Cassper Nyovest – Destiny

Cassper Nyovest treated his fans to the release of a science fiction-type music video for the song ‘Destiny’ featuring Goapele.

The chorus on ‘Destiny’ is a sample from Malaika’s 2004 hit of the same name. Nyovest expresses his nostalgia over a past relationship explaining how he has gone through a journey of self-discovery. He counter-balances his experiences with those of his ex-lover saying, “Look, I’ve heard a lot of things about you and I know half of it is true”. He further goes on to ask questions about her current lover. “Does he open the door for you like I do? Would he risk it all for you like I do?”

The disdain from both he and the ex-lover is dampened by the fact that he feels that they will always be in each other’s presence. This is captured in the chorus by the words, “You are and you were and will be the soul and the air that I breathe”. Up until now not many people could make out what Tshidi from Malaika was saying on ‘Destiny’ due to the song’s fast tempo. Now that the song has been slowed down, they should be able to decipher every word.

The ‘Destiny’ video is premised on the sci-fi trope of an AI becoming self-aware much like in the movie Ex Machina. Nyovest is an old, bedridden scientist who is taken care of by an android he created presumably in the year 2023. He dies of old age in 2088 while the robot, still looking as young as ever, sleeps next to his lifeless body. And then the video ends.

The video has striking effects with a clinical blue tone that accentuates the death of Nyovest’s relationship with his ex-lover, which is what the song talks about. However, that is as far as the music video goes in mirroring the message of the song.

In the song, Nyovest speaks about how he and his ex weren’t a perfect match. “So don’t you try act innocent like you ain’t done some wicked sh*t,” he raps. In contrast, the video shows the protagonist constructing a robot that he falls in love with, leaving no trace that his creation is imperfect in any way. Based on the message that the video tries to convey, Nyovest and the robot were always happy together and the AI doesn’t seem to understand the concept of betrayal since it’s also confused by death.

The video raises some questions. Firstly, if the song relates to the video, how did the android cheat on him? Surely he had the power to programme the Goapele android sans a wondering eye. Secondly, why did the scientist feel the need to ‘upload’ a heart and lungs into the android. The AI was built from scratch –  it’s not a concoction like Cyborg from the Justice League or RoboCop, which both bear human biology in their robotic make-up.

Without taking away from the striking aesthetic, the underlying message in the video is that he ‘made’ his ex-lover. It would be great if a prequel to the video was released to give some background knowledge on how the android had a fallout with Nyovest.

Despite the poor context of the video in relation to the song, the video captures the idea of artificial intelligence that is beginning to exist around us more and more, and the desire of humans to make sentient machines. Cassper Nyovest has shown South Africans the next step in … evolution.