Yo, wassup, dawg?
This week we keepin it together with "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe.
Okonkwo got one of da illest reps of any hood in the Nigerian Umuofia clan.
But bein a high baller don’t run in the family.
Errybody know dat Okonkwo’s daddy was nothin but a broke-ass scrub,
and now Okonkwo gotta be a hard-ass hustla to shake off dat family shame.
When some fool mercs a dame from Umuofia, Okonkwo gotta take care of his boy, Ikemefuna,
to make everything cool between the clans.
Okonkwo got mad love for this kid, even though he don’t show it.
And it ain’t long before Ikemefuna starts callin Okonkwo "Daddy."
Then one day, the Oracle say dat fool Ikemefuna gotta get put in dirt.
Some geezer named Ezeudu tells Okonkwo he best stay away from dat mess.
Cuz no matter how much of a bad-ass thug you are, killin yo own son is wack.
But Okonkwo don’t wanna be seen as no sensitive b*tch, so he straps up ready to bang out.
When Ikemefuna cries, “Little help, Pops?” Okonkwo ends dat fool.
And for the next few days, Okonkwo all torn up.
Sh*t gets even more cray for Okonkwo during his boy Ezeudu’s funeral.
During the salute, Okonkwo’s gat accidentally busts a cap in Ezeudu’s son!
So Okonkwo and his family get booted outta town for 7 years!
While he gone,
a bunch of bible-thumpin crackers roll up to Umuofia, tryna convert homies all ova town.
Soon, they got a whole new government up in dis piece!
Damn!
When Okonkwo gets back home, he all like, “Man, who are these honkies?!”
So, he and his tribal leader homies roll up to a church and stomp dat sh*t to the ground.
“This is our turf, suckas!”
After gettin thrown in the slammer for a bit,
Okonkwo rallies errybody to wage war against them imperialist fools.
When one of dem oppressors steps to, Okonkwo takes that fool out.
But when he tries to get his posse to revolt against these haters, like all good Umuofians do,
they all back down like a buncha ol' b*tches.
Later, the top dog white man rolls up to Okonkwo’s crib to take him downtown.
But when he walk in, Okonkwo hangin by a noose.
Fool took himself out for good. Damn.
First thing you best recognize is that lil Achebe came up in Nigeria after it was taken over by da west.
Even though this book definitely got beef with the empire that did Igbo culture straight dirty,
good art don’t just give one perspective.
See, Okonkwo reppin all the social values of the ol' Igbo society.
He clockin mad courage, goes hard for da hood, and don’t let no candy-ass emotions get in his way.
And for bein the realest brotha on the streets, the elders trust him to raise Ikemefuna.
But it ain’t all gravy for Okonkwo.
When time comes to kill Ikemefuna,
Okonkwo knows bein the one to shank his boy gonna piss off the Goddess real bad.
But he ain’t no lazy coward like his daddy, and fool desperate to prove it.
After Ikemefuna dead, it’s just one tragedy after another, til Okonkwo offs himself.
Even his main man, Obierika, tell him dat was a messed up thing to do.
"If I were you I would have stayed at home. What you have done will not please the Earth.
It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out whole families."
Ain’t no doubt that those crooked-ass imperialists took a big ol' dump on Africa.
But like we can see with Okonkwo icin his boy and disrespecting the goddess,
maybe things started fallin apart before they got there.
Just like Yeats preachin in the poem that opens the book, whether it be Igbo culture, western culture,
or whateverthef**k — time is the enemy.
And as time goes on, any culture can fall apart.
But you know what don’t fall apart? These sick-ass threads you can get from my store.
See y’all next week, playboy!