What Ever Happened To Orginality?
By Avery O Williams
There is a wonderful sense of nostalgia invoked by Alicia Keys new video "Teenage Love Affair" mainly because it is modeled off of "School Daze", a movie that echoes with visions of my experience at Morehouse in the late '80's. Trust me. It's decent. No booty shakin' or platinum grill teeth flashin' at ya. In fact, very similar to this:
However, there is also something disconcerting about director Chris Robinson's video
too.
Instead of pulling from a fictional film I would loved it more if he had pulled from his own vision, his own scenes, his own take on the black college experience. As it is now, he's made a copy of a copy.
50 Cent Says F**k Alicia Keys
I'm concerned when we lean on learning of our history from others and not going to the source. And lawd knows, there are plenty of sources who attended Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, Hampton, Howard and other HBC's to gather insight from--even if Chris didn't attend one himself.
Mystery Illness Forces Keys To Cancel More Concerts
The black college experience is so rich, so vibrant, so visual to mine from, that he could have created his own homage to the past if he had done a little work. Maybe he and Alicia didn't want to. Did they love "School Daze" that much? Has it become a "classic" already?
Or was Chris perhaps a bit, um, lazy? This video is really an homage to Spike Lee and the black college experience that was seen through the prism of HIS artistic vision, and not Chris or Alicia's. The issue (and hence the reason for this post) is to express my concern when artists rely upon other art as their sole inspiration instead of life itself. They lean on the learning of history or life from another's work without deriving that knowledge from the source.
Of course, especially as it regards old knowledge, you can't talk with anybody who has lived in ancient Rome or fought in the Civil War, so you've got to pull from third parties, books, archival films and whatnot. I'm a fan of Alicia Keys and I do like Chris Robinson's work.
He has a fine narrative sensibility in many of his videos, but lawd knows, there are plenty of people who attended Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, Hampton, Howard and other HBC's to gather insight from--even if Chris didn't attend one himself.
Heck, they could have called me.
Here's Alicia on The The Today Show with Matt Lauer, the Blender Magazine "gangsta rap" controversy and her new video:
Others had this to say about the "As I Am" girl, whose 3rd album released in November has already sold 1 million units:
moresickaMC says...
Can't wait to see that video. Y'all kids need to get on your black film history & watch School Daze. "lift your torches to the heavensss!"Alicia's AK-47 killa swag is crazy right now!!!
Playboy says...
LMAO I love how Alicia plugged that documentary, thats how you do it. The video looks to be her best yet and I'm lovin her swag, her body, As I Am... just HER. Alicia is the hottest chick in the game with NO re-release or fake hype.
By Avery O Williams
There is a wonderful sense of nostalgia invoked by Alicia Keys new video "Teenage Love Affair" mainly because it is modeled off of "School Daze", a movie that echoes with visions of my experience at Morehouse in the late '80's. Trust me. It's decent. No booty shakin' or platinum grill teeth flashin' at ya. In fact, very similar to this:
However, there is also something disconcerting about director Chris Robinson's video
too.
Instead of pulling from a fictional film I would loved it more if he had pulled from his own vision, his own scenes, his own take on the black college experience. As it is now, he's made a copy of a copy.
50 Cent Says F**k Alicia Keys
I'm concerned when we lean on learning of our history from others and not going to the source. And lawd knows, there are plenty of sources who attended Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, Hampton, Howard and other HBC's to gather insight from--even if Chris didn't attend one himself.
Mystery Illness Forces Keys To Cancel More Concerts
The black college experience is so rich, so vibrant, so visual to mine from, that he could have created his own homage to the past if he had done a little work. Maybe he and Alicia didn't want to. Did they love "School Daze" that much? Has it become a "classic" already?
Or was Chris perhaps a bit, um, lazy? This video is really an homage to Spike Lee and the black college experience that was seen through the prism of HIS artistic vision, and not Chris or Alicia's. The issue (and hence the reason for this post) is to express my concern when artists rely upon other art as their sole inspiration instead of life itself. They lean on the learning of history or life from another's work without deriving that knowledge from the source.
Of course, especially as it regards old knowledge, you can't talk with anybody who has lived in ancient Rome or fought in the Civil War, so you've got to pull from third parties, books, archival films and whatnot. I'm a fan of Alicia Keys and I do like Chris Robinson's work.
He has a fine narrative sensibility in many of his videos, but lawd knows, there are plenty of people who attended Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, Hampton, Howard and other HBC's to gather insight from--even if Chris didn't attend one himself.
Heck, they could have called me.
Here's Alicia on The The Today Show with Matt Lauer, the Blender Magazine "gangsta rap" controversy and her new video:
Others had this to say about the "As I Am" girl, whose 3rd album released in November has already sold 1 million units:
moresickaMC says...
Can't wait to see that video. Y'all kids need to get on your black film history & watch School Daze. "lift your torches to the heavensss!"Alicia's AK-47 killa swag is crazy right now!!!
Playboy says...
LMAO I love how Alicia plugged that documentary, thats how you do it. The video looks to be her best yet and I'm lovin her swag, her body, As I Am... just HER. Alicia is the hottest chick in the game with NO re-release or fake hype.