Let me start by saying I don’t know how I feel about this.
All I know is that was the most uncomfortable 3 minutes and 16 seconds I’ve had in a long time.
At first, I thought my discomfort was housed in the fact that I was at my day job when I first viewed the video. Clark Kent doesn’t normally bide his cubicle time watching visuals typically reserved for late-night Skinemax. But the more I sat with my feeling of ickiness, I realized it had little to do with the setting.
What the $%^& was that?
I’ve never met Chester French. I first heard of them when Talib Kweli’s song hit the airwaves during the heated Democratic primary of 2008. Seeing the cosigns from hip hop heavyweights, Pharrell and Kanye, I made a point to check them out. I downloaded the Get Familiar Clinton Sparks mixtape (Jacques Jams, Vol 1: Endurance) in which our very own Janelle Monae guest appeared, singing about her love of “reading comics in the dark.” I even copped the debut album, Love the Future, and tried to turn friends of mine onto the band even though they would eventually dismiss the group regardless of their meritorious rise in the music industry or their long list of professional relationships. All this is to say, I generally enjoy their music. My Wondafam knows DA and Max well (see what I did there?) and can certainly attest to their character much better than I. But well-intentions aside, this video is bullshit.
“This ain’t no fetish/ ain’t objectifying no one, I reject your deconstruction of my taste.”
That is a bold way to start a pop song if I ever heard one. It was this line tweeted by resident any1man, George 2.0, that brought the song to my attention. I mean good opening lines are part of my life-force. I imbibe them as a necessary step in harnessing my chi.
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…’
‘There’s a war going on outside no man is safe from…’
‘I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me…’
If you have a good opening line (as in “Black Girls”), half the battle is won. You have me at ‘hello’. I’m yours to be lost at this point. And loss is what happens.
The song and the video are not saying the same thing. In a song said to be a “celebration” of black women (as well as “feminine beauty” and “interracial love”), we have a video where nude models, in the mold of Daryl Hannah and Grace Jones respectively, move from examining one another’s wisdom teeth with their tongues to performing similuted cunnilingus not seen so passionately in a public space since Black Swan.
I’m not sure DA and Max have a thing for black girls as much as they have a thing for interracial lesbians.
And if they do, hey, that’s fine! Some of my best friends are interracial lesbians. No judgement here. More power to them.
But don’t veil it in a celebration of black women. It’s not like it was this. In a world where even the Secret Service has a penchant for brown skin, let’s not pretend like this is a courageous act. The visuals, which cannot be divorced from the tune at this point, move the entire presentation closer to the field of Hangover 2, frat-boy fantasy in which the wish fulfillment for the exotic can only be quenched by the Other. I couldn’t escape the feeling that this was John Mayer’s playboy interview set to music.
So you have a thing for Black girls? Cool. So did Thomas Jefferson.
Looky there…as it turns out, I do know how I feel about this.
How do YOU feel about it?
Wow. No comments.
The Elephant in the room.
And no one wants to talk about it.
hmmmmmmmmmmmm
Exactly, Chuck. Everyone is waiting to see how everyone else feels.
Art should inspire conversation.
I know people are talking.
But nobody is typing.
When I first heard the song, my initial reaction was a good one. He starts off my boldly singing:
“This ain’t no fetish, ain’t objectifying no one
I reject your deconstruction of my taste…
But ignoramus always look in my direction
They’re so frustrated I don’t keep it in the race”
YES!!!! You better stand your ground and proudly defend your attraction to black women, no matter what close-minded fool is looking! I like that a lot because it shows his courage for true love no matter the skin color. This song is clearly depicting someone who knows what he likes and is PROUD to say it.
I can’t speak for all black woman, but who wouldn’t be flattered by that? I loved it and applaud DA and Max for feeling that way.
However, what starts to confuse me and question if there love is real is the video. What’s up with the two lesbians being overly sexual with each other? What does that how to do with Chester French’s “love for us”? That’s a bit off… Not knowing if the visual was suggested completely by Director Francesco or others, it just doesn’t seem to match and messes up the intial positive feeling I got. Now it starts to look as if the proud declaration of love that the lyrics originally may have expressed are mere lustful ones.
