*Theme Music by Luke Santy plays*

00:00.25
Nandi K
Excuse me. Welcome back to Right Quick.

00:07.37
Naransi
A bite-sized pop culture conversation with your favorite queer unfriendly black hotties.

00:14.06
Nandi K
We're unfriendly today because children are still being left behind every day. I'm Nandi Kay.

00:20.50
Naransi
And I'm Naransi. Today and every day until November, I'm unfriendly because daylight savings time stole an hour of precious sleep from me.

00:28.92
Nandi K
Oh my God. That's another thing that's been going on this week, contributing to my many displeases. I forgot about that.

00:36.02
Naransi
Listen, like nobody can drive for two weeks after daylight savings time. They're all over the road. I'm irritable. i time theft, time theft.

00:47.00
Nandi K
Yeah, is it is, and it's also capitalism, which I hate. ah Listeners, you might notice that there's a new voice coming at you. We have our first ever guest, unfriendly Black hottie, Naransi, which they're a wonderful friend of the pod, family, I dare even say.

01:09.43
Nandi K
Naransi, introduce yourself.

01:09.99
Naransi
You are so sweet.

01:13.28
Nandi K
Tell the listeners a little bit about you.

01:16.41
Naransi
All right. Well, I am a creative director for a couple of shows here in Austin, Texas. I'm a poet, a writer. i do a lot of crafts and things like that. My corporate side, we won't talk about.

01:34.81
Naransi
But no, no, only creative.

01:35.00
Nandi K
No, we don't have corporate jobs here. No one here is employed. Yeah, no one here is like employed.

01:39.61
Naransi
a

01:41.65
Nandi K
That's a big tenet.

01:43.15
Naransi
We're all like Tommy. We have no job.

01:44.79
Nandi K
Yeah, exactly.

01:45.66
Naransi
No, no.

01:46.83
Nandi K
Exactly. No one's ever seen us at work, even though apparently somehow we support ourselves.

01:51.26
Naransi
no

01:51.37
Aaron Rand Freeman
you

01:51.93
Naransi
now

01:54.75
Nandi K
Well, I'm really excited to have Naransi here because today we're going to talk about reading together and we're actually going to talk about a book we read.

02:04.95
Nandi K
And this is like a whole new thing that we've never done on Right Quick. Obviously, this is a pro-literacy podcast.

02:12.73
Naransi
Please read.

02:12.76
Nandi K
Y'all know we love people to read.

02:14.94
Naransi
Please read.

02:16.30
Nandi K
We're well-read. But Narancia and I just finished up a book last night that we felt like we needed to talk about. But first, let's talk about reading together. do you read with other people often?

02:29.54
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

02:31.09
Naransi
Not super often. Like I have a couple of book clubs that I'm in based on like my community commitments and stuff like that. But when you suggested that we actually start reading together, i was like, oh, what a wonderful way for our friendship to grow and blossom.

02:47.78
Nandi K
Yes.

02:48.00
Naransi
And I have just been ah so grateful to be able to text you what the hell while we were reading this book.

02:55.61
Nandi K
No, that's the best part. I feel like since I really ramped my reading back up last year, the main thing was I wanted to talk to people about the stuff I was reading. And so this was really fun. and i had no, I didn't have a lot of idea what was gonna happen in this book, but I know that this book made people feel a lot of things.

03:24.52
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

03:25.08
Nandi K
And you asked me to send you a list of stuff that i planned on reading and this is why you chose it. Why did you choose this book, and I'll introduce it after, out of all the books that I sent.

03:36.47
Naransi
So the title was intriguing to start with. Like, oh, like that's not something that most books would lead with.

03:46.94
Naransi
And then I kind of read the synopsis and I was like, how are they going to tie that to what's going on here? Like, what is, how is this theme? And then the theme was just there and growing and blossoming under everything. And I was like, oh my God. Um,

04:02.14
Naransi
so powerfully layered, so very, very multidimensional. I still feel a way about it, having finished it.

04:09.40
Nandi K
Same.

04:11.45
Naransi
And like, Ahmed's ass.

04:16.15
Nandi K
Yo. Yeah, so today we are talking about Little Rot, a 2024 novel by Akweke Emezi about a group of friends in a Nigerian city who become entangled in a web of sex, lies, and corruption after a party goes wrong, forcing them to confront a dangerous underworld and the consequences of their choices.

04:39.37
Nandi K
The story follows a separated couple, Aima and Kalu, and two sex workers, Ola and Suraya, and a friend, Ahmed, as their lives intersect in a dark, thrilling narrative exploring themes of trauma, power, and morality.

04:58.65
Naransi
Ahmed is a bad friend.

05:02.10
Nandi K
Yeah, I mean...

05:03.15
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

05:05.83
Nandi K
Let's start there because the first thing I have is about relationships and the most prominent relationship in this book, I would say, is the one between Kalu and Ahmed.

05:17.56
Naransi
That's true. Like, it's very central. Like, they give you this framing in the beginning where, you know, like, they're talking about Aima and the fact that they're, you know, breaking up and all of this other stuff and they were supposed to be so tight.

05:22.97
Nandi K
Yeah.

05:29.72
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

05:31.91
Naransi
But the actual central relationship, I think, is actually Ahmed and Kalu because they have history, they have understanding.

05:37.78
Nandi K
Yeah.

