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The Most Copied Lifestyle in the World — Transcript

by Franck Zanu · 4,131 words · 760 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Hello guys and welcome to ZPR in Zano
0:03Project Rethink.
0:05Uh
0:06I am Frank Zano.
0:08Please uh subscribe, follow us, share
0:11because I take time really to think
0:13about these things and I want the young
0:15ones both on the continent of Africa,
0:18young white kids in the UK, in South
0:20Africa, anywhere you are, there is
0:22always some wisdom in the things I talk
0:25about. There is this thing that keep
0:27coming up on my feed and then uh
0:29yesterday one one of my young mentees
0:32sent it to me and said, "What do you
0:33think about um
0:35what what uh
0:37this guy said?" I think the person who
0:39made a comment
0:41uh was uh Godfrey
0:43or Godfrey Akpabio or something like
0:46that. Um and then I took a look at it
0:48and I said, "Oh, I've heard this also in
0:51some places."
0:52Why is this and I'm sure some of you
0:55might have heard it also.
0:57Where
0:59um they keep saying that uh something
1:02like I'm turning on so I can see where
1:04where where I placed it.
1:06Everybody around the world copies
1:08African Americans and then yet
1:10disrespects them. That
1:13black
1:14black Americans
1:16are being copied
1:18all over the world. Have you heard it?
1:21And I it was so so I said, "Okay, let me
1:24sit back and and think really what is
1:27being copied and who is doing this
1:28copying?" Because then suddenly with
1:31with with with the with the way TikTok
1:33and all the places that
1:34the algorithm works, you check one thing
1:37and then it's and I saw two or three
1:38different places where people have made
1:41these unverifiable claim. African
1:43Americans are the most copied around the
1:45world and I began to look.
1:48And I said,
1:50"Where?"
1:51And what is it exactly? Because when
1:53they made a statement, they don't even
1:55show you images of people in Japan or in
1:58Poland or in Bulgaria or in Israel,
2:01Australia, New Zealand. They don't show
2:03you the pictures to say, "You see? Look
2:05at this group of politicians or
2:07businessmen or executives or Look at
2:09what they copied." They don't show you
2:10the picture. A statement was made. I
2:12don't know who started this statement.
2:14And today, it is all over the internet.
2:17And when you listen to it and you scroll
2:19on, it's stuck in your head. You repeat.
2:23African-American lifestyle really being
2:25copied?
2:26By who?
2:28What aspect of the lifestyle? What?
2:31Clothing?
2:34What is copied and who is copying?
2:38When I started checking,
2:40so I started with Kenya, a place I have
2:41lived recently.
2:44And then I I went on the internet,
2:46especially YouTube, to see musician,
2:48sportsman, uh artist of African-American
2:52you know, to see what is it that people
2:55are copying.
2:57And boom, I did see.
3:01When you go to the slums of Kenya,
3:05the biggest slum in East Africa, Kibera,
3:07is in Kenya. And there are about three
3:09others.
3:10Yes, you would see, truly,
3:14boys on the streets
3:17that look exactly
3:20like Kodak Black,
3:23wearing their pants down to picking
3:25their mouth, hair unkempt.
3:30You will see it
3:31in the slums of Kenya.
3:36Kenyans are very decent people.
3:38I've lived in uh uh uh
3:40Westland. I've lived in Karen.
3:43I have friends who live in Lang'ata and
3:45Gigiri and other places of Kenya. No.
3:48You're not going to walk into a decent
3:50restaurant with your underwear showing
3:53all the way up.
3:57And they will serve you. You In fact,
3:59you're not going to go.
4:00Same in Poland. No, it's not going to
4:02happen.
4:06Loud with a toothpick looking like Kodak
4:08Black?
4:10It's not going to happen. You go to
4:12Ghana,
4:13Accra, there's a place called Zongo and
4:15Nima and the you know, the slums.
4:19Yes. There are people there dressed like
4:22lunatics dressed in the streets. They
4:25look like Lil Wayne and Kanye West and
4:28Kodak Black and and the and the hosts of
4:30them. Yes, you will see those in the
4:33slums
4:35of Soweto, South Africa. Yes, you see
4:37them. But here is a trick. No, no, no.