He does sing “I have a thing for black girls.” and not “I have love…” or “I love black girls” which is completely two different statements. The later is one I’d rather hear and fall in love with.
I listened to the song and didn’t have a problem with it. Thought it was all in good fun.
I wasn’t aware of the video til I saw @jovizi post on twitter. And after watching it…I’m, confused. I guess that’s what it takes to get back in the spotlight maybe. Culture shock? I think everyone involved in this was well aware of the potential reaction they might get from this. And for that I applaud them. The lighting. The contrast in skin tone. It strikes me as beautifully artistic. However, the second the start using their tongues to reach for each others tonsils I don’t know how to feel. I definitely agree with the above reference to feeling like this should be on skinemax or ‘Real Sex’ on HBO. But in a world where Odd Future gets notoriety for lyrics full of rape references, does this compare. I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to choose how I should be feeling. Funny…I now remember actually having a similarly toned conversation with Chuck a long time ago about that John Mayer interview you referenced.
I agree with Nastassia.
But as far as the video, D.A. is singing loud & clear. Maybe the video was speaking silently for those white women that like black girls too, I don’t know. The video has 2 beautiful women in it, it was in “black & white” I get it, ok & it was executed well. As long as someone was aroused, I’m sure the objective of the video has been fulfilled. Obviously they want us talking about it.
But what is the difference between Nelly’s “Tip Drill” video
or a lot of music videos of black artist with women in it, that is overly sexual. Who claims their love for the black woman or (ass) of the black woman?
Nastassia says the video made her think the lyrics/ song now only expresses that its a lustful likeness to black girls. Lust has a lot to do with people liking someone, lust is nothing but sexual desire.
Question: Without the video, how do you feel about the song?
It’s funny
D.A. likes and prefers black women in general. That is a witnessed fact.
The only reason this is provocative is because in Mississippi, 46 percent of republicans would like to outlaw interracial marriage.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/86423/interracial-marriage-not-popular-mississippi-republicans
So if someone likes someone else, it would be up to another someone else to determine whether or not it’s a worthy love.
I submit that as evidence of the existence of The Ridiculous.
Preference is natural and exercised in many aspects of our lives.
If a woman in the video likes kissing or making love to another girl is that really odd? Why?
Maybe we are just too American to leave it alone.
Maybe it’s just like us to go and colonize someone else’s body and their minds too.
I rock with the song, and knowing DA personally, I know the sentiment of it to be 100% true for him. He really does like black girls. For real. If this song itself becomes popular, it’s a net win for black girls in my opinion. A pop song openly celebrating them? Great! He’s not talking about how their bodies look or how they are in bed, just that he digs them and is proud of it. We all jam to rap and r&b songs from black artists celebrating their affinity for every type of female EXCEPT black women, but when a white cat makes a song and video proclaiming how much he loves black girls, we take issue because he does it in a different way than we think he should have. Separate the song from the video. The video is a commercial to sell the song and promote their return, and folks are really talking about it. So to me, it’s a win for them as a band, and I don’t think there’s any harm done to black women because of this.
Eh.
The songs okay, if too repetitive for my taste. The video’s cool, but boring. As a black lesbian, the shock factor is lost on me, though I didn’t feel like they were going for titillation here. That’s my only problem with it – I don’t know what they were going for here. The video and the song don’t seem to be saying the same thing (having ‘some love’ vs. only wanting to have sex with black women), and that’s unfortunate. I didn’t see anything new here for music or for art, and I’m not sure the whiteness of the guys in Chester French makes it anymore discussion-worthy than Kelly Rowland’s simulated bisexual orgy in the “Motivation” video.
