Fresh off the back of his Metro Awards wins, rapper Nasty C announced that he would be hosting what was billed as “a three city cinematography preview titled, Veliswa, in honour of his late mother.”
This comes after he announced that he would be releasing a track called “Uok” of his Bad Hair Extensions album as his next single (also in tribute to her).
It was explained that the preview would be a showcase of visuals for three singles off his Bad Hair Extensions album. Namely: Don’t Do It, Phases, Good Girls and Snapchat H**s.
We were intrigued, wondering what a project released in honor of his mother would look like so we RSVP’d and attended the preview.
First of all, there was a significant lack of fanfare for someone with Nasty C’s following. Granted, the preview was held in the evening at Rosebank and most of his fans had to be in bed by 8 because they have school the next day, but we expected a bit more people than those we saw.
Secondly, the process to get into the Cinema Prestige area, where this preview was supposed to be held, was a mission. Certain attendees felt the need to cause a scene and hold up the line when they had RSVP’d for 5 people but were only given access for two. So tacky.
Thirdly, for the amount of press they invited, the Prestige waiting area was heavily packed which made it difficult to navigate.
And just when we thought the night couldn’t get any worse, we were told that the Prestige area, which we had been told we’d be going into was suddenly full and we had to make our way to regular old cinema 8.
Once inside, we weren’t notified of anything. We were just surprised by Nasty C’s sudden appearance. And he left just as swiftly as he came after thanking us for coming and thanking fans for buying his music.
No welcome speech, no explanation about what we were about to see, no explanation of his thought process, no explanation about who he worked with and what it took to make this, nothing. He was literally in and out in under 30 seconds.
Okay…
And then the preview began, opening with black and white scenes of Nasty C penning lyrics to his mom with a voice over of him explaining their relationship or lack thereof as she passed on when he was still young. That was actually quite touching, and saddening considering what an important role a mother plays in every child's life.
And then the videos began.
To his (and director Kyle Lewis’) credit, the visuals are different from the usual scenes we have come to associate with hip hop music videos.
Shot in an opulent french-renaissance style space, with models clad in garments from that era, we thought a story was about to unfold once the video for 'Don’t Do It' kicked off but we were wrong.
We actually enjoyed the video for 'Phases' but again, it lacked a story. It came across as an attempt to create a series of the dopest and most different visuals.
'Good Girls' was a breath of fresh air however, as it featured subjects that aren’t the “thick,” yellow, weave-clad bad bads we’ve grown tired of seeing.
Lastly, we watched the video for 'Snapchat H**s' which was also just a way for the team to showcase their film and video editing skills.
The showcase was done in less than 20 minutes and again, no announcements were made about what would happen next. The only way we found out that Nasty C was holding a Q&A session was through word-of-mouth but by the time we got back to the Cine Prestige waiting area, he was surrounded by fans. That had us wondering "like, where are we going to get the chance to ask our questions?"
It turns out the Q&A session wasn’t even that. It was a chance for him to speak to selected publications/production houses (three to be exact) before disappearing into the night.
So, we unfortunately can’t tell you for sure what the videos were about but you can watch Veliswa here and decode it for yourself or wait to see the videos on your favourite music channels.
Main image credit: channelo.dstv.com