Ezra Collective's Femi Koleoso on Black Arsenal, Thierry Henry, and DJ’ing the Title Parade: Men in Blazers 09/16/26

0:00You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, Suboptimal Radio. Arsenal is a very, very unique and powerful club in a sense. It's an identity, it's a sense of belonging. And then it's kind of like re-emphasized when they sign Nigerian names, but have accents like mine, Bukayo Saka, Bereche Eza, Noni Madueke. They're Nigerian kids that sound like me. And suddenly this sense of representation ends up making you feel so proud. And Black Arsenal is kind of like an umbrella term for how so many black people from London and way beyond feel about that club.

0:43My name is Femi Collioso and I am a musician from North London. I'm in the band Ezra Collective and yeah, I DJ, I do radio and everything in between. Joyful jazz fused with a touch of Felicuti and a dose of Afrobeat. A little bit of everything. A bit like London, do you know what I mean? Just a little bit, a big melting pot of all the things I love. Take us back to the source. Why Arsenal? I didn't have a choice. It was one of those ones. You're Nigerian, you're black, you're from North London and you support Arsenal. My uncle's a diehard Arsenal fan. So before I even really had much of a choice, I was signed up as a junior gunner.

1:22and yeah, that was it. That's why Arsenal. I love your quote, before we even had our passports, we had our junior gunner members. Exactly that, yeah. Really, the question should be to Arsenal, why Femi? It was like they chose me, do you know what I mean? You grew up idolising Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira. Do you know what it is? Whatever you love the most, think about your favourite meal, your favourite painting, your favourite album. That's what Patrick Vieira is on a football pitch. He had it all. He was a bold fighter, but also so skillful. There was something about those players, Vieira and Thierry Henry and a bunch of the others, which it kind of just felt like when they were on the pitch, we're just not losing today.

2:04And that feeling is just magical. Do you know what I mean? It's almost like watching a replay of your favourite film, knowing that the hero wins at the end. There was the phrase, je ne sais quoi. I don't even know what it means, but it sounds right. That's how you describe that, man. It was just, it was elegance. It was, a lot of people talk about aura in today's game. You haven't seen aura like a player like Thierry Henry. It was just like there was a swag and an arrogance to it. He knew how good he was, but still managed to surprise you, the fan, of how good he actually was. He could get the ball from anywhere, anywhere on the pitch, and you'd still feel like, well, something could happen here.

2:43He was that kind of a player. I don't like to be hyperbolic. Did Thierry Henry invent or Einstein invented relativity? Wow. Maybe, I don't know if I can say he invented it, but what I would say is as a boy that was born in 1994, he invented it for me because he was like that player for me. I'm sure someone a decade older than me would be like, how dare you? Did you not see what this person did 10 years beforehand? But for my age group, I remember running around the playground. We were trying to dress like him. I'd have my socks all the way up to my knees because he did. I couldn't like, my parents couldn't afford the shoes he wore.

3:20So we'd just get the closest ones that looked kind of like the vibe. And you'd get to the like football pitchers school and every single kid was doing the same thing. Do you know what I mean? So yeah, he was that guy. Can you explain the origins of Black Arsenal? Because it's been a strong value here for decades. I think, you see, Arsenal is a very, very unique and powerful club in a sense. because I feel like Arsenal represents an identity that isn't necessarily represented geographically in the same way for certain people. For example, my parents are Nigerian, but I was born in London. This is my accent.

3:54And so the word English, it makes sense, but it doesn't quite work for me. Then the word British, it makes sense, but it doesn't quite work for me. But you see, being a Londoner, now that makes sense. And then I've got a flag and a t-shirt to wear and it's red and white. And so then you get this kind of patriotism to this club like it's a country, it's an identity, it's a sense of belonging. And then it's kind of like re-emphasized when they sign Nigerians and they sign Brazilians and they sign people of like Jamaican heritage and people of Nigerian heritage. Nigerian names, but have accents like mine, Bukayo Saka, Bereche Eza, Noni Madueke.