4:41Kodak Black and Lil Wayne and Kanye West
4:43did not influence those kids.
4:48You see, those kids do not have the
4:51money, the means.
4:55The means to buy the mainstream
4:57lifestyle clothing. They don't have the
4:59money.
5:01So, the way they appear in the slums of
5:02Soweto and Kibera and Nima and Zongo
5:06is based on how much they have. They
5:08wear the same clothes. It's torn,
5:10tattered,
5:11bare thread
5:13all the time. Maybe
5:16Kodak Black and these people actually
5:18copied them.
5:20Because it's all in the brain.
5:23So, for these people like Kanye West and
5:25Lil Wayne and Kodak Black and all the
5:27other people, it's a protest to their
5:31society standard. It's a protest.
5:34But to the kids you think are copying
5:36you, it's their lifestyle.
5:42You see? So, Godfrey, you see, when you
5:45guys keep repeating this, do you know
5:47what it's doing?
5:48The very thing majority of black
5:50Americans are trying to fight for kids
5:52to dress properly, appear properly
5:53because there are things there is
5:55something we call social contract.
5:59People have a standard in any human
6:02society.
6:04The way you should look and act and
6:06conduct yourself so that we can trust
6:09you and accept you and partner and
6:11collaborate with you to do stuff. It is
6:13a requirement. But when you keep telling
6:16your young ones that oh, be happy
6:19because our lifestyle is being copied
6:21all around the world. No wonder these
6:23young people they call
6:25uh YN or whatever in Chicago and Detroit
6:29and all these places find some fake
6:32pride in the way they look.
6:35Of course, they never change.
6:37And the way you appear influences the
6:39way you behave. So, Godfrey Akwaba, stop
6:42this nonsense of we are being copied all
6:44around. You are trying to find something
6:47so bad to make you feel like yes, we
6:49have something. Why do you never say
6:53all over the world societies are copying
6:56the black academic excellence. Why are
6:58you Why do you not say all over the
7:00world people are copying the black
7:02entrepreneurial spirit. Why are you not
7:04saying people are
7:06copying the black work ethics. Why are
7:08you not saying that all over the world
7:10people are copying the black family
7:12cohesiveness and unity and love. Why are
7:15you not saying that people all around
7:17the world are copying blacks manners in
7:20public and their conduct of living. Why
7:23is it always about tattered clothes and
7:25Timberlands? Some white boy designed a
7:28boot that is meant for you to work
7:30outdoors, in the jungles, go hiking,
7:32climb, and do mechanic. You decided to
7:35wear it as a tuxedo shoe.
7:39And then
7:41the majority of your people started
7:43buying it to make this person, this
7:45white boy, rich.
7:49And you think that is what people are
7:51copying.
7:52Now, let me tell you something. Let me
7:54pick Nigeria where you, Godfrey, you
7:56come from.
7:58You see, you're looking at Davido and
8:00Burna Boy and all these uh
8:03uh you know, Portable. You are looking
8:05at them thinking that is the mainstream.
8:07It's not.
8:09Nigerians, when it comes to one thing
8:11you should understand,
8:13the pride they take in their wardrobe.
8:16How you should appear in public matters
8:19a lot in Nigeria.
8:23Okay?
8:24If these people, Portable and Davido and
8:26Burna Boy, if they were not
8:31artists, popular artists,
8:34many restaurants and places in Nigeria
8:36would never allow them to walk into
8:37those places dressed like that. That I
8:40know as a fact.
8:42Cuz I live there.
8:45Let me repeat to you.
8:48The very thing you think Nigerians are
8:49copying is because this Burna Boy and
8:52his friends have become rich, so they
8:54can afford it
8:55to be that way.
8:57But in the Nigeria I know,
9:00you're not going to look like that and
9:01walk into a place
9:04if you were not Burna Boy and Davido.
9:08In Ghana, it is same. Ghanaians take
9:10pride in their wardrobe.
9:14No, Ghanaians don't encourage
9:18true wanting and juvenility. They don't.
9:22It's one thing you wouldn't do.
9:24And if you do it, you see, it's so
9:26beautiful segregated that you can do it
9:28in Nima and
9:30somewhere in Jamestown, and but not
9:35So, people don't copy African Americans.
9:37I've not seen it.
