The 20 Best Videos
By African Artists
(and Those Inspired
By Africa) of 2014
Contributor
Blitz the Ambassador
African artists have released some amazing visual work these past 12 months. Some videos gave us a powerful introduction to new artists, powerful enough to etch them in our memories and encouraging us to keep an eye on them in the New Year. Others cemented the popularity of already established artists. Some musicians opted to produce more filmic, iconic music videos. As is customary at this time of year, we have sifted through the huge library of musical releases to find the best visual accompaniments to those releases. We have compiled a list of those, in no particular order, for your viewing pleasure.
Okmalumkoolkat – Holy Oxygen
Director: Wim Steytler
Holy Oxygen is the title track off Okmalumkoolkat’s EP released on Affine Records. Quite like the song itself, the video for Holy Oxygen explores rejection, neglect and redemption. A group of people are cast out of society for a perceived physical or social illness. Rapper Okmalumkoolkat is part of this group of outcasts who are carried off into the boondocks wrapped in thick layers of plastic because presumably whatever malady they suffer from is contagious. However, out in the acrid boondocks and led by the rapper, a new society is born where everyone is treated equally. It is very interesting that this video came out when the world was gripped with fear about the growing Ebola epidemic.
Yugen Blakrok – House of Ravens
Director: Nic Hester
Goofiness and mysticism meet in one of the more imaginative videos to come out this year (and quite possibly the most overlooked). House of Ravens is by rapper Yugen Blakrok and it is off her 2013 joint Return of the Astro-Goth. In the video, her being is absorbed by a mystical, flying car, which she ends up driving through the streets of the city and eventually outer space. She is joined on her trip by some her Iapetus Records label-mates and a polar bear.
Asa – Dead Again
Director: Mélanie Brun & Olivier Bassuet
Dead Again is the searing but seemingly cathartic first single from Asa’s recent album Bed of Stone. She sings about a traitor who “stabbed [her] in the back and then twisted it in” and “left [her] for dead again”. It remains the only single for which she has released a video and she is currently preparing for a tour in 2015. The video was choreographed by Marion Motin and shot in all-black room with a halo light in the background.
Fantasma featuring Moonchild
– Eye of the Sun
Director: Travys Owen
Fantasma, a foursome that combines the talents of Spoek Mathambo, Andre Geldenhuys, DJ Spoko, Bhekisenzo Cele and Mike Buchanan, crystallises the sounds of hip-hop, Bacardi house, punk, funk, shangaan electro and psych-rock. The feverish title track of their EP Eye of The Sunis a good illustration of how these sounds come together. Moonchild is also on the song. The video, which was shot in the Karoo, feels like it was inspired by a vision quest by either one or all of the band members.
Blitz the Ambassador featuring
Seun Kuti – Make You No Forget
Director: Blitz the Ambassador
At the beginning of the year, Blitz the Ambassador took a trip to his mother country to shoot the video for Rumble (Champion Sound), the first single off his forthcoming EP Diasporadical. The video was shot in Bukom, a coastal town 25 minutes away from Ghanaian capital Accra known for producing many of Africa’s champion boxers such as Joshua Clottey, Alfred Kotey, Azumah Nelson, and Ike Quarty. During this trip the rapper took some time out to visit Jamestown, the site of the annual Chale Wote Street Art festival, to shoot another video but this time for his collaborative single with Seun Kuti, Make You Forget. The single mixes afrobeat horns, highlife guitars and a hip hop beat and it is off his album Afropolitan Dreams. Blitz also received some help for his friends at Accra Dot Alt, the crew behind Chale Wote, including Mantse Aryeequaye and Abass Ismail who did the photography while he directed the video. Make You No Forgetopens with some and continues use boxing footage and cuts those with scenes of Jamestown but its focus is the bicycle crew the Flat Land Boys, who perform some wonderful stunts in front of the camera.
Seinabo Sey – Pistols At Dawn
Director: Christian Larson
Seinabo Sey’s solemn soul music and her unforgettable brassy timbre that many have said belies her age – she is 24 – distinguishes her from many of her pop chart counterparts. She has also released some of the year’s most stunning visual work. In the lead up to the release of her EPFor Madeleine, which is dedicated to her mother, she released the videos for Hard Time and some visually stimulating lyric videos. However, it was the video for Pistols at Dawn that captured our hearts (and imagination). Pistols at Dawn is about love duel where Sey defiantly stands up for herself. In the video, she and friend draped in stark red robes, are chased through a barren forest by an assassin that resembles a storm trooper.
K.O. ft Kid X – Caracara
Director: Pilot Films
When K.O sat down with co-producer Lunatik to create his solo effort Skhanda Republic, it seems neither one of them anticipated how popular, Caracara, the second song off the 11 track album would be. Caracara, an ode to the VW Caravelle, is probably one of the most successful songs to come out of South Africa in 2014 (before the Christmas rush) and its video was equally successful. An oft-repeated fact is that the trés cool video received over a million views on YouTube. Through his efforts, K.O, who describes himself as “a rapper with a kwaito attitude” and with his distinctive flow, arguably brought ‘skanda rap to prominence. Another important development came of K.O’s rise prominence – Phaa Toonz based a few episodes of their animated mini-web series Kronikles of Hip Hop on him.