05:42.14
Naransi
um What they don't have with each other is, like, full honesty and vulnerability. And that leads to some really, really unfortunate circumstances as things go on. I guess we should just put a spoiler alert here because we have to talk about all the mess.

06:01.86
Naransi
There's so much mess.

06:02.10
Nandi K
Yeah, so if you want to read the book and you don't want spoilers, you should stop listening now. Go read the book and come back. This is a podcast.

06:12.72
Nandi K
This will be here. You can come back at any time. But we are going to be spoiling the book. We're going to be talking in detail about circumstances and situations that happen.

06:20.98
Naransi
na

06:25.06
Nandi K
So this is your opportunity to pause go get it, read it, come back shocked like we were and listen to us kind of dig in because, yeah.

06:37.66
Naransi
Yeah, it's going to destroy you, but in a really beautiful way.

06:42.33
Nandi K
Yeah, and yeah, their relationship is so sad because I think I always think about men like Kalu and Ahmed are quote unquote good men in some ways and they kind of show how like mind you the bar is low and I'm using that low bar right but like they would be seen as yeah exactly

07:08.92
Naransi
Yes, like the bars in hell They would be, they would be seen As good men Yes, yes

07:12.76
Nandi K
They were seen as TM, good man TM. But it shows like how flawed even the best man is, how trapped the best man is. I mean, two best friends who literally have experiences between each other that they've never spoken about.

07:34.66
Nandi K
There's a tragedy in that to me.

07:38.26
Naransi
There is, and it's so interesting because one of the things that this narrative does really well is show us queer relationships of all kinds.

07:48.31
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

07:49.17
Naransi
You know, the ones that are out and proud, the ones that are undercover, the people that are in denial. um You know, Aima is at least bisexual, but also like, this is sinful.

07:56.07
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

08:02.82
Naransi
I've got to go pray the sin away after spending however many hours having orgasms. It's just...

08:07.25
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

08:09.62
Naransi
it's very nuanced in its conflict. And the fact that Kalu and Ahmed had these very intimate interactions only to never speak about them again, you know, like one very specific intimate interaction, and then to just bury that under layers of faux heterosexuality,

08:28.77
Nandi K
Yeah.

08:36.70
Naransi
um It's tragic. And I think one of the things that has stuck with me in this narrative, and we talked a little bit about it, most stories where there's a ton of conflict or there's a lot of drama or mess can be fixed if everybody were just open and honest.

08:40.79
Nandi K
yeah

08:58.87
Nandi K
Right.

08:59.35
Naransi
That is not the case here. Honesty fixes absolutely nothing.

09:01.88
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

09:05.04
Naransi
Kalu goes in and in a situation he put himself into, literally blows up everything because, and here I guess we put some kind of like,

09:10.01
Nandi K
Right.

09:14.30
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

09:19.54
Naransi
Trigger warning, maybe, because this has themes of child sexual abuse in it.

09:20.86
Nandi K
Yeah.

09:25.40
Nandi K
Yeah.

09:26.07
Naransi
um The scenario is that they are at a sex party. Ahmed runs these quite often enough that Kalu is going to these while supposedly being a faithful boyfriend.

09:32.27
Nandi K
Right.

09:37.83
Naransi
We'll get to that. later

09:38.65
Nandi K
right

09:39.45
Naransi
um And while he's at the sex party after having broken up with his not fiance because he doesn't want to propose and he doesn't want to get married, um is told by one of the party patrons that there are girls there that are basically being molested, sexually assaulted.

09:56.67
Naransi
And Kalu decides, oh, I've got to see this for myself, busts in through the door of a private suite, uses the password that Ahmed gave him and discovers that this is in fact happening.

10:08.08
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

10:10.80
Naransi
And in a moment of blind rage, punches the man that is currently on top of the ah seemingly underage girl. And that is when everything completely blows up.

10:23.38
Naransi
Nandi, I need to hear you say daddy-o so I don't hear it in the nineteen fifty s way.

10:28.37
Nandi K
Daddy-O, Daddy-O, Okinosho.

10:30.39
Naransi
thank you yes

10:32.50
Nandi K
Oh, man. Okay, so before, i don't want to talk about Okinosho, but I'm thinking about you talking about how honesty would not solve it. But I can say, if Kalu was honest at the airport with Aima...

10:56.92
Nandi K
about what was what like hey I don't want to get married even if he didn't really tell her fully why but it was like I never want to get married you should go off and be without me instead of the thing he did which was like you don't have to do this you don't have to go kind of like making her think yes leaving that door open I think that's the one place that possibly

11:18.65
Naransi
Leaving that door open a little bit. It's interesting.

11:28.18
Nandi K
could have at least taken part of the story to not devastate some people. Mainly, I say, Aima and Ijendu, which, want to say, the moment between Aima and Ijendu mirrors the Ahmed and Kalu situation, even though we find out about it later,

11:40.72
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

11:45.60
Naransi
Ooh.

11:52.78
Naransi
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

11:54.03
Nandi K
than what happened, which man, when I got to the end of the first chapter and that was the vibes, I really thought I was in for a different kind of ride.

12:04.82
Nandi K
I was like, ooh, this is sexy.

12:07.74
Naransi
And it was, but then wrong.

12:10.65
Nandi K
Yeah, I was like, oh, this is sexy. I was like, okay, okay, they're going home together. They're hot.

