A Houma artist won a television industry award for set design featuring a street from the city.
Antonio Welch, stage name Kvng Tone, won a silver Telly Award — tying with the likes of MTV — for his set design in a music video titled "Chiraq Extra Clip." The video features Welch cosplaying as the horror movie icon Chucky, along with a doll of the character, and rapping about shooting other artists.
"It's something I did when I was younger," he said. "As an artist, you like to play with things, create things and see what you can do. I was just like, 'Alright, let's do something fun. Halloween's comin' up, this is something kinda like a dark grungy sound. Let's do a vibe with it.'"
Little did he expect that practice would earn him an award. Since winning the award, he's been on two radio interviews, and his single "Miss the Love" has seen a resurgence in attention.
Telly Awards were founded in 1979 for television, but the awards have since expanded to encompass all things video. These include commercials, online and television series, social media videos and more. According to the website, they get 13,000 entries globally.
Welch's set design was tied for second place in the online category with Al Jazeera and MTV. They were beaten out by Nickelodeon's "Blue's Big City Adventure." View the final results here: https://www.tellyawards.com/winners/2024/online/craft-set-design.
Welch said he's inspired by musical artists whose work incorporates the visuals as an integral part of the performance. The now 30-year-old named songs like "Thriller" by Michael Jackson and Busta Rhymes's cartoonish performances as inspiration for the video.
"I remember watching videos like 'Thriller' and 'Remember the Time,'" he said, naming many more videos. "When you saw the videos, they just took you into their world."
Welch grew up in Houma's westside and currently lives in Deweyville. He said he chose Municipal Drive because it was surrounded by businesses and, at night, added to the gritty look he was going for with the video. The "extra clip," is what is known as a mic performance, which focuses on the singer and microphone.
The official video for the song is a more traditional music video, which features more of the Houma neighborhood. It was also nominated for a Best Music Video Telly Award but ultimately was not chosen. It adds more context to the outfit and song. The video plays out like a '90s slasher film taking place in the city of Houma with Welch as his possessed alter-ego known as Chuck Scar and riding a child's tricycle through the city.
It can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyOcKSNXibA
Welch said he began taking his music seriously for the past three years and has five singles under his belt. He's been working on an extended play album, which he's planning to drop in November. An extended play is like a mini-album — it has more tracks than a single but less than an album.
One of those singles, "Miss the Love," dropped June 30, 2023, and was played following a podcast interview on Industry's Most Wanted Podcast June 3 this year.
Most Popular
Comments / 0