In the past 72 hours, Nigerians have been buzzing over Falz the Bahd Guy’s new brilliant single “This Is Nigeria” which is a cover of American rapper Childish Gambino’s institutionally charged “This Is America”. Just like Gambino’s, Falz’s version was released with a compelling video that sees him addressing various political, social, religious and cultural ills in present-day Nigeria.
The laudable video has amassed over 700k YouTube views in less than 72-hours and has also received applause from American rapper and mogul Diddy. It would be safe to say that the visual which ran at a length of 3 minutes 42 seconds left no stone unturned as the laughable sad reality of Nigeria was concisely put on display. While well-deserved praises have been accorded to Falz, very little has been said of Prodigeezy; the young director and cinematographer who brought the idea to life.
Iyobosa Rehoboth who goes by the moniker; Prodigeezy is a 23-year old prolific video director who although hasn’t quite amassed prominence has been a practicing director for well over four years. The Edo state native who was bred in Port Harcourt started his professional journey at the age of nineteen right after bagging a certificate from the Digital Academy (The Film School) in Mumbai – the capital city of India.
Post-film school, Prodigeezy began to test the waters of music video directing and the highlight of this attempt would be during his time with Aristokrat – the music label that played home to Burna Boy in the early years of his musical career. Geezy’s time with the label which spanned for up to two years can be proven by a number of music videos including the visual for Burna Boy’s 2017 single “Boshe Nlo” which he shot and directed at the Lekki Conservation Centre in Lagos.
Prodigeezy, however, parted ways with Aristokrat in the same year (2017), halted his journey to becoming a typical music video director and diversified into content marketing – a move he explained was inspired by the need to explore other possibilities and in some ways flee from the politics in the music video directing atmosphere. “I took a break from music videos because I realised that the music video industry was becoming very political in the sense that people sort of needed you to prove yourself in other type of ways other than your talent and skill. And I’d just rather work with brands who are a lot more professional. Also, I’d also say there was more monetary value in working with brands and it just gave me a chance to sort of like explore a different industry. Most of the content that I’ve done (in recent times) is not the same as music videos – they are more professional, I can work on stuffs that’s more than videos like; campaigns, long-term results, and I can market. I think that the entrepreneur in me just sort of took over the celebrity”, he explained while speaking with NET.
Although Prodigeezy finds joy operating in the professional environment, he couldn’t decline the call of rapper Falz the Bahd Guy who he refers to as a friend. According to the director, his relationship with Falz surpasses the realms of professionalism as they both exist in the same circle and have worked on two projects in the past. Their relationship is partly responsible for the rappers decision to recruit him for this job but more importantly is the degree of Falz’s belief in Geezy’s ability to deliver. “I think the reason that he called me is because he sort of knew I would understand what he was trying to do because he knew me. He didn’t really want a commercial video – I think he just wanted a story to be told and I would say from conversations we have had before, he sort of understood this was the frequency I was on. He wanted it to be authentic – he didn’t want it to be commercial at all and then I’ll say he trusts my storytelling skills”, Prodigeezy detailed.
The execution according to the director was done in less than seven days as Falz was said to have given him an impromptu call. Although the rapper was very much hands-on in the production process, the bulk of the visual conceptualization was handled by himself (Geezy) and his creative team.
On what has changed since the release of the video, the director disclosed that the reception and positive feedback has been overwhelming; “I’m not even going to lie, It’s a bit surreal right now, I’ve not experienced anything as big as this before. This is the biggest project of my career so far”. Closing with what the future holds for him, he revealed that he is just interested in topping his current achievement and inspiring young creatives. “I’m trying to just do iconic stuff. I’m also hoping that I can use this content to market my company, and work with brands and find ways to get a bigger audience and also inspire those whose stories are similar to mine”.
Connect with the director on Instagram
Official Handle – @Prodigeezy / Personal Handle – @Bosarehoboth