Briana has come back from her little musical hiatus. A maternal leave, so to speak. And this time around she is carrying in her pouch a brand new single.
Some months ago, I saw a story on a few numbers of blogs about Briana. What caught my attention about the way one of these blogs, in particular, ran the story was in their choice of words. It was subtle, but it was powerful. Not much was said too, but you could tell the intention was not necessarily the best and it was meant to fan the flames of derision rather than to give out information.
But then again, that is how their bread is buttered and they have a ready audience that wants to lick that particular spread.
Essentially, the story said Briana was selling French fries and eggs for a living. And it worked. It may sound like no news if you don’t know the other angle to the story. But don’t count on me to spread that particular piece of toast. I had wanted to write this same article at the time. But I shelved it. I feel more comfortable writing about it because Briana herself addressed it in her new single.
I remember watching P Diddy like 10 years ago talking specifically about our generation (35 and below) and saying we don’t like dirty work. He evoked how his first job was pumping petrol at a petrol station. Now, Diddy is one for going a little over the board most times, but he was actually making a good point given the context of what pushed him to make that statement. He was actually saying that people don’t want to do the work but they want the shine.
That was 10 years ago. With the growth of social media, things have actually worsened. Our social media feeds have been curated to make people feel like we are living the best lives and every single time we scroll past these images it’s easy to get lost in those curated pieces of aesthetic images and forget that life, real life, is not like that and that the real hustle is outside of social media.
For that reason, people want to associate themselves only with things that look or seem “glam” and do not think anything that is outside of what their construct of glam is, is worth the trouble. Again, this is not new. But with the access of these images and lifestyles extended to younger and younger people, we are beginning to have a real epidemic on our hands.
That is why, for some, Brianna Lesley operating a potato and egg business seemed unfathomable. Never mind that she owned it and never really was seen with a frying spoon in hand.
My barber is basically my friend. I have been using his services for almost 10 years now. He has built two houses. One, he has put up for rent. The other, he houses his family in it. That’s a guy who cuts hair and ended school in form 4. Imagine Locko fell on some hard times and started cutting hair tomorrow. The internet would go up in flames. But the real question is, is it such a bad thing?
Brianna’s new song is called “Faut Pas Juger.” In the very first line, she sings:
I’m just trying to find my way/ So I hustle every day / But I no know weti I do some people / And I no know if hustle be na evil / They be sneaking around me / Ils me prennent en photos / Sur le net je vais surfer / Partout je vois mes photos/
No doubt a trip down memory lane to the egg and fries incident.
All this to say the real hustle is outside of our phone screens and that any manner in which people try to gain their daily bread, so long as it is honest, it is worthy of being celebrated.
Somewhere also, it is a warning to all of us about how we show people our lives. Humans are human and bad news will always cause a bigger ripple than good news. In our digital age, it causes waves. The responsibility of not making people think we are “living the life” when we really are not, falls on us too. There is a futility in it that, personally, has always kept me from engaging in such stuff. But other people live their lives the way they want and we also have to be able to respect that.
But it is important that we as a people learn to see the value and the blessing that there is in work that is not glamorous. I know bayam-sellers who make more than bank staff. But many people would willingly pick the bank and the AC for the glam of it rather than being able to make more money hoarding vegetables off a food truck.
Until we learn to appreciate the value of these things, we would continue to make the likes of Brianna and her potato and egg stand a subject of cheap laughter and social media gossip rather than something to learn a thing or two from.
- Wandji Wilfred.
You can watch Brianna’s new single here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rziw4QErREg
Picture by: William Nsai Makeup by: Tancho Zinky Hair by: BiBia
***This article was first published 8 weeks ago. It has been lightly modified