Sinkane is continuing the celebration of his recently released, album, Mean Love, with the release of his first official video off the record. Directed by Nick Bentgen, “How We Be” an ode to New York and a love letter to summer as it explores various neighborhoods through dance. It’s a visual representation of his fluid, worldly sound as it mixes step, ballet, breakdancing and more.

The solo project of Ahmed Gallab, Sinkane exclaims, “it was great working with Nick on this video. I think he captured the feel-good spirit of the song.” The director further notes:

“I love Sinkane’s music because it’s vividly original. ‘How We Be’ is especially that, and I wanted to express the joy of listening to that song for the first time. Ahmed and I talked about making a dance portrait that plays around with time — moving backwards, forwards, at high speed, in slow motion. We wanted to fill the video with all kinds of movement.

We collaborated with Beacon’s Finest Step Team, two Parkour fanatics, and a Jooker from Memphis who just moved to New York that same week. We filmed dancers from New York City Ballet, B-boys from Boston, and we even got Ahmed to perform in the video. Sinkane’s new album is so expressive and expansive, it’s near impossible for me to categorize or put into words why I like it. It’s just easier to dance to.”

Sinkane’s Mean Love is multicultural, genre-spanning blend of pan-African traditional rhythms, funk, soul, synths and electronics, country twangs and more.. On Mean Love, Gallab exudes a similar sense of adventurousness [to William Onyeabor], and he liberally wields Afropop influences with confidence; the cascading horns and easy, continuous beat of ‘New Name’ resemble the hypnotic ebullience of luminaries like Tony Allen and Fela Kuti poured into a small-scale mold.

While currently touring in Europe, Sinkane will be back in the States to kick off his North American tour on October 5th in Brooklyn, with a special William Onyeabor tribute show the night before in Central Park, with Ahmed once again taking the reigns as music director. All dates can be found below as well as stills from the video for “How We Be.” Be sure to check out the artist that Stereogum call “one of music’s most fascinating figures” and take a listen to Mean Love today.