Umlilo – Chain Gang
Director: Katey Carson
Chain Gang is the second song off Umlilo’s upcoming Aluta EP. The singer-songwriter and producer explains that, “the song explores [the] perpetual cycle to survive, to live and die with dignity in this modern jungle”. He continues, “We live in a world where people keep getting gunned down every day for all sorts of reasons they cannot control from skin colour, religion, poverty or sexuality” and this contrasts with the youth’s “vacuous pursuit of money and bling”.
The Chain Gang video is an interesting depiction of these themes. It is set in a super glam funeral attended by ‘scene kids’ where tequila serves as the holy water and the dress code is fall/winter. According to the epitaph, the deceased, Rita Vein, “was killed in black and gold” at age 27. Rita’s spirit gets dressed for her own funeral and continues to hang about the church until the funeral ends and her casket is closed. Umlilo, the Kwaai Diva plays the role of Rita Vein, who might be Anita Vein’s sibling or relative and that of Father Karl, the priest who oversees the proceedings. Father Karl was modelled after superstar designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Director Katey Carson explained that she wanted “to imagine what would happen if […] scene kids had to attend a funeral, and express the idea that for the youth very few things carry meaning anymore.” She thus presents “a dark portrayal of a place of worship where deities are replaced with fashion designers, labels, shoes and gold.”
M.anifest featuring Obrafour
– No Shortcut to Heaven
Director: Garth Von Glehn
M.anifest has not released lots of videos this year but the few he has were quite remarkable. Someway Bi and Jigah with HHP are examples. No Shortcut to Heaven, however, stands out as one of the best stories told on film. His song relays the message that one must work hard to reach their version of heaven and this is carried through into video. It depicts the story of an artisanal alluvial miner, played by the rapper, who toils in muddy waters for his own nugget of gold, a nugget of gold that he eventually offers to a love interest as a gift. Even though two are enraptured by their love, they do not ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after.
Haezer – Minted
Director: Wim Steytler
Another striking visual story to come out this year was the video for Haezer’s Minted. The song is off Haezer’s EP, Gold Plated Frequencies. The video is set in the derelict (often hijacked) buildings of Johannesburg’s inner city. These spaces are often inhabited by foreign migrants who face vicious attacks from some people in the local community who feel threatened by their presence.
The video shows a witch-doctor and his colleague using their super-powers to protect a group of emigrants from a cruel xenophobic attack. Steytler at the time explained that he was inspired to shoot the story because “xenophobia is still such a huge problem in Johannesburg, especially in these buildings. So I chose to centre the story on the oppression of the Somalian community in South Africa”.
Although the video later won Steytler an award, the City Press was less impressed with his direction. They felt it was exploitative and posed the question, “Should using portrayals of the misery of black people be used for entertainment? Has using “issues” become an instant-add to making something ‘hip’?” Their questions aren’t invalid. If nothing else Steytler’s film starts a conversation about representation that we would not have had otherwise.
Phyno – Alobam
Director: Clarence Peters
Phyno is another rapper who rose to prominence in 2014, even though he has been in music for quite some time now both as rapper and a producer. He had already recorded songs for his album No Guts, No Glory back in 2012, most notably Ghost Mode with Olamide, but the album itself (and some of its bigger hits) were not released until 2014. Alobam, his dedication to close ride or die friends, was Phyno’s roundhouse kick – although, the visual direction of Alobam is not too dissimilar to that of Man of the Year. Alobam is gritty, its hood. It shows the rapper playing basketball and riding his bike through the streets of Festac Town in Lagos State, Nigeria. It also features some mind-blowing contortionists.
Stromae – Ta Fête
Director: Lieven Van Baelen
Stromae might easily be disregarded as a sharp or even witty musician because he makes electronic dance pop. However, it would be imprudent to take Stromae’s music (or his videos) at face value. Ta Fête (song and video) from his second album Racine Carrée are an example. In the song he plays around with the words “party” and “festival” to demonstrate how society can kick people around and impose norms and constraints on how they can act and who they can be – in his own words, “everyone wants to party with you”. He expanded this theme to the video. Stromae, who plays a dictator, looks on as a human football tries to get around on a football pitch which turns into a maze. As he gets around the maze, he has to overcome several obstacles including a judge, his fiancée and his mother. Even after overcoming these obstacles, he finds himself trapped in an even bigger maze.
The most interesting thing however, was that the rather dystopian song was selected to be the theme song of the Belgian soccer team, who were considered to be the dark horses of the 2014 World Cup. He also caricatures Mobutu Sese Seko in the video. Perhaps, he cheekily places these ideas in his songs and videos to mess with people. Perhaps, I am reading too much into this.
