Knowles: I was a keynote speaker No one in my company can use the izing and you can feel the energy in
word “little”! Because if you say little, the room go up a notch. It’s electric,
you think little. You see that sign? inspiring, a feeling I will never forget.
THINK BIG! My staff knows if you
say little I’m going to chew you out. Mr. Knowles: Ok! Now we’ll go
to the opposite extreme this is my
The video begins to play and an rock band from LA. As a very tight
amazingly smooth groove fills the and epic rock tune plays, the imag-
room, “Light Up! Light Up!” — his ery is intense and very different from
iF: You are still working with talent. artist from Nigeria sings. The video is the Nigerian Pop video. We are all
The questions on everyone’s minds striking bright colors, beautiful danc- listening intently and it was an elec-
are: What is he doing with music? ers, designer appeal, with a very in- tric moment when he spoke over the
What kind of talent is he looking for? ternational feel. The imagery is very music to say:
sexy and the beats were made for
What is he already developing?
dancing.
Look, I’ve had the #1 girl group
in the history of music, “Destiny’s
——————————
Mr. Knowles: He has star appeal! Child”, I’ve had the #1 trio in the
Mr. Knowles: Do you want to see it? Now, wait a few moments there is a history of Gospel, Trin-i-tee 5:7, #1
surprise I want you to see coming up. female artist with Beyoncé, #1 album
Want to see a video?
with Solange. So, I just want to do
He asks his producer to play two iF: He also plays the violin! That some different stuff. He leans back
videos for us. We gather around his takes it to another level of sexy. Where in his chair as the rock video plays
on and repeats for emphasis, “I just
desk. I notice next to his desk is a dry was this filmed?
want to do some different stuff - but
erase board with the words “Think
Knowles:
This
was
filmed
right
everything we do will always have a
Big” written in large capital letters.
here in Houston, and we still need to quality element to it ... I learned that
pop the colors and finalize the edit- from Xerox. Quality!”
——————————
ing.
Knowles: The next big thing, I
think, in music is Afro-Pop in Amer- Mathew Knowles looks at what his By: Heidi Powell-Prera
ica. It’s mainly Nigerian music. This team has produced with pride and a Heidipowell-prera.com
joyful glee in his eyes. He is visual-
artist is from Nigeria.
in Florence and found an artist in
the process who is now recording
in London. I go all over the world
speaking. In October, I will be in
South Africa for a week co-hosting
one of the largest TV shows there. So,
I do a lot of international travel.
44 iF Magazine | September 2018