12:16.89
Naransi
reform

12:17.29
Nandi K
I used to do X back in the day. It really took me back. I was like, yes, and then it immediately took a turn.

12:21.80
Naransi
mess

12:27.75
Nandi K
Yeah.

12:28.50
Naransi
And Kalu would have had to not go to that party. Like, that's the only way that it stops that giant chain reaction.

12:32.22
Nandi K
Yeah.

12:35.95
Naransi
I don't even know if telling Aima solves it.

12:36.50
Nandi K
Yeah.

12:42.35
Naransi
Because he had said, like, oh, why are we bowing to outside pressure? We have our own time, da-da-da-da-da.

12:47.16
Nandi K
Yeah, but he wasn't saying, I don't want to get married.

12:47.19
Naransi
I don't think he

12:50.04
Nandi K
Because I think if he would have been like, I don't want to get married and close the door, Aima would have went to London.

12:54.87
Naransi
Completely...

12:57.16
Nandi K
I think Ima would have got on the plane.

12:57.37
Naransi
She should have stayed in London. She should have stayed with her parents the whole time. She she should now she should never have gone anywhere.

13:01.72
Nandi K
That. Never shoulda came back.

13:04.70
Naransi
No, no, she should have stayed.

13:05.88
Nandi K
Agreed.

13:06.74
Naransi
She should have stayed with her parents. She shouldn't have been anywhere near any of this because I was starting to get frustrated with her. Like, how are you this naive? How?

13:15.19
Nandi K
Yeah.

13:15.90
Naransi
How?

13:16.09
Nandi K
Also, Ijendu starts laying the seeds of Dadio in chapter one as well. Because when the friends come over, she's like, oh, I have to go see him tomorrow.

13:23.32
Naransi
Mm hmm.

13:26.66
Nandi K
I have to have lunch with him.

13:27.42
Naransi
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

13:28.79
Nandi K
And I was like, oh, but mind you, having no idea. We have no idea. So Kalu buss in punches Dadd-o, who he does not know is Daddy-O yet.

13:33.59
Naransi
We have no idea.

13:41.69
Naransi
No, everybody's in masks.

13:42.27
Nandi K
He's drunk. Yeah. Everybody's covered up in masks because this is one of those parties. People don't show their face.

13:47.11
Naransi
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

13:48.69
Nandi K
Him and Ahmed have this argument where Kalu pretends that this is the first time he's considered the fact that Ahmed might be having underaged young girls at these parties. Yeah.

14:10.20
Naransi
Again, Kalu, we don't believe you. You need more people.

14:12.54
Nandi K
We don't believe you.

14:13.18
Naransi
Mm-mm.

14:15.40
Nandi K
We don't believe you, Kalu.

14:17.34
Naransi
No.

14:17.46
Nandi K
You've been going to these parties and...

14:19.45
Naransi
For how long? Cheating on your girlfriend for how long? And she's thinking, oh, he's the best. He never does this stuff. He's hanging out with Ahmed and their best friends.

14:26.76
Nandi K
He's never been unfaithful.

14:31.06
Naransi
And no, girl, he's in love with Ahmed. Ha, ha, ha.

14:34.68
Nandi K
PURR! oh after he's drug out of this room, because obviously you can't punch your best friend's paying customers.

14:43.48
Naransi
Right.

14:43.58
Nandi K
He's drug out of the room. And that's when we first see the glimpse of the true closeness of Ahmed and Kalu because Kalu is enraged.

14:52.11
Naransi
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

14:55.62
Nandi K
He's angry. He's crying. And they have this very tender moment of physical touch as Kalu confronts Ahmed about having underage girls.

15:05.66
Nandi K
And Ahmed is like, you're crazy if you think you have some moral high ground over me.

15:09.42
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

15:14.30
Nandi K
This is my job. She gets paid amazing. I make sure she's safe. I've taken care of this girl, blah, blah, blah, because Ahmed considers himself some type of savior for this young girl as well. Whew.

15:29.12
Naransi
Mm-hmm. The savior complex that these men have, all of them, all of them.

15:35.96
Nandi K
And it's only the men who have these savior complexes I'm just thinking of right now.

15:42.28
Naransi
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

15:43.00
Nandi K
None of the women in this book, not even the young girl, thinks in this kind of savior, let me save, save, save someone.

15:43.54
Naransi
No.

15:49.46
Naransi
No.

15:57.59
Naransi
and almost like an objectification kind of saving.

16:01.56
Nandi K
Yeah. Yeah.

16:02.70
Naransi
Ola was definitely like, you've got to be kidding me. You want me to do what? yes like

16:11.70
Nandi K
Now, let's talk about the relationship between Ola Ahmed.

16:11.96
Naransi
it it it

16:18.46
Naransi
earth nine

16:18.77
Nandi K
No, sorry, that's Suraya.

16:20.71
Naransi
Soraya, yeah.

16:20.86
Nandi K
so So there's Suraya and Ola, who are the two sex workers. They separately have come to New Lagos, which is the fictional Nigerian city that this happens in. They come to New Lagos on a job. They're sex workers.

16:38.23
Nandi K
They fly there. The job is Ola's job, but she doesn't want to fly to New Lagos by herself. It convinces Suraya to come. This is Suraya's first time coming back to New Lagos since she left, we don't know how long ago, but as a child.

16:54.10
Naransi
As a child, I think. Yeah, yeah.