Isis, without the video, I absolutely love the song. And it’s not even that I completely dislike the video, I just didn’t understand why it was shot that way considering the lyrics. Why were two girls overly sexualized in some parts of video if he’s trying to express how HE feels about a black woman? Take Robin Thicke’s song “Lost Without You”. He’s stated that the lyrics were inspired by the deep love and respect he has for his wife – a black woman. However, the overall mood of that song AND VIDEO together match and make sense to me. It comes off much more romantic, loving and respectful of his lady and her body…. not lustful, in the way “Black Girls” portrays these two lesbians, if that’s what they are. But then again, I don’t know what really the video is trying to say, nor is Robin Thicke and Chester French the same artist. It’s good that everyone’s talking about it though, right? They’ve succeed.
I also want to add that I think “lustful” feelings are wrong for it is a real human emotion. That wouldn’t make sense to call it wrong. It’s wrong to steal money from others, it’s wrong to break into someone’s house, not wrong to be lustful. But I guess it’s just easier, I guess, to watch or take in for me. And in that case, that now has nothing more to do with Chester French but ME. haha
I gotta go!
In the end, I LOVE that they made the song and released it. He was honest about his feelings which is what true art is really all about.
Chuck, if I knew this was being conversed, I woulda been here right after Bean clicked “Upload”. Intersectionality? I’m on it. I saw Mike Shinoda bring it up on Twitter and I was thinking “Chester French. ‘Black Girls’. Hm, I usually trust Shinoda but I don’t feel like risking watchin a vid of a White guy probably mental fappin’ over Black girls because of whatever stereotype they believe.”
Usually I’m for interracial relationships but there’s a ring of objectification when someone says, “I got a thing for Black girls” or any particular race girl (I was gonna say “minority” but it’s been done to White girls by minority guys so it’s all around) because it doesn’t ring “Hey, I like Black girls because of their personality and culture” but more like, “She’s exotic”.
Then there’s the fact that the video isn’t a “Oh hai, Black girls are great” but builds on the exoticism. You have a White girl mouthing the lyrics, which, hey, whatever French things looks less ergh but you know she’s still the mouthpiece because certainly French doesn’t wish to be a White woman simply to clean the tonsils of a Black chick. Instead he pretty much projects his desire for women as a whole but since he finds Black girls exotic (he hasn’t said a single thing that talks about the Black girl is a human and less like an object – now I’m reminded of Reggie Watts’ “S**t f**k Stack”), he goes full speed with that, even regarding the Black girl as simply another “flavor” that he enjoys among the many he’s already tried. The girl isn’t a girl but like food, something to be consumed without another thought. Ah yes, any Black girl – any girl – would love that, just be another tick in someone’s little black book. [/sarcasm]
On top of that, it includes lesbianism, a popular music video trope where the girls aren’t into each other because they’re into each other but for the male pleasure. So it seems French isn’t into Black girls for any subjective reason but simply because of the objective “so exotic” factor. So, yeppers, it’s just a White guy mental fappin’ over Black girls because of whatever stereotype he believes.
W00t, this is my first time commenting here so sorry if I’m all rambles and suches.
This song rocks. Full disclosure; I’m a black girl. But even if I wasn’t this song would rock. I’m also an artist and I think this is poetic expression at it’s best. For anyone who brings up Mayer; there’s a big difference between someones’ joyful anthem for what they like versus a brief, unexamined confession about having a David Duke dick. As for the video, two hot chicks gyrating? That’s rock n’ roll!
Is the song catchy? Yes. The lyrics? A bit brash. The subject? Thumbs down. All around,the video is too sexual for my taste. Secondly, as a black woman, it’s unsettling because in my opinion, we are not a “thing” to have or an object to have a “thing for”. No person of any race or gender is a object to have a “thing for”.
I agree with several prior posters, particularly Olivia. I too like Chester French, generally (being one of the friends Adán put onto them). And when I heard the title, I was interested and not at all alarmed or that surprised. And I think that if I had heard the lyrics before I saw the visuals, I would not have been quite as disturbed. But the video is beyond problematic and pretty much nullifies the opening line in all its cleverness. Seems like they are merely saying, “we are equal opportunity objectifiers” or “the consumption of disembodied lady parts is not just for rappers anymore”. Not sure if the blame for the concept falls to the band or the director, but surely they couldn’t believe that we would take it as a genuine compliment or celebration.
