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Did Keri Hilson’s & Raheem DeVaughn’s Videos Go Too Far?

by Mara Jae

Although risqué lyrics, suggestive dance moves and sex scenes are nothing new to R&B music videos, (read: Beyoncé/R. Kelly) we can’t help but think Keri Hilson and Raheem DeVaughn may have taken it a little too far with their recent videos ‘The Way You Love Me’ and ‘She’s Single.’  While men embraced Keri’s ‘The Way You Love Me’ as the ultimate wet dream; women – who possessed a shred of dignity — were completely turned off. The soft porn music video shows Keri in a less-than-there outfit, simulating sex while dancing and singing lyrics like, “f-ck me, f-ck me it’s the way you f-ck me.”There is a thin line between sexy and trashy and Keri, baby, you crossed it about a mile back with this one. Could it have been an attempt to do for herself what ‘Ride’ did for Ciara? She succeeded in getting us talking, as well as downgrading her to a ‘basic” chick. Dry-humping the air, while telling us your “p-ssy keeps your man off the streets” — is not exactly a recipe for success. Ms. Keri, however, has no bones about it. “I don’t want to be held and caressed every night,” she tells Perez Hilton. Sometimes I do want to be f-cked.” Well, okay, then.  Clearly, female artists aren’t the only ones going for the shock value these days. Raheem DeVaughn jumped on the bandwagon with his video ‘She’s Single.’ We couldn’t help but roll our eyes at his clichéd lyrics alluding to his manhood, “break out them magnum gold, 12-pack,” along with scenes showing him in various positions with a woman. “I wanted to create an image that was tasteful, but cutting edge, provocative, grown… real,” Raheem tells VIBE. It looked real alright, a little too real. We’re all for smooth jams when it’s about to go down – but we’re not really interested in seeing an artist actually go down on someone.  At the end of the day, sexy only works when it’s done right and when it’s done by the right people. Despite Keri’s and Raheem’s attempts to at push the envelope and get people talking, the two simply came off as artists who were dying to be relevant, in all the wrong ways. Are we naive to think that an artist becomes relevant based on talent and not necessarily by seeing someone come this close to flashing her vagina?

The next time these two opt for a sexy video, we advise they have Beyoncé or Trey Songz on speed dial. That, or choose not to do it at all.