Top Music Videos of 2015: Anyiko’s Select 10

It’s a great music video when I find myself ogling at it even when the TV is on mute. However, I am going to be really pissed off if I put on the sound to find that it’s a terrible song. From Ice Prince’s Mutumina, JAB’s Winning in Life, Patoranking’s Daniella Whine to Diamond’s twerkers in Nasema Nawe, many dope videos had me going goo goo ga ga in 2015. I present you my exceptional 10 in no particular order.

1. Live and Die in Afrika – Sauti Sol (Director: Sauti Sol Entertainment)

Many Kenyan musicians have shot music videos atop Kenyatta Kenyatta International Convention Centre (third tallest building in Kenya) but I am afraid very few have brought to light Nairobi’s iconic beauty from its eyes, like Sauti Sol have done in this video. It’s the kind of cinematic brilliance that will have people all over the world be like, “What African city is this?” Yo! That’s Nairobi and the KICC was designed by Norwegian architect Karl Henrik Nøstvik, as commissioned by Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta in 1967.

2. Celebrity Girlfriend – Falz feat. Reekado Banks (Director: Clarence Peters)

This is the most hilarious music video I’ve watched all year! The celebrity girlfriends aren’t lookalikes but doppelgängers–only reason why Falz actually fooled me. I even asked my Nigerian sister Abi while in Lagos, “How did Falz get Omotola to do this?” Throughout the video’s three minutes, Falz, Reekado, the director and the girls don’t drop the ball even for a second. It’s a triumphant turning point when Falz’s unrequited pursuits finally bear fruit – my heart actually smiles when the ladies embrace him. My favourites were Beyonce, Rihanna, Temidollface, Seyi Shay and Yemi Alade. That’s like almost all of them, right? 🙂

3. Chekecha Cheketua – Alikiba (Director: Meji Alabi)

This is a double sword: hit song and hit video—Alikiba’s retaliation from past mistakes of never producing music videos to songs that became such massive hits. Shot in a South African suburb, this is Alikiba’s most colourful dance video. The director borrows certain post-production elements from Stromae’s Papaoutai video, and it’s perfectly alright. Alikiba is such a star! From how he patronises his female dancers with his charm and waist-wining, to how he makes the damn hard Chekecha Dance seem like child’s play – there’s not one thing that could have been done differently in this video.

4. Game – Navy Kenzo feat. Vanessa Mdee (Director: Justin Campos)

We already know that Vanessa Mdee is a slayer. At first sight, many take Nahreel to be a fashion killer rather than a beat maker. VeeMoney joins The Industry’s producer Nahreel with his better half Aika (the two are Navy Kenzo –Tanzania’s hottest and fastest rising music duo) on this bonafide ragga/dancehall track. Following a playful cat and mouse chase between groups of males and females, with couples taunting each other – Game is a tight video displaying what happens when Tanzania’s coolest kids collide with Justin Campos – crazy talented director based in South Africa. Game having held at No. 1 for months on MTV Base African Countdown shows the rest of Africa that East Africa too got game 😉

5. Ndi Mukodo – Cindy feat. Navio (Director: J. Blessing)

Another Ragga/dancehall banger – just what Ugandans love! I am disappointed that Navio is overdressed in this video, and way impressed at how Cindy is flaunting her bod. She is brave enough to bring her sexiness on a track and video – something many East African divas shy away from. Good job by the Kenyan director. This kind of video needs a careful edit or else it risks being plain raunchy. Navio tells me that in their native Ndi Mukodo can be loosely translated to, ‘If that nigga is mine, no one else will have a piece of him, or me.’ You really don’t want to mess with Cindy’s man.

6. Ayo – Chris Brown and Tyga (Director: Colin Tilley) & The Money – Davido and Olamide (Director: Sesan)

If you’re going to go big on a theme you better do it well. These two videos have delivered on parading a show of affluence – sometimes it’s so careless it’s silly and hilarious! The scene with Chris and Tyga on top of a skyscraper is so cinematic it reminds me of Dru Hill’s How Deep is Your Love video shot in Hong Kong by the director of Rush Hour. Young ballers in faux fur coats – the styling was also on point!

Read my exclusive interview with Dru Hill – From Breakups to Makeups: 20 Years Later

Still on that tip, big shout to African superstars with the spending power on the clichés of extravagance in music videos: from the women, big cars to sprinkling dollar bills. That joke about people receiving calls on stacks of money is so played out but the part where Olamide receives a phone in form of a stack of dollars passed over by Davido is unbelievably hella fresh!

7. Sugar – Yemi Alade (Director: Paul Gambit)

If anybody doubted that Yemi Alade really is the King Of Queens, get enthralled by this pop art imagery video emphasised by her debonair dance moves – as choreographed by Ezinne Asinugo. By the time she is sitting on a throne wearing a crown you know that she’s earned her status. The video reminds me of Rihanna’s Rude Boy. Yes! It’s that good of a comparison.

8. Play No Games – Big Sean feat. Chris Brown & Ty Dolla $ign (Director: Mike Carson)

Hands down my best video this year! I am such a huge fan of the 90s sitcom Martin! Wzup Radio was trill! From I know to One Man Can Change the World, in 2015 Big Sean produced videos oozing serious art direction. The 90s sitcom ‘Martin’ themed-music video took the crown. As a huge fan of Martin and Gina, it was so fresh to see Big Sean bring back the full cast: Tommy, Cole, Pam and even the annoying Bruh-Man and the nosey midget in his video. When the real Martin Lawrence shows up in the video’s ending, it’s the most worthy certification that this is a classic video.

9. Shooga – Yung L (Director: David Nicol – Sey)

Yung L’s videos are simple and authentic yet captivating all the same. You need to pay more attention to his songs too. I like when the Naija girls pull generators at the start of his 2014 SOS video and how Shooga’s director shows us the flavour of Ghana through bright colours and street dance. I just wish the director would cut off the excessive nyash shaking and have more of Chopstix. That’s all. Through tiny details, Yung L always captures the heart and soul of changing cultures in the face of life and times in modern Africa.

10. Wet Dreamz – J. Cole (Director: Ryan Staake)

J. Cole is a genius. It doesn’t get more literal when you get dogs falling in love in the video of a song about puppy love. Cute bitch meets a big dog. How the dogs lay eyes on each other, follow each other and finally meet and play is a stark reminder of the very steps we humans take before relationships transition from the bedroom to the stage of breakups and makeups. It’s the only wise way of shooting the video of a song that bluntly undresses sex. I wish Cole never showed up in the ending though.