Nate,
Thanks for that link about 48% Republicans want to outlaw interracial marriage. I wouldn’t have automatically thought of linking Chester French’s video to that idea…
I whole-heartedly agree with you about it being ridiculous that some others have the audacity to think they can control how someone else chooses his or her mate. The two women in the video didn’t upset me because of their “lesbianism acts” with each other, but rather, did the video successfully convey the true essence of the song?
I mean, he could have been in the video. Then that would make better sense, but I guess that’s an expected scenerio. The lyrics are powerful and touching enough that it can stand on its on.
Would also like to add that I am NOT against homosexuality. I think if a woman wants to kiss or make love to another woman, that’s her right and business.
IT’S A SONG ABOUT CELEBRATING THE BEAUTY OF DATING SOMEONE OUTSIDE OF YOUR RACE AND NOT APOLOGIZING FOR IT!! Every comments I have read from this site and others contain a negative view from black guys! Is that Thomas Jefferson reference really necessary? There will always be non-black guys who are attracted to black women and some black women who are attracted to them! Sometimes I feel that Black men want to be the only race to date outside and have their own! Not anymore! More Black women are realizing they are being desired elsewhere.
“Seems like they are merely saying, “we are equal opportunity objectifiers” or “the consumption of disembodied lady parts is not just for rappers anymore”. ”
This is exactly what I was thinking, but closer to the form of an essay that I’m just not going to write here. Being black, a woman and to anyone who knows me, clearly a feminist, I have an enormous issue with being made to feel like an object by anyone, an issue that caused me to shy away from a lot of popular music in the past three or four years. But the words of the song are not what make me take issue. If I heard this song on the radio, I’m sure I would have given it the ol’ side-eye at first but cranked up the volume to listen to the words (kind of like what I did when I heard Buckcherry’s “Crazy Bitch.”). The video, on the other hand, is just a marketing ploy to get people exposed to the music, like most videos. Sexy lesbians sell music. Objectifying women sells music. Using one’s gender over another and making it look sexy sells music. The issue is with the video for me. It isn’t “too sexy,” and I am not offended by the women, initially, until I thought about what they represented, and how they easily changed the meaning of the song in my eyes. I don’t even think that it is bullshit. I just think that it is clear proof of the redundant reality that people still don’t take women into consideration as people.
This is not surprising at all. And I’m not mad at it at all.
Do I love the song? No.
Do I hate it? No.
I get it though.
White man likes black women, controversy.
+
Lesbians, controversy.
+
Interracial dating, homosexuality, sex…controversy.
=
A hit song/video
This is entertainment folks.
What if this was Kanye’s song/video? Would you react differently because he’s black?
Hmmm….
the way i felt at the BEGINNING of the video: (Yay for Black Girls!), than at the end of the video: (Er?!?) and plain ole’ objectified.
Nastassia sums it up very well.
interracial love is not the problem here. because in many videos, we aren’t “loved” by black men either, we are “things” to be lusted over. it’s draining to be “a thing”.
sigh.
but i can’t fail to recognize and admire the INTENT of the song.
i like the lyrics & music, but it cancels out what is shown in the video. and i like the video. perhaps someone should come up with better lyrics to go with that video…
I don’t see any problem with this video/song. It’s quiet funny. The only bad thing is that there is nothing “new” in it.
DA chimed in on my facebook wall after I ranted at length about it because we have a mutual friend. His well meaning was lost completely in the hamfisted lyrics. It’s funny watching people play up the preppy image, but then also try to be punk rock.
those were two disconnected thoughts.
Does anyone remember this video?->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNdh8UvFyk0
So my question is what’s the difference between the above video and this one and what are the similarities? Here’s my Compare and Contrast on it…
Comparisons:
1.Both of these videos show an Affinity for women of a different Racial group. As far as we may have come as a Country, this subject is still Controversial, therefore creating the reason to make a Song & Video about this certain preference.
Contrasts:
1.In Chester French’s video, instead of using a White Guy & Black Woman(Like how Mighty Kasey uses himself with White Women)…he uses a White Woman & Black Woman. I wonder why.. Is he trying to double the controversy by using the controversial subjects of both Interracial Dating & Homosexuality? OR is he trying to make Interracial Dating look SEXY by using a LESBIAN portrayal. This is where the subtle confusion begins with me although I do lean towards one of these possible reasons. However, I could be missing something, or I could be looking too hard into it.
2. In Mighty Kasey’s video, it was straight to the point, although degrading with his image of the white girls in this video(imo), never the less…it involved him and whom he says he desires.
Thing is, some people could label Chester French’s video Degrading and Sexist, with the argument of him not using any Men in this video, and only having 2 women exposing themselves and being sexual.
Never the less, I didn’t feel offended by the video. I understand that Sex does Sell in many cases when it comes to…well,anything really. So I’m leaning more towards the possibility of the video director using the Lesbian Portrayal a.k.a. the “Lesbian Fantasy” to sell the Desire of Interracial Dating.
As far as the song goes, I’m not offended by it either, You like what you like.. and as long as you’re not tearing down others in order to do what you like.. then I don’t see a problem. Do your Thang..
I agree with Adan. At first it (the music) seems to be an ode to loving women or color and women as a whole, but the video is disgusting. It just objectifies women (as he says he isn’t trying to do in the lyrics). I feel like if I had heard this song independently from the video, I could dig it, but since I’m now engrained with the image and sound as one, I could never forgive this. To paraphrase Adan… this is just Chester French trying to disguise frat boy lesbian interracial fantasy with “wannabe” social conscious love of all women. Two thumbs down.
I can’t say what Chester French’s intended meaning is, but the line about sampling “flavors” reminds me of a man who said his dream was to have sex with a black woman. Saying this he suggests there would be something radically different from girls of any other color he’d had. Aside from being a degrading view of women this is a racist idea. Is it somehow better to view skin colors as flavors to be tried, or better to declare preference for a color not your own than it is to only consider relationships with someone of the same color?
Wasn’t the real dream to not judge people by the color of their skin but by the content of their character? I believe we’d find better relationships if a strong character was where our preferences lay, regardless of the colors involved.
Great commentary my friend, I agree.
The song is great. Love the Lyrics.
Dont HATE the video. but not all that impressed with the celebration of the “Black Girl”. In which I would love to see more adornment towards us.
But the video as the writer said seems to steer more towards the love of interracial lesbian couples…. or something. But I wouldn’t say so much black girls since even with only two women in the video. There was more “White Girl” than “black girl” camera time. Also the video was just a bit oversexed for a celebratory song to the black girl. Then again I like celebratory sex. sooo hmmm
I’ve got a thing for black girls, too. So this video was right up my alley
Though I do feel it was definitely on the pornographic side. If that was their intent, mission accomplished. If it was about anything else, I missed it because all I could focus on was 2 naked woman going at it.
The video AND the song are both problems.
The first line “This ain’t no fetish/ ain’t objectifying no one, I reject your deconstruction of my taste.” is all well and good. It’s a nice line. But (in the video) coming out of the lips of a white woman is problematic. Just because it’s two women doesn’t mean that white women can’t still fetishize black women. And the song contradicts itself anyway with it’s chorus. You say ‘this ain’t no fetish’, yet the chorus says ‘I got a thing for black girls’. This interracial aspect is seen as something new to try, something that’s becoming all the rage. So they ARE fetishizing black women with this song. You’re turning them into something less than human. Something to be explored. There was also a mention of “sampling different flavors” somewhere in there, which, c’mon. People of color ARE NOT FOODS, STOP REFERRING TO OUR SKIN AS FOOD ITEMS. Fetishizing right there as well. And the way it’s depicted in the video, it’s nothing but pure sex between these two women. And supposedly is hotter because they’re interracial. Pshh, whatever. This song ain’t gonna fool me. It’s bullshit.
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