How we transformed TUL8TE into a 70s jazz icon.

TUL8TE’s artistic identity has always lived between worlds.

He is a pop artist with a strong commercial appeal, but there is always an element of mystery and experimentation surrounding him. His masked persona gives him an alternate identity to inhabit, allowing his music and visuals to move beyond the expectations of a conventional pop star.

For this project, the music was moving into jazz territory. We needed the visual world to carry the same intimacy, character, and energy.

The challenge was to make the audience believe they had discovered a completely different version of TUL8TE.

Challenge

TUL8TE’s commercial success depends partly on his ability to remain distinctive. There is a delicate balance between being accessible enough to connect with a wide audience and maintaining enough creative edge to feel unexpected.

The jazz influence gave us an opportunity to push that tension further: Jazz already comes with a strong visual mythology: Intimate rooms, late nights, smoky atmospheres, musicians performing inches away from their audience, and the unmistakable style of its golden eras.

If the music was going to carry that kind of weight, the visuals needed to do the same. We needed to build the world around him.

Insight

We decided to take the idea literally. What if we travelled back to a 1970s jazz club in New York and made TUL8TE the star of the night? Rather than referencing jazz through individual styling choices, we built an entire fictional evening around him.

The idea gave us a clear visual language to work within, while still leaving room for TUL8TE’s existing mystery and alternate persona.

Execution

In Downtown Cairo, we found a nearly 100 year old hotel rooftop bar with the architecture and atmosphere needed to become our jazz club.

We transformed the location through art direction, lighting, set dressing, and styling, stripping away its contemporary context and rebuilding it as a 1970s New York jazz venue.

We then built TUL8TE and his band around the same world. The styling drew from the visual language of 1970s New York and the sharp, intimidating presence associated with the city's mafia culture. Tailoring, silhouettes, attitude, and group dynamics all helped establish the band as characters within the story rather than simply musicians accompanying the performance.

Setting the Mood

We opened by establishing the world before introducing the performance.

A retro Cairo landscape sets the tone, creating a strange collision between the city we know and the New York jazz mythology we were about to enter.

That contrast became an important part of the visual identity. It creates a world that feels familiar and foreign at the same time, which felt particularly appropriate for an artist whose identity has always existed between realities.

Result

We built a jazz world and placed TUL8TE at its center. By combining a historic Cairo location, 1970s New York references, mafia inspired styling, and TUL8TE's masked persona, we created a visual chapter that expanded his identity without losing what makes him commercially distinctive.