds sure did look very healthy. It makes little sense to just kill them all like that. Me thinks they should have been taken alive, tested for flu and those healthy be returned to their owners or killed and stored in some government abattoir. The government’s say is final sha so I guess no more chicken meals for us. Oh well, who cares. I’m too broke to be a fast food addict (Biggs, Tantalizers and the likes). Ha-ha. The chickens were counted though, so there could be some compensation (maybe monetary or in form of chicks) in the offing.

I’ve always wanted to have a customized T-shirt/jersey. I’ve finally done so, thanks to the artistic brain of my main man Kenieflex. Picture taken February 15th.

Shorty calls me TRAE baby, the ABJ representer/
You know I love the ladies, give me chance and I go enter/
Brought up in the eighties, a real intercontinental/
Restless like I’ve got rabies, man I’ve seen both heat and winter/
Super Eagles shriner, I love Agha and Utaka/
I’ll turn down a Pathfinder for a chance to get onliner/
I hear music my head scatter, like hip hop, rock or even samba/
Rugged like an okada, fuck with me, o boy your father!/

You’re familiar with the title phrase huh? Well, after we got knocked out of the ACN at the semi-final stage I was mad…sort of sha. In line with that spirit I’ve decided to get a few things off my chest…give a few knocks to people that piss me off. Here goes.

Osaze Peter Odemwingie
Although the goal which knocked us out of the ACN was dubious (offside), Côte d'Ivoire totally outplayed us in the game and deserved to win. If a scapegoat was to be picked for the disappointing match it would be Osaze. He was a big “minus one” in our team, what the hell was Eguavoen thinking? Utaka or Aghahowa should have started at that right wing instead! Osaze seriously limited our impetus in attack; nothing positive came from his wing while he was on the field. I don’t know if it’s the magnitude of the match that overwhelmed him but dude couldn’t hold the ball, make a good pass forward, talk less of dribble. Whenever the ball was with him he either passed it back to his teammate or set off running like a headless chicken till he was dispossessed. Anyways in the end we settled for our usual Bronze so it ain’t all that bad.

2face Idibia
Truth be told, nowadays the only thing I like about 2face is his music. Period…kpom! When giving interviews, doing promos, hyping up the crowd at shows etc the guy simply sucks. All in all he talks like a damn illiterate, he ain’t sharp enough. And that’s too bad considering the fact that at the moment he’s Naija’s foremost musician. You need to hear him answering questions, he always gives wack responses. He mumbles one or two sentences then the next thing you hear from him is “my people, nothing dey happen”. “Yes oh, my brother na God” etc. he’s got the musical talent but he needs to brush up on his intellectual stuff.

Olusegun Obasanjo
Silence they say is golden. But it takes a wise man to know when not to stick to the rule. OBJ’s silence over his purported third term bid is killing me, more seriously it’s heating up the polity. It’s as simple a question as one can ever be asked. I’ve put myself in his shoes to try and ration out if silence is really the wise thing at this stage and my senses tell me it’s not. Why can’t he just come straight like his friend Thabo Mbeki has done. If at the end he’s not dreaming of Aso Rock beyond May 2007 then I’ll say his present silence is one of the dumbest things he has ever done since coming into power in 1999. Postscript: Lamidi Adedibu deserves to be bitch slapped.

Guys who stoop to pee/piss
I don’t know about you and your environment but for me the sight of a guy stooping to piss is quiet a common occurrence in Abuja. And I’ve realized that these guys are almost always Northerners…particularly Muslims. Pardon me but I think it’s un-masculine or bizarre to say the least. Information reaching me is that it’s either these guys are uncircumcised; it’s some religious rule, or both. I like to think of men as conquerors of the world. You should stand and do your thing while surveying your kingdom. Ha-ha, keep Abuja clean.

I’m in a shitty mood, forgive me. Many other people piss me off. But like Nas in his song “destroy and rebuild”:

it’s sooo hard to put a coward’s name in my rap (blog)...

nonsense, not to be obnoxious kid/*** for the record you could suck my ****/

Anyways it’s valentine in a few days. So like Georgy Porgy I’m giving all the sweet ladies who read my stuff a big cyber kiss, and like OBJ I’m giving all the fine gentlemen who regularly bust through my lines a warm cyber handshake. Peace and love in Africa!