9:39You see, what I have seen being copied
9:42largely in this world
9:44is the Western wardrobe and lifestyle.
9:48The video got married recently. He had
9:50to spend tons of money
9:52on customary marriage, right? The
9:54traditional way.
9:56But no.
9:59He has not meet the mark. So, he has to
10:01do what they call in Africa white
10:04marriage.
10:06Tuxedo, suit, and your wife in some gown
10:10like an angel.
10:12Mhm? You do it here in the United
10:13States, too, right? Yes, I've seen it
10:16plenty on the continent. They will spend
10:18so much money to do the customary
10:19marriage, right? But they will say, "No,
10:23you can't finish it without a white
10:25wedding."
10:27You go to boardrooms and cabinets
10:30meetings in Africa, and what do you see?
10:33Is the European
10:36wardrobe.
10:37You go to the most remotest area in the
10:40park, cabinet, and boardrooms, and it's
10:43what? Brooks Brothers necktie and
10:45jacket.
10:47That is what predominantly
10:51And you yourself, take a look at what
10:53you were wearing when you made that
10:54statement. It's Western.
10:59Ballroom dance,
11:01we say we are dating, I'm courting my
11:03girlfriend. It's Western.
11:07Public display of affection, it's
11:09Western.
11:10Indians are copying it these days.
11:12Suddenly in Indian movies now they are
11:14kissing. Indians don't kiss.
11:16In Africa, kissing wasn't popular at
11:19all.
11:22The women in Africa with their hair,
11:24it's Western. The nails, the eyelashes,
11:26it's Western.
11:29The way we furnish our homes in Africa,
11:31it's Western.
11:33In fact, some people when they become so
11:34rich, they said cook me rice and stew.
11:37It's Western.
11:42You got to stop saying this.
11:44So that you have to start talking about
11:46things that would allow our young ones
11:47to have a place in this global
11:50competitive society.
11:52And that is why a very good good good
11:56friend of mine who is also happen to be
11:57one of ZPR
12:00sent me this.
12:01And it's not my words, but I love what I
12:04read. Okay?
12:06This is what has kept societies around
12:08the world really really really good for
12:11a very long time.
12:13And now in these days you are told, "No,
12:15don't follow it because if you do, then
12:19you are not a strong man." You know what
12:20has organized Africa,
12:23European, Western, Asian, Middle Eastern
12:25societies to become decent as we respect
12:28them because they use shame,
12:31dishonor,
12:33and public condemnation.
12:36These are the tools they use through
12:37which societies govern what might be
12:41called the social commons,
12:46the shared space of everyday life
12:49where norms are enforced informally
12:53because without such mechanisms,
12:55social order deteriorates
12:59little by little.
13:03Mr. Godfrey, do you see it in the black
13:05communities?
13:07The deterioration of social order and
13:10norms.
13:13As they said in the Republic,
13:15all we are all pursuing
13:18is the proper conduct of living.
13:21No matter how uncomfortable and painful
13:23it is,
13:25it is necessary to organize society.
13:29Let me read something for you to see.
13:32Something that some of you are trying to
13:34throw away these days.
13:36So, you keep saying that
13:40these decadent of lifestyles are being
13:43copied.
13:45So, the Y ends of Chicago will say,
13:47"Yeah.
13:49We can't dress properly. We wouldn't
13:51pull up our pants.
13:53It's nasty. It's disgusting and
13:54everybody says it. You don't walk into
13:56an eatery, a place people are eating
13:58with their young ones, and your
14:00underwear
14:02is showing, and your pant is falling,
14:05and your hair is unkempt, toothpick in
14:06your mouth, and you're speaking loud.
14:09That is not something, even if it's
14:11being
14:12copied around the world, Godfrey, you
14:14should have said, "No. The world should
14:16stop." But, here you are
14:19praising it.
14:20Listen.
14:22You can dislike what is constructed in
14:24America and other places, but
14:27people,
14:28according to this article in the Freedom
14:30Frequency,
14:33people construct devices,
14:36habits,
14:37>> [snorts]
14:37>> commitments, social norms
14:40to discipline themselves. That is
14:43individuals.
14:45We construct devices to make living in
14:47our homes, appliances, and all that,
14:50easy, right? But, we con-
14:52we construct devices such as habits,
14:55commitments, social norms to discipline
14:58ourselves.
