Video Clip Focus: Crisis Mr. Swagger

Nambian-born rapper Chisenga Katongo, aka Crisis Mr Swagger, has been making waves in the Perth hi hop scene for some time now, and with the release of his new video, Rough Scandalous, at Bar Indigo this Saturday, March 22, he shows no signs of slowing down.

What have you been up to this year? What are the highlights so far?

Living life and, trying to figure myself out. There's definitely been a lot of ups and downs. What I love about that territory is, it brings out the fighter in me and I start to deal with things in a more vigilant approach.

Tell us about the song, Rough Scandalous.

The song was produced by The Presidentz made up of Matthew Newman Dunne and Beat Bosses Music Group. They sent me a beat and, it felt like that's what I needed to complete the album. Somebody said to me that it sounds like the intro to  Tupac's All Eyes On Me, a song called Ambitions As A Ridah. It felt like an intro to me and, I get what he meant by his suggestion. 

What's the concept behind the video?

The music video is really about capturing and expressing art in its various forms, from animation to eye capture, detail and surroundings providing the back drop.

The video is directed and produced by Kai Higham. I met him through Kennedy Films CCO, Christian Kennedy. Kai actually helped shoot the Straight Outta Compton Australia tour with DJ Yella.

He brought everything to the table for my video. He even went as far as designing my video launch poster. It's amazing what happens when you meet people that actually feel excited to be a part of what you're doing. I let Kai make all the creative decisions and direction. I had nothing to do with it but rap to the song and make it in time for the shoot.

I gave him a copy of my new album, released on the full moon of June 3, 2015. A week after its release, he took home a copy of the album because I just asked him to choose a song he liked so, he picked Rough Scandalous.

I was cool with it. I just wanted to see what he was going to do with it.

Originally published in X-Press Magazine