🥤Are we all copying or creating?

Plus: This week in culture, a conversation with a model and makeup artist, a closer look at copying versus imitation, and more.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

October 16, 2026   |   Read online In Partnership With       👋 Good afternoon! It’s October, and the rain is still going strong. A little birdie tells me it might stick around till the end of the year. But it’s not all gloomy in Lagos. There’s a Dave concert today at the National Theatre, if that’s your thing. Let’s get into it. In this edition: This week in culture, a conversation with a model and makeup artist, a closer look at copying versus imitation, New Music Friday, and more. If you’re enjoying this, don’t forget to subscribe and join The Juice community. We’re building this together ♡. Shalom Tewobola, Editor.             🗞️ THIS WEEK IN CULTURE 🎵 MUSIC British-Nigerian rapper Dave is headlining his first Nigerian shows this weekend, October 16 and 17, at the National Theatre in Lagos. Named after his third studio album, The Boy Who Played the Harp, the two-night run also closes his tour. We love the nameplay with this project, and we are looking forward to seeing you guys at TBS in some hours. 📽️ FILM Mo Abudu is taking African storytelling further with the launch of EbonyLife Place London, a creative hub dedicated to African and Black film. The venue will run year-round, showcasing Nollywood, African cinema, and stories from the global Black diaspora. Here's a recap video of the launch. We’re taking this expansion beyond borders seriously. Well done, Mo Abudu. Take your flowers! 📚 LITERATURE Last week, we celebrated Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza’s Caine Prize win. This week, the celebration has been overshadowed by The Atlantic publishing allegations that his winning story, The Blue Fighter, was written using AI, based on an AI-detection tool, Pangram. Kundizeza denies the allegation, leading to wider conversations about AI detection and the scrutiny African writers face. As the debate continues, we stand in solidarity with our writers. ✨SPOTLIGHT Forbes Africa is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a list of 15 influential figures shaping the continent and beyond. The Nigerians featured include Aliko Dangote, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Burna Boy and Mo Abudu, whose work spans business, public service, music and media. Congratulations to our own! ⚡TRENDING The entertainment industry is taking a hit this week, with Netflix cutting nearly 1,000 jobs, around 6% of its global workforce, while Universal Music Group (UMG) is undergoing another round of restructuring that has affected senior executives and other staff. This raises concerns about how artists may be represented by their labels as teams continue to shrink.             SPONSORED AD Guess what? We have something interesting for our community members! Haven’t invested in the Dangote Refinery IPO yet? The offer closes soon (27 October), so there’s still time to get in. As a new Hisa user, you can invest in the Dangote Refinery IPO, as well as Nigerian and US stocks, without paying any trading fees. Sign Up on Hisa             MAIN SQUEEZE Blessing Aduke: The model and editorial makeup artist Blessing Aduke has always dreamed of seeing herself on TV and the big screen. Modelling has brought her closer to that dream, with runway appearances for MOWALOLA and at GTCO Fashion Weekend. She's also building her career as an editorial makeup artist, exploring new ways to express her creativity.  In a conversation with The Juice, she talks about her career journey, the lessons she’s learnt on the runway, and her plans to take her dreams further. Beyond your height, what first drew you to modelling, and when did you realize it was something you could build a career around? As a child, I've always had the dream of seeing myself on TV and on the big screen. Modelling happened to be one of the ways that childhood dream began to manifest. It has given me an opportunity to step into that world, and I've continued to explore where it can take me. I also started acting last year, so who knows? I might just pop up on your screens soon! Of all the walks you’ve done so far, is there one that changed something for you? It has to be when I worked with Sukeina for Omar Salam and Mr. Sola Oyebade at GTCO Fashion Weekend. These are men who strive for perfection and don't settle for less. Working in that kind of environment stayed with me in not just one, but many ways. It reminds me constantly of the level of commitment and attention to detail that the work demands. Experiences like that give you something to take with you beyond the runway. You closed for MOWALOLA and GTCO Fashion Weekend last year, and you've walked GTCO Fashion Weekend a couple of times. What did those experiences teach you about your growth as a model? Oh yes, I closed for MOWALOLA, and what an electric show it was! As mentioned earlier, these experiences have taught me resilience and the importance of putting in the work, even during a waiting season. Not every season comes with the opportunities you're hoping for, but that doesn't mean you should stop preparing. The right opportunity only meets a prepared person, so I've learnt to keep showing up, improving my craft, and trusting the process even when the results aren't immediate. Those are my mantras.  Modelling can come with pressure around appearance, body expectations, and professionalism. What has been the most difficult part of navigating the industry? When it comes to appearance, I prioritize eating as healthily as I can. I've really learnt to be mindful of what I eat. Beyond that, one thing that has helped me stay grounded is that I don't mix business with pleasure or let familiarity get in the way of professionalism. Maintaining boundaries has always been important to me. I believe it's important to know how to separate personal relationships from work and to stay clear about the standards I want to maintain. You also create these bright, bold makeup looks. Is that something you’d like to explore more seriously alongside modelling, perhaps getting into the creative side of styling and beauty behind the runway? Yes, I am an editorial makeup artist! Some people didn't even believe I did makeup until I started posting my work in 2025. Moral of the story: post your work! This year, I've worked mainly with brands, on editorials, and on collaborative projects. It's been exciting to put my work out there and explore more of what I can do creatively. I'm ready to take it further and experiment even more with my artistry. I'm going wide and wild with it, so fingers crossed for what's next!             