16:58.14
Nandi K
And she doesn't really want to go, but she doesn't want to go without. She doesn't want Ola to go by herself in his first class.

17:04.15
Naransi
a he

17:05.90
Nandi K
She'll have her own room and such and such and such.

17:07.67
Naransi
okay

17:10.78
Nandi K
What do you think about their relationship from the start?

17:15.96
Naransi
From the start, it's interesting, right? Because they have the kind of closeness that I have seen in people who do sex work or strippers or that kind of thing where your job is to be objectified basically.

17:18.43
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

17:29.94
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

17:33.20
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

17:33.51
Naransi
um And it doesn't feel tender at first, but it does feel very practical and protective. um Almost like, you know how you might fuss and tumble with your siblings, but if somebody pulls up on both of you, you're going to stop.

17:41.24
Nandi K
Yes.

17:49.46
Nandi K
Exactly. It's very much like that.

17:50.58
Naransi
And yes, it's very like that. It is not, um conversely, like Ahmed and Kalu, who had like this very like,

18:01.44
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

18:01.85
Naransi
Tender embrace, Kalu is crying, Ahmed is like really shaken up by all this stuff and starts making different choices based on what his friend has said, you know, like, oh, maybe I do need to take care of these girls better, maybe I need to do something.

18:18.32
Naransi
All the while feeling like he's kind of a fool because I've not done any of this. And, you know, but when you think about Suraya and Ola, it's like, come, you're going to have all these lovely drinks.

18:29.92
Naransi
You can lay here. You'll get beautiful Instagram pictures. And it's all on me.

18:33.97
Nandi K
Yep.

18:34.54
Naransi
It's all on me.

18:35.45
Nandi K
Yep.

18:35.46
Naransi
And so it's almost it's it's very sibling like versus the the intimacy that we see on the other side.

18:43.41
Nandi K
Mmhmm.

18:46.30
Nandi K
Yeah. woof It's wild to think about like that kind of ah the saviorism coming from the side of the men. Because I think even when we look at like Okinosho, Okinosho who is the biggest religious figure in Nigeria, of course, he's a pastor.

18:57.33
Naransi
hu

19:04.96
Nandi K
He seems like he's a prosperity pastor. He lives in a massive compound

19:07.51
Naransi
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

19:09.49
Nandi K
Ola, who is a trans woman, is the person that Ola and Soraya have flown to see, Daddy-o Okinosho.

19:17.17
Naransi
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

19:18.33
Nandi K
And he, as we said, is the person who was ah with the 17-year-old girl when Kalu came and threw her on the ground.

19:29.70
Nandi K
He also thinks he's saving everyone. He's like, “only God can judge”. And, you know...

19:35.57
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

19:36.16
Nandi K
ah And he's a man of God and this and this and that. But that does take me to like the theme of Rot. Because since this book is called Little Rot,

19:44.73
Naransi
h

19:48.57
Nandi K
I think the first time it comes, you start seeing it happen. you don't I don't necessarily know that that was the ride. I thought they were just having a sexy time in the club.

20:01.50
Nandi K
Two friends getting so getting high and then being like, yeah, we're friends, but we can rub coochies. And I liked that.

20:09.18
Naransi
I mean, that's very friendly to me.

20:09.21
Nandi K
But that, in fact...

20:11.90
Naransi
Like that's very friendly.

20:11.93
Nandi K
It is friendly to me as well.

20:13.46
Naransi
Yes.

20:13.69
Nandi K
And we're not saying you can't do that as friends. We actually do advocate for for friendly cooochie rubbin you right now.

20:17.88
Naransi
I advocate for genital contact between friends, consensual genital contact between friends.

20:20.81
Nandi K
Yeah. Yes. It's very important. Absolutely.

20:23.84
Naransi
Yes, yes.

20:24.06
Nandi K
Yes. But that to me is like the first, looking back, it's the first sign of shit not being right.

20:36.41
Nandi K
Because at the end of the day, whether Aima is repressed or whatever, that's not her being who has she has shown herself in the past, who she is or whatever, whatever I'm trying to say.

20:41.24
Naransi
he

20:48.09
Naransi
or who she thinks of herself as it's almost like if you want to call it rot the rot was already there because she talks about um coming back to new lagos and basically like taking god off a shelf or something like that like she had put got off on a shelf while she was in the States and that that freewheeling life that she had with Kalu where they were just kind of sleeping together, being boyfriend and girlfriend, that that wasn't her.

20:49.21
Nandi K
Yeah. Yes.

20:57.82
Nandi K
Come on.

21:07.58
Nandi K
Yeah. Come on.

21:20.92
Naransi
She was a good girl, whatever good girl means.

21:23.70
Nandi K
yeah and

21:24.78
Naransi
um But in framing yourself like that, you now have to cut away all the things that external forces tell you are bad.

21:35.06
Naransi
And to be clear, Daddy-O does not necessarily care if you are um gay, straight or whatever.

21:43.48
Nandi K
Nope.

21:44.20
Naransi
When we first see him, he's having sex with a young young man in full view of the entire party.

21:48.86
Nandi K
Mmhmm. Yep.

21:51.30
Naransi
He brought a a very young man there.

21:51.96
Nandi K
Yep.

21:54.48
Nandi K
Yep.

21:54.72
Naransi
And then later, you know, we see him with a young woman. And so Daddy-O was like, only God can judge.

21:57.98
Nandi K
Mmhmm.

