This vid took us like three separate occasions to complete. Every time we recorded, we still felt like it was meant to be tweaked. Usually once I complete a piece I am proud to hand it to someone in the media to critique and it was surprising. There comes a time when you feel like you cannot win.
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| From Left: DMK (Manager), Johnson (Director) & AJ Ubao (Artist) |
This video was shot in order to elevate other artists in TZ & Africa to step their game up especially in the diaspora. Artists on the mainland have an easier time because their budgets cannot compare to the outside. You go and pay someone between $500 to $2000 and you have yourself a great video.
It's quite different on international grounds because of all the costs. In Dar es salaam I can shoot whoever, whenever and whatever. In New York or any other location it's much harder because of the costs. Getting extras and people to be included in the video, selecting locations, wadrobe are all very difficult. Here you have to be the director, cameraman, editor and supervise every aspect of the shoot. At times I feel that people fail to appreciate the effort these artists take to rep their countries.
So back to the story, when I handed this video to be critiqued by people it was alarming. Here in the states the video has been receiving great feedback. Everyone is proud of AJ because he always represents TZ & Africa. In Tanzania it was quite different. People are used to a certain type of sound so it was harder trying to win them over. All in all, we all have different tastes.
It takes pride and compassion to appreciate effort. In the future we will get better but it takes artists like AJ who already live abroad to bridge the gap. Yes, you might have an artist who's hot in Uganda or Tanzania or Kenya but they need to appreciate those reppin them internationally. Their effort and experience will open the doors for local artists to gain credibility.
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