I can’t believe I was 7 years old thinking I was going to become a video vixen one day. We have to talk about being exposed to sexual content so early on in the black community.
Yes please do a video on Tyra, that woman should’ve never been given a platform. I hate when ppl are invited on shows to be bullied by the host and goaded by the audience.
I second. The fact that this woman has not been held accountable for the incredible damage she's done, especially to young women of color, is beyond me.
I'm 36 and grew up in Philly. I've got stories of rappers rolling up to the high school to pick up the girls for the video shoots... don't get me started.
That Wendy Williams clip was so cruel. Karine was in tears and Wendy was still throwing cruel jokes at her. You reap what you sow, Wendy has spent years spreading people's business and now look at her life , a mess. Her karma came back on her.
I haven’t watched the vid yet I’m just letting it load while I scroll through the comments but when I clicked on it I was hoping it would go in this direction because I feel like the ‘transformation’ is so obvious
The MeToo movement hitting the hip hop community is long overdue. We’ve all heard stories about these rappers and it took a lot of courage for her to write this book.
That sexualization was so uncomfortable to watch as a teenager. I remember the boys would just drool over those music videos and all I could think was "I'm not like that, so no one will pay attention" and it was sad.
I was like: ‘I don’t ever want sexual attention... from men especially.... maybe if I dress in a way that hides every potential hint of curve, I will be safe.’ Dressed in long, loose jeans and baggy hoodies for the rest of my teenage and young adult years- preferring pools of back sweat to being seen as fodder for male sexualization... and it still didn’t work.
Tyra would have ppl bare their deepest darkest hurts in the name of good TV, only to victim blame and then turn the moment around and make it about her. The narcissism jumped out consistentlyyyyy.
Listen Theres a UA-camr on here who has videos picking about America's Next Top Model. Through watching these I realize how ridiculous Tyra is. She is a mess
Like honestly!!!!!!!!!! I think the stereotype that models are dumb got to her really bad so she tried to over-prove that she was smart and beautiful and was the full package. She would also do all these publicity stunts try to be "relatable".
@@ms.x1669 But she's not. Even when that Rihanna/Chris Brown case happened and Oprah did her show on Domestic a**** where Tyra was a guest. Never understood why she was there. She acted like she's a counselor and was like: oh Oprah look look she's ( referring to a girl ) saying no or whatever. She just needs to sit down.
Tyra's treatment of Kim Kardashian was really interesting... She treated Ray J extremely differently, being overjoyed to see him and was deeply patronizing to Kim.
I think overall, people like the idea of a woman being sexually liberated and powerful until she gets too powerful, then she becomes the enemy. Everyone was down for/with Karine until she surpassed the average everyday video vixen lol once she started REALLY capitalizing not only off of her body but her EXPERIENCES in those spaces, she was no longer relatable or "like" the rest of them. As soon as she decided to cash out on all the trauma that got her in those spaces, people started trying to shut her up. That just goes to show that no matter how much men and even some women champion female empowerment and sexual liberation, the support will always be conditional. As long as you're relatable enough or within reach of the majority, you'll receive support. Once you step out of that box you are a target. It's truly unfortunate.
When I think of video vixens, I think of Nelly. I hate to admit it, but he was very influential on what I thought was sexy for a long time. He was everywhere! My mom banned shows like 106 and Park, yet I still knew all the dances. I remember being in kindergarten and seeing girls loop the bottom of their shirts through the neck hole to make it look like a bikini because of a Nelly video. You could do a stand-alone documentary on his impact on the vixen culture. Also, Tyra getting mad at a vixen when her career is founded upon selling her attractiveness is peak dissonance.
I was 15 when her first book came out and I remember thinking then that it was stupid how people were mad at HER and not the married men she was being paid to sleep with.
