JAMES BKS Releases Stunning Visuals for ‘KWELE’
‘Kwele’ is the new single by French Cameroonian artist James BKS, the first artist to be signed to British actor Idris Elba’s newly launched record label 7Wallace. The Kwele are an ethnic group from Gabon, Republic of Congo and Cameroon famed for their ceremonial masks, which are revered as art objects.
Available now across all DSP’s, today James BKS reveals cinematic video, with the discovery of a Kwele mask is the jump off point for the narrative, shot on location in Libreville, Gabon. The song features James’ father Manu Dibango, as well as Canadian rapper Allan Kingdom. It brings a complex Afro-influenced polyrhythm into a pop-rap song to addictive results.
“I want people to get to know my journey. The song is the musical answer to my inner questions. Finally I can be proud of my roots and say this music is fully me”; says James. With African music booming in popularity around the world, his perfect fusion of his musical worlds has great timing.
After living in the US for several years James BKS started as a hip hop producer (for the likes of Diddy, Talib Kweli and French rapper Booba) before moving back to Paris to start his own “Maison Créative” called Grown Kid. Grown Kid has composed music for Yves Saint-Laurent, Prada and Giorgio Armani commercials as well as movies scores from French movies like La Taularde (starring Sophie Marceau) and Le Gang Des Antillais.