22:01.64
Naransi
And when he's saying that he's a man of God, I truly think of that in like, the capitalistic sense, he is a man.

22:09.34
Nandi K
Yes.

22:10.07
Naransi
He is a man who has like picked up the mantle of God and is using that for his prosperity practice.

22:10.64
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

22:17.94
Naransi
And in reality, he doesn't really care what sins you have on this earth as long as you respect him as being of God, which means show me reverence, show me deference, show me respect.

22:18.02
Nandi K
Come on.

22:27.45
Nandi K
Yeah.

22:28.94
Naransi
And the respect is right, yes,

22:29.24
Nandi K
Call me Daddy-o.

22:32.41
Nandi K
Everybody got to call him Dadd-o, too.

22:32.50
Naransi
Yes. Everybody. Everybody has to call him daddy. That's so weird.

22:38.46
Nandi K
so fucking weird i was like oh my god he yeah and like him be it makes me think of like david in the bible because you know how they be like David was a man after god's own heart but like David was the nigga who was like kill him god that was like something that he literally prayed. David was also gay

22:40.10
Naransi
Skeevy.

22:54.81
Naransi
Right. He's like, I'm gonna.

22:58.55
Nandi K
He also killed the kang.

22:59.02
Naransi
hmm. Mm hmm.

23:00.95
Nandi K
He also, you know, killed Goliath, which they try to frame that as good. But how do we really know? You know, like, we don't, we weren't there.

23:07.35
Naransi
We weren't there. We don't know. We don't know.

23:09.69
Nandi K
We don't fucking know. And his daddy was a hoe. So, like...

23:13.18
Naransi
Yes. And so he's a hoe because he just learned it. Just...

23:16.76
Nandi K
Oh, well, he was a hoe as well. He stole someone's wife and then sent him to the front lines to be killed.

23:20.57
Naransi
Literally...

23:23.85
Nandi K
Right. And so that's what I think of. And I think but when people say man of God to me, I immediately think like, oh, you mean like David?

23:32.34
Naransi
And he really is.

23:32.60
Nandi K
And I'm like, that nigga ain't shit.

23:33.38
Naransi
he really is. no no.

23:34.88
Nandi K
David ain't shit. Um,

23:36.54
Naransi
Like, look at look at all this sin Look at all this sin to the rafters.

23:40.18
Nandi K
yeah yeah and he was yeah and the absence of homophobia from Daddy-O was like because so ahmed after all this shit happens at this party he finds out that okinosho has put a bounty on kalu's head he's stressed out he goes to a queer party after he's been up all night

23:41.66
Naransi
But sure.

24:04.41
Nandi K
has sex with this famous actor in a room who is also a man okay i met gay we been new but this is the first this is the first time we actually see him actually being intimate with a man we've seen him be with a woman before he's very rough with women i guess he kind of the same way with men i guess

24:08.69
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

24:14.39
Naransi
Very closeted, yes.

24:27.67
Naransi
He kind of is. You know what? I think he's rough with everybody except potentially Kalu.

24:31.35
Nandi K
yeah Kalu

24:32.87
Naransi
Because he is, he takes out all his aggression, all his sadness, all his anger in the sex with whoever he's having sex with.

24:37.16
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

24:40.51
Nandi K
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

24:43.86
Naransi
And the only person that sees it and kind of pushes it back in his face, which turns him on even more, Suraya.

24:51.40
Nandi K
Oof.

24:52.30
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

24:52.92
Nandi K
baby so Ahmed goes to the sex party he has sex with this actor later in the day he's hanging out with Suraya who we find out this is the first time where we kind of see where these stories car start to connect in Suraya and and Ahmed have this kind of electric chemistry and we find out that Ahmed had like

25:08.69
Naransi
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

25:16.38
Nandi K
saved her from being tied up in a penthouse by one of her johns and killed the guy um and so they haven't seen each other since then but while they're hanging out ahmed gets a blackmail video from the nigga he was fucking at the club being like if you don't want nobody to see this you need to come and meet me somewhere

25:40.86
Nandi K
And this is where it really where the nail, I would say the nail goes in the coffin right here because Okinosho wants to kill his best friend.

25:40.95
Naransi
mess

25:47.22
Naransi
Yes.

25:51.02
Nandi K
He's trying to figure that shit out. Kalu is on the run. He's found out on his way home from the party that there's a bounty on his head.

25:59.61
Naransi
Right. And he's just like, I just got to get out of here.

26:00.18
Nandi K
Now... Right. He dips. Now Ahmed is being blackmailed by this actor nigga and they pull up to his house. Ahmed is pissed. He's super mad that he had to leave Soraya because he needed to relax after everything happened with Kalu.

26:20.15
Naransi
ah

26:21.02
Nandi K
But that happens. And this is when shit really where I was just like, okay,

26:26.97
Naransi
I was aghast. I was like, oh, this is never going to resolve itself now.

26:32.18
Nandi K
Yeah. Yeah.

26:33.72
Naransi
Like, he tells this actor, come to my house, we'll have a conversation, and gets this man alone and proceeds to tell him, no, we're going have sex again, and then kills him.

26:50.24
Nandi K
Kills him during sex.

26:51.32
Naransi
during sex, chokes him to death and is like, oh, I didn't mean to do that.

26:51.80
Nandi K
Chokes him to death.

