🥤 How are you spending Good Friday?

👋 Good morning. I'm convinced Lagos needs a new name, perhaps the Rave City. Everywhere else is navigating some very heavy things right now (truly, no shade - our hearts are there), but Lagos? Lagos has 10 raves this weekend. And there are people who have mapped out how to attend every single one. I will not be among them. I'll be in bed, wrapped up, praying for the brave and the lost. How are you spending Good Friday? Talk to us, maybe it’s something we can help with 😉

Let’s get into it ⬇️

In this edition: The taste test, this week in pop culture, Instagram’s militant system, and some fresh stats.

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The taste test

So I read somewhere that people are getting gifts from their “book boyfriends”. Like, there’s actually a business where someone curates a box of stuff based on what a character from a book would “give you,” and then you… buy it.

Yep. People are actually buying gifts from fictional characters.

The Verdict: Guys… what? That is a bit too much delulu. Listen, I am a delulu babe, trust me, I love living in La La Land, but this? This is peak delusion. A little daydreaming is cute, but buying gifts from a character who doesn’t exist?

That is a sour cup of juice, and it should be thrown straight into the trash.

🗞️ THIS WEEK IN POP CULTURE

🎵 MUSIC

Our favourite music couple, Simi and Adekunle Gold, welcomed their second child! Is a Duduke remix on the way? I guess we’ll just wait and see. But if I were that baby, I would want my own song too!

🤕 MATTERS ARISING

Jos was struck again by terrorists on Palm Sunday. The fear is real, the anger is valid, and Tinubu's government should be under scrutiny. But channel it. Get your PVC. Change doesn't happen to us; we have to go get it.

🎖️ AWARDS

The AMVCA rolled out its nominations this week. We are side-eyeing some nominations while being excited for others. Hopefully, next year, the AMVCA will finally separate the TV and film categories. Accord TV some respect!

📽️ FILM

Funke Akindele and Toyin Abraham's supposed feud is back. In a viral video, Abraham attempted to greet Akindele, but the filmmaker turned away. We don’t know why two baddies can’t exist peacefully.

↝ CELEBRITY

Burna Boy wore his suit and tie to work this week! He purchased a minority stake in Alpine F1, beating Christian Horner's group to the deal. F1 lovers, you are going to be seeing Burna Boy a lot on those bleachers.

MAIN SQUEEZE

How 5 Queer Nigerians Feel About Angel Smith’s Wedding

This week, the internet was hit with the wedding of former Big Brother Naija housemate Angel Smith. This reaction was divided because Angel married a woman; she flew her queer flag high up in the air for everyone to see. Some Nigerians were pissed while others celebrated her. 

Following the wedding, we spoke to some queer Nigerians to get a sense of how seeing a Nigerian public figure own their queerness so boldly made them feel. The feelings were mixed; they held joy in one hand and despair in another.

Lala

It’s multiple emotions. There’s excitement because a queer woman – a bisexual woman – actually ended up marrying another woman, especially seeing as bisexuality is so demonized because, God forbid, I like women AND men?

There’s the internalized reaction as a result of growing up religious and in a society that actively demonizes homosexuality. But all in all, I’m happy she’s happy. Make my own wife, sef, find me.

Ben

I feel like Angel has always been more outspoken about "Woke Shit" in comparison to other BBN housemates, so this just feels aligned. I should be happy; I want to be jumping for joy that a Nigerian celebrity, a Nigerian Public figure, is unabashedly queer, and I am; there's a large part of me that actually is, but...

Angel is a rich girl who lives in a liberal American state; she can marry a woman, but I can't marry a man. I can barely even hold another man's hand unironically.

Yes, I'm glad she's being bold and wearing it on her sleeves, and I'm even happier she's taking her time to fight and abuse the idiots online, but I'll be honest, seeing her actually get married was such a reminder of the gap between Angel and the average queer Nigerian. Love her down, but I'm jealous and reminded that it can never be in Nigeria.

