Nigerian rapper MI Abaga has described the culture of broke-shaming as a pervasive social pressure that forces many into financial strain.
According to Newsunplug, during an interview with media personality Chude Jideonwu on the With Chude podcast, MI Abaga said he recognised early in his career that Nigerians ‘broke-shame’ people.
Abaga explained that he made a conscious decision to reject this pressure, understanding that allowing the fear of judgment to control one’s actions gives others “exceeding power over you.”
The 44-year-old rapper noted that it took him time to build the mental strength to remain unaffected. He said:
“Why I understood that people in Nigeria try to broke-shame people. Then I had to make a decision if I want that to have power over me. Because if you do not deal with that, they would have exceeding power over you.
“If you are not comfortable with the fact that if somebody sees you driving a car, (they wonder and they are trying to broke shame you and a 100 people try to broke shame. If you do not deal with that, then you are going to continue adjusting to expectations.
“That is how you go broke. You go broke trying to just prove a point to people.
“One of the things that Nigerians are concerned about is their perception. And we are a country that statistically, most people do not have money. It took me time to mentally prepare myself.
“I can be somewhere, people can broke-shame me, everybody can laugh, all our heroes flying private jets then, where are they now? It is not personal to you. It is just how life is.”