26:56.76
Naransi
Oh, that was not, I can't believe that this happened.

26:57.11
Nandi K
I can't believe I did that.

27:01.00
Naransi
And while this is happening, Kalu has like gone on the run, found this guy who will hide him out and is literally hiding him in another sex club, guy guys, a different one.

27:16.79
Nandi K
And then i a and Ijindu pull up to Ahmed's house.

27:21.69
Naransi
I'm a who's supposed to be in London. Supposed to be in London.

27:23.99
Nandi K
Yes. Pull up to Ahmed's house. Ahmed crying in his house, balled up like a little child.

27:35.61
Naransi
With a dead body on the couch.

27:37.27
Nandi K
A dead body of Sean, this actor on the couch. Damn, why he gotta be named Sean?

27:40.56
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

27:41.91
Nandi K
That's so sad.

27:42.74
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

27:43.32
Nandi K
um And yeah, it's not good.

27:43.54
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

27:46.85
Nandi K
And then Aima and Ieindu become accessories to murder.

27:53.11
Naransi
Right. And Ajindu's like, I know exactly what to do. And we're like, wait, wait, wait, wait wait wait what? And let me actually rewind a bit because the reason that they are even there is that Ima just spent the whole morning sick, crying, throwing up.

28:04.31
Nandi K
Because...

28:11.78
Naransi
How could I have ever been a lesbian? I'm a good girl. I swear I am. and

28:16.02
Nandi K
Even though my tissue is nutting unstoppably.

28:18.55
Naransi
ah Right. that That was the sin in me. I'll never do it again, Jesus. Show me the way to purity. um And Ajindu is like, okay, girl, you're a mess. We're going to go over to Ahmed's and get him to talk to Kalu and it's all going to be okay.

28:37.21
Naransi
It's not okay. And can we talk about the fact that Ijendu's brother ah made a play Aima?

28:42.50
Nandi K
Disgusting.

28:44.90
Naransi
Like, oh, you s slept with my sister like that. So I guess you'll sleep with me too, even though that nigga is married. Oh, I wanted to reach through the book and slap him.

28:51.58
Nandi K
That was disgusting.

28:53.77
Naransi
He was only there for like three paragraphs. I hate him.

28:57.25
Nandi K
Hated him so bad.

28:57.62
Naransi
I hate him.

28:58.97
Nandi K
Mind you, at first he was like, you not like this, aima.

28:59.03
Naransi
Hate him.

29:02.13
Nandi K
Like, be you. Like, this is not who you are. Like, just be you. And then he was like, but if you are, yeah!

29:06.30
Naransi
But if you are like this,

29:10.10
Nandi K
Just like a nigga.

29:11.54
Naransi
just like it, just like it. Like, oh, is that coochie communal then? Cause I'll hit it. i could do it better than my sister.

29:18.01
Nandi K
I doubt it, but

29:19.26
Naransi
i doubt it very much.

29:20.73
Nandi K
Man, that... So, Ijendu says, I know what to do. They roll up the actor's body and put it in Ahmed's car, and then Ijendu drives them somewhere.

29:36.41
Nandi K
Baby, why they pull up to Okinosho's house?

29:36.54
Naransi
to see. oh my God. At which point you find out, you realize Ijendu is the goddaughter.

29:49.37
Nandi K
Well, we found out because they had lunch with Ola.

29:53.27
Naransi
They did, but I didn't think that they mentioned who, did they mention Ijendu by name there?

29:53.27
Nandi K
Remember?

29:59.03
Nandi K
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

29:59.86
Naransi
Did they? okay

30:00.57
Nandi K
i was like, this is my godota, Ijendu. I was like, bitch. I was like, did she notice how was sex? Because I was trying to figure out if Ijendu was also a sex worker.

30:11.43
Nandi K
That's the thing I was trying to also figure out in that moment.

30:13.98
Naransi
Mm-hmm. In that moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

30:15.86
Nandi K
Yeah. yeah Yeah, so they pull up and Ijendu says, Daddy-o, please help.

30:26.58
Nandi K
And yeah.

30:28.73
Naransi
And daddy, I was like, help this nigga? This nigga that I already didn't kill because like he's saying it in his head.

30:34.49
Nandi K
Yeah.

30:34.77
Naransi
Like I already didn't kill you when I got punched at your sex party. I'm looking for your boy.

30:43.33
Nandi K
said, well, well, well.

30:45.69
Naransi
What have we here?

30:46.97
Nandi K
What have we here? And the man, let me tell you that punishment, it was Steve. He said, yeah, I don't give a fuck if you killed a fuck it fucking gay nigga.

30:58.20
Nandi K
I don't care if you gay. He said, I don't care about none that.

30:59.94
Naransi
Right. Feels like I don't judge.

31:02.07
Nandi K
But now that you're here, how can you help me bring me together?

31:02.12
Naransi
I'm not worried about that. But, however.

31:07.18
Aaron Rand Freeman
Thank

31:08.66
Naransi
Right. The girl and Kalu.

31:10.78
Nandi K
And Kalu.

31:13.21
Naransi
who is in the fucking wind without his cell phone cause that nigga threw it against the wall and broke it in a fit cause he ain't shit. And I just,

31:27.35
Nandi K
So, Kalu emails Ahmed from the random niggas phone at the s sex club.

31:30.65
Naransi
I just,

31:34.86
Nandi K
Ahmed and Suraya roll up on Kalu to pick him up.

