Music videos used to mean something back in the day. People used to wake in the morning and put on MTV to watch their favorite artists and all the singles they brought to the table. Yo! MTV Raps were a foundational experience for people of a certain age. Getting visuals for our favorite music allowed us the possibility of glimpsing into these artists’ worlds.
R&B used to mean something back in the day too. The artists used to come from the gospel choir, the romance meant something a little more. Back then, unconditional love wasn’t something to hide from; instead, it was to be embraced. Sexiness and sensuality mattered in a way that it doesn’t anymore in a red-pilled ‘manosphere’ environment where everyone is too calloused to the power of love. The line over time has blurred too much. Rappers wish to be singers, introducing more melodic elements in their work over time. Conversely, singers want the machismo of rappers
Music videos were a perfect gateway for R&B to demonstrate the full scope of love and romance. Visuals will likely always matter, so as to lend tangibility to records. Oftentimes, our imaginations can only bring so much. Moreover, the 90s were a goldmine for great music videos and R&B brought a litany of them. Consequently, I’ve assembled four of the best videos that really help define what makes R&B such a special genre. Additionally, it’ll explore how love for the 90s isn’t merely nostalgia peddling from the unimaginative, why the decade is rightfully adored in music.
Four Iconic R&B Music Videos That Still Stand Out Today
Jodeci- “Cry for You”
If R&B at its best is about desire and devotion, nobody did it better than Jodeci. Their music videos pulled this gambit extremely well. K-Ci, Jojo, and Dalvin would croon their hearts out to the cameras, a full embodied display of love and adoration through drama and theatrics. “Forever My Lady” oftentimes sticks in my head, the grandiose purity of the crew singing in all white about their dedication to a woman.
However, “Cry for You” remains the best of all their music videos. An absurdist masterpiece, where the crew migrate to the desert to beg for their woman. “It’s been an hour since you been gone… and that’s too long, so come back home,” is a ridiculous way to start a song about yearning. It’s even more ridiculous to drag a big ol’ piano to the desert and dress in leather to prove this point. Dehydration and heat exhaustion doesn’t matter, they’ll cry for you all the same. Jodeci were already iconic– this record and its music video just adds to their mythical status.
Janet Jackson- “Got ‘Til It’s Gone”
Next to Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice” and Jodeci’s “Get On Up,” “Got ‘Til It’s Gone” is in the pantheon of music videos depicting a killer party. What stands out here is how Janet utilizes texture and ambiance both musically and visually. The tone and color, the glow and sweat beaming off of different faces, the heat radiating from the dress clothes, the DJ scratches. None of it ever feels gimmicky or insincere either. The tenderness feels full and unbound by the restraints of expectation, expressionistic in its ideal depiction of Black love.
TLC- “Red Light Special”
One of the sexiest songs of all time, resulting in one of the steamiest music videos of all time. It goes further than the innuendo depicted in the song and the video though. The use of red almost acts as a veil in itself, a barrier for lovers to cross where only the wildest sex can go down.
What still stands out today is how TLC subverts the typical tropes. They don’t utilize female video vixens and juxtapose them with guys like videos have done dozens of times in the past. The male gaze isn’t considered one bit. Instead, they use men as the sex symbols, the objects of desire. However, they aren’t merely vessels for women to thirst over either. The men are melting to get a piece of TLC. The group are just indulging them a little bit, increasing sexual tension as the record builds to an explosive climax.
It’s daring, to go against the grain in favor of emphasizing the hot and sweaty yearning that comes with “Red Light Special.” But making that active choice instills visuals that still carry through in my brain to this day.
Michael Jackson- “Remember The Time”
A list like this doesn’t make sense with arguably the king of music videos, Michael Jackson. He used to spend an exorbitant amount of money to help bring his luscious records to the grand scale it deserved. 3-4 minute songs became lavish displays inching towards 10 minutes with a detailed storyboard alongside it.
On “Remember the Time,” MJ takes a pretty simple device, hollering at an old flame in hopes of getting back together with her. However, he introduces another element, where Eddie Murphy callously tries to amuse the woman he’s with. Meanwhile, she’s frustrated, clearly feeling unloved and disillusioned by grand displays. The closeness doesn’t register any longer. Now, this woman has every right to go back with Michael– he conjured his essence from black sand and a robe to be with this girl. The extravagance and borderline absurdity always made MJ’s music videos soar, “Remember the Time” being a prime example.
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