Stefanie Jason and Katlego Mkhwanazi choose their 10 mind blowing music videos.
Music videos are a tool to convey messages and to market songs, and are platforms for artistic expression. So far, videos from 2015 (such as Rihanna’s graphic Bitch Better Have My Money video, Kendrick Lamar’s gripping Alright and Thor Rixon’s eccentric Fuk Bread) have been topical, in your face, quirky and memorably. While others not.
As MTV announces its nominees for the Music Video awards – 7/11 (Beyonce), Bad Blood (Taylor Swift) and Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars) and so on – we look at 10 local and international videos that might have been overlooked by the mainstream.
Here are some of their local choices. For all the listings by Stefanie Jason and Katlego Mkhwanazi see Mail & Guardian
Boss Zonke – Riky Rick
Hip hop star Riky Rick took it to the streets with the video for his hit single Boss Zonke. He teamed up with director Adriaan Louw on the video that was shot in three different cities: Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. In the video, we see Riky interacting with his fans from in Umlazi, downtown Johannesburg and the Cape Flats.
Louw managed to capture the youth’s energy from each area with shots of some popular dance moves and spinning cars. Boss Zonke features cameos from KwaZulu-Natal music acts, such as Dreamteam and Big Nuz and from Riky’s street crew Boyz n bucks, who throughout the music video show off their street style. Although the music video doesn’t have a storyline, it does succeed in zooming in on South Africa’s current pop culture scene with beautiful shots. – Katlego Mkhwanazi
Teenagers – Desmond and the Tutus
Local indie-band Desmond and the Tutus (see feature image) experience a bit of nostalgia in the music video of their single Teenagers, directed by filmmaker Lebogang Rasethaba. The four-man band is seen walking and driving in an ice-cream van through the bustling streets of Johannesburg and in the different scenes and spaces there is a hand holding a photograph of a moment in time from each space that the band finds itself in.
We also get to see old photos of some of the band members. Teenagers is a feel-good song and the shots of other people dressed in the colourful clothes, looking like human candy floss, make for a visually vibrant and colourful video. The video ends off with a pool party scene that shows the band, letting their hair down, having fun with friends that are dressed in wacky outfits and living up to the title of their current album, Enjoy Yourself. – Katlego Mkhwanazi