31:40.76
Naransi
have to pay a fee, like however many millions to get in.

31:42.17
Nandi K
Have to pay, like, million rands. Yeah, a million nairas to get in. And... Basically, when... Oh, shit!

31:54.26
Nandi K
At the club!

31:56.28
Naransi
At the club, Kalu is like having sex with the the sex workers at the club. Weren't you just sad about Aima? Why are you so ain't shit?

32:05.81
Aaron Rand Freeman
Bye.

32:06.01
Nandi K
And because of this, Suraya runs into a man who held her hostage when she was but a child and raped her for a really long time.

32:06.06
Naransi
Y'all deserve

32:21.54
Nandi K
She saw him.

32:21.75
Naransi
okay

32:22.78
Nandi K
He yells her name.

32:25.18
Naransi
Her real name, not Suraya, but her actual government name and...

32:27.63
Nandi K
Right. Yep.

32:31.90
Nandi K
She is forced to kill him.

32:34.20
Naransi
Oh, she took her little knife out of her ah thigh sheath and stabbed him all up in the kidneys and then just eased that man down into the booth and said, okay, we got to go because he's going to bleed out.

32:45.35
Nandi K
Yeah.

32:46.83
Naransi
But nobody could tell because they're all in a club. And she's like, no, we got to go. We got to go. And Kalu is dumbass.

32:58.65
Naransi
I just... These men, these good men.

33:01.82
Nandi K
It's not going to end well. As you can hear, it's not going to end well. So they all drive to Okinosho's house

33:12.86
Nandi K
with the girl, with Kalu. They drop Suraya off at her hotel. She's like, bitch, drop me at my whole fucking tail.

33:21.05
Naransi
Like right now, right.

33:21.22
Nandi K
I'm fucking leaving. Ola goes with them. Ola also has to go to Okinosho's house because she made this deal.

33:30.81
Naransi
Because they begged her.

33:32.60
Nandi K
They said, please help.

33:32.63
Naransi
Like, Saraya begged, like, please make sure that my friend Kalu lives. It's very important to me, Ahmed said in a very straight voice. Please don't let anything happen to my best friend that I've never had sexual contact with before.

33:48.12
Naransi
Oh, didn't Ahmed...

33:48.70
Nandi K
was

33:50.81
Naransi
um Like, Kalu tried to call him, that's how he broke the phone. Kalu tried to call him and overheard him overheard him having sex with another man.

33:56.38
Nandi K
Yeah, and the nigga picked up the phone.

34:02.31
Nandi K
The nigga answered the phone laughing, yeah. Or he accidentally answered it and then the nigga started laughing, he hung up again.

34:08.82
Naransi
Right, and he heard, because he was jealous.

34:11.59
Nandi K
But yeah, Ahmed, I mean, Kalu heard and threw his phone against the wall, yep. Jealous. Jealous. Yeah, so they all at Okinosho House. And Okino Show said, Kalu, I have a punishment for you.

34:26.71
Naransi
They said I can't kill you, but here's what we're gonna do.

34:31.85
Nandi K
I can kill you inside.

34:33.53
Naransi
Yes. Since you think you are so high and mighty that you are above it all, here's this girl that you punched me off of, threw me off of, you're gonna have sex with her and I'm gonna see you finish.

34:50.48
Nandi K
Holy fuck.

34:50.74
Naransi
Or I'm gonna kill you. Take your pick. And your friend Ahmed here is gonna watch. And I'm gonna watch. And Ola here can watch.

35:02.20
Naransi
And I need you to be quick about it because I have church in the morning and my wife is waiting for me.

35:07.10
Nandi K
He always had church in the morning. He never liked to stay up late.

35:08.98
Naransi
He always...

35:10.22
Nandi K
He didn't stay up very late. He always had service.

35:12.47
Naransi
No, that's why he said, I need them here by nine, he said.

35:15.45
Nandi K
Yeah.

35:16.25
Naransi
Because he's not trying to stay up late.

35:18.36
Nandi K
Yeah. He has church service.

35:18.87
Naransi
He doesn't want his wife to worry.

35:22.33
Nandi K
Man. Yeah, so that's how the whole shit ended up resolving. In the final scenes, we see Kalu and Ahmed in the car driving, and they are both a new level of broken people, which seeing where they started is almost hard to imagine them becoming more broken people than they already were, but obviously after something like that,

35:48.80
Naransi
After something like that And then to twist the knife Aima's like It's okay Kala She calls She goes It's okay We don't have to get married I was wrong God has shown me that We can just be together In our own timetable And Kalu's like I can't do this We can't be together.

36:05.30
Nandi K
Nope.

36:06.78
Naransi
We can't ever be together. And Ahmed's whole thing is like, you know what?

36:09.74
Nandi K
I'm sorry.

36:11.27
Naransi
You're right. Fuck it. And that's it. That's it.

36:14.43
Nandi K
That's how it ends.

36:15.54
Naransi
That's all you get. And at no point does being honest about having killed a gay man in your house having gotten on the wrong side of the most popular pastor in all of Nigeria at no point does being open and honest about any of this save anybody from any consequences whatsoever at all Ima can't even do anything because she's an accessory to murder she helped roll that man up in a blanket and stuffed him in the trunk and went with them all she can do is go to go to London and we don't even know if she does that

36:37.72
Nandi K
At all.

