Bas and Earthgang praise their favorite West African dish and the women who keep its recipe in their cooking repertoire in the lightehearted video for “Jollof Rice” from Bas’ recent-released Spilled Milk Vol. I EP. Directed by Mariah Winter for The Fiends, the simple treatment features three models of West African descent — Magné Ndiaye, Mecca Allah, and Taiwo Aloba — frollicking on set with Bas, Olu, and Doctur Dot as they dance, pose, strut, and fool around with a fanciful collection of props.
It’s a surprisingly chill treatment considering the title and subject matter, as jollof rice has become something of a sticking point in the sometimes friendly, sometimes heated “Diaspora Wars” — the intercultural and -national rivalry between descendants and residents of the neighboring countries that make up the region. Jollof is just one of the battlegrounds where this rivalry plays out as West African nationals from Ghana to Nigeria to Senegal to Sierra Leone vie to determine who makes it the best.
Of course, as a second-generation Sudanese kid, Bas is seemingly exempt and therefore able to be objective and to appreciate all the various flavors of jollof — as well as the three gorgeous models who help make the video what it is. For more Bas, check out his album Milky Way and for more Earthgang, peep their new album, Mirrorland, both out now through Dreamville Records.
