Your Monday is about to get a whole lot more vibrant as NIKO IS whisks you away from your 9 to 5 and teleports you to Puerto Rico in a new video for “Oh Hector,” a cut from the Colours of the Culture compilation album Roy G Biv: What A Colourful World. The clip, featuring Thirstin Howl III, travels through lush forests, towering palm trees, and sandy beaches. Niko, his enviable “best hair in the biz,” and the Colours of the Culture crew (including a brief cameo by Talib Kweli) even get a live taste of the island’s nightlife. Although Puerto Rico is currently in a state of economic crisis, the beauty of the landscapes and the spirit of the locals shine in the four-minute visual.
Over a heavy sample of Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe’s “La Murga De Panama,” the Brazilian-born, Orlando-based emcee drops witty bars in his usual trilingual fashion – English, Spanish, and Portuguese (Fun fact: Niko’s ability to flow in three languages caught the ear of rap veteran Talib Kweli, who later signed him to his label Javotti Media). Producer Federico Pena Jr. laced strong doses of Puerto Rico all over the instrumental, and it helps that the track’s featured artist Thirstin Howl III is a Boricua from Brownsville, Brooklyn. With this crew, it just makes sense that PR would be the prime location for the vivid video.