36:45.30
Nandi K
All she can do is go home, child.

36:51.64
Nandi K
ah She better.

36:53.08
Naransi
She should, she should have been over there. She should never have gone to the States with Kalu, honestly.

36:59.31
Nandi K
I really, this, I think this story really epitomized the like, when we see a story, we're seeing it from that time. There was story before, there was story after.

37:11.79
Nandi K
i definitely wonder like what happens.

37:12.08
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

37:15.39
Nandi K
Like Kalu kills himself, I think eventually, either slowly or quickly.

37:20.06
Naransi
Probably, probably. Right, either through like alcohol or drugs or just no, no.

37:23.86
Nandi K
um Yeah. He can't live with himself.

37:29.24
Naransi
And that's, it doesn't because Ahmed had to watch that and he actually thinks about like, was Kalu actually enjoying that?

37:29.34
Nandi K
Their friendship also doesn't survive.

37:38.75
Naransi
Was he thinking about Aima or was he thinking about the girl underneath him?

37:39.03
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

37:42.20
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

37:43.16
Naransi
And that's messed up. Like there's no way to come back from that.

37:50.68
Nandi K
Yeah, I guess as we wrap up, let's talk about grief and vulnerability versus shame and agency, which I think is like we've set this up throughout our entire conversation of like, unfortunately, not to lean into gender wars as we have no gender and we don't have a so dog in this fight.

37:59.65
Naransi
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

38:09.16
Nandi K
Yeah.

38:09.36
Naransi
Oh, no. I lost my gender in the war ages ago.

38:12.15
Nandi K
It's tough. It's hard out here. But like grief and vulnerability for the men, then there's a shame and agency kind of side for all the women, where i said all the women were the people who actually made choices, save for Aima.

38:21.50
Naransi
For the women. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

38:31.45
Nandi K
Ima's kind of a weak-ass bitch. But all the other women... very active in their own lives, taking control, making decisions.

38:39.15
Naransi
Mm-hmm. And even Aima made choices, but, like, she just wouldn't own them after the fact.

38:40.99
Nandi K
Ahmed and Kalu? Sure. you wouldn't stand on them. Yeah.

38:46.68
Naransi
She wouldn't stand on them. She made that choice. She goes, I'm going to take this little pill. I'm going to go out and party. It's going to be good. And then she tries to yank it all back. No, no, no. Which is why she, in the end, doesn't have.

38:56.54
Nandi K
no, no, no, no.

38:59.52
Naransi
And I think that's also interesting as I'm thinking about it. This good Christian girl has done less good than this trans sex worker who kept this man alive that she didn't even know while being like, you are a trifling hoe, look what you've done to my friend, Suraya.

39:08.94
Nandi K
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

39:17.75
Naransi
And then got that baby girl paid, got her paid so much that she never has to do this again. That little girl was like crying and hugging her like, thank you, like, this is this real?

39:23.52
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

39:28.89
Naransi
I get to be free.

39:30.95
Nandi K
Mm-hmm.

39:31.39
Naransi
And Ola is the one that does that. There's another scene.

39:33.94
Nandi K
The only person who looks out for her.

39:35.38
Naransi
the only The only person looking out for her and then looking out for Suraya. Suraya is like trying to wash the blood off of her in the shower.

39:42.23
Nandi K
Yeah.

39:43.46
Naransi
And Ola is just like, listen, this is not who you are.

39:43.83
Nandi K
No.

39:48.72
Naransi
Your trauma is not who you are. And trying to talk Soraya through this before she just has a complete spiral and starts blaming everybody for the fact that she just murdered a man.

39:59.10
Nandi K
hey

40:01.85
Nandi K
yeah

40:02.20
Naransi
She can never come back to Nigeria if anybody saw her stab that man.

40:04.86
Nandi K
no

40:07.18
Naransi
we It's unclear. They might put two and two together. But like that's that's it for her. She's supposed to be on the next plane.

40:13.72
Nandi K
Yeah.

40:15.71
Naransi
Ola made her promise, don't leave without me. um But Ola is the one that actually saves people. She's the one. She's the one. No one else does any listen.

40:26.46
Nandi K
A Black trans woman on the front lines.

40:30.30
Naransi
And isn't that how it is?

40:33.14
Nandi K
a word well this has been a great episode shout out the author of Akweke Emezi this is my first read of theirs and I cannot wait to read more I know their work gets people talking I know they have a book that has some incestual elements to me that's very Octavia Butlerish and so I want to I want to read more work that makes me uncomfortable um

40:41.62
Naransi
Likewise.

40:45.18
Naransi
Mm-hmm.

40:55.26
Naransi
yes

41:01.66
Nandi K
Yeah, this was great. A big thanks to our producer and audio Adonis, Aaron Rand Freeman.

41:10.45
Naransi
Thank you.

41:14.46
Nandi K
Who are you, Naransi?

41:16.86
Naransi
Um, I am Naransi, and if you would like to find me anywhere, I'm on Instagram at naransi.speaks. That's N-A-R-A-N-S-I dot speaks, like talking. um It's pretty bare over there right now, but a lot of my, like, poetry readings and all the creative stuff that I'm going to be up to over the next year is going to be there, so check it out.

41:43.93
Nandi K
Check it out, y'all. And I'm Nandi Kay. Y'all can find me on Instagram, threads in blue sky at Nandi Kayyy. See y'all next time.