Alton Mason is a 23-year-old model, dancer and nascent singer/songwriter who has walked for Gucci, Chanel, Yeezy and Louis Vuitton, and thanks to his professional basketball-player father, is well used to travelling the world. But something really clicked on his very first visit to Africa: “I was captivated,” he recalls of his touchdown in Lagos.

The seductive visuals of the short film, ‘Rise in Light’, sees Mason making his way through this buzzing cityscape in a striking crushed-velvet purple suit by Nigerian label Orange Culture. He’s joined by a local dance troupe on the beach and there’s an unforgettable cameo by Kovu, a white lion cub.

Directed by Amarachi Nwosu with cinematography by Soof Light and styling by Ugo Mozie, it began as the music video for Mason’s debut single, ‘Gimme Gimme’, but swiftly took on a life of its own with the Covid-19 outbreak.

Now, in partnership with the Khan Foundation, a Lagos-based educational non-profit, it’s raising funds to support 300 of the most vulnerable local families through the crisis by providing essential supplies and health workshops in the Makoko and Iwaya communities. The team set out to raise $10,000, but at the time of writing had already exceeded its target. Melanin Unscripted has also launched a global community video that includes Joan Smalls, Winnie Harlow and tech guru Iddris Sandu among others. “We are stronger when we’re united,” Mason says simply.

“It’s a really dark and uncertain time in the world,” Nwosu adds. “’Rise in Light’ is an opportunity for us to shed light on communities that often get overlooked and to tune into the light we have in ourselves.” Watch them rise.

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Published on 20/05/2020