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Meji Alabi
Background information
Birth name	Meji Alabi
Born	(1988-12-13) 13 December 1988 (age 36) London, UK
Occupation(s)	Filmmaker, music video director, Photographer, Producer
Years active	2014 - Present
Website	mejialabi.com

Meji Alabi (born 13 December 1988) is a London-born Nigerian filmmaker, director, photographer and producer. He is a director and has worked alongside Beyonce, Burna Boy, Wizkid,Davido, Tiwa Savage, Popcaan, Goldlink, Koffee and Nasty C. He directed his first feature film in 2024, Water and Garri, starring Tiwa Savage.

Early life

Born on December 13, 1988, in London, Meji spent a lot of his childhood on the move with his father after his parents’ separation in 1989. He shuffled between London, the Bahamas, and Texas, USA. He attended Spring Forest Middle School and Stratford High School both in Houston, Texas. Meji Alabi graduated from the University of West London with a first-class summa cum laude distinction in Accounting and Finance, and also holds a Licensed Vocational Nursing degree from St. Phillips College in San Antonio, Texas.

Career

In 2014, Alabi co-founded JM Films with Jimi Adesanya. JM Films (a subsidiary of Unbound Studios) is a media and production services company specialised in creative visuals, music videos, commercials, movies and television and is based in Lagos, Nigeria. He is also a co-founder of Priorgold Pictures which is a production outfit based in Lagos, Nigeria created to service the needs of the entertainment industry by providing equipment and personnel for the execution of creative visual content.

In 2014, he directed the music video for ‘Murda’ performed by Seyi Shay featuring Patoranking, Shaydee. The success of this video garnered him much attention in the Nigerian music industry and it was nominated in the same year at the MTV Africa Music Awards for Best Video. Also in 2014, he directed the music video for ‘Crazy’ performed by Seyi Shay featuring Wizkid and that video was nominated in 2015 for Best Music Video of the Year (Artist and Director) at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards and also Best Music Video at The Headies 2015.

In 2016, he directed the video for ‘Kontrol’ by Maleek Berry which marked a new wave of him directing music videos for the Nigerian music industry’s elite. In the same year, he directed ‘Aje’ performed by Alikiba which won the Best Music Video award at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival in 2017.

In 2018, Alabi directed the video for Davido’s single ‘Assurance’ off the ‘A Good Time’.

Since 2018, Alabi has worked with Burna Boy on some of his projects. He directed Pull Up, On The Low, and Gum Body featuring Jorja Smith off Burna Boy's album ‘African Giant’. Meji also directed the videos for Way Too Big, Wonderful, Monsters You Made featuring Chris Martin and Real Life featuring Stormzy off the ‘Twice As Tall’ album.

He has also worked with Wizkid on the Made in Lagos album, and holds directing credits for the music videos for Ginger featuring Burna Boy, No Stress and Smile featuring H.E.R

In 2020, Alabi served as a producer alongside Jimi Adesanya for the Nigerian footage for the Black Is King visual project executively produced by Beyonce Knowles-Carter. He also worked alongside Ibra Ake and Jenn Nkiru to execute the Grammy Award-winning ‘Brown Skin Girl’ music video for which he was credited as co-director.

In 2021, Alabi worked with Black Dog Films as director of the visual project for the ‘Zero Malaria: Draw The Line Against Malaria’ campaign. The movement features Nigerian actress and philanthropist Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, actor and entrepreneur Osas Ighodaro, Kenyan Olympic Gold-medallist and marathon world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge, South African explorer and mountaineer Saray Khumalo, Nigerian artist Laolu Senbanjo current captain of the South Africa national Rugby team Siya Kolisi, and Rwandan-British choreographer Sherrie Silver.

Alabi directed and co-wrote his first feature film, Water and Garri, starring Tiwa Savage and released in 2024

Videography

Commercials

Awards and nominations

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2021)

References

1. "A N T I on Instagram: "Black Is King, a film by @beyonce.⁣ Super pumped to have played our part on the Nigerian chapter of this film 🧡 alongside amazing…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
2. "Meji Alabi: Grammy-winning director on working with Beyonce, Burna Boy and Wizkid". 17 May 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
3. "Burna Boy Proves He's Nigeria's Most Stylish Musician in His New Video". 21 August 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
4. "The Meji Alabi Fever". 24 February 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
5. "Top five Nigerian music video directors". 27 April 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
6. "Meji Alabi: Tales of an "Experience Junkie"". 24 February 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
7. "Runtown and director Meji Alabi go virtual this weekend". 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
8. "Runtown shares official music video for new single "For Life"". 24 May 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
9. "WATCH THE MEJI ALABI DIRECTED VIDEO FOR GOLDLINK AND MALEEK BERRY'S 'ZULU SCREAMS'". 21 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
10. ^ "In Tiwa Savage's 'Water and Garri,' Meji Alabi Finds a Fresh Directorial Perspective - Okayplayer". www.okayafrica.com. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
11. "Interview: Meji Alabi Is Bringing Nigerian Culture to the World, One Music Video at a Time". 16 February 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
12. "WHAT WOULD I CHANGE: DIRECTOR MEJI ALABI". 24 July 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
13. "Director Meji Alabi, Black Dog Films Draw The Line Against Malaria". 25 February 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
14. "Nigerian Entertainment Awards: Full List Of Winners". 27 November 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
15. "Meji Alabi: Co-Director, Black Is King". 28 August 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
16. "Beyoncé's 'Black Is King' Visual Album Releases First Full Trailer And Key Art". 19 July 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
17. "Meji Alabi, Muhammad Atta & Other Nigerian Creatives who Created Magic on Beyoncè's "Black Is King"". 30 June 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
18. "Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Laolu NYC, Osas Ighodaro, Meji Alabi join global stars in campaign against malaria". 24 February 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
19. "Soundcity MVP Awards: Burna Boy, Naira Marley, Rema collect award". BBC News Pidgin. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
20. "Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Rema, Teni & More Win Big at 2020 Soundcity MVP Awards". 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2021.

External links

• Official website

• 1988 births
• Living people
• Nigerian cinematographers
• Nigerian music video directors
• Nigerian film directors