4:35They're Nigerian kids that sound like me. And suddenly this sense of representation ends up making you feel so proud. And black Arsenal is kind of like an umbrella term for how so many black people from London and way beyond feel about that club. It's almost like a biblical moment of revelation. 2002, the match against Leeds. Yeah. Nine starting outfield players. Exactly that. All black. More than a football game, a moment of what? For that moment to happen, because you see, the thing about black is black means so many different things. It can mean the Londoner with African parents. It can mean the person born in Jamaica and flown over.

5:17It can mean the Brazilian person. It can mean the person that doesn't know where their ancestry comes from. And to see it represented just on a football pitch in its full glory. And the Nigerian made it. Kanu was in that team. So that made it even better. Do you know what I mean? So it's kind of like, it's sometimes supporting Arsenal feels like supporting a country. And when we win something, you can see it is a small country. You know, like in the Bible is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. You have Rocky Rookas. Yeah. You have Ian Wright. I mean, there's like a, there is like a linear generation. Yeah, it's an absolute, exactly that.

5:51And I think that lineage of kind of Rocky, Ian Wright, and then you have Thierry Henry, generation, Gilberto Silva, Vieira, Ashley Cole, and then it kind of fast forwards till today. It's weird, but these Arsenal squads all look the same, but kind of have different nuances based on the era they're playing in, which is a beautiful thing. It makes it amazing when you meet an Arsenal fan way older or way younger than you and you still have loads in common. There's a Patrick Vieira chant. He comes from Senegal. He plays for Arsenal. As a West African. Yes. What does that feel like when a whole stadium is chanting that?

6:26It's just, it's so beautiful, honestly. And also, like, as a songwriter, I can't write things as good as that. Do you know what I'm saying? So we're singing this, we're a whole choir celebrating this area of the world, which a lot of the times growing up, it was hard to be proud of being African. It wasn't the cool thing until Vieira steps up and it's like, yeah, this is cool. Until Kanu steps up and it's like, yeah, this is great. Do you know what I mean? until Colo Torres steps up and it's like, yeah, this feels good. And humans become very, very powerful when they learn to love who they are.

7:04When you learn to love who you are and your identity, suddenly you're strong. And Arsenal has a way of giving that to so many different types of people. I love, by the way, I'm like, what does it feel like emotionally, like as a lyricist? Yeah. Pull the surprise for poetry. Yeah, I can't write songs like that. Do you know what I mean? I wish I could. You can. I'll try. I'll try. It's not profound to say our formative memories are the most powerful. One of yours, six years old. Sylvain Wolff scores a winner at Old Trafford, secures a Premier League title for Arsenal 2002. Ensures they win the double.

7:42Exactly. It was just... That celebration. I think it's Canu that jumps over. Exactly, yeah. Your formative memory right there. Black excellence. Exactly that. And also, it's such a great age to win the league because it's like I was young enough to think it was going to happen, but old enough to understand when it happens, the size of it happening. Little did I know I'd have to wait so long, but you know what I'm saying? But I feel like being that age, you know, I say that I kind of was born as an Arsenal fan, but it's those moments when I'm in primary school and I've got my first kind of jersey and then we win the league.

8:20that's what kind of stamped it like, yeah, this is me forever type thing. The Invincible season followed. You did not know how good you had it. I learned in a big way over two decades how good that was. But the Invincible season was the first time my brother and I actually got to see Arsenal in real life. And it was just kind of like, you're right. We had no idea. It was like, oh, we've won again. Do you know what I mean? Trust me. I did a process of learning afterwards. But yeah, it was really special. And like I said, I think I just keep taking it beyond football, beyond the kind of like, we scored, they scored, we won type thing.

8:59It's this sense of like, belonging, it's this sense of a family, it's this sense of being a small part of something so much bigger than yourself. And all of those things kind of are so special. And in context, you know, Arsenal were the first club to have that on-field lineup mirror the off-field community. Yeah, exactly. You saw the Invincibles, you saw this lineup, Henri, Vieira. In context, there wasn't a lot of, as you call it, black excellence in the rest of English society at the time. Yeah, exactly that. Yeah, it's kind of, I think one of the things that sports really and music can be so powerful at doing is giving a visual representation to so many people who feel marginalized.