Ngozi

I’d say it wasn’t entirely revolutionary for me, but it still made me happy regardless. I’ve known Angel before she became a reality TV star, and she was very vocal about her sexuality back then. So I wasn’t surprised when she went public with her current relationship. 

It felt normal to me. Partially because I’ve consumed a lot of queer content, and I know a few Nigerian queer figures who love openly. Anyway, it is commendable that she was unperturbed by her celebrity status.

It still doesn’t change anything at the grassroots because she’s wealthy and most likely out of harm's way. However, it makes me certain that with enough money, I can make it out of this homophobic hellhole and love a woman openly. It’s one of the reasons I work hard.

Mo

Well, for starters, she’s queer in the public eye outside of Nigeria, so it’s not the same thing, not the same expectations. She’s queer, and she’s safe.

Personally, I’ve accepted the reality I face, so I’m not really feeling any sort of jealousy or longing to be her and have what she has until I leave this country myself. 

Efe

It was really cute and chummy. I’m looking forward to their traditional wedding. It’s just something about being unapologetically sapphic and going all the way with it. Love it so much.

🔪 THE PEEL

Content creators are at the mercy of Instagram’s feudal system

A few days ago, Salem King (arguably one of the biggest Nigerian content creators) woke up to a message from Meta; his Instagram had been disabled. No concrete explanation was given to him.

He had just clocked 290k followers on the app. The actress Uzoamaka Power would be greeted with the same news in the following days. This would have been just a scratch if neither King’s nor Power’s livelihood weren’t tied to Instagram. 

Peeling it back

The creator economy is a multi-billion-dollar industry. Many creators earn almost 100% of their income via Instagram visibility. Instagram provides reach for actresses like Power who need to market their films and attract the gaze of casting directors to look their way.

It offers monetization tools, brand deals, sponsored posts, and affiliate links, which many content creators, including Salem King, have taken advantage of numerous times.

What is the implication?

It’s not just a lost account; they also lose revenue from brand deals, sponsorships, audience engagement, and access to the people who will buy your movie tickets.

It’s anxiety about building a career on an unstable foundation. Visibility is the creator economy’s currency. The more you are seen, the more likely you are to earn. But the problem with this is that the dependence is double-edged.

Many creators have reported their accounts being disabled for vague reasons. You violated our rules. 

What rules? 

It’s rarely stated. For creators whose work, income, and communities live on these platforms, that kind of opacity is destabilizing.

For most content creators, the appeals process starts to feel like a formality, a box the company ticks rather than a meaningful chance at redress. And this fits nicely into digital feudalism. Hang on, I’ll explain what it means. 

So, what is digital feudalism?

Feudalism is a system where land is owned by some people at the top, and others must fulfil duties to them. Within the digital feudalism framework, content creators are like tenant farmers.

Platforms own the land, audience, visibility, and monetisation. Content creators provide the labour, content, and engagement. Instagram functions as the lord, so makes the rules and controls the rewards and punishments. 

It’s like your Lagos landlord waking up one day to paste a bunch of nonsensical rules on your gate or hitting you with an eviction notice after you fixed up the apartment. Guys, don’t ever try to fix up an apartment that’s not yours. Your eyes will literally peel.

The core

The disabling trends really highlight the gross betrayal of these creators. Instagram poses as a friend of the creator (the Nigerian police call themselves our friend too, so maybe we should have clocked it then), offering tools to make their work easier and inviting them to build their careers, but controlling everything and able to pull the plug at any time.

Creators can only protect themselves by diversifying their platforms, owning their content directly, and building audiences that exist beyond any single app.

The hard truth is that every post, every story, every connection a creator builds online is like planting a crop on borrowed land.

Salem King’s 290k followers and Uzomaka Power’s 51k, all the fruits of their labour, can vanish overnight, swept away by rules they did not set. And that, my friends, is a real-life illustration of digital feudalism.

We decided to bring back our girl power playlist one more time. We had so much fun with this playlist, and we think you would too! From Simi to Fimi (feeling the rhymes), these women deliver class act performances that make you go “I need to secure the bag” and “I think I’m in love”. Enjoyyy.

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