244 african appropriations
this is despite the fact that they can be edited and deleted by the channel
owners—that is, the musicians.
Most of the almost four hundred comments on W hite Nigerian’s two
earliest YouTube clips, in which he talks in pidgin English and Hausa
about his life in London, are positive and encourage him to continue post-
ing similar clips. Some even suggest he should try starting a career in the
Nigerian video film industry. A number of comments are almost anthro-
pological (and reminiscent of the nature-versus-nurture debate), as they
point out that W hite Nigerian questions the whole notion of “race.” A
certain MrDejoo1 thus suggests: “Now, this is an evidence that the only
difference between a black man and white man is culture. Not necessarily
the color. If you raise a white man in a black man’s household, he would act
like a black man, vice versa. Let the white supremacy fools see this video,
perhaps, they would think twice.”^13 User dlfunky1 adds: “Colour is not
the only thing that defines people, it’s culture and upbringing too,” and
pickerpiker draws on a computer metaphor to conceptualize the relation-
ship between “race” and “culture”:
This guy just prove say human being na [= is] like computer without an op-
erating system when they are born, they only become whoever depending
on the kind of os installed on them, whether windows or linux or e.t.c. oh
boy na naija os dey your head, no wahala i dey enjoy u [There is a Nigerian
operating system in your head, no problem, I really enjoyed your clip].For a certain Vivian, W hite Nigerian (Mohammed Jammal) also displays
a rare, but ideal combination of form and content: “U ar[e] the kind of
guy am lookin for all this time a white guy in 9ja [= Nigerian] body i will
like 2 know u.” Still others discuss the nature of his whiteness, raising the
question of what kind of European he is or whether he is one at all. Some
demand information about his parents’ backgrounds. One commenter
even asks whether he is an albino, proving that this explanation has also
gained some currency beyond Tanzania. Lastly, a certain Dog Heart urges
other users not to take W hite Nigerian’s stage name at face value: “W hen
will Nigerians stop calling Arabs and Indians whites? This guy is a proper
Syrian or Palestinian who lives in Lagos or P[ort] H[arcourt] or Warri do-
ing all kinda bad business. He prolly was born in Nigeria.” Contrary to this
rather negative judgment that draws on common Nigerian stereotypes