Friday, August 16, 2019

BLACK GIRL MAGIC: HOW NORMANI AND DOJA CAT SLAYED THE MUSIC VIDEO SCENE THIS WEEK.



For those who reminisce on the good old days when music videos had a theme and story, you should be rejoicing over two ladies who gave us lewks and visuals this week. Thursday Doja Cat dropped the video for, Juicy, from her debut album Amala. Sis did not disappoint with this video. It had Lil’ Kim “Crush on You” vibes written all over it. To keep it even more “juicy” Doja dressed as different fruit with the watermelon look being the most impressive of her ‘fits. Sis even gave the app Fruit Ninja some promo, and as an added surprise Tyga graced us with his presence and a verse!



Today, Fifth Harmony’s melanated member Normani took us back to the early 2000’s with a video to "Motivation". She opens with a very relatable scene of young 'Mani sitting in front of the TV watching Rosci and Terrance J on BET’s best show 106 & Park. Her grandma in the background saying "Normani, stop making all that noise" (more confirmation that all black folks grew up the same) and when the eat drops she lovingly says "Do your thing, girl". If literally transforming into your favs fav Beyonce in "Crazy in Love" off rip doesn't get you hype, she also gave us looks from J. Lo’s “I’m Real” and a memorable dance scene from “Touch” by Omarion. Nicki tried to tell us Normani was “that bitch” and people still slept on her, but the internets are making sure she’s never slept on again!



With so many millennial's and Gen-Zer’s missing the 99’s and 2000’s, the music video streets need to give the people what they want and that’s a quality stan- producing visual! Luckily there's a new era of directors and artists who appreciate the music video art form and have us saying bye to the days of videos with no substance, ushering in a new wave.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

MTV Found the Sense They Lost and Finally Awards the Video Vanguard Award to Missy Elliott.


"GIVE MISSY HER THINGS!"

Any devout listener of pop culture podcast The Read has heard Kid Fury say this a number of times. Both he and co-host Crissle have advocated for Missy Elliott to receive MTV's Video Music Award for years now. Finally the Viacom network has heard our cry and agreed to give Missy her things.



When you think about the creativity and innovation of music videos, if Melissa 'Misdemeanor' Elliott isn't in your top five you must've been living under a rock and need to come out to play. Missy's futuristic style has confirmed for many that she actually has a time machine and comes back to create these fire visuals. But she's not only been a pioneer when it comes to music videos, she's also a very dope writer and producer. Making hits for all your favs like Destiny's Child, *NSYNC, 702, and most notably Aaliyah. With all the features and singles she's done there's no doubt this performance will be amazing!

In preparation for the big night of the awards show, which is slated to air Monday, August 26, here are three of Missy's underrated videos that should've had her on MTV's radar years ago!

  • Sock It To Me (1997)

  • She's a Bitch (1999)

  • Beep Me 911



Honorable Mention(s): Pass That Dutch (2003) and Gossip Folks (2002)

Just for old time sake, dancer and former Disney Channel star Alyson Stoner NEEDS to make an appearance and show out one time for the one time. She's already done a tribute to Missy in 2015 and uploaded it to her Youtube channel!

Whatever does come from this performance for the G.O.A.T. will be "Really Hot"and like she sang in the aforementioned song, "...I won't stop 'cause I'm killin' 'em" and she's right. Killin' 'em now and then, Miss!

Comment below on which Missy videos you think are underrated.