14:59Society do the same. Society constructs
15:04these things I mentioned earlier
15:09to avoid dishonor, to avoid shame, to
15:12avoid the association. People have to
15:16see those things. It's informal,
15:18but we enforce it. Why? Because for
15:22those who can follow it
15:24and maintain a good work ethic,
15:27go through the pain to say, "When I'm
15:29outside, I want everybody around me to
15:31feel comfortable.
15:33I want to be conscious of what society
15:35has constructed."
15:37Those people, they are trusted
15:40immediately.
15:42They find collaborations from people who
15:44are not like them immediately.
15:48They find partnership either in
15:49business, in anything they do in their
15:52lives immediately. The first thing
15:54people see, they look for when they see
15:56you, is not if you are rich or poor.
16:01The first thing people look when they
16:02see you is not if you are black or
16:05white.
16:07The first thing they look for when they
16:08see you
16:09is
16:11are you painfully
16:13accepting, promoting the mechanisms we
16:16set in place
16:18so that it brings about the common order
16:21for all of us?
16:27That is what they look to see.
16:29So, whether you are poor,
16:32whether you're not very beautiful or
16:33handsome,
16:35but you display that you have those
16:37attributes,
16:39it's magic.
16:41Even those who don't have anything to
16:43partner with you or collaborate with
16:44you, the sheer smile you see on their
16:46face,
16:50that's why somebody said recently, I
16:52think on one of my videos or in a
16:54separate video somebody sent to me, he
16:56said,
16:57"I have never seen
17:01a well-behaved,
17:03well-educated,
17:05proper-mannered
17:07black man ever be hated by a white
17:10person."
17:12And I can extend it by an Asian,
17:15a Middle Easterner, or anybody who is
17:17different from us.
17:21So, when you say Godfrey, I don't know
17:22how much you've traveled or you know
17:24about cultures around.
17:29I don't know what it is that this you're
17:31saying, hip hop?
17:33Are you talking about hip hop copied?
17:35[snorts]
17:36And Japan has the J-pop and Korea has
17:39the K-pop, but you don't even know the
17:41majority, the percentage of Koreans who
17:43can't even stand to hear that music.
17:49Same as Japan.
17:53Yeah, it's popular because foreigners
17:54started going to these places recently.
17:57But I am telling anybody who is
17:59listening, if you want to challenge me,
18:00show it to me.
18:01The most copied lifestyle in the world
18:04is Western.
18:06Even the Indian who enjoys the Indian
18:08beautiful fabric,
18:13occasionally, when they move from that,
18:17they don't go for do-rag,
18:19Timberland and toothpick. They go for
18:21Western
18:23Brooks Brothers jacket and tie.
18:26Even the Saudi Arabians, when they come
18:27to New York to go shopping,
18:29when they take off all those little
18:31saffrons and beautiful white dresses and
18:33head cap,
18:35they go for Levi's jeans, Ferragamo
18:37shoes, and throw on some Michael Kors
18:41jacket and go to dinner.
18:44Even the Africans who come here,
18:46same.
18:48When we set up our spaces, it's the
18:50same.
18:55That is the lifestyle that has permeated
18:56the world through education,
18:59music,
19:01language,
19:02culture.
19:04It's Western influence.
19:07Oh, it is what everybody says, my child
19:09is going to go to Cambridge or Oxford,
19:11Yale, Harvard, Cornell.
19:14Mhm.
19:16When we are raising our children in
19:17Africa,
19:19we don't point them to become soccer
19:21players, musicians, or soldiers.
19:24We say, "Go to school
19:27and you can match up
19:29with a Westerner."
19:30Uh
19:31his ways are not totally bad and they're
19:33not completely right, just like any
19:35culture.
19:36There is good and bad.
19:38But people look to see
19:40which one, if I adopt it for my children
19:43and my community, will bring what is
19:45called order.
19:47This is where the word civilization
19:50comes in.
19:53Mr. Godfrey,
19:55I've seen you scream too much on things
19:57you haven't checked.
19:59And I know the reason,
20:02but I won't say it here.
20:06They call it civilization because it
20:08comes from the word civil.
20:11The word civil comes from the word
20:12civilians.
20:15See?
20:16Civilians
20:18non-institutionalized individuals,
20:21unlike the army, police, and fighters.
20:24Those are not civilians.
20:27Because they live under strict,
20:29organized regiment of codes for [snorts]
20:32the army, for the police, and others.
20:34Civilians are the general population of
20:38individuals
20:40in any society or country.
20:44Those societies and countries knew early
20:46on
20:47that for this loose affiliate of
20:48individuals to be able to work together,
20:51go to the workplace, they must have one
20:53thing in common, punctuality.
20:56Go to the workplace, they must have one
20:57thing in common, how to dissolve
20:59conflict before it become or it gets out
21:02of hand.
21:03Conflict resolution, punctuality, work
21:06ethics, these [snorts] things were built
21:08as administrative systems, mechanisms in
21:12any society to allow this massive group
21:15of individuals to be able
21:17to travel the same road and path every
21:20day while they are building the
21:22community.
21:24That is civilization.
21:27Not how you turn metal into a spoon or
21:30into a a fork or or into a pick ax or
21:33No.
21:37The countries that were able
21:41to design
21:42mechanisms and systems
21:45that somehow magically allow everyone
21:47when I'm at the bus stop and there are
21:49three people in front of me, I stand
21:51behind them. You queue up. Civilization.
21:58When I step on someone
21:59I turn around and I apologize.
22:01Civilization.
22:04When I'm employed to work with others
22:07I watch my time and I arrive
22:09earlier.
22:10Punctuality, civilization.
22:13The legal system, the judicial systems.
22:15The juvenile systems.
22:18They create these things
22:20because they know
22:22there must be what is called the common
22:25social contract. You don't sign it, but
22:28it's there.
22:30So, when I step out of my house, first
22:32before I step out of my house
22:35I see how close I am to my neighbor.
22:38I know how to adjust the volume on my
22:40musical systems
22:42in order not to disturb. If I live above
22:44my neighbor I know how much I allow my
22:46children to run around wild so they
22:48don't disturb the neighbor down below.
22:52When I step outside
22:55I know how to relate to my neighbor to
22:58the right to the left and the one across
23:00from me.
23:02Based on these unseen, unspoken,
23:04unwritten social norms, that becomes a
23:06contract among all of us.
23:08When I'm going to go out of my house to
23:10eat in a certain place, I know that
23:12clothing or the wardrobe that is
23:14appropriate for that place.
23:16When I'm in public, I know how much of
23:19my vocal volume that I should allowed
23:21when I'm speaking.
23:26That is where the word civilians
23:28behavior, civilization comes from.
23:34We are here decrying this breakout of
23:37juvenility, decadence, moral decadence
23:40across everywhere you look.
23:42We don't even know what to do with these
23:44young
23:46kids.
23:48And you are here boasting that these
23:52behaviors are copied. I share something
23:55with you before I go.
23:57This is why
23:59when I used to live in the UK among the
24:01English, they say, "You are very
24:03uncooth."
24:05What it means is that you have no
24:06culture. So, when they say, "He's not a
24:09man of culture."
24:13What they meant is this.
24:16You have not been able to imbue,
24:19to allow the norms they have
24:21established. You have failed
24:24to adapt to them.
24:27Oh, yes. You know people who have no
24:29culture in the first 5 seconds when you
24:31encounter them.
24:33So, I share something with you, Godfrey.
24:36Culture can never be copied.
24:40Lifestyle on the other hand, everyone
24:42can copy it. That's why we call it what?
24:45Trends, fads, fades, vogue.
24:51They are transient.
24:53They have a very short lifespan. In the
24:57'60s, once upon a time, people were
24:59wearing bell bottom
25:02pants. It was not a culture.
25:05It was a trend. Why is it not around?
25:07Because it was a trend. It comes and it
25:10goes.
25:11Followed by that was the platform shoes.
25:13Many broke their ankles and their leg
25:16on those shoes.
25:17But you know who wore those shoes? You
25:20can tell by the class they belong to
25:21when you see them in the streets.
25:25But it was a trend.
25:28You see,
25:29um the white kids and the other Asians
25:32who pick up the these lifestyles,
25:35they keep it for a year and they drop
25:37it. You keep it permanently as a
25:39lifestyle.
