YO MAPS YO’S MUSIC VIDEO EDITED IN ALIGNMENT WITH ZAMBIA’S CULTURAL VALUES AND PUBLIC EXPECTATION
Following concerns from some sections of society regarding certain scenes in Yo Maps Yo’s latest music video for the song “Budget” off the Vibe on Vibe album, the musician edited the video to align with Zambia’s cultural values and public expectations.
This follows advice from the Zambia Association of Musicians (ZAM), which came amid backlash from the media over the song.
Budget visuals featuring Dizmo and FranK Ro dropped almost two weeks ago and attracted over 1.4 million views.
Since its release, members of the public, including the clergy, deem some scenes culturally inappropriate within the Zambian context, with some calling for the song to be taken off the platform
In a statement today, ZAM president B Flow said that while the Association firmly upholds artistic freedom and creative expression, it also recognizes the responsibility that comes with producing content for public consumption.
“We recognize that Yo Maps is one of Zambia’s leading artists whose creativity is appreciated by many.
“Owing to this fact, his music videos usually garner millions of views from all over Zambia and other parts of the world,” he said.
He disclosed that over the past week, ZAM and its mother body, the National Arts Council (NAC) have extensively conferred on the matter.
“Following our correspondence with NAC, ZAM has provided Yo Maps and his team with specific technical guidance on how to edit the video directly on YouTube without requiring a full takedown, as removing the video entirely would negatively impact its viewership and metrics.
“The video’s director, Mr Longwe Nyirenda, professionally known as Director Lo, has confirmed to ZAM that he is aware of the editing mechanism we recommended.”
B Flow said that as of Thursday, Olios Records’ production partner Reel Studios also informed ZAM that the necessary edits have been completed and that the process of replacing the original video with the revised version is underway.
“They further indicated that while the first upload attempt was unsuccessful, a second attempt has since been made.
“They added that while the Yo Maps team awaits the YouTube upload process to be completed, the alternative version has already been circulated locally,” he said.
ZDM