The Beauty of African Aesthetic in Nigerian Music Videos

Years ago, Nigerian music videos were far from what it used to be now. About a decade ago, Music videos from Nigeria looked very foreign, with most videos featuring light skin models and white women. Even though these videos were beautiful, It didnt feel african. A very good example of this is the Wizkid video for the song Final.

The video heavily featured light skin models and white women. it was the norm then that music videos will have to feature light skin models to look appealing. A notion that was soon disproved a few years after, when new artist started emerging from nigeria, and were challenging the norm with their unique creativity.

We started seeing more of our dark skin women who are actually a real representation of what Nigerian women look like. The videos now heavily features African aesthetics showcasing the beautiful nigerian fashion and culture.

One good example of this is the Video to the song Lolo by omah lay. The video was directed by Dammy twitch, A brilliant music video director who has shot a lot of music videos for many Nigerian artist. The video is a simple one but the African aesthetic in the video gave it a brilliant outcome.

This acceptance and inclusion of african aesthetics in Nigerian music videos makes it unique and appreciated by afrobeat fans all over the world.

Honestly, one of the things I am very pleased to check out when a new video is dropped by a nigerian artist is the level of creativity the video director is able to display with african fashion and culture. As many Nigerian music videos are showcasing more african aesthetics in their videos, Its great to see how its been appreciated all over the world because Initially the aesthetic sensitivities of African cultures were characterized as ‘primitive’ and of low intellectual calibre.

When Olakira dropped the video to the remix of his song, maseratti, it was pretty impessive the way the ankara, A popular west african kind of cloth was used in the video. the video can be described as a beautiful display of Nigerian women and their beauty.

Judging from the comments on the video on youtube, fans of afrobeat music all over the world attested to the display of the beauty of african fashion in the video. one of the comments reads – I love how Africans keep there culture in their music videos always love from Jaimaca-

another one says – I swear we Africans don’t know how beautiful we are until we begin to appreciate the God given gifts of our culture in general. It is then no one will look down upon us anymore. Look how beautiful the ladies and the clothes are in this video. Makes me proud being an African but for the most part a Nigerian-

Watch Maserati Remix By Olakira