9:46And it's so powerful kind of being a child watching on TV, someone that looks older than you achieving something incredible. It's why the Olympics is so special because everyone in the world gets it at the same time. And Arsenal has just been able to do this for so many people. That's why it's no surprise when I spend time in places like Lagos, it's Arsenal kits everywhere. Of course it is, because we've been given so many reasons over the years to love the Arsenal.

10:16This past seven years, I've got to say they've been humanly as epic, as Huma's Odyssey, this club, those men that you love. You know, fighting not just their opponents, fighting the greatest opponent, I think, in sports, in humanity. English score. You know, people hating. Yeah. And failing and being hated and failing and being hated. Yeah. How would you describe what is meant to support Arsenal in that period? That's so real. It's kind of like this camaraderie of they all hate us because they want to be us. That's how it felt. Did it really? It felt great. Did it really? It felt great. Because I think the hate and the discourse, by and large, what was terrible is when it seeped into the fan base itself.

11:07But what I think one of my favourite things that Mikel Arteta had managed to do was kind of get rid of that and reunite the fan base. And there was this siege mentality. I remember when there was one season where it felt like Arsenal players got red cards for anything. And I was one of those fans that's like, it's fine. We'll play with five people. We'll be fine. Do you know what I mean? And it's kind of like that kind of siege mentality was just perfect because I think we could all feel this pressure valve just kind of like when it explodes, it's going to explode in a different kind of way. Explosion being when they win, it's just going to make all the tears, all the pain.

11:45like you don't know what it's like like watching a game on a Wednesday night it's freezing cold they lose then you miss the train home and it's just like all that bubbled up pain and dislike distraught feeling knowing when they win it will make up for all of it you're like the movie 300 don't you yeah of course yeah it's like Declan Rice being sent off for flicking the ball away yeah yeah yeah you're like got five I fancy our chances yeah exactly that yeah that's how we felt do you know what I mean five versus the rest would be fun. Let's live the last season. I mean, for me, tenacity is the greatest human value.

12:23And you embodied that in every regard. It began with the agony of a third, second-place finish. Laughing stocks. English people love others' failure more than their own success. But Arsenal strengthened, went again, added depth across the field, win away at Manchester United, 5-0 demolition of Leeds to begin the season. do you let yourself trust the team early doors? How do you play it as a fan? Do you let yourself believe again? Are you like, yeah, I'll put my hand in the threshing machine of football hoop? I was one of those people that was a believer right until it went wrong. Be knocked for 24 hours and then I'd be back like, yeah, it's going to be fine.

13:02Do you know what I mean? You want to turn it up then? Yeah. I was just like, we'll be fine. I mean, there was a few, when we lost to Bournemouth, I was like, oh man, we're done, aren't we? But no, I was just kind of like, there was almost something about, it almost felt like there was a written promise above this club that it was like, it's going to happen. It just felt like that for me. It just felt like this is the season it's going to happen. Like my friend signs for the club and he's playing number 10. And like in August last year, me and my brother got season tickets. Like we've been waiting 20 years for those things.

13:43And then we got season tickets. So it's like we've got our own chair. One of the boys is on the pitch. It's like, this is, it's going to happen. It has to happen this year. How did the season ticket look? Did it look like a golden ticket from the Willy Wonka factory? You know what? You'd be surprised. It was just an email, but it might as well have, might as well have been on a gold plaque. I remember I called up my brother. Where are you? He's like, I'm at home. I'm like, sit down. You know, I have to break this to you while you're, be stood up do you know what i mean i was just like bro we've got season tickets he's like what do you mean it's like bro it's happened i'm looking at the email and i've wiped the tears away and i've read it properly it's it's there you are block 47 i am block 47 and it was just like oh my gosh like so it's like first game we sit down next to each other like oh my days blood like how is this happening this is why it just had to happen it's like having a front seat at the 10 commandments being handed down yeah you're like we're watching this exactly we were on mount sinai yeah moses had the tablets except it was mikhail and his 11 men do you know what i mean so it was almost exactly the same i mean yeah yeah spider-man exactly spider-man exactly but when you talk about your friend when he said i felt like it was written i'm like oh my god you've like got a heavy dose of Eber Richie.

