Did you know that there are approximately 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide? Can you imagine all the different ways in which we all use the internet? Obasanjo’s Internet is our interview series where we speak to some of our internet favourites on how they relate to the internet and what it means to them and their work. This week, the founder of Bridges Entertainment and COO of Street Souk, Levi Adewunmi talks to us about how he uses Obasanjo’s Internet.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
I say a prayer. That’s always the first thing.
How do you use the internet for work or pleasure?
It’s a mix of both. It’s majorly work for me cause the kind of work that I do is mostly cloud work. I communicate with people from different parts of the world via Zoom, Google Meet, WhatsApp, you know, even just regular phone calls or whatever.
Also, I watch a lot of YouTube series, Netflix, Amazon Prime, all that type of stuff. At the end of the day, it’s a mix of both, but it’s more work than pleasure for me.
What moment or episode in your life would you say captured the essence of the internet?
I think generally it should be the COVID era. I think the internet played a major role in making sure people stayed alive cause I feel like if we didn’t have the internet during COVID, it would have been such madness and people would probably have lost their minds.
Your favourite social media platform and why?
If I were to pick from the social media messaging platforms or apps that we have, I would say WhatsApp because it helps me get a lot of work done. We have a lot of group chats, personal convos, etc. on WhatsApp. In terms of entertainment, pleasure, and some level of work as well, I’d say Instagram. So between Instagram and WhatsApp. If I were to scale it, I’d say WhatsApp over Instagram.
I’ve never heard someone respond to that question with WhatsApp.
I really love my job and I derive so much joy from doing it the majority of what I have to do is basically on WhatsApp. People texting you on WhatsApp, calling you on WhatsApp, or a bunch of different group chats on WhatsApp, you know, where you’re just kind of having conversations etc. So, yeah, WhatsApp does it for me.
What was the last meme you saved?
Do you know what the funny thing is? When I was in uni, they used to call me Meme Lord. I always had a lot of memes on my phone, but since life became serious, I’ve used way less. There’s something called stickers now that I use. I mean, I’m sounding old, but I’m not that old. Stickers are a thing for me and that’s just cause it’s easy for me to access the stickers. I just go in my WhatsApp and I find the stickers in it.
Do you remember the first time something you posted went viral? What was it? How did it make you feel?
That’s a very interesting conversation. So at the time, I was working with Peruzzi. I was kinda sorta managing Peruzzi before he signed to DMW. He had put out a record called Red Handed. During that period I had travelled and on my trip, I was listening to that song and it was such a vibe. I just went in the shower, and there was a big ass mirror there, so I took a shirtless picture. I’m kind of ripped, so I posted it on my Instagram with the caption “I be the nigga wey go ginger you” and it went bonkers on Instagram. It went crazy on Twitter too, like people were wearing clothes for me. They were like, “Why are you showing your nakedness to the world?
It didn’t make me feel any type of way to be fair. I already understood what social media was about, so I didn’t necessarily feel any sort of way, I just enjoyed the fun side. Obviously, there were people who kind of made it very religious and they were like, “Will the son of God be putting his body all out on social media” and I was like, “Huh, what are you talking about?” But yeah. I saw the fun side of it.
What’s the most outrage you have ever generated over something you posted? How did you react to it?
So the thing is I’m not very controversial and that’s cause I just like to be in my business by myself. So I don’t think I’ve ever really posted anything that has caused a stir or resulted in an outrage. I mean, I’ll probably say this same picture I posted, where people had very diverse opinions about the post and what it signified.
What rules do you live by on the internet?
Mind your business. There will always be trolls, so don’t give your energy to the wrong people cause it’s just a waste of time, and yeah, just do what you’re there to do. If you’re there to enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself. If you’re there to find babes, like a lot of people do, find babes. If you’re there to find guys, find guys. If you’re there to work, do your work. If you just wanna have fun, do it. I don’t think there’s a serious rule that I live by.
One of the things I just know not to do is, not mind my business. I always mind my business cause it just keeps you out of messy situations.
What is your guiltiest online pleasure?
So there’s this new crop of comedians that prank people, right? They do silly prank videos where there’s a guy – I’m not very sound in Yoruba. I’m not a fluent speaker but I understand it to a very large extent – so there’s a particular guy that makes his skits in Yoruba and English and he pranks people with the darndest things like he does some voodoo-type style thing. Some dumb shit.
And the other thing I’ll say would be my guilty pleasure is I just watch a lot of animals. I love watching dogs and cats, stupid themselves or just be daft. You know, animals just being animals really. So yeah, those are two things I would consider my guilty pleasures.
What’s your favourite emoji and why?
My favourite emoji is probably the crying emoji. I mean, either the crying emoji or the laughing emoji. When certain things are funny, I use the crying emoji cause it’s just a bit too funny.
YouTube or TikTok? Which do you prefer and why?
Well, I don’t use TikTok at all. I only use TikTok when my partner sends me something on TikTok and says, “Oh, go check it” or maybe one of my talents sends me something and tells me to check it out. So YouTube 5 million times over TikTok.
Which Nigerian creator do you think the world needs to see and hear more of?
I think Shank is, really, really good. I think he makes very interesting content, and I feel like he needs to get more recognition for the good work he does cause he does a lot of cool shit. Same with this YouTube platform called Cruise Gang. Cruise Gang makes some really dope content. And of course my guy, my brother Asher. He makes some of the best content you’d find or see on social media. So yeah, absolutely those 3 people.
Who is the coolest person you follow and the coolest person who follows you?
Just cause I can’t think too much about it right now, I’ll say Rema cause Rema is actually very cool. And the coolest person that follows me would be Davido.
What is your favourite Nigerian podcast?
Is this a safe space? That’s my home girl Osas. That podcast is fire. I don’t know if Korty’s thing is a podcast but yeah, I like Korty’s thing as well. I dabble in a little bit of Culture Custodian and WeTalkSound. You guys put out some interesting content sometimes. Amd Curiosity Made Me Ask.
Have you ever hooked up with someone you met online?
I have, in Uni. Did I regret it? Honestly, I don’t remember it. It was just one of dem ones. It wasn’t that monumental for me to hold on to.
5 people you’d love to see answer these questions
YKB. Tiwa Pearl, Asher, Osas, Shank.
Read previous Obasanjo’s Internet entries here
