Kye Colors, The Greeting Committee, Stephonne, and more of the best local music videos

Illustrated by Katelyn Betz

It’s been a hot minute since we’ve done one of these, so bear with us. We dug through social media, YouTube, and random emails to bring to you this cream of the local music video crop that is Cine Local, and this one’s banger after banger after banger. Hip hop from Kye Colors, Stephonne’s sultry R&B, blues rock from Danielle Nicole, pop rock from the Greeting Committee, and even a vintage throwback for all, among many other gems.

Get watching, kids.

Kye Colors, “Posse on Broadway” 

Back in October, rapper Kye Colors released the COLORMAN: GREEN EP, and the first track saw the Kansas City musician reworking Sir Mix-a-Lot’s 1988 hit with Kansas City references. The video, directed by the one and only Kendu, plays out like something you might’ve found on a VHS tape from that era, featuring a Soul Train dance line at a house party and getting down in the recording studio. It’s as exciting visually as the track is to hear.

Stream COLORMAN: GREEN on Spotify and snag Kye Colors’ latest, Changes, on Even.

Stephonne, “Highlander (There Can Only Be 1)” ft. Shilow

Taken from Stephonne’s 2022 EP, SIS: Side B, its “Music Motion Picture” was produced and directed by Stephonne Singleton and Wreckreation Co.’s Chadwick Christopher, edited by Stephonne Singleton, Christopher and Chance Parsons, and shot by Christopher. It’s a hallucinatory fever dream of an interpretation, looks amazing, and gave us good reason to fall in love with this song all over again.

Purchase SIS: Side B on Bandcamp.

Danielle Nicole, “Love On My Brain” 

Taken from Nicole’s new album, The Love You Bleed, released via Forty Below Records in January, the Lava Dreams video for “Love On My Brain” documents the blues rocker’s strong performance ability perfectly. She gets to strut, vamp, and dance, and moves as though the lyrics are coming from the depths of her soul.

Find The Love You Bleed on various platforms here.

ATP Haiti4ss x NBK CJ, “5K AM in KC” ft. EBK Jaaybo

The opening track to Shaq & Kobe, the new album from ATP Haiti4ss x NBK CJ, features the stylings of EBK Jaaybo, and I am absolutely astonished that two KC musicians managed to team up with up-and-coming Stockton, California rapper EBK Jaaybo. And the track’s hot as fuck, too, with a killer video courtesy Tunnel Vision Studio, who might be turning out the hottest videos in town right now? There’s something about their skills with lighting and mind-melting transitions which feels like they’re going next-level sometime soon.

Stream Shaq & Kobe on Spotify.

SCUD, “Dream State” (live)

Live from Raytown Records’ Gnarly Halloween show last October, Lawrence noise-punks SCUD rip through the heretofore unreleased track, “Dream State.” The audio sounds great and when paired up with the psychedelic effects applied to the live footage, make for a video which feels less like a random live performance thrown online and more of a legitimate artistic statement.

You can find SCUD’s music on Bandcamp.

The Greeting Committee, “popmoneyhits” 

While alt-pop rockers the Greeting Committe released the “Talk About It” collab with funksters Post Sex Nachos back in December, it’s been well over a year since we’d heard new music from the band proper. That all changed when, at the beginning of February, the band dropped a new single and attendant video for the new track, “popmoneyhits.” The video is directed by Luke Holliday and the and’s Addie Sartino, and “depicts Sartino dining with an array of eccentric and self-absorbed guests” who eventually turn into “lifeless, plastic mannequins.” Catchy, synthy goodness all about the record machine chewing you up.

Hembree, “Rebel Yell” ft. Will Forte & John Flynn (live)

For drummer Austin Ward’s birthday, he got out from behind the Hembree kit to perform Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” at The Troubadour in Los Angeles with special guests Will Forte (yes, that Will Forte) and John Flynn (frontman Isaac Flynn’s dad). If you’ve ever seen the band rock out a cover, you know they give it their all, and this time’s no different.

Hembree will be back in town on Friday, March 8, to celebrate the release of “Money Time Love” at the Ship with special guests Wildermiss & #ASSJAMZ. Details on that show here.

Phat Albert, “Devious” ft. DL & Str8Jacket of DVS Mindz (live)

Live at K-State’s Haylapalooza in April of 2001, we get funk-ska-rockers Phat Albert teaming up with DL and Str8Jacket of DVS Mindz to perform the band’s collab, “Devious.” It’s VHS as hell, but watching a bunch of college students absolutely get down to this performance brings back a slew of memories, most of them slightly hazy. The Exactly Where I’m At YouTube channel on which we found this video has scads more Phat Albert performances to dig into, should that be your thing.

Are you a local musician with a new video to share? Email nicholas.spacek@gmail.com