15:02Yeah, man. Because that's his thing. It's been written. Ezra Collective is playing a show in Hyde Park in London, opening up for Stevie Wonder. Ebbs comes to watch the show. And while Stevie's playing, I don't like talking to him about football because it's like, it's just too much in it. I don't want to be a fanboy. But then like Stevie's playing like, I don't know, isn't she lovely or whatever? And I just look at it and I'm like, bruv, if you join Arsenal, I will never recover. Because the rumours were there, but you never know and they never say anything and then I just kind of said like if it happens just like I will never recover none of us will ever recover if you play for Arsenal do you know what I mean?

15:43but then he's laughing Stevie Wonder's playing the sun's setting and then like three weeks later I'm like Arsenal's about to sign EBS I'm like no way but I was like I can't call him I don't want to talk to him I just want it to be real do you know what I'm saying? like because you know like you don't want to go downstairs on Christmas Eve and open the presents. Wait till Christmas Day. So I waited and then like the news said it was happening and then I was just like I can't believe this. This is what I mean it was written because it was Stevie Wonder as well which is just like he's magical. Singing the song that everyone knows is written about Win the Dog.

16:18Exactly. Isn't she lovely? Exactly that. So yeah it was meant to be and it happened. You talk about every year is just like an incredible human embodiment there's a lot of nigerian londoners who look at bakai osako and think that is like can they reincarnate that's like does it feel like one of us is on the field oh no absolutely absolutely even beyond their names and their accents it's almost like how they conduct and carry themselves in both on the pitch and off the pitch they just feel like people that they look like kids in my youth group. They look like kids I went to school with. They look like my best friends.

17:00Do you know what I'm saying? And it's so easy to support when you feel like you would love and adore them beyond their ability to play for your football club. Do you know what I mean? Like, dare I say it, there's a cohort of Arsenal players that if they were to leave Arsenal, it wouldn't necessarily be a bitter feeling for me because I almost appreciate them beyond Arsenal. It's like I appreciate the people. Do you know what I'm saying? January 8th, February 18th, you win just 10 over 21 possible points as the epic battle. Manchester City, April 2-1. Erling Haaland, back before the American Charm offensive.

17:39Fourth straight second place finish looms. The cameras zoom in on Declan Rice and he famously mouths, it's not done. Yeah. What did you feel in your heart? What did you feel in your head when you look at your mouth, it's not done? What did you really think? I think in the very moment, I think I was like, it is done. But then, you see, this is the difference between professional athletes and professional fans. Professional athletes run to the very, very end. Me, if I'm tired on the treadmill, we're getting off. Do you know what I mean? That's my vibe. I'm a fan. But they're not fans. they're players and sometimes I feel like players need to carry the fan base and sometimes fan bases need to carry the players and I feel like that was a moment where the players were carrying the fan base for a little bit and suddenly it kind of flipped by the next game we were like yeah he's right it's not done do you know what I mean so yeah precious moment and a moment of real I think sporting beauty to catch that and then see how it wound up at the end.

18:47Drama Peaks against West Ham, the now iconic far-off goal. You talk about lyrics that you love that you could never write. After review, West Ham number 19 commits a foul on the goalkeeper. Final decision is... No goal. Direct free kick. Take us to that moment. Give us a burst. I was at the stadium. I went to West Ham away. Do you know what the best way I've kind of thought to describe how that game felt? It felt like when you're like crossing the road and nearly get hit by a car. And it's like, it should be a moment of celebration, but it's more just a moment of like, I'm just glad that's over.

