Jack Markovitz and Francesco 'Franadilla' Mbele on Making One of the Year's Standout Music Videos for jaykatana and BrotherKupa

May 13
4 min read

Before the release had even settled in, people were already dubbing jaykatana and BrotherKupas ‘Who Dat At My Door’one of the standout South African hip hop visuals of the year. Directed by Jack Markovitz, with production design and wardrobe by Francesco “Franadilla” Mbele, the video skips the tired rap music video formula, no half-naked girls or rented sports cars. Instead, it trades cheap spectacle for a "film" built on history, memory, and haunting symbolism that actually sticks.

Absorbing the visuals, what immediately stands out is how intentional everything feels. How on-point every choice made was, from the casting which feels lived in rather than performed, while recurring imagery like fire, construction jumpsuits and the old 1928 South African flag point toward something heavier beneath the surface. Even against a song rooted in themes of money, girls and flex culture, the video moves toward memory, betrayal and the emotional residue of South Africa’s past.

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For Markovitz, the strong public reaction to the film does not feel entirely surprising.

“You said it well,” he says. “I can become quite obsessive within the process of making the thing that the release almost feels out-of-body. Having said that, we all knew we were making a strong statement and the work was charged, so I was aware there would be a visceral response.”

That emotional weight was already present in the earliest conversations around the project. According to Markovitz, the process of shaping the video came through trust, shared references and immersing himself in the wider world surrounding JayKatana and BrotherKupas music.

“Jay and I have a lot of trust,” he explains. “He is an open, curious, forward-thinking person. And he wants to see where I can take it. We show each other work we like and this creates a common language and intent.”

“In terms of shaping it, I listened to the song over and over, as well as all of Jay and Kupa’s music. I read, researched, watched films, listened to stories and looked at photobooks. You blend all of this together and create some kind of creole language of personal and referential elements.”

That personal approach extends into the casting. Every face inside the video feels carefully chosen, carrying a sense of familiarity and vulnerability rather than performance alone.

“Casting is my favourite part of the filmmaking process,” says Markovitz. “I write for people I know. So everyone you see in the music video is someone I’ve known for a while. As I’m writing, I am thinking of a person, and what I know about their essence.”

“Everyone in the video is being very vulnerable and sharing some part of themselves. Uncovering and finding this together is the most rewarding part of the work.”

One of the most striking aspects of ‘Who Dat At My Door’ is the contrast between the song and the imagery itself. While the music moves through contemporary rap themes, the visual language leans toward something far more historical and reflective.

“My favourite music videos are a strong response, and sometimes a departure, from the content of the song,” Markovitz says. “In this case I was responding to the song quite vividly in its tone.”

“The story is about how, collectively, we have buried our past, our lies, our betrayal. And this repressed history will inevitably come to rear its head, to knock on the door. The past haunts the future, the future haunts the past.”

That idea becomes especially visible through the work of Francesco “Franadilla” Mbele, whose production design and wardrobe choices quietly carry much of the film’s symbolism. Throughout the video, recurring elements like the old 1928 South African flag being burned, and navy construction jumpsuits hanging between trees appear almost like reminders of a past that refuses to disappear.

“I was thinking a lot about how flags carry a lot of power and can illicit all different types of feelings relative to their context,” Mbele explains. “Our flag from the past is representative of the pain and the struggle.”

“Burning it is a rejection of those old ideals, and Jay and Kupa simply making the music they want today is a manifestation of that resistance.”

For Mbele, the hanging jumpsuits represent something equally unresolved.

“The hanging jumpsuits are representations of our ghosts from the past, or history, that are still lingering on today, haunting us,” he says. “It was inspired by South African artist Jo Radcliffe’s image ‘Roadside stall on the way to Viana’ (2007).”

Even the sourcing process itself became part of building the emotional language of the film. Rather than manufacturing props for aesthetic purposes, Mbele intentionally searched through military surplus stores, flea markets and charity shops across Pretoria and Vanderbijlpark.

“Everything was sourced from military surplus stores, charity stores and flea markets in Pretoria and Vanderbijlpark,” he says. “I knew that those areas were kind of the almost last stands of proud Afrikaners that maybe died and donated their stuff away.”

“You wouldn’t find an apartheid flag or old SADF paraphernalia in Joburg.”

That attention to historical texture continues throughout the film’s colour palette.

“I intentionally went with playing with colours of the old flag, orange, white and blue, all throughout the video,” Mbele explains. “For many young people, it might be the first time they see the flag. I want them to be aware of it and the disdain we should hold towards it.”

What makes ‘Who Dat At My Door’ resonate so strongly is not only its symbolism, but the way it refuses to flatten history into a simple message. Instead, the video allows memory, vulnerability and discomfort to exist together in the same frame, creating something that feels both deeply personal and culturally loaded at once.

Watch the visuals on YouTube