Nigerian super singer David Adeleke, professionally know as Davido, has narrated how he was subjected to racism as a black kid who grew up in the United States of America.
Davido says he had a hard time in college as he was jeered by the white students over his skin colour.
The singer opened up about his racist experience as a teenager during a chat with the Recording Academy, the body governing the Grammy Awards.
In the interview, the Risky crooner stated that he went to school in Alabama which was a predominantly white state, and that being an African in a university that had only 13% black people was not easy.
However, Davido added that being black and living in a predominantly white community at that time gave him the opportunity to understand how both parties think.
He said: “It’s crazy, because I’m from both America and Africa, so I know how both sides think. I went to school in Alabama. I went to college at 15. I was very young. And Alabama was a predominantly white state. So being an African kid in a university where it’s 13% Black people, it’s amazing. It’s not easy.
“I had to learn a lot of the things when I was like, “Yo, why you look at me like that?” And not even just being black, being African. They used to ask me questions like, “Yo, how’d you get to America?” I’m like, “What you mean? I came on a plane.” “Oh, y’all got airports?”
He went on to talk about how Africans are changing the narrative through music and other channels.
“Now every American wants to go to Africa. Everybody wants to know where they’re from. So it’s good to see the transition from not being appreciated, to being appreciated right now. Even with fashion. You got designers that making African print fashion, so it’s not only music. The culture is being felt everywhere.”
Davido is an American-born Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He was born in Atlanta, US, and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. Davido made his music debut as a member of the music group KB International.
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