19:24Do you know what I mean? It was like, it didn't feel good, but it was like great that it didn't hit me. Do you know what I'm saying? It's a bit of affirmation alike. Yeah. It was just kind of like, I remember I was actually physically on my knees because I just couldn't handle like, why does it have to be like this? like and we all knew it was going to be like that do you know what I mean and we're I'm at like well melting your brain just yeah it's just the Arsenal way is never the peaceful way it's always just kind of you've got to make some drama of it you know what I mean and it was like winning that game 1-0 it was just like I remembered calling TJ walking out of the your brother yeah my brother and walking out the stadium I called him up and he was just like We were both shell-shocked.

20:11Neither of us enjoyed the experience, but we were just like, we'll be able to celebrate this. I just need like three hours. Do you know what I mean? The Arsenal way is never the peaceful way. That needs to be on a t-shirt. Ultimately, Man City were the ones who floundered. The 1-1 draw, May 19th against Bournemouth. Crown champions for the first time in 22 years. Take us up. So I had gone to Arsenal Burnley the night before. and like we won and I was like this is done we're winning the league went out with the boys had a great massive night got home really really late and so I was kind of feeling sorry for myself the next day so I said I'm not I'm not even if we win the league today I'm not going out I'm just going to stay at home and then Bournemouth scored and it's kind of like well let's just see what happens.

21:03And then I just remember like it's getting closer and closer to the end of the game and you start to think oh my goodness me are we actually gonna win the league? Like are we actually gonna win the league? And then at like 85 minutes I just like lost control ran to the train station and so the game hasn't finished at this point so I'm watching the last moments of the game at the train station then the final whistle blows we win the league the train comes I get on the train and immediately just like seven strangers just scream run and start hugging me and jumping up and down and I'm like yeah I've made the right decision actually in the middle of that hugging and jumping one of them was like aren't you an Ezra collective I was like yeah I am actually and then like the next stop a whole bunch of like Arsenal fans get on I'm seeing people I went to school with people I go to church with and every single train station I'm like cruise hill end for chase and then it's like going going going and it's getting closer and closer to Finsbury Park when we get to Finsbury Park oh my goodness me it was like you know how I said earlier like Arsenal's like a small country the whole country came out for the day and it was like I'm now with my best friend my brother's there like all my people that I played football with people I've gone to school with, we're all there just screaming and singing, there was no plan like we didn't know why we were all there but we just needed to be at the Emirates Stadium and then that was that I saw the sunrise that night, do you know what I mean it was just, it was perfect it was perfect.

22:37Again, it feels biblical, it would only be more biblical if the seven strangers turned out to be angels and you wrestled them a little bit but like your whole life was there and everyone at that stadium I'm sure felt the same like their whole life was there, all their memories, all their joy, all their pain, all their heroes, all the agony. The images were incredible. Everyone there, thousands and thousands, even the players came back at five o 'clock so that they could commune with the fans. What were you all experiencing? What were you all looking for to be together in that moment? Do you know what?

23:10It sounds so dramatic what I'm about to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. But as a Christian and a believer, For me, it was like a vision of what heaven might feel like. Because it was like, I think what was getting to me was just the different types of people. Old people, young people, black people, white people, people that speak English, people that can't speak English. People with as North London an accent as possible. People who is just like, I can't even tell where you're from. Uniting thing being we just all love the Arsenal. and it was just so happy, but a chaotic happy. It was like police officers were kind of there, but there was just too much joy to even police.

23:56They were involved in it. Consuming, whether you supported Arsenal or not, you looked at it and you were like, well, that's pretty special, isn't it? Feeling like it was meant to happen. I'm always on tour, like I'm never at home, but I was just like home for the whole season last year and got moments like that that will just kind of be with me forever. The images were unbelievable out of North London. The streets packed with hundreds of thousands of fans. Yeah. Sharing, adding layers of memory. But beyond that, there were celebrations immediately in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, spiritual home of gunners in Africa.

24:33Mass celebrations in Nairobi. Lagos. Kampala. Thousands of red shirts. It was like catharsis on a global scale that you do not often see. Look, the world is full of challenge. It is a dark time. Something in there that's emotional, so it's hard to put into words. But it is an antidote to a lot of the fracture that the world's experiencing right now. Absolutely. And I think ultimately humans crave just equality and feeling seen. Those two things, when paired together, make people feel so special If you can make me feel like I mean something And I'm equal to the person different to me who also means something That feeling combined is so powerful And that's what sports is able to do in a really unique way To the point where it's like the person who lives in Lagos Who might have very little in common with me who lives in London all because of a goal that Ebereche Eze has scored, we're on the same page.