If you’re Nigerian and you’re news conscious you’ll primarily relate the word “Kuje” with a prison in Abuja. Big shots like Mohammed Abacha, Tafa Balogun and even Gani Fawehinmi have spent many a nights there. I don’t even know what the god damn prison looks like but I finished up secondary school in Saints Simon and Jude Junior Seminary Kuje, Abuja (SJS). This post originates because I visiting Kuje again for the first time in six years last week to collect my WASSC certificate (your boy made all his papers in one sitting…still baffles me how I pulled that off. Too bad I slacked academically in the university) and as a result I’m rearing to blog.

It’s a known fact that we have a very low maintenance culture in Nigeria. But being that SJS is a private school I didn’t think that would really apply to my alma mater. But I was shocked on my visit. The school looks very shabby. The buildings need painting and refurnishing; the school vehicles are down; the aesthetics has been lost as the grasses, trees, flowers, pathways, orchards are all in a mess. I also heard of staff welfare complaints. I guess money needs to be pumped in. Although they’re getting grants from Rome and lots of goodwill in cash and kind from Catholics in Abuja. Or maybe it’s a case of poor management.

Anyways I still got good memories of SJS Kuje like:
- The religious stuff. Attending mass and saying the rosary every freaking day. And getting double doses of meditation, reflection and retreats. All in all e been good as e keep man pikin from spoiling…fast.
- Living a nice communal life. It was a small school population-wise so we knew each other and generally got on well together.
- Having fun amidst the hustling. E.g.: food palava, visiting days awaiting, outing trips to get to see girls and get stuff.
- Getting the chance of sitting near the altar in 1998 when the late Pope John Paul II made his 2nd trip to Nigeria.
- Spending a week at the National Missionary Seminary of Saint Paul Gwagwalada, Abuja along with my classmates to witness a priestly ordination firsthand (That week was heaven, right then I definitely wanted to be a priest).
- The bullying I got while there (I lost out on being the senior prefect in my final year because I was too damn small…puberty shit) as it toughened me up for life.

Despite these good memories, at the end of my stay in SJS I decided against continuing my priesthood chase. I didn’t feel I had the calling, plus celibacy definitely wasn’t for me! I still meet up with some folks who decided to advance (My own classmates will be ordained priests in about 3-4 years time) and those guys are living large for real! Nigeria is such a religion obsessed country that once you’re on the priesthood train you’re kind of made for life (nonetheless it’s not all bliss as evangelism is not as easy as it seems). Some wise guys realize this and take full advantage. Let me explain. The road to priesthood is like this: 1 year probation working in a Catholic establishment for candidates who didn’t go to a Junior Seminary (or who need to be crossed examined first), 4 years studying philosophy, another 1 year working, 4 years studying theology, being ordained a deacon and if found worthy being ordained a priest. The wise guys enter the fold, enjoy the free education and other benefits and pull out as soon as they get their philosophy degree. Now ain’t that a bitch?

So much for reminiscing, it has left me feeling like Ahmad in his 1994 hit “back in the day”

I miss those days, and so I pout like a grown jerk/
Wishing all I had to do now, was finish homework/

Why can’t my troubles in life be only about finishing my homework?

Picture TRAE as a senior seminarian. This is what it would have looked like…damn!

Ever had a crazy idea pop into your head and then vow you were going to follow it up to the end? Example: some old American lady I used to know gave up all her possessions to become a missionary with dreams of one day settling in Nigeria! Well in my case I WANTED TO change my name! Yeah I was quite serious about it that I drafted a post to explain myself. I’ve changed back my mind though; I’m sticking to what my Pops gave me :D. Nevertheless am a still take away five minutes of your life (depending on how fast you read though), let’s rumble!

