Before I Write A Book part 3 – By Basketmouth Ace comedian Basketmouth is set to drop his book this December;

but before he
does, he has chosen to give
us little portions of the book
to read.
This is part 3 of the
comedian's Before I Write A
Book series.
UNIBEN – 1999
When the posters came up
on the hostel walls that
there was going to be a
Talent hunt show coming up
which was organised by
Femi Akinwunmi, I quickly
registered for it as a rapper.
The star price was a CD
player..my dream. I
imagined being able to
replace our old cassette
player and put on a CD like
the rest of the boys.
I practised my lines and
waited for d-day. 3 days to
the event, I woke up with
fever and to find my body
covered with little sores…I
had chicken pox. I used
calamine lotion like my life
depended on it, but they
only seemed to increase by
the day.
Then came the day of the
competition. Everyone
dressed up and left one
after the other to the venue.
I was in pain from the heat
but in greater pain from
being in that room rather
than on that stage. I was
covered in calamine lotion,
disappointed as all my hope
that I would have
miraculously recovered in
those 2 days had gone and
with it, my dream of a CD
player.
As I tried to play a tape on
the radio to take my mind
off everything, the cassette
player wouldn't work. That
was the last straw. In anger,
I got up, washed off the
lotion from my hands and
feet, washed off my face
and neck. I wore a long
sleeve shirt, buttoned up
and hit the road with my
friend/manager…Bayo
Adekeye. The walk from my
room to the Uniben
Auditorium was the most
difficult 45 mins of my life…
well, one of.
I got to the venue early
enough, the competition was
about to begin. I saw the
brand new silver BUSH CD
player on the stage…it was
beautiful. I couldn't help but
imagine. Then the compere,
Tee A began to call out the
names. Before long, I heard
my name…I came out did
my one track performance
and in the second round,I
switched the game at
them,and did a comedy
performance.
The next morning, our
neighbours woke up to the
loudest music, it came from
our room, we were
celebrating, singing,
shouting and dancing to
music from the shiny BUSH
CD player on our table…and
in midst of the crowd, a
young dreamer covered
from head to toe in white
calamine lotion danced the
hardest…..
Now guys……i'll stop
here,you guys should wait
for the book. It comes out
this December.
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