By Willie Gordon Suting
Done Talking by Big Ri and Meba Ofilia has a sparse monologue that never feels contrived. Its richly layered poetic construction speaks of pain of deception. The sorrow expressed by Ofilia is rife with sarcasm. Big Ri free-associates ideas and images through his complex rhyme schemes. The thematic undertone, though, is one of a negotiation.
One of the most innovative music videos to emerge from Shillong, it was directed by El Dhar of Quarion Cine Sicarius Studios.
Lamonte Pakyntien “D-Mon” produced the track laying the retro electric guitar sound. “First thing that came to my mind was this image of Ofilia sitting in an old divan. We wanted to create a sense of nostalgia but not necessarily of a past. It is a space which has a timelessness to it,” says Dhar.
Dhar adds that time is frozen and miniscule in the video. “It is irrelevant and not necessarily the past or future or present. The scene of twilight perfectly suited the mood of the song.”
The cinematography channels a dystopian heaven where the pain of deception manifests through the interiors present.
When D-Mon first heard the lyrics, he went about creating a track around them. The painstaking detail in the track was to cohere with the artistes when they performed.
“I had a lot of fun making this track. It was consciously experimenting different things with it. However I did not visualised the final product. I just let the song speak to me, trusted my mind and heart and just followed their instructions,” says D-Mon.
Ritik Roy Malangiang “Big Ri” elucidates his style as “a basic trail of feelings that processing power of the mind cannot ignore”.
“The rhyme scheme came naturally with the framing of every sentence that needed to be stated. It is like the mind already had it all figured out in my subconscious before I even started writing it,” he says.
Ofilia’s rich soulful vocals has atmospheric warmth and lyricism. She cites Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Aretha Franklin as major influencers. “Taking from each of these grounded women, be it lyrical writing, stage presence, attitude and blending in with my own flair, I give a more fresh and new sound to the scene. In addition to this, there are also RnB artistes of this era like H.E.R, SZA and Beyonce to name a few who move me,” she says.
Ofilia adds Done Talking “has both autobiographical elements and universal truths but in the end, it is art”.
Big Ri explains that soulfulness and lyrical hip hop is in abundance in music today. “I speak from the perspective of an Indian MC. I cannot comment on anything American to avoid disrespecting the mother of hip hop. Internationally, there are a lot of crafty, witty, soulful hip hop artistes. Yes, maybe a few artistes have shifted their attention to being commercial but there are still many artistes coming out with good content who are just as successful as some commercial mainstream artistes.”
But the biggest thing for the duo and the team behind the video was getting nominated for Best India Act in this upcoming MTV Europe Music Awards.
Ofilia says she was surprised when she heard the news. “I couldn’t believe it at first. But eventually hard work, effort and dedication pay off. I feel grateful to everyone who played a key role in making this music video happen”.
“Whether we can win it or not is not in our control. We’re just grateful to have been nominated for an award ceremony as big as this. One thing I can say is we have the right support from the right people. Their support is something which we can never repay back,” adds Ofilia on the many people who voted for the video.
When asked about their message to Shillongites, Big Ri says, “To our fans, friends and family from Shillong, we will be representing our city for a long, long time. Don’t stress it. We love you. Keep supporting us and our music and we will never disappoint.”
For voting Done Talking as Best India Act, one can go to the link: http://www.mtvema.com/en-in/vote. One can also visit Khasi Bloodz and Ofilia’s Instagram pages. Links are available in their bio for people to vote. People can vote multiple times till November 3 when voting lines close.