Clarence Abiodun Peters (born 20 December 1983) is a Nigerianmusic video director, filmmaker and cinematographer.[2] He is the founder and CEO of CAPital Dream Pictures, a production company that specializes in performing arts, film and video. He is also the founder and CEO of Capital Hill Records, a record label that was home to Chidinma, Tha Suspect and Illbliss.[3][4] He was ranked 2nd on Channel O's list of the Top 10 Most Visionary Music Video Directors.[5]
Life and career
Peters is the son of Sir Shina Peters, a musician, and Clarion Chukwura, an actress from Anambra State. In an interview posted on the Daily Times of Nigeria website, his mother opened up about wanting to abort him while he was in her womb, but changed her mind because of her belief that Peters was the reincarnation of her father whom she lost when she was 11 years old.[6]
Peters played football while growing up, and attended Beehive Primary School and Government College Ikorodu. After finishing secondary school, he worked at Alpha Visions for three years. He studied cinematography at City Varsity, a film school in Cape Town, South Africa.[7] Upon returning to Nigeria, Peters teamed up with a group of filmmakers to establish the Alliance Film Company, which is now known as the Allied Film Company. Peters worked with the company for a year and eventually started his own production company, CAPital Dream Pictures.[7] Peters has cited Steven Spielberg, Hype Williams, DJ Tee, Akin Alabi, Wudi Awa, HG2 Filmworks, Kemi Adetiba, Sesan, Aje, and AK 1 as people he admires.[4][7]
In 1998, Peters was involved in a Mobil-sponsored music video for a documentary on AIDS. He directed 40 episodes of the television series Everyday People, and has filmed music videos for recording artists across an array of genres and generations, including Darey, Durella, and Wizkid.[8][7] In 2012, he shot the music video for Shuga's theme song, which was recorded by Boneye from P-Unit, Banky W., Wizkid and L-Tido.[9] Peters has also shot several documentaries, TV commercials, short films, and TV features.[7][10] In April 2014, Absolut Vodka honoured him for his creativity.[11] In September 2015, Peters announced plans to premiere his 25-minute horror film Hex. The film's official trailer was released on 28 September 2015.
Capital Hill Music
Peters met Tha Suspect, a record producer and recording artist, while in secondary school. The two started a group after becoming acquainted with each other. Capital Hill Records was formed after Peters returned to Nigeria from South Africa. He and Tha Suspect decided to look for a female artist who could rap and sing. At a later date, Peters signed rapper Kel to his record label after being introduced to her by Terry tha Rapman.[4] In September 2010, Kel had a misunderstanding with Peters, which led to the termination of her recording contract. She managed to release her debut studio album, The Investment, while signed to the label.[12] Latterly, the label partnered with the Goretti Company, a management company owned by Illbliss.
Controversy
In January 2014, a copyright infringement was filed against Peters after the release of Tiwa Savage's "Eminado" video. He allegedly stole the vintage nature of Tumi and the Volume's "Asinamali" video, which was released to honour the artistic works of Seydou Keïta. Tumi slandered Peters on Twitter and urged his fans to shine a light on the issue.[13] Savage's former manager and ex-husband, Tunji "Tee Billz" Balogun, said they never knew that the video's concept was adopted from another video and were surprised like everyone else.[14]
After the release of Ice Prince's "V.I.P" music video on 21 June 2013, Peters was accused of plagiarizing scenes from Slaughterhouse's "My Life" video and incorporating them into the "V.I.P" video.[15] In February 2014, Ice Prince defended Peters' actions and said he told him the ideas to shoot. He also said that if anyone has a problem with the situation, they should hold him responsible.[16]