25:39And that feeling is really, really quite special. It's why things like winning the World Cup mean so much to people. It's why things like the Olympics mean so much to people. Even just winning a game, just having so many people around you being like, we're all on the same page. We feel represented, we feel seen, and we feel equal. That's what it's like being a fan. And do you know what was even more powerful about that celebration. The barrier of ticket entry to the Emirates didn't exist. And so you really got to see the fan base because on a normal game day, it's just the 60 ,000 chosen ones that get to go in.

26:18But you see moments like that, I kind of loved that we won the league not playing because it was like, it really allowed for every Arsenal fan to be completely equal. There was no ticket to have. It was just like, find something red and go out. That was that.

26:36Can you just give me a burst on what you felt that you'd seen over the course of the season with the season ticket culminating in that moment? Failure, failure, failure. Yeah. Victory. It's like death and rebirth. Yeah. A hero's journey. Can you put into words what the arc of that season you felt you'd experienced again? To be honest, to put that whole arc concisely, I think if you've got a spectrum of joy on one side and pain on the other side, hope is what makes you feel like you can get from pain to joy. But the feeling of the hope working is almost like what that result did for you. It's like all this pain, all this trial, all this, like, this is so difficult.

27:18This is hard. It hasn't always been fun being an Arsenal fan. But then you kind of always hope. You know, they say it's the hope that kills you. But sometimes it's the hope that gives you the life. and I feel like it was like hoping, hoping, hoping, hoping, hoping Bournemouth Man City bang, joy. That's kind of to put it concisely how it felt. God, it's amazing. You see it to a gospel church in Chicago on the west side. They'd always sing a song called Jesus is Coming in a while. Yeah. And otherwise they sang it year after year after year. I was like, wow, it's amazing to keep singing. It was just like last season was Jesus is Coming.

27:51It arrived. It was, we were ready to go to heaven. Celebration. Yes. You DJ'd it. You DJ a lot. How did this feel different? Oh, my goodness me. Can you imagine that? Like, a lifelong Arsenal fan from London, and you get, like, asked to DJ the parade for the first, like, league win in 22 years, and it's my responsibility to play the first tune. And just, like, oh, my goodness me. Like, that feeling was so mad, fam, because it was, like, they briefed me on what was going to happen, but you know how briefings are. You never listen. and then you're just there and I'm stood up on this bus and they're like super Mick Arteta is gonna do a speech and at the end when he finishes the speech play the song and there's gonna be fireworks and I was like prepared that's what's gonna happen but when I heard him speaking I was like oh my gosh like it's happening and then I was like I needed to play the song with like the best intro of all time so I played Move On Up Curtis Mayfield obviously and so it's like he finished this speech and then I like pressed it and it was like and then the fireworks went off and I just remember thinking best day of my life easy just like it's completed best day of my life at age 31 it's not getting beaten and then it was just like two hours of like just seeing this whole awesome family having the best view of it and just seeing mass joy people dancing people are crying you're seeing grandmas with grandchildren I'm seeing like relatives of my own like do you know what I mean like how are you screaming like I saw my mum and dad do you know what I'm saying like and you're just playing songs to try and soundtrack it's not just my best day of my life it's so many people's and it's like you're looking at these players that when you see them from that angle and that view that I had they're just young young men like young people have achieved something that they've dreamt of their whole life and to kind of just have the streets of North London paved with that amount of joy you can never take that away from me do you know what I mean it was one of them if you know if I have to quit music today I can kind of roll out with my head held high I did some good gigs do you know what I'm saying we dance at the parade and dance hard exactly man I partied hard I mean I only recently recovered from it like we went hard man like do you know do you know I I mean, it was, but it was just, it was the perfect, it was just so perfect.