Nathan James Tettey's road to success

Nathan James Tettey is here to help. With a wealth of experience of music video production in a variety of roles he understands the business of making pop videos, back to front. 

Every artist knows that their visual is important.

He also knows things are not what they used to be, and what a new generation of music artists face when negotiating the sped-up, visually literate age of Instagram and Tik-Tok. “Back in the age of rock music, the video part was always secondary, a promotional tool that someone else took care of, while the bands could concentrate on making music and throwing TVs out of hotel windows,” he says. “Now, it’s not secondary. There are too many different ways you can look at visual content. It's not just waiting for it to come on MTV, is it? It's on YouTube, on TikTok. You can have a discussion about it all in the comments on YouTube, or Instagram, or Twitch, or TikTok, or something else.”

He points out that the video, not radio, is often where rappers get their first exposure. “They've done one verse, someone's filmed it, and it's gone viral, so you have a rough idea of who they are, visually, anyway,” he explains, noting that as a result many rappers are thinking about the visual aspect at an early stage, even as they create their music. “They want to have more control of that side of things, feel they can do that walk themselves. You end up having to meet them on that road.”

Above: Director, Creative Director, sometime Executive Producer and Video Commissioner, Nathan James Tettey.

Director, Creative Director, sometime Executive Producer and Video Commissioner, Tettey can acquit himself with aplomb in each of these roles. When it comes to being able to establish a personal relationship with an artist to collaborate on a visual, Tettey fits the bill in a way that few can match. He has wisdom to impart, in whatever the aspect of the process you wish to address, and the personality to deliver his views, while remaining a committed team player. 

Many of the leading UK artists in grime, rap and hip-hop – among them some of Britain’s biggest pop stars – have benefitted from Tettey's knowledge, and his passion.

“Every artist knows that their visual is important, and they should talk to someone about it,” Tettey continues, warming to his ‘road’ metaphor. “It's just whether you can get them to the town of credibility, or they're just going to run off to the city of mediocrity.”

Many of the leading UK artists in grime, rap and hip-hop – among them some of Britain’s biggest pop stars – have benefitted from his knowledge, and his passion for the process of bringing their music to the screen, including Headie One, Stormzy, Fredo, and Ghetts, and particularly the precociously talented rapper Dave, for whom Tettey has directed or co-directed seven videos. 

Above: Tettey commissioned RUFFEMERCY to direct Ghetts' video for Mozambique.

The past two years have been a whirl of activity, despite the pandemic. He worked closely with grime legend Ghetts on his new album, Conflict Of Interest, commissioning the award-winning video for Mozambique, directed by iconoclastic animator RUFFMERCY, and directed the videos himself for Proud Family and Skengman, featuring Stormzy. Then, last year, he resumed working with Dave, commissioning the video for Clash, again featuring Stormzy, and then co-directing the video for Verdansk with Dave – a stylish live-action version of a Call Of Duty-style video game. 

Proud Family is one of the ones I’m most proud of. How family affects Ghetts in a positive way was a big thing to represent.

He also established himself at Untold Studios as a director and Creative Director, while also retaining a creative consultancy role at Warner Bros Records, where he had been working as a video commissioner for several years. He says that, of everything he has done in this intense period, he is particularly pleased with what was achieved with the Ghetts campaign. 

“Proud Family is one of the ones I’m most proud of,” he says of the video which uses a split-screen device to takes us into Ghetts’s family life, contrasting that with scenes of a young man’s journey in the criminal justice system and his affected family, showing the alternative path he could have taken. “How family affects Ghetts in a positive way was a big thing to represent,” Tettey continues. “It’s Ghetts unlocking the door to his work - who he is as a person, where he wants to go – and it really compliments the music. Shout out to Jomar O’Meally, my brilliant DoP on that one.”

Above: Ghetts' Proud Family is the video of which Tettey is most proud.