Davido – Aye
Director: Clarence Peters
This unexpectedly romantic song by the Nigerian pop musician was conveniently released several days before Valentine’s Day. In the song, Davido professes his love for a woman who loves him for who he is and not what he has. The video follows the love affair between a farm labourer, played by Davido, and a woman close to the Oba who owns the farm where he works. It was one of the most watched in Nigeria (with over 13 million views) and possibly one of most shared of 2014.
Waje featuring Tiwa Savage – Onye
Director: Kemi Adetiba
Kemi Adetiba has built an impressive portfolio of music videos over the last couple of years. Her first music video was for TY Bello’s Ekundayo and since then she has gained acclaim for her visual story-telling. Onye is perhaps a good example of the type of video she makes.Waje and Savage play two women who are dating (and subsiding the living) of the same man. Eventually the two women confront each other and the outcome of that confrontation is hilariously unexpected.
Riky Rick – Nafukwa
Director: Adriaan Louw
The videos of the artists at Motif Records seem to follow a certain aesthetic. They often used unadorned studio backdrops shot in black and white or in low contrast colours. This is something we noticed in the videos for In Defence of my Art, 2Cups Shakur, the Amantombazane Remixand No Ordinary Being. Of course the Bump The Cheese Up Remix and Zaki Ibrahim’s Draw the Line are some exceptions. The Nafukwa video, while incorporating some of these ‘Motif features’, includes some rather cinematic shots taken in Westbury and aerial shots of industrial Johannesburg. Nafukwa plays out like the opening sequence of an iconic South African movie or TV series. A very exciting shot in the video is a slow motion crane shot of Riky Rick striding across a rooftop.
PS: He and his boyznbucks family appeared in the 3 part mini-doci series Jozi Influenza directed by filmmaker Lebogang Rasethaba and he has been releasing a few iconic videos in this time.
Sauti Sol – Sura Yako
Director Enos Olik
Sauti Sol almost broke the (Kenyan) internet with their video Nishike and for quite a while we thought it would make this list. It was ‘refreshing’ to see the band crooning with their well-toned, well-oiled torsos exposed. However, it is the follow-up to that single, Sura Yako that came with a lyric video, an instructional dance video and eventually a remix with Nigerian musician Iyanya, that makes today’s list. It’s a light-hearted portrayal of a traditional pre-wedding ceremony called ruracio. It is a fun, colourful video.
Ibeyi – River
Director: Ed Morris
In Santeria, Oshun (or Oxum) is one of the most popular orishas (deities). She is the orisha of love, diplomacy and beauty and she resides in the freshwater rivers of the world. As the story goes, Oshun was accused of witchcraft for bearing twins, the Ibeyi (or Ibeji) and she subsequently kicked the Ibeyi out in a panic. The twins were eventually taken in by Oya. Other lineages believe they were taken in by Yemaya. It is believed that the Ibeyi bring happiness, prosperity and good health to those who receive them but they can also take these away when offended.
Sisters Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé name themselves after this set of twins. Lisa plays piano and Naomi plays percussion – the cajon and batas. Their first single River is a spiritual song that is dedicated to Oshun. It is taken from their EP, Oya and it will also appear on their self-titled debut album which will be out in February 2015. The video is a pretty literal interpretation of the song. They sing, “let me baptise my soul with the help your waters” and continue “I will come to your river, wash my soul”. In the video, which is one of the more eerie videos of 2014, the twins are held underwater by what looks like two men, only coming up for air to deliver lines from the song.
MNEK – Wrote a Song About You
Director: Ruffmercy
This video gives us some idea of what musical waves might look like if we could see them. The intro is subdued, with only a few chords, some strings and MNEK’s voice. The video starts off the same way, with only a few gradated shades of red and purple popping up with the strike of a key. The song and thus the video come alive when the bass kicks in. We start to see shapes form and patterns swirl and wriggle around the singer-producer. Some of his lyrics dance even around him. It is a fun display, an explosion of colour.
Zeus – Psych
Directors: Don Juan Bacha and Nick Roux
Taking a leaf out of the book of the Brothers of Peace (B.O.P) and Dr Mageu, Zeus offers up some social commentary through the song Psych. Sometime before the video debuted on TV, the rapper explained that “Psych is a look at our urban aspirations… sometimes misplaced and based on wrong values”. It even uses a sample of O Kae Molao? by BOP and Dr Mageu in its chorus, which also offered scathing commentary of the human condition at its time. The Psychvideo is a psychedelic montage in the true sense of the word. The director took some news and documentary footage, some YouTube videos, a few shots of Zeus and cut them together and created a trippy film.
Buraka Som Sistema –Vuvuzela
Director: João Pedro Moreira
Vuvuzela (Carnaval) was the second release off Buraka Som Sistema’s album, Buraka. Buraka’s kinetic video for Vuvuzela cedes the rooftops of the Lisbon to a few mischievous dancers in white masks at first. The dancers perform some fast-paced, fancy footwork. Later, the Buraka crew join the dancers in the white masks for a party on a truck.