🔪 THE PEEL Are we all copying or creating? The discourse Following Rachel Ojuromi’s Chanel runway debut this month, social media has seen people recreating similar street-model content and documenting their modelling journeys. As with many trends, the response has been familiar: Nigerians are quick to jump on whatever is popular instead of developing original ideas. Someone does something, gets attention, and suddenly, everyone seems to be doing it too. It’s a criticism that follows us across different aspects of internet culture. But how much can we tell about someone’s originality from the fact that they’re doing something others are doing? When does a shared interest become imitation? And are we sometimes too quick to confuse the two? Peeling it back In 2023, Hilda Baci’s cooking marathon set off a wave of Guinness World Record attempts in Nigeria. Within two months of her achievement, Guinness World Records announced that it had received more than 1,500 applications from the country. Between January 2022 and the period covered by the report, Nigeria recorded 5,042 applications and 3,346 official record attempts, ranking seventh globally in application volume and eighth in attempts executed. A similar pattern has played out with content creation, TikTok Live, and streaming. As these platforms attract audiences and create opportunities for visibility and income, more people are drawn to them. The recent gaming surge offers another example. The popularity of locally inspired games like Lagos Run and Lagos Life has been followed by the emergence of variants such as Ibadan Life, Port Harcourt Life, and Ilorin Run. The pattern extends beyond the internet. Business owners watch successful products and strategies take off, from food businesses and thrift clothing to distinctive packaging, and try to replicate them. Sometimes, this is simply a way of entering a market that has already proved profitable. In other cases, the similarities extend beyond the product itself to its branding. The emergence of Item7 MOVE in Owerri, following Item7 GO’s expansion into Abuja, raises questions about where inspiration ends and imitation begins, particularly given the similarities in their branding styles. Across these examples, one thing is clear: when an idea attracts attention, other people begin to recognise its possibilities. A Guinness World Record attempt can offer a route to visibility; a livestream can become a source of income; a successful business model can inspire someone to start their own venture. But recognising an opportunity and reproducing someone else’s work are not necessarily the same thing. The more useful question, then, is what people do with the ideas they encounter. Do they simply repeat what has worked for someone else, or do they adapt it to create something of their own? Another layer The criticism of imitation isn't entirely unfounded. Popularity can encourage people to reproduce what appears to work, and sometimes the results are near-identical copies. But following a trend doesn't always end there. Some people imitate, others experiment, and some use an existing idea as a starting point for something new. Consider Nigerian game developers Yerins Abraham and Koha. Abraham developed Monkey Post, drawing on the football game played by schoolchildren across Nigeria. Koha created Surviving Nigeria, a Nigerian-inspired take on the popular Grand Theft Auto franchise. Both draw on familiar ideas while incorporating distinct Nigerian experiences and contexts. Their work shows how an existing concept can be reimagined rather than simply reproduced. Music offers another example. As Amapiano gained popularity in Nigeria between 2020 and 2025, artists incorporated the South African genre's sounds into their music. Kcee, however, took a different approach. By combining Amapiano with the sound of the Igbo ọjà flute, known for its high-pitched tones, he created Ojapiano. The song helped establish a distinct musical identity from the combination, showing how an influence can become the foundation for something new. Neither example suggests that every person following a trend will produce something original. Rather, they demonstrate that influence and creativity can coexist. An idea can travel from one person to another, changing along the way as people bring their own experiences, interests, and cultural references to it. This is an important distinction when discussing the people who began documenting their modelling journeys after Ojuromi's Chanel appearance. Similar videos might follow familiar formats, but the people making them may have different ambitions, backgrounds, and approaches. Some might be copying what they see; others might be using the moment to pursue an interest they already had. The content alone doesn't always tell us which is which. The core Ojuromi’s Chanel moment may have brought street-model content into the spotlight, but it didn’t invent modelling or the desire to be discovered. Some models may have been inspired by her success; others were documenting their journeys long before her runway debut. Across creative industries, people draw inspiration from what others do. Some imitate, while others adapt existing ideas into something new. Copying deserves criticism when it reproduces another person’s work or branding with little distinction, but originality requires more than counting how many people are doing the same thing. We must also consider what they bring to it. Popularity tells us what has caught people’s attention, not necessarily how original their work is.             🎵 PRESSED BY THE JUICE New Music alert! We are back with an upgraded playlist featuring the newest tracks from Fireboy DML, Kizz Daniel, Victony, Blaqbonez, and Sssoundgawd. Don't miss out! Save your favorites, as New Music Box💿 is updated every Friday Do you have a song you’d like us to include? Put us on; reply here. Listen Now       FRESH STATS 1653 Africa has just 1,653 commercial cinema screens for the entire continent, roughly one screen per 787,400 people (For comparison, Europe has one screen for every 50,000 people). Was this email forwarded to you? Join The Juice → Have a story or product that needs to be seen? Submit Here → Today’s email was written by Shalom Tewobola and Ikeoluwa Amonimo, edited by Shalom Tewobola. Designs by: Daniel Banjoko.   Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 The Juice 36 Adekayode Street Maryland, Lagos 100231, Nigeria Powered by beehiiv