Tems Playlist | Healing

Curating a Tems Playlist | I was in Auckland, New Zealand. Pulled over on the side of the road at about 10 o clock at night.. staring at the stars with the ocean infront of me..suddenly this song came on that I’d never heard before as i listened to the raw emotion in the voice and the overall song with production and as i reflected on my life and the chaos within it, I began to shed a tear. At that moment i connected deeply with this song. That song was “FREE MIND” by Tems "And behind my mind it runs All these thoughts have troubled me Fighting to give up my pain" From that day I became an immediate fan of TEMS. After over a year of listening to Tems I thought it's time to run a mix, that i can personally listen to, but the respect I have for Tems is tenfold, if i was to do a mix, i didnt want it to just be in my home set up and rushed, I wanted to put effort in as a dedication to her. Tems music inspires, uplifts and even heals people. Why not showcase other artists in the video and celebrate her music. So that’s what we did. Originally we were going to hire a place out but instead approached Chika who’s the owner of Salon De African Pride in Newtown and asked if we could shoot. Next we reached out to Lisa of Qemu’el hair and independently black owned business to see if she was available. Then we thought what if through out the video what if there was someone painting. The first person that came to mind was Flow State Jaz aka Jazmine Nikitta. Lastly who would we get to shoot, color grade and edit.. of course Jack Billiau. This shoot came out beautifully, I wish I could say it was easy but there’s a lot of work that goes into it on and off the camera. Making sure everyone’s availability lines up, scouting locations, actually making the playlist and practicing it so that all the transitions are smooth.. But we pulled it off and all enjoyed a meal from A Little Lagos during and after. The girls needed to wait until we said grace, which after the mix was done, we all gathered and held h