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This is the mission Janelle Abraham is about the take on after making her name as a film director and producer in the hip-hop, afro beats, and reggae circuit in New York.
She said her new goal is to use her talents to further showcase her homeland Trinidad and Tobago.
Abraham, the daughter of late Calypso legend Brigo (Samuel Abraham), recently worked with Wu-Tang legend Method Man, serving as the co-director of the music video for his single Training Day alongside rapper Cortez.
However, in an interview with the Guardian Media, she said one of her father’s wishes was for her to use her craft to further promote Trinidad and Tobago.
She said, “He felt like I wasn’t tapping into my culture, Trinidad particularly, that much,” she said, “he said you know you’re working everywhere except in Trinidad.”
She bucked that trend a bit in 2019 when she directed the video for Voice’s Year for Love.
Janelle Abraham
But now that she has found a new peak in her career, especially after working with the hip-hop legend, who she said was enjoying a second prime, she felt the time was right to showcase her homeland.
“My goal is to really tap into the Trinidad culture. If you look at Netflix, you see a lot of content coming from Spain of course the United States, Australia. You see content coming everywhere but you never see content from the Caribbean. And I’m from the Caribbean so I want to bring some life from the Caribbean to the networks and I have access to do that. That’s my next step where my career is concerned,” she said.
Abraham became a film producer after going through a rough period in her life which saw her temporarily homeless and caring for a young child.
She said experience fuelled her creativity and has lead to her working on over 80 music videos and documentaries.
She said she had gained some maturity after her many years in the industry and believed this perspective had brought her greater success in recent times.
“My career is really doing good, I feel like I’m at that peak now. I finally feel like I’m in a good space where my career is concerned and I think a lot of that has to do with me doing some self-work and really understanding the position that I have,” she said.
Abraham is currently doing documentary work for the Roy Jones NDO Champ fight which is set for next month on May 13. But Abraham said she is eager to do work with local acts when she visits Trinidad this year.
