Like it or not, the general public draws conclusions about entire groups of people from the way said groups are depicted in pop culture. This is why it was important to eliminate from the public's collective psyche images of passive Uncle Bens and Aunt Jemimas, and it's why some scholars struggled in the 80s to make the point that most black families don't own a Brooklyn brownstone like the Huxtables.
I cringe every time the Ying Yang Twins episode of Cribs comes on, and not just because the duo's voices are so very irritating. I'm also upset because I know that somewhere, someone is watching the hooting, howling, unintelligible Twins describe their cars and thinking that all black people drool and yelp over chrome rims.
After the jump, a rundown of the music videos that have over the years made me very embarrassed to be even the slightest bit similar to their creators.
Few things manage to shock and appall me repeatedly. Tip Drill earns this honor however.
The first time I heard the actual words to The Whisper Song was at the women's center at my alma mater. Their student worker LOVED it. I was appalled at first, but for some reason, I can't hear "skeet skeet skeet" without breaking out in laughter. To be totally honest, the video is good as far as hip hop music videos go. It's sexy without being vulgar. If the Tip Drill video is hardcore shock porn, Whisper video borders on "erotica."
I had heard about the Nelly video, but never seen it until now. It is amazing to me how little self respect some of those women have. And money is no excuse. That video is just wrong, in so many ways.
Well, I was too young when "My Baby Daddy," "White Girls," and "Your Mama…Crack Rock" came out, so I don't know if they were on heavy rotation or even popular as songs. "My Baby Daddy" seems to have become a hiphop classic and I have to say I've always liked the song because I thought it was funny (and it sounds alright). Speaking of these three vids, only the "Mama…Crack Rock" song is really appalling to me. The others are offensive, but they're still somewhat okay in their degree of…minstrelsy.
"The Whisper Song"…is a very good song and I really can't stand the Twinz. There's nothing wrong with the video, I think. It's just bitches - the usual for hiphop. Nelly's vid is just nekkid bitches. Shit song, of course, but as all rap videos have nearly nude dancers, his vid is just a small step further and by far not the only video with nipples and ass (i.e. Jadakiss "Knock Yourself Out").
Personally, having been a teenage male that listened to hiphop, I can see why they keep showing (half)naked women in these vids: The music is all the same, but teenage guys are addicted to skin. These vids are like porn and I don't really have a problem with that itself.
It becomes problematic when it seems that black culture = hiphop and hiphop seems to mean that you can degrade all (black) women with money. And of course the whole black male = sexual predator thing…and drugs and violence and overly large t-shirts…and, well, all that stuff that makes hiphop shameful nowadays.
@Khia213 Being a guy, I have to be careful taking about this, s excuse me. However, I don't think this has to anything to do with self-respect. I would guess that the women in the Nelly vid are strippers (regular dancers/models not usually going nude and letting guys feel them up), so to them it was probably business as usual, with better pay. I think money isn't an excuse, it's the reason why.
Tip Drill video- Damn. Please let that be fake money. I'd hate to think that those bills are in circulation.
I agree with Josh. As a teenage lesbian I can't exactly say I was disgusted when I first saw videos like Tip Drill. But as I became older I grew more concerned with people's ideas about Blacks and women, now I have absolute disgust for them.
I watched something on women and hip hop. I think it was on MTV several years back. The women in Tip Drill are strippers from a popular Atlanta strip joint. They did the video for free.
Ludacris' P-Poppin video should have made the list. Didn't they actually show pubes in that one?
From Wiki:
The explicit version of the music video was not shown on MTV or BET because it was so erotic, and there were several scenes of naked women, and the word P—y Poppin was replaced with Booty Poppin. Some of the women held very sexual poses exposing their vaginal area and Ludacris is seen smacking their butt.
SMH
Can we add "My Neck, My Back" to the cringeworthy list? I don't remember the video but the lyrics are bad enough for it to make the list
Well on the bright side at least tip drill has a little more body size diversity than most music videos… um, yeah…
As for "My neck, my back" I don't think it is comparable because it's a woman demanding gratification for herself as opposed to being exploited(?) and objectified by men.