Streets of Lagos
Untitled
Film Properties Pty Ltd
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The
country I’m from,
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there is
no room or space for
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self discovery.
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Everyone
is on the move and everyone is
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struggling
to survive.
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Trying
to find a way to express yourself
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in all
this chaos
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is really hard.
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But that
burning hunger
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to
achieve your aims and your dreams
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is what
keeps everyone going.
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Without
that you can't survive.
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Rollerblading
in Lagos is
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completely
absurd to a lot of people.
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They
feel you can't get anything off it.
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They
think it's just for kids.
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But
rollerblading gives you this sense of freedom
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sense of
the true form of sincerity.
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Every
form that you try to understand
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you
picture it in your mind before you do it.
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Bringing
it to realisation, man,
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that's the
most beautiful thing ever.
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I think it's such a blessing that we have this community.
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Our
culture is so embracive and it's so pure
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that you
can go anywhere in the world
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and know one rollerblader
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and that
could change everything.
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But what
motivated me to come out here
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really
was just the passion, the dedication.
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It was
so impactful I could feel it from
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my house
in California.
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But to
do something like what Daniel's doing out here
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is very special and unique.
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You have to be mentally, physically, spiritually strong
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to
survive here in Lagos.
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You can't just be going and waxing some ledge
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or
grinding some rail or spot
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because
it can come with a price
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really.
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And that
could be, not just money,
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but that
could be your life.
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It's not a
game out here.
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You just
have to be tough man.
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If you're not, the city's gonna
swallow you, bro.
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It's really
hard for you to skate in this city.
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But
irrespective, we still do it.
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Why?
Because we love it.
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We don't let it limit us, we let it shape us
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to
become the bladers that we are.
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You make
do with what you have,
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that's how you
survive here.
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I mean
everything that stays in this city
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is
something that has been built upon
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blood, sweat
and tears.
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They key
drive to this whole mission
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is to
set up a legacy that's never going to end.
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Dan:
"Like pump with it?"
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Brian:
"You pump it, yeah."
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"So,
because if you jump off of it"
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"It'll
make you come away from it"
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I just
wanted to do what I could
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to be a
part of that and
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to be
able to support and help
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in any
form or shape
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that was
an ultimate goal.
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The way
I started this business
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I got a
good contact from Rollerblade.
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I sent
them an email and they replied to me.
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But by
that time they were like, "Oh Nigeria?"
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I told
them that I am different,
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I want
to do business with you, I'm different.
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They
said let's give you a try out.
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What
motivates you to stay doing this?
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Well, I
love this with passion.
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I see
skating in the future for young people.
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I have to do my best for them,
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encouraging
them, telling them this is skating,
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skate
for life, you understand?
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You
skate, you get life.
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That's the
mentality where we need to be at.
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You gotta think about the big picture.
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This is
something that's just the
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literally
the beginning of what's to come.
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Seeing
the youth out here,
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they don't even realise how amazing they are already,
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without
even knowing the history behind it.
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And here
they are
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360ing
over rails and sticks
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and
jumping over tyres and doing all these things
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that
they are creating themselves without even realising
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there's a whole
culture standing right there behind them
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ready to
support them.
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Having
people like Brian Freeman come out to Nigeria
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has not
just given people hope.
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It has
given them that drive, that motivation.
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And to
tell us that it's not impossible for us to
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come
together as a community.
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When we leave I want you guys to still keep this going, ok?
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Don't just
stop being passionate about what you guys are doing.
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Because
this is a family - look around, look around,
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look at everybodty around you.
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We got
one thing in common, everything on our feet right now,
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this is
really, really important.
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So I want
you to keep that love going,
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let's get it
forever, for real, aight?
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For me,
living in Lagos is a flickering TV.
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It's not
stable, it's not clear
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But when
rollerblading came into my life
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it
shaped me, and gave me an opportunity
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I would
never have gotten
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if I had
listened to someone else, if not myself.
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So the
most important thing is for you to listen to yourself.
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Sit down
and look deep into your heart
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and ask
yourself what do you really want to do?
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And chase that with all the burning passion you have in you.