With Skengman, the artist wanted to create an aesthetic based around Sin City and The Spirit. “I think we managed to achieve it – well, 90%!” says Tettey of the video’s stylishly noir look. “We didn’t want it to be about violence, it was all about the aesthetic and I think that does drive the piece. Also, Stormzy and Ghetts have really different energies so we had to find a way of shooting that complimented each of them on the screen, as well as making sure each of the cameos within it felt prominent.” 

Stormzy and Ghetts have really different energies so we had to find a way of shooting that complimented each of them on the screen.

Whether he is working as a director, Creative Director or Creative Consultant for a label, he says he enjoys all roles at different times, depending on the project. “As a Creative Director, you’re told about everything a lot earlier, so you have more influence. You can create the brief, flesh it out, conceptualise it.” As a Creative Consultant to the label he feels he can be objective about critiquing an idea. “Now I feel I can be honest and say, ‘this is shit’ when we're doing something poorly." 

But directing does have that special allure. “The bigger the artist gets, the more you enjoy writing the treatment, having the chance to do a storyboard, then maybe doing a pre-vid,” he explains. “I still enjoy all those bits, and then doing the rehearsal, seeing things come up to the point where we can execute them on the shoot day - and I still love shooting.” 

Above: Tettey's promo for Dave's Verdansk upped the ante on their previous collaborations. 

Growing up in Neasden, north west London, of Ghanian descent, Tettey’s introduction to music video production actually came as a teenager, from attending the shoots of his cousin Max Giwa – one-half of the directing team Max & Dania – and hanging out in Soho. After attending university he returned to Soho. His first proper job was as a director’s rep for Partizan’s animation department. Then he was poached by Partizan’s rival, Blink's then music video division, Colonel Blimp, and worked in creative development with the Blimp roster (including David Wilson and Dougal Wilson) for several years, rising to Executive Producer. 

There are also the parallels with living life as a Black person and feeling you’re always under attack. I think we draw that parallel really well.

Eventually, he went over to the label side, to Warner Bros, working for a range of artists including Liam Gallagher and Royal Blood, with the influential marketing head Jennifer Ivory. He then began working with new signing, Dave. After several commissions for the rising grime star he was struggling to find a director at short notice to make his next video, when Dave’s manager suggested that Tettey directed it himself, a view seconded by Dave.

He accepted the challenge, held his nerve, and the result was the video for Question Time. It was a hit and led to him directing more Dave videos – including for number one hit Funky Friday, and exploring Dave’s African roots in Black. When Dave returned to action last year, their collaboration with Verdansk upped the ante on their previous collaborations, not least due to a more mature artist needing to address the stresses that come with his status. 

“Dave was into a different mode," says Tettey. "It was important to pick up on the finer details of the story and be authentic to a game reference. There are also the parallels with living life as a Black person and feeling you’re always under attack. I think we draw that parallel really well.” Filmed in Bulgaria, he says the challenge in finding locations, a trained cast and explosive experts within a short turnaround was huge. “But I really can’t fault the outcome. It shows scale, but also feels intensely personal. You can watch it over again and see something different. I’m proud of the layers within it.”

Above: Tettey's promo for Ghetts' Skengman.

This is also the first period of Tettey’s now lengthy career when he has not been a rare person of colour within a music video production company, or behind the camera on a video shoot – or even the only one. Now at Untold, a growing force within production and post production, where the offices are populated by young staffers of diverse backgrounds, Tettey is nonetheless circumspect on the notion that progress is being made in the diversification of his industry. 

“When Black Lives Matter happened, people made promises," he says. "They’ve either stuck to them, or they’ve found it hard to stick to them. The people that have found it hard, probably need some help. We probably need, again, a wider conversation as a collective industry in and around that.” He says he would also be happy to personally ‘break bread’ with who he regards the “bad managers” who are seemingly wedded to an old status quo. 

When you incorporate [diversification] into your business model, you'll still make money. You'll find different revenue streams. You'll find different creators that you end up nurturing.

He adds that it is not only about doing what’s right – although that is the most important thing. “When you incorporate [diversification] into your business model, you'll still make money. You'll find different revenue streams, or you'll find different people that you end up speaking to. You'll find different creators that you end up nurturing.”