Kyle Lewis: A Director Comfortable On The Fringes
Words by Phil Chard
The temptation to fall back on the oft overused Bill Watterson quote that "genius is rarely appreciated in its time" is hard to overcome when I describe Kyle Lewis and his visual work. On the surface, the fact that one of South Africa's most creatively gifted and boundary-pushing directors has not secured an award for Best Video in the last 4 major music award shows to be held in his home country, despite having been nominated in every one, is astounding; more so that he didn't secure an award at the 2016 SA Hip Hop Awards despite securing 5 of the 10 nominations. My astonishment is further compounded by the fact that his short film masterpiece for Riky Rick’s Exodus has not been nominated at any of these awards despite winning both Kyle and Riky Rick a Loerie Award in 2016.
"These award shows are always great, it's always great to get recognized for art that you put out there, but not to sound cliche or anything I am more proud to be able to work with really incredible artists," says Kyle.
Of those collaborations with incredible artists he speaks of, it is his relationship with Riky Rick that he seems to cherish the most. When I spoke with him over Skype a few months ago about the genre pushing work they've produced, Kyle waxed lyrical about Riky's creative flare. The two first met on the set of Spoek Mathambo’s video for Blah Blah Blah, which Kyle directed and Riky appeared in. Kyle is quick to remind me that the two aren't fast friends: "I'm not cool enough to hang with him," he points out. But they immediately recognised their creative synergies.
"Anytime that Riky calls me I will work with him. No matter his budget. We aren't best friends or anything but I think we get each other creatively"
The conversation centres around the two impressive collaborations that Riky and Kyle released in 2016 - Fuseg and Exodus. The former happened to be the first collaboration from the two artists while the latter proved to be one of Kyle’s most challenging efforts to date. The director proudly relates of how he and the crew had to forgo a litany of niceties on set to squeeze the final product out of the video's R200,000 budget.
There's something special about our filmmakers and how we approach things "
"Futsek was such a turning point in my career. Meeting Riky and working with him opened me up creatively because he has such a brilliant mind and his music is so inspiring to make music to. Music is subjective. But when I approach music visuals I want it be a little more artistic,I like the viewers to think about it more than what meets the eye. I want conversations to be started. It doesn't doesn't always have to all be the Americanised look and feel of things. We can have our own individual look and voice There's something special about our filmmakers and how we approach things "
"Riky approached me[for Exodus] and said he didn't want to do a music video, he wanted to do a film... There are a lot of deeper meanings and subtexts in it. What it is, is someone rising up from bad circumstances and becoming a God-like figure like Riky "
The narrative of someone rising up to etch their own path in life is a theme Kyle himself is familiar with. The Cape Town director says he always knew he wanted to make films and attended film school before working as a PA in the industry. Kyle soon made the decision to surrender a steady pay cheque in a job that wasn't fulfilling his creative desires and instead decided to start his own production company. It was while he was on his own that Kyle met the Locnville twins who convinced him to direct their debut video for Sun In My Pocket. It was the collaboration that was the launch pad for the careers of both the upstart director and the new Hip Pop act.
"When I first met Locnville I was convinced these guys wouldn't work out. They were two white boys trying to rap. But somehow it worked"
Since then Kyle's music video repertoire has steadily grown. From working with acts like Toya Delazy, The Parlotones, Khuli Chana, Tumi, Cassper Nyovest, Anatii and of course Riky Rick. As his notoriety has increased so have his budgets. During our conversation Kyle speaks of how creatively freeing it was to work with Cassper Nyovest on the video Video for Mr Madumane - his biggest music video budget yet which was tied to a Sanlam campaign. Despite being an accomplished advertising director who has produced big budget work for Nike, Absolut and Standard Bank, Kyle still sticks to a set of hacks and tricks that he uses to give his efforts a look that belies their actual budgets.
"I went to film school which didn't teach me too much. You learn everything you need to know when you're in the industry. I just feel there is a lot of limitations on what is taught in school."
"I love to create layers and levels with my images."
In an industry where visuals have become commodities that are simply part of the production line of a musical product, Kyle Lewis visuals tend to set themselves apart from the rest. It is why I gravitate to them. His visuals find a way to become a compelling product within themselves that relate their own narrative that enhances the message and feel of the song. In effect, his videos do exactly what a music video should do when it was first envisioned before template storyboards infected creative meetings.
"When it comes to my work you try every time to change it up as much as you can but there is something that comes through that is distinctly me. I never thought I would get that. I think I want to be remembered for pushing boundaries and pushing the medium as much as I could. If a little bit of what I do can inspire people to push themselves creatively then that would be the reason to do what I do"
Push boundaries he has. Last year after the release of his genre-bending video for Jump with Anatii, I came across the video from A$AP Mob for Yamborghini High which replicated a lot of the visual elements used by Kyle. "I wanted people to watch that video and think that their screens were broken " he quips when I ask about his motivation for Jump. He adopts a more humble tone when I speak about the similarities in the A$AP Mob video which dropped 2 months after his. "I did notice that about their effects... Maybe we were all pooling from the same collective consciousness"
Kyle says that he wants his art to foster discussion. It has not always been positive discourse however . His video for In Defence of My Art with Tumi was criticised for its depiction of black women chained like dogs. A criticism so scathing that 3 years later Tumi is still tweeting about it. In my review for his latest offering All Hail, I noticed that Kyle replicated visual elements from his previous efforts to create a visual that felt like an amalgam of his catalog.
But it is that amalgam that is part of Kyle's aesthetic. At a time when other creatives are more content with producing work that is passable while replicating the same elements we've seen time and time again. When everyone finds comfort in the middle of the road Kyle has found that comfort on the fringes. How far he is willing to explore those fringes is an answer only he can answer with his future work. Kyle also has the luxury of a number of corporate gigs to help fund his creative freedom (a freedom several directors do not enjoy) but he is adamant that his work is rooted in his creative ideals.
Despite the lack of recognition from the music industry for his efforts Kyle is still bullish on his place in the culture and the overall trajectory of the industry.
"The growth I've seen in the last five years in the country has been amazing. Not only visually but musically."
Always eager to work with new and creative voices, Kyle mentions a desire to work with KO and Black Coffee in the future. He closes out our conversation by revealing details of a short movie that he has made with Nasty C featuring three singles from the Durban rapper's debut album. Originally slated for release in early 2017 the project was pushed back until March and is set to premiere on The 10th.
I like many other fans am eager to see the results of his work. Like the fictional Mike Myers character, everything Kyle touches seems to turn to gold, not only in Khuli Chana videos.
Watch the preview for @Nasty_CSA's Veliswa short film directed by @actioncutkyle here pic.twitter.com/ctoTnDZZaV
— African Hip Hop Blog (@AfricanHHB) March 7, 2017