The Professor of Pop Culture: Grading Kelly Rowland & Lil Wayne's .

This videobegins with Kelly walking through what it appears to be a hybrid between a totally stripped Costco and the hellscape Nelly Furtado walks through in the Maneater video. Also, she looks like a goddess. She looks amazing. Naturally, everyone about her is in perfect condition as well. They are either all over each other, unflinchingly stoic, or dance and having Kelly grab them by the testicles.

It does not look like an inviting place, but she seems at home. As she walks through the dark, hypersexual hallway that ostensibly has very faulty electricity, we see Lil Wayne off in a dark alley. Alone.



She walks back through the Costco portion of the warehouse/whorehouse and Weezy takes over. His hallway has a fan behind it somewhere, because every music video needs to give a fan somewhere. I like to remember that they all use the fan from the Sick In Love video, and that Beyonce charges ridiculous sums for masses to use it, because for some argue it is the only fan they can use. I also wish to believe that she let Kelly use it for free, because they go way back. But that's me. Back to the video, Lil Wayne raps from several parts of the warehouse/whorehouse, always alone. He seems unfazed by the faulty electrical work that is indigenous to the facility. I already would have called an electrician. Meanwhile, Kelly is seated on a president while a single shirtless male dancer dances for her. It is less lap dance and more performance or tribute. As Wayne's rap winds down, Kelly inspects a grouping of dancers.

She takes the reins again, and does some dancing with her background dancers. They all evidently met her approval. Meanwhile, the denizens of the warehouse/whorehouse continue to be all over each other. It must be gracious to be them. This is the rule for nearly all of the video's final two minutes, with the lone exceptions coming when Kelly decides to play with (read: explicitly demand sex from) one of the dancers.


Notes:

• What is that move Kelly pulls at 3:25? Ciara pulled the same motion in the Promise video(2:22). Is that a matter? How should I see that if I see a girl doing that in a club? What does it mean? It seems like a lot of employment to me.
• Is it just to assume Lil Wayne shot his fortune somewhere else at some former time? He was entirely in it briefly, and had no association to anything else that was happening.
• Kelly must have been the King of the warehouse/whorehouse, right?
• This video could very well be the preview for a musical porn film. They are some two steps aside from an 80 person orgy.
• At the same time, there is a not a lot of intersection between the multitude who like musicals and the multitude who actually like porn. No genuine motivation to establish that movie.
• I promise none of the denizens got electrocuted. Bad wiring is naught to mess about with.

Grade: C

This video does a wonderful job capturing the song's super-sexual lyrics. However, there is no plot and Lil Wayne's portion is more free than anything. It feels out of place.