Ola song featured in Spike Lee film

A SONG from energetic soca star Olatunji Yearwood has been featured in a new film produced by legendary African American director Spike Lee.

His 2016 song Oh Yay features in science fiction drama See You Yesterday which is directed by Stefon Bristol and tells the story of a genius African American girl who develops time travel and tries to use it to save her brother who was shot and killed by the police. The film, set in an unnamed US city, features a number of Caribbean characters, images and other Caribbean music including Tenor Saw’s Ring the Alarm and Dawn Penn’s You Don’t Love Me.

Olatunji, speaking to Newsday in a phone interview, said Fox Fuse, the leading digital music label for Caribbean music, pitched the song (produced by Stadic and partly created by Olatunji himself) to the filmmakers and it was good work from them. The upbeat song plays at the start of an outdoor barbecue scene. He said with the Caribbean aesthetic of the film his song was a perfect fit.

When Olatunji heard his song was going to be in a Spike Lee film he experienced “total excitement.”

“Spike Lee! When I heard it I was really excited. It is a very good look not only for me but for the music. It is soca and Olatunji from TT. It is a good look for our music to be in a Spike Lee film.”

He said that he was a fan of Lee, who has directed such iconic films as Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing and last year American biographical crime film BlacKkKlansman, and he said there were so many movies he could not name just one.

“He is always in your face out there.”

Olatunji said he has not seen the film but he did see the clip where his song is played and it was a very proud moment. He expressed hope that it will open more doors for soca in Hollywood movies and help get soca “out there.”

“When I out there soca will be out there and calypso will be out there.”

Olatunji was currently producing his new “mini-movie” video Thank Mama which is inspired by the film Coming to America and features comedian Ro’dey and veteran actress Penelope Spencer. He said that he has always loved Coming to America and wanted to do something with acting and as a short film. He was also inspired by short film efforts of US artistes Childish Gambino and Beyonce.

He said he always wanted to work with Ro’dey and a film with various characters was a perfect time for that.

“I wanted to make the video funny and tell a story with my music.”

Olatunji made a splash on competition show X Factor last year but he said that it was so much work he would be moving on from those types of things. He said right now he is focusing on new music.

“So much things thinking and brainstorming.”

Olatunji can be found on Instagram at olatunjimusic and on his YouTube channel.