Watch AYAT’s Grand Theft Auto Inspired video ‘KUDI’
He who knows how to wash his hands well eat with the elders. Also, he who learns from his elders shall have both longevity and success. These two themes are clearly demonstrated in the video for Kudi.
AYAT enlist one of the creative directors we have around, Esianyo Kumordzi (remember him from Shaker and Cue’s ‘Untitled’ and ‘Pen & Paper’ videos) to capture, with perfection, these themes as well as the hustler spirit or story. Released a few weeks ago, Kudi (translates as ‘Money’ in the Hausa dialect) has AYAT feeding into the ‘stack that money’ trope. M.anifest, on the other hand, advises AYAT to be cognizant of the business component of show business. (Read review of single here).
The Video:
The concept for ‘Kudi’ is simple and straight forward; something both non-speakers of Hausa and pidgin alike could grasp. The video director, Esianyo Kumordzi and AYAT offer us a glimpse into the daily life of the latter (and by extension all artists on the come-up). Interestingly, the daily hustling life of AYAT is styled in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto.
We catch the first real glimpse of AYAT at the beginning of the video, where we see him lying on a carpet in his living room. (I must confess, I’ve not seen a ‘ghetto’ so posh like the one in the video). Then the daily hustle in search of ‘kudi’ begins on the streets of Madina.
All dressed up, he’s confronted by a creditor, who takes his chain as payment as soon as he stepped out of his room. Walking through the hood, he sells his phone and heads to the studio only for the engineer (Magnom Beats, who also produced the song) to take his watch and sneaker as payment before handing him his recorded songs.
M.anifest plays the older, successful guy in the video who advices the ghetto youths about life, success and motivating them to push harder despite the rough waves of the music industry. He’s again portrayed as the ‘hustler in chief’ getting paid from corner hustlers.
But, that’s not all. The video is laden with interesting metaphorical references. The very beginning of the video shows AYAT standing in a swimming pool wearing a white t-shirt bearing the inscription: ‘Broke & Famous’. The pool could represent the drowning nature of the industry for artists on the come-up. The Broke & Famous inscription is self-explanatory.
M.anifest is seen sitting on a ladder (placed in pool) offering AYAT a hand of help out of the pool. That is a statement to other successful artists like himself to help those on the come-up too. Sections of Madina (home to AYAT and M.anifest) is reflected throughout the video.
