BarelyAnyHook's Cooking Music Videos Is The Wholesome Content You Need
With most of the world on lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19, millennials have turned to the internet for entertainment. As such, droves of people are either hosting virtual parties or spreading wholesome content from the comfort of their homes.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. I mean, we millennials created meme culture and continue to use the internet as a virtual playground. Back here in Nigeria, celebrities are currently using their social media platforms, particularly Instagram and Twitter to connect with their fans during this time. From the heartwarming #DontRushChallenge to fun cooking videos, there is an endless output of wholesome content to help you cope during the pandemic.
Lagos-based rapper, BarelyAnyHook, is one of the Nigerian entertainers whose food videos will totally help you find joy while you stay at home.
In 2016, BarelyAnyHook reached public ears with his feature on AYLØ’s 2016 single, “Honest Conversations”. Since then, he has put out an impressive body of work, Barely Big Enough, and the recently released singles, “Nna, Jide” and “Look At Your Baby” in addition to collaborations like the Dwin-Assisted “Take Flight” and “Lupita”.
While he continues to establish himself as a rapper and lyricist to reckon with, I’m a little obsessed with his quirky cooking music videos, where he makes quick meals with his music as the soundtrack.
In a quick chat with Eat. Drink. Lagos about his videos, he said:
“It was a moment of embracing curiosity and a random abundance of papaya at home. I'd played with editing on my iMovie before that was soundtracked by my music, but this was different. Food gets everyone's attention, whether they get the chance to experience it or not.”
From cooking efirin pasta to “Soy El Fuego”, his cheeky trap refix of Narcos’ hypnotic theme song, “Tuyo”, to his Dalgona coffee recipe as his take on the #DontRushChallenge, Barely’s videos are an expression of his creativity.
However, he admits that this concept is not entirely new. For instance, in 2018, Buzzfeed’s food channel, Tasty collaborated with hip hop group, Migos for a cooking-themed video shoot for their, hit single “Stir Fry”, where they cooked, you guessed it, stir fry noodles.
Barely plans to take his home-made videos to a larger scale as soon as he overcomes the bottleneck of production, which is access to funding. “The version people witness now is the simplest marriage of food and music under my constraints. I have ready music video visuals, in-person experiences both personal and broader, items for purchase, the works”, he explained.
With ‘Miss Rona keeping us all at home with time on our hands, BarelyAnyHook plans to share roughly two videos each month at this point. While we wait impatiently for his next quirky cooking clip, catch up on some of his previous cooking music videos right here: