Monday, July 23, 2007

BET WANTS US TO READ A BOOK!
Over the weekend I turned to the Black Entertainment Television (BET) station because I was actually trying to catch a viewing of the Lil' Webbie & Lil' Boosie "Wipe Me Down" music video. I hadn’t seen it yet, but I knew it was definitely on one of their video countdown shows for some reason? As we all know, BET is known for consistently playing the highest quality of ghetto music videos from the urban radio’s Top 20 most requested. After suffering through two episodes of BET’s new hit dating show “Hell Date,” which was HELL to watch actually! It's nothing more than a bad rendition of Blind Date meets MTV’s Punk’d! Luckily, I noticed that BET's greatest show ever 106 & Park was coming on next! This particular episode of 106 was a replay of Friday’s show, which doesn’t really matter because they show the same videos for weeks at a time in most cases. So, as I was getting my urban video overdose on, I heard the hosts of the show say that BET has worked directly with some cartoonist dude to create a new music video entitled “Read a Book.” Just hearing the title alone shocked me? I was actually felt a sense of pride toward BET at that moment. I initially thought that BET had turned over a new leaf by incorporating some positive imagery for our youth to indulge in, over the typical glorification of sex, violence and money in most videos today? Turn off the TV youngsters and pickup a book because BET said so is the message I was hoping to get from this video? Before I say anything more, I would like you to watch the video for yourself. Well, here is the uncut version of that special video that BET aired for the world to see. Brace yourselves if you haven’t seen it already…

Read a Book (Uncut Video Version)


Now, after watching this video in its entirety, how do you feel about it? Personally, I felt like I had been bamboozled once again by BET! I was actually a little offended as well. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. It begged me to ask the question, have the folks over at BET finally lost their minds? Even the hosts of show seemed a little taken back and uncomfortable about the whole video experience. As I replayed this baffling video in my mind, I was trying to look past the simplistic ignorance and suggestive imagery that plagued the video tremendously to hopefully find a positive message. Is it possible that this video was saturated with such negative imagery to make a powerful point? The point being that there are so many music videos that use these types of negative images and language to promote negative stereotypes, why not use the same trickery to sell a positive message? Read a book, brush your teeth, wear deodorant and stop wasting money are all positive messages, but would a child actually digest these messages in a more positive demographic? Is this video a new type of tool for communicating positive messages to the youth today? Is putting the word BOOK on big bouncing cartoon booties more effective than an educated person saying the same thing in a lecture? Hmmm, I would hope that even in these dire times that our youth have not been brainwashed to the point where these types of videos are the only means of effective communication in 2007. Personally, I think whatever underlying message that was supposed to be understood from this video was lost, leaving black folks with another embarrassing BET moment for the records. Dammit, I hate when that happens, but on a more positive note...I have posted the infamous "Wipe Me Down" video for all to enjoy. I know after watching that previous video your forehead is probably full of sweat because of your frustration, so let Webbie and Boosie WIPE YA DOWN! Now, you can turn those frowns upside down and enjoy...


Boosie, Webbie & Foxx - Wipe Me Down (Hotta Uncut Remix)


Now, that's quality television at its finest ladies and gentlemen!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hold up.... that clip was actually created by BET? I saw a clip over at Nah and thought it was some random web person did it as a joke and parody. But BET created it? That is just sick.

Anonymous said...

Yea I thought someone created that footage, not BET. Interesting.

With all these hot ass mess shows BET dropping I do not even f with the channel no more. I miss the old BET

TV One > BET

DJ SoundNexx said...

According the BET airing that I saw on 106 & Park, Roxy stated that this video was created by them with the assistance of some black cartoonist! That's the reason why I thought it was going to be a positive look, but I was totally wrong...

BET has fallen off for real...

Dan said...

First,

next time just go to youtube!

I heard that song a while ago on okayplayer I think it's more satire than a stereotype.

Be real, most kids will not read unless they have to for school.

They DO watch those crappy videos that degrade women, most kids WILL go out and blow money on rims instead of saving it up to buy land, most cats WILL run out on their responsibilites, and I'm sure the lovely lady readers here at Soundnexx understand the brush your teeth and wear deodorant hook!

It is about resonsibility to our kids! I am shocked that BET played it, let alone created a video for it...it's almost as if someone is trying to cry out amidst all the bull crap!

Anonymous said...

I didn't take this song too serious when I heard it the first time, but I do think they were wrong for having that Lil Jon sound alike in the video though. I take that as them dissing him directly. They play Lil Jon videos all the time on that station.