Being a Habesha Kid in the Weeknd‰’s World

Being+a+Habesha+Kid+in+the+Weeknd%C2%89s+World

Calkie Fisseha, General Manager

I may be over a month late on giving my opinion on Starboy, but I just wanted to process my emotions before babbling on for thousands of words. I decided to make this short and sweet.

After listening through Starboy, I sat and stared at my ceiling for a couple of minutes. Being Habesha is cool. It always has been. There is no doubt in my mind that Ethiopian food, music, and culture are great. I love my aggressively Amharic name. I didn‰’t need a reminder to be proud of my heritage, but Abel Tesfaye did just that.

I‰’ve always loved The Weeknd‰’s music. Don‰’t try and tell me any of his first three mixtapes aren‰’t anything less than beautiful. I listened to Beauty Behind the Madness almost everyday to get me through my freshman year. But seeing his name as a feature as Lemonade literally had me speechless. That was the ‘OHHHH MY GOD!’ moment. If Beyonce thinks you‰’re poppin, YOU‰’RE POPPIN’.

What I‰’m really here to say is that representation is cool. It‰’s really nice to look up at the biggest stars of the past few years and see a guy named Abel Tesfaye on top of all the charts. I don‰’t know if he realizes what he‰’s doing for the rest of the young Habesha community. BUT I JUST WANNA SAY THANK YOU. His success has inspired every part of my being to make this glo up even greater.