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Wrong gate, right time sees Island videographer get gig with platinum-selling rapper

Since he was a child Davis, a.k.a. the Big C, has been making films on his parents’ home-video camera

By Mackenzie Robinson

After a decade of filming music videos for friends and up-and-coming artists from B.C., Colton Davis has fulfilled his life-long dream of working with his favourite artist, Merkules, a platinum selling rapper from Surrey, and creating a video a with him.

Since he was a child Davis, a.k.a. the Big C, has been making films and short skits on his parents’ home-video camera.

During his high school years, he paired his passion for videography and directing with his love for music, specifically hip hop and rap, and began shooting music videos with local artists.

While working in the underground scene, he drew inspiration from Merkules, who has had a successful music career since he was 15, gaining hundreds of millions of streams and views from his music videos on YouTube and music on all streaming platforms.

In 2016 he released a remix of the song ‘Panda’ by Desiigner, which amassed 19 million views on YouTube and brought Merkules a lot of new fans.

Currently, Merkules has just under one million monthly listeners on Spotify and had the honour this year of signing a record deal with Death Row Records, the same label that has produced legends such as Snoop Dogg, 2pac and many more.

Davis has been saying for years that it would be the accomplishment of a lifetime if he just met Merkules.

Not only did he meet his idol, but he got the opportunity to film, direct and edit a music video for him in October.

The stars aligned when Davis bumped into Merkules at an airport during a connecting flight earlier this year.

After mixing up the details on his boarding pass, Davis ended up at the wrong gate at the right time.

It appeared to be fate that brought these two together.

Some may see this as luck, but it is truly a result of years of dedication and passion for a craft.

After staying in contact for a few months, they finalized a date, time and place to begin filming a music video for Merkules’s song ‘COMMAS’.

Filmed in the Comox Valley, the video for ‘COMMAS’ depicts Merkules living his best life, riding around in side-by-sides and four wheelers with his best friends.

Through dirt piles, mud and puddles, this piece of art can be seen as a metaphor for both Davis and Merkules’s lives, where they have been dragged through dirt only to come out on top as polished gems.

This has been an amazing moment in Davis’s life and career with multiple parallels and milestones achieved.

Davis is now stepping into a new chapter in his career and exciting times and years of success are ahead of him.

You may not be able to see Davis, but you can be sure that he has a smile on his face behind every shot.

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Local music video maker Colton Davis worked with his idol Merkules, a platinum selling rapper from Surrey, to create a music video on Vancouver Island. (Photo courtesy of Colton Davis)