video premiere: ohene cornelius – ‘top of the game’

Today we’re premiering artist Ohene Cornelius’ hard-hitting video for his track ’Top Of The Game’ (music produced by TeV95).
Director Ian Cinco very eloquently told us about the statements made and the questions asked in this visual assault on the senses: “It’s a Dark, Aggressive, Sexy, Artistic, Comedic video event. It’s a discussion piece where the audience is charged to look at the images in pop culture and rap music in a dynamic clash of expectation and change of convention.
The video is intended to be a playful exploration of a journey towards self-realization and represents a part of ourselves that we aren’t always aware of. I illustrate this through Ohene, as he plays 4 different characters, each a different versions of himself. Without giving away too much – The video in part expresses the idea that we as humans are complex multidimensional beings and for better or worse, when one part of our psyche wins over another there is always something left lingering in the void. Some questions for viewers to consider are:
Does the repeated imagery of a gold coin inserted into an arcade slot represent the persistence of a man determined to reach top of the game status, OR does it represent the sickness of our culture endlessly feeding the machine in the hopes that maybe if we win one more round we can fill the void within, OR is it all just a game and meant to be fun? Ohene and I invite viewers to come up with their own answers to this and any other questions the video might pose.  We hope anyone who is striving to be at the “top of their game” will connect with this video.”

Director Ian Cinco added: “Creating a music video for Ohene Cornelius’s TOP OF THE GAME was a massive labor of love. The video highlights his talents as an actor and musician, while featuring imagery based our mutually eclectic interests in art and culture. Much of the imagery is thoroughly inspired by the beats, produced by TeV95 as well. (…) This video is perfectly self aware. Between waiting for the Crown of Jesus to arrive in a box from Bethlehem, to hand picking each model we worked closely together for about a year. This piece has grown from the still images and animatics I initially sketched and has blossomed into something worth seeing; worth feeling.”

Track available here.