-I’ve got my mind made up; I’m going to change my name from Tochukwu R. A. Ezeokafor to Trae Zeefor Deeds.
-Funny ain’t it? Well let me break it down for y’all this way.
-I was given the name Tochukwu Ezeokafor at birth.
-The “R” came at baptism making my initials TRE. If you look at stuff from my boarding school J.S.S. 1 days you’ll still see TRE marked everywhere.
-I wanted my initials to be TRAE (I liked the sound of it) so I choose an “A” name at confirmation (catholic tradition).
-Was into the Topz Christian magazine around the same time. Started adding the “Z”. You know…kid stuff. It just sounded cool.
-Re-discovered Hip hop in ’99 and later found out about the existence of Jay-Z. Entered university the year after and later on became better known as TRAE or trae_z.
-Saw the trailer for one of Adam Sandler's films: “Mr. Deeds” and instantly fell in love with the name.
-Started thinking about a name change (my Pops sort of did it and my elder bro toyed with it. My sister too…well she’s married :)) and mentioned it to my Mum.
-Finally made up my mind to change my name and begin the legal proceedings as soon as possible. After all, the world’s greatest did so too. He went from Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr to Muhammad Ali.
-Choose the name Trae Zeeofor Deeds...a man has the right to be called whatever he wants. I’m not ashamed of my Igbo name/identity, I just felt like changing it. Anyways the surname Ezeokafor and the first name Tochukwu are getting all too common for my liking.
-What does it mean? Do I know the social and governmental implications of what I’m about to do?
-Who cares, it’s my name of choice and I like it :).
-Trae is a Spanish verb and a common first name in the US. Zeeofor is a play between my nickname’s suffix and my Igbo surname (at least make small Naija identity dey now). And Deeds? Great guys (Sandler and TRAE), great names (Deeds) :).

Talking about the festive season, the only stuff worth yapping about is that I just realized that like T-Pain I’m sprung over Shorty. She got me doing the dishes/anything she wants for some kisses/. :D not really. Anyways case closed, it’s picture time!

I WANTED to change my name so bad…blame it on Adam Sandler and Mohammed Ali

About 12 months ago I did this: "Seven things I’m grateful for in 2004". This time around I’m doing "Outro 2005"; it’s my personal wrap up for the year. We still gots 11 days to go, but what the heck it's never too early to open up your Christmas presents. :D

For Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie it's a high to write about her beloved Nsukka. But for me, being in Nsukka for long periods throughout the year is 'cos a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Anyway I’ve been the better off for it personality wise cos a lot of sensibility has been pumped into my head along with a double dose of meekness. I guess I’m now good to go.

Like drug addicts and alcoholics, cyber space has been my own solution (this year) to getting away from life's boredom and troubles. Getting my own website: "traedays.com" has definitely been the high of it all. Nigeria being Nigeria getting online constantly hasn't been easy, but like Alamieyeseigha who said his escape from London to Bayelsa was a miracle and that he didn't know how it happened, I’m saying my coming online almost every other day has been a miracle. It just happens. :D

In the Time magazine edition of Dec 17th, 2001 Bono said:

"Rock music can change things. I know that it changes our lives" says Bono. "Rock is really about the transcendent feeling. There’s life in the form. I still think that rock music is the only music that can still get you to that eternal place where you want to start a revolution, call your mother, change your job or change your mind. I think that’s what rock music can do".

Well for me I’ve gotten to that eternal place many a time this year via Hip hop. And recording “from ABJ to UNN” in July was defiantly one of them times.

For the outro in this outro I say rest in peace to the souls we lost 10 days ago in the Sosoliso plane crash. There goes a bunch of promising Nigerians. It’s painful but as they say “Nigeria go survive”. Let’s pray we survive the preliminary round in next year’s African Cup of Nations. I can’t wait man!

It’s been a year of ups and down in the world. Here’s one of my favourite pictures for the year 2-double-O-5. Ha-ha, I love my black people!

Our father, give us this day our daily bread/
...give us these days and take our daily bread/
see I done did all this whole bullshit/
and to atone I throw a little something, something on the pulpit/
we took that shit, measured it and then cooked that shit/
and what we gave back was crack music/
and now we ooze it through they nooks and crannies/
so our mammas ain’t got to be they cooks and nannies/
and we gonna repo everything they ever took from granny/
now the former slaves trade hooks for Grammies/
this dark diction has become America's addiction, those who ain't even black use it/
we gon' keep bagging up this here crack music/

Kanye’s closing words (spoken poetry) on “crack music”.

See you in 2006, peace out!