Two months since the release of his well-received third studio album, Isibuko, Jabulani ‘Sjava’ Hadebe has dropped fresh visuals of ‘Isoka’ from the LP.
Shot in Orlando East, the video is directed by Luthando Sigubudu and is co-directed by Sjava himself, and features the song’s original guests: Q Twins and Mzukulu. Essentially an Afrobeats-inspired song, the club-friendly track thumps in the background of the visuals, which represents local groove setup meets exotic club culture from the Caribbean.
The Bergville-born superstar pulls up to the music video with a Toyota Cressida, the same style as Big Zulu’s in ‘iMali Eningi’, wearing a checkered paperboy cap, a white tee, and a scarf improvised from a sweater. The Q Twins sport black and white tops, respectively. Mzukulu comes in with all-black, rounded dimmers and a beret.
The sensuality and touchiness of the ‘Isoka’ music video conjure up scenes of the Rihanna-Drake duet ‘Work’ as the patrons in the visuals sway their hips provocatively and as their male partners fan the flames of the attraction with waist touches and lascivious eyes. The parallel between it being shot in Orlando East and bearing similarities to something fresh out of Jamaica speaks to the cosmopolitan nature of nightlife in Black communities worldwide.
‘Isoka’ is a story of a man who has to brush the dirt of indignation off his shoulders because the lady chose him over other suitors, the visuals represent the theme of masculinity and its volatility when men clash over the favour of the opposite sex.
Tensions spill over and culminate with the end scene when Jimmy Mongale, who had trash-talked Sjava and his entourage earlier to score brownie points with one of the Q Twins, is confronted by Sjava’s “inkabis”. Ntshebe, Prince Zulu, Sizwe Thabede, and Mzukulu approach Jimmy and his friend, threatening violence for trying to finesse a girl that belonged to one of their own.
Watch ‘Isoka’ here:
