Vashtie Kola
Director, DJ, party promoter, photographer, designer are just a few of Vashtie Kola‘s titles. Born and raised in Albany, New York. Vashtie moved to NYC to attend film school at The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, where she studied directing/cinematography.
In 2006, at the age of 25, she was pulled in to re-vamp the company of Island Def Jam as Director of Creative Services. L.A Reid, president of Def Jam, said she would would keep the record label on the for front of coolness. Most known for her directorial role on music videos Vashtie has been called on many a times to create hot music videos only we could wish we were in, she’s directed videos for artists such as Justin bieber, Young la, Kendrick Lamar, Jadakiss and much more. Whether she’s creating the next hot music video, you can bet the “downtown sweetheart” does it all with her own impeccable flair rocking the streets with her friends which include PONY’s very own Dee and Ricky.
One of Vashtie’s most well known videos was “Us Placers” for Child Rebel Soldier, shortened CRS, a hip hop group composed of hip hop recording artists and record producers Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and Pharrell Williams. Though the group was yet to release a music video for the “Us Placers”, an non-commissioned video was produced by Vashtie. The video featured ten year old child impersonators standing in for Lupe, Kanye, Pharrell, and Thom Yorke. They illustrate the imagery described in the song’s lyrics and hold up cue cards in reference to Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. Despite there being no budget, unofficial nature, the music video was very well received, getting well over two million views on YouTube alone. Check it out below.