25:40So, lifestyles and trends and vogues and
25:42fads and and and fashion can be copied
25:45by almost anyone.
25:47And their lifespan is very short. They
25:49come and they go. They come and they go.
25:51The hippies brought their lifestyle. The
25:53disco era brought their lifestyle.
25:55The swankies brought their lifestyle.
25:57But it all went away.
26:00Culture, though, you can't copy it.
26:04Because it's not something you design on
26:06a daily or a monthly basis.
26:09It is something cultured into you.
26:12That's why they say cultured. You become
26:14like a cult, c u l t.
26:17Because you are all clamoring around
26:18these one principle
26:21for progress and cohesiveness. So, when
26:23people look at your community, they can
26:25say, "These are cultured people."
26:33It's very deep in the mind of the child.
26:37You have a little bit of data
26:39from nurturing.
26:42Then you have a huge amount of data data
26:45from nature. You are born in a physical
26:48environment, all of us.
26:50Whatever is in that physical
26:51environment, the aesthetics, the beauty,
26:53the art, the music most importantly, the
26:56color painted in the houses, the type of
26:58food, the streets, it all is implanted
27:02slowly into your brain. By the time you
27:04turn 16,
27:06physical data from what this kid sees
27:09and hears and smells and experiences,
27:12they are data. They are informing his
27:14brain.
27:15And there is a nurture, what is taught
27:17to him through media and schools and
27:19parents
27:23So, at one point,
27:25you got to change the environment. And
27:27when you do, it takes a long time.
27:30You have to apply a new form of data
27:33from nurturing from outside and slowly,
27:35slowly, and slowly,
27:38Mr. Godfrey, we are in trouble if you do
27:40not know it.
27:44So, that we should stop these. We are
27:46being copied around the world like
27:48it's a badge of honor.
27:53So, I ask you to do a homework and come
27:54back and tell me
27:56what is being copied.
28:02You're talking people who are already
28:04look like that because they don't have
28:06the means to purchase the mainstream
28:11wardrobe and lifestyle.
28:13So, those poor kids already dress like
28:16lunatics in the streets.
28:18They already do before the so-called
28:22hip-hop artists began to I don't know
28:24how it came into their mind to look
28:26tarded, but I know
28:31many West African ladies would not be
28:34seen dead with what you call lifestyle
28:37here.
28:39So, if anything,
28:41for those of you going home after you
28:44watch this, please, there's only one
28:46thing I want you to remember.
28:48The very things you decry and say that
28:50too much is hierarchies and all these,
28:53they have been created by civilizations
28:56because it is necessary
28:59to have those things in order for the
29:01group and the loose affiliate of these
29:03individuals to be able to follow one
29:06pattern
29:07for only one reason.
29:10To build a decent, stable, respectable
29:15community where cultured people live.
29:19They may not like each other.
29:21They may not.
29:23But they can never dislike the
29:25mechanisms that hold them and their
29:27children and their institutions
29:29together.
29:31So you think about it.
29:34In the United States of America, in
29:36Middle East, in Asia, in all countries
29:38around the world,
29:40people use these central mechanisms
29:43they've created. It's painful. It's
29:45uncomfortable, but it is necessary
29:47because it builds a dynamic,
29:49well-adjusted, well-organized,
29:52safe, secured environment
29:56for your institutions, your children,
29:58your business, your mental health.
30:01So they may not like each other,
30:03the individuals living in those
30:04communities,
30:06but they will never dislike the
30:08mechanism that holds them together.
30:10They may not play in the same golf
30:11course. They may not even go to the same
30:14restaurant, but they will never abandon
30:16these mechanisms.
30:18They protect it with all their lives
30:20because it is these uncomfortable,
30:23unfriendly mechanisms
30:25that protect their children's lives,
30:28that their children can step out and
30:29play freely in their streets.
30:32>> [snorts]
30:33>> That their children can get to the
30:34playground for 2 hours and come home and
30:37nobody has hit the other person.
30:42And that is what we should be promoting.
30:45Promote it and ask our young ones to
30:49copy it.
30:51>> [singing]
30:53>> As usual, subscribe, follow, share.
30:57Thank you.
30:59Until the next episode. Be safe and be
31:02well.
31:04>> [singing]

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