MTV Generation

I’m apart of this cultural weirdness. MTV is just over 25 years old. I remember when showed videos! (Ha!) Anyway, the video is an interesting cultural, economic and sociological phenomenon. More specifically the rap video. As hip hop has changed, so have its videos. I remember when the stars of rap videos where “around the way” girls. You know the girl with extensions in hair, bamboo earrings at least two pair, a fendi bag….you get the picture. She was various colors of the rainbow from Brown sugar lassies and caramel treats, peach-skinned girlies, walnut tinted women, and plum tinted black ladies. But then rap became a billion dollar industry. Rap artists weren’t just hood heroes. They were international stars (with matching bank accounts & fame) with fans in Japan, Denmark, France, Brazil, and Australia. With international stardom come international female worshippers. Girls that never would have thought twice about a black male as a lover or a boyfriend or husband were suddenly loving the new negro star. The around the way girl was unceremoniously and sanctimoniously eliminated from the video, the object of desire and her rightful place as the queen of rap. Of course, her African booty (that can’t be replicated by plastic surgery or be bought in any store) is good enough even though it is such a carnal, hedonistic, over-sexed stereotype it’s impossible to watch. Then lies started about why the around the way girl was dropped like a bad habit. She’s a bad mother. She has a bad attitude. She’s mean. She’s hateful. She stinks. She doesn’t take care of herself. She’s a whore. She’s a (b)itch. She’s too black. The around the way girl scrambled to keep up and self-correct. But she was too late. There was a trade up for a “better” woman. Here’s the hierarchy: 1. White woman, 2. asian woman, 3. latin woman, 4. any other woman (Indians just started feeling the black man’s money, I mean vibe), 5. a mix of the first four, and then 5. the Black woman. (SIDEBAR: I saw pictures of James Brown’s wives from the first one when he was barely famous until his death: first wife plum tinted black, second wife caramel cutie, third wife white.) That is why like 12 years ago I stopped watching videos. They're poisonous. I only watch them sparingly now and that’s out of pure curiosity—like I’m watching the Wild Kingdom and the mating dance of the speckled hornytoad of South America. If you were smart you would stop watching them and especially boycott BET.

If you are white, you probably don’t understand anything I just wrote. Well consider yourself educated.

(You can thank LL COOL J’s video “I need love” for this post. What a classic and fantastic video that was)