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30 Days of Iconic Video Blackness With VSB, Day 8: Total, 'Kissin' You'
I like Total, always have. Their brand of interesting-note sonics always appealed to me as a person who couldn’t sing but always thought I should be an R&B singer—Total was an inspiration. I never dove full-fledge into sharing my vocal stylings with the world, but the dream is still alive in my heart. For the…
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30 Days of Iconic Music Video Blackness With VSB, Day 7: TLC, 'Waterfalls'
To call TLC’s “Waterfall” video iconic is almost underselling it. This award-winning video owned MTV back when that was a thing worthy of note and did it while addressing social issues like violence and HIV-awareness. The video stayed true to concept, used some CGI and showed our favorite girl group of the time in amazing…
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30 Days of Iconic Music Video Blackness With VSB, Day 6: Rick James & Smokey Robinson 'Ebony Eyes'
Have you ever watched something so ridiculous that it becomes both perfect and almost life-changing? That for me is the video for Rick James single featuring Smokey Robinson off of his 1983 album, Cold Blooded. Rick James featuring Smokey Robinson “Ebony Eyes” (1984) I don’t know why God made me the way he did, but…
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The Root Jams Weekly (6/5/2020): 'Say Her Name'
Breonna Taylor would be 27 years old today. Unfortunately, she is now with the ancestors, cut down prematurely by a police system that devalues black bodies. She, along with too many other black women whose lives were cut too short often go under-acknowledged. This playlist honors them. “Say Her Name” (6/5/2020) J’Na Jefferson Janelle Monae…
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30 Days of Iconic Music Video Blackness With VSB, Day 4: Jade, 'Don't Walk Away'
Jade’s video for “Don’t Walk Away” is one of those joints that you could toss into a 90s time capsule, open it 50 years from now and have a very clear, if not confused, understanding of what the early 90s in young black America looked like. Everything about this video is awesome and remarkably of…
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30 Days of Iconic Music Video Blackness With VSB, Day 3: The Whispers, 'Keep On Lovin' Me'
This video perfectly reflects black cool…and I love it. It is hands down one of the best videos of Black Men Walking of all time. There’s even the rogue brotha in the back who clearly didn’t get the memo about wearing neutral colors and since he didn’t get that memo, he didn’t get the memo…
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9 Observations About the Video of the News Anchor Getting Hit By a Flying Hennessy Bottle In Cincinnati
Let me start by saying that I neither encourage nor condone violence towards anybody (who doesn’t deserve it), especially unsuspecting individuals who are just doing their job. Taking aim at a journalist for doing nothing more than (presumably) being present when you feel like firing off a projectile isn’t only not cool, but also dangerous.…
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30 Days of Iconic Music Video Blackness With VSB, Day 2: Janet Jackson, 'Rhythm Nation'
When I think of iconic music videos, several come to mind. Janet Jackson is responsible for several of them. While this series will probably get real loose with the definition of “iconic,” there is no need to qualify it with the video for the title track from Janet’s 1989 game-changing album, Rhythm Nation, officially titled…
