Props to Erykah Badu, a disorderly conduct citation and her badonkadonk. Honorable mention belongs to the sidewalk where she sprawled like former President John F. Kennedy after his assassination. We can’t forget the videographers who pixelated her bare bronze glory in the “Window Seat” video.
Apologies are owed to the witnesses who saw more than they bargained for one day in Dallas.
Badu’s video is more bad (pardon the grammar) than symbolic. A couple of weeks ago the cyberworld and self-proclaimed artsy community discussed all things bootylicious and intellectual as a result of the unimpressive flesh fest.
I dig Erykah enough. I’m not anti-body or anti-art. I’m not fond of stifled creativity or an advocate for complacency.
But, Badu straddled the line between racy and raunchy and emerged on the Player’s Club side of creativity.
Yes, we come into the world naked. Then we learn the implications of nakedness. We are sent contradictory messages in the media.
American culture supports purity, sexualization and controversy.
As a result many are taught to simultaneously use their bodies as commodities and be ashamed of them.
Erykah Badu used this discomfort with nudity to propel her album’s buzz to new heights.
The decision to strip away layers of artifice is intriguing, but we must acknowledge the disconnect between supposed art and buying into America’s favorite classification system, stereotypes.
Black woman with illegitimate children takes off clothes in public without permission. Enough said.
“I know it was a shocking thing I did. I expected it to provoke dialogue, and it’s an important statement to make.
“It’s about freeing oneself of the layers and layers of things that we have learned as Americans in this country,” Badu said, according to sohh.com.
As a woman who is likely no stranger to the mirror, she was aware that her extra shake could add additional zeros to her bank account.
The artist is known for blending Afrocentricity, eccentricity and earthy abstraction.
But this video is mildly allusive, at best. However, it is highly illuminating. It highlights that artists have bills to pay.
And stripping to her voluptuousness proved that sometimes the quickest way to remain relevant is to employ life’s essentials.
All of that is to say, the song is pretty good.
She’s beautiful, but is another naked sista floating around on people’s hard drives.
If anything, she just shouted out the reproductive cycle. Sex got us here and our first outfit was a birthday suit. Happy album sales.