Nonso Amadi, Zinoleesky - Lock Up

What this video is

Released April 27, 2023, 'Lock Up' sits at the intersection of the Alte underground and mainstream Afrobeats, embodying Nonso Amadi's project of bridging Lagos street energy with diasporic Canadian-Nigerian R&B sensibility. Zinoleesky, signed to Marlian Records, brings a harder street credibility that counterbalances Amadi's smoother Alte-R&B register. The video, shot in Lagos by a photojournalist-turned-director…

Why it matters

A textbook example of mid-2020s Afro-R&B/Alte crossover aesthetics: the video fuses Lagos realism with major-label production values, demonstrating how Nigerian artists signed to Western labels (Def Jam/Universal) are asserting local visual authenticity rather than adopting Western video…

The director

Joe Penney is an American filmmaker, photographer, and journalist based in New York City and Lagos, Nigeria. He served as West Africa photo bureau chief for Reuters from 2012–2016, covering conflicts in Mali, Burkina Faso, and the Boko Haram war. He…