Link to official site with video in case this one gets deleted.
Erykah Badu is one of the biggest names in neo-soul. Harkening back to 70s soul artists like Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, and Al Green, the neo-soul movement has modernized smooth R&B. Along with Erykah Badu, some of the bigger names in neo-soul are Sade, Lauren Hill, D'Angelo, Alicia Keys, and John Legend. Badu's flavor of neo-soul is more focused on social, political, and poetic lyrics. This video embodies the way she tries to challenge listeners with her lyrics.
This video is all the rage right now. It is said to be controversial, but it is controversial in the way that a PETA protest is controversial. Either way, it is an intriguing short film and a great concept for a music video.
The entire video is shot in one take. Badu pulls up to a meter in downtown Dallas, TX near the place that John F Kennedy was assassinated, gets out and starts walking down the sidewalk. As she is walking, she starts to take off clothing. She takes off her jacket and throws in on the ground. Then she slips her shoes off and tosses them behind her. All the while, other pedestrians are walking by, starting to take notice. You can see one guy in the background start to pickup her clothes as she drops them.
She continues to derobe until she is naked, in front of couples, parents, children, whoever is around. When she finally arrives at the place where JFK was shot, completely naked and surrounded by tourists, she cracks her head back as if she was shot and falls lifeless to the ground.
While the nudity is blurred out, its a confrontational political statement. I am not quite sure what the statement is supposed to be, but the video is good enough that it doesn't really matter.
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