King Vader

Who is King Vader? Dominique Barrett, known to the world as King Vader is a social media influencer and Youtuber known for his unique style of parody videos. His content consists of videos that combine film, anime, and hip hop. King Vader has been around since the platform Vine...wow, remember Vine. I hadn't been into Vine because I didn't have the creative mindset to make "good" 8-second videos. But I love IG and whenever I see Vader on my feed, it makes my day.

I discovered King Vader through the explore page of Instagram. This was around the time the film Get Out had been released and everyone kept referring to the sunken place. In the video, Vader gets into an argument with his girlfriend who has been constantly nagging him. He accidentally calls her a bi*tch and she proceeds to send him to the sunken place. *Spoiler alert to anyone who hasn't seen Get Out* In the movie, the main character Chris pretends to be unable to move, but he has stuck cotton inside his ear to block the sound of the teaspoon hitting the cup. Vader does the same thing and begins to celebrate having tricked his girlfriend and the song B*tch by Ugly God plays in the background. It is this combination of film reference, comedy, and music that attracted me to King Vader's content. He continues to include references from popular films, anime and includes music from new or upcoming artists. Whenever I need a good laugh, or inspiration for a film idea, or both I go straight to King Vader.

I had the opportunity to meet King Vader at a film event that he hosted in New York. It was the premiere of his first feature film The Matrix Reborn, a film inspired by The Matrix. It was a free event, which I also love about King Vader. He appreciates his fans and will hold events so that anyone with a reservation can attend. I live in New York so it was the perfect place to hold the event. I had doubts about attending because I have huge social anxiety. I was trying to think of so many reasons not to go, but more reasons for going outweighed them. I spoke to my mother about it and she realized how big a fan I was and that I would be missing out on something huge if I didn't go. I wore my long black coat and all-black attire similar to The Matrix costume that Neo wore. My mom even let me borrow these cool dark shades.

When I arrived there were so many people waiting in line and dressed up for the occasion. I felt like I was surrounded by true fans and all-around good people. Standing on the red carpet felt like a dream come true. I met some people that were waiting in line and we bonded immediately. We watched the film together and after the film, Kind Vader walked down the aisle to center stage for a talkback. I recorded a video of him for my IG story(which he reposted!). After the talkback, Vader was nice enough to meet his fans and sign autographs on the film poster. I waited patiently in line and when it was finally my turn I could feel my heart racing. I calmly told him that he was a huge inspiration and that I appreciated his content. He listened to every word. I even told him about my own Matrix web series that I was working on. His face lit up and he checked it out on Youtube right then and there. We took a photo together and he told me that if I'm ever in LA to reach out to him and we can work together.

Watching King Vader's videos is a constant reminder of why I wanted to become a filmmaker. I want to make people laugh. I want to make references to pop culture, including my friends, and put people on to some dope music. I've discovered so many new musicians and other Youtubers that I love. Calebcity, Lenarr, and RDC World are my top content creators so far. They inspire me to make a video no matter how silly it might seem. I'm super critical of myself and the content that I make. I'm slowly getting out of the mindset of perfectionism. It holds me back from a lot of things in life. If I learned anything these past few months especially during COVID, it's that life is short and that we need to take advantage of every moment. You never know where you'll be in a year, months, days from now. One day you could be sitting at a desk scrolling through your IG feed looking at your favorite content creator, and the next day you could be meeting them and telling them about your goals in life. So I encourage you to go for everything you want in life. As Vader says "Don't wait, do it now."