Facts, all the former video vixens that openly shamed her, saying "it's not my story etc"...... okay... so don't identify with it then. Yes there will inevitably be narrow minded people that assume all video vixens act in the way Karine did, but to then get defensive and publicly bash her after claiming it doesn't reflect your story..... yeah thats definitely a choice lol. Turning a nose up at Karine is not the flex some women think it is😀I'm not speaking out on shit especially if it has nothing to do with me.
the girls were mad bc she was getting the attention and the coinz ...oh yea and wrote a book that has made her so rich she never has to work again ......the dudes well men dont like to be exposed
@Leniese Loves Film yes! her life was tragically abusive and she named every single man who ever took part in it. Yet, of course, they didnt get half the vitriol she did. People are weird with what their "morals" lead them to be outraged about
I remember when my sister got this book and appreciate the response she had to it. My sister said and I quote “Good for her! These men don’t deserve secrecy.......Let them be mad.”
Growing up, knowing how to burn CDs and download music off sites like limewire was a necessary skill. I always feel like we are such a skilled generation, coding on MySpace before we even knew what coding was.
Honey that was how I was making my lunch money in middle school 😂 I was burning cds doing Buy (one (charging them 5) get one free personalized cds by the end of the week I had a nice $50 🤣😂
Yeah, nowadays there aren't as many people who just casually do programming stuff. As someone with serious trouble comprehending programming (more specifically remembering all the commands and what they do), a large portion of people just casually using coding to make their social media profiles look pretty is impressive af
@@miglek9613 TL:DR at bottom, followed by a code example of the laymen term explanation in HTML and CSS if you're interested. Sorry for the rant, I didn't realize how long winded it was getting until after I was done :P As programmer, I'm rather loathe to dispel any of the great mystique surrounding our ways, because I like looking like a magician, the awe of the masses fuels my ego to keep chugging past my depression and anxiety, and my boss would question my wage if he realized I wasn't unlocking the secrets of the philosophers stone on every project but... MySpace pages _generally_ weren't that impressive and you can build _a lot_ only knowing how to copy and paste code; I fix copy-paste code from "professional" coders on the cheaper end of the spectrum so often that it _actually_ contributes to my mental health problems. Don't get me wrong, there were definitely some examples of more advanced code implementations floating around on MySpace, but for the _most_ part they leaned on rather basic HTML and CSS with any JavaScript used _generally_ being copy-pasted into place with some naming variables swapped to fit your page; and the occasional intervention from a (sometimes online) friend that actually understood what they were doing if things they copied _really_ didn't work how they should. The things that got most frequently altered without the aid of copy-pasting tended to be simple HTML and CSS, which largely boiled down to 'I want a box here with text inside, and I'll name it X', the HTML, followed by a different bit of code in your CSS saying 'things that are named X: have a font that's Blue, a font size of 13px, and a background image found at _this_ url'; or styles might be inline if you hate yourself and like typing the same things over and over. The commands for all of that are very legible and rather straight forwards; they were even more so then, but even with modern browsers and the new things they let us do they still aren't hard now. The Type of code that _actually_ requires you to memorize a bunch of commands, the rules behind the data structures those commands are aimed to effect or use, chain logical statements together to achieve a specific end, manage state and typing so that the _number_ "1" doesn't become a bool "True", ect ect ect was beyond the scope of what most people played with 'casually'; they might not have been _paid_ to do it _professionally_ at the time, but it was still an effortful endeavor. The truely impressive implementations tended not to be 'casual', with people sinking serious time into making certain features work as they liked and then sharing code blocks so that others could copy paste them into _their_ pages at lower effort. Many of the people who put in the most effort are _professionals_ now, though obviously not all. TL:DR Obviously, an insider perspective changes my view of the matter somewhat, but _most_ MySpace pages were the equivalent of cooking Hamburger Helper from the instructions on the box. Sure, some people might have added some red chilly flakes or substituted ground turkey in place of ground beef, and it definitely impresses someone that's only ever order take out or boiled ramen noodles, but it's not _really_ that impressive if you take a moment to read how simple and completely non-magical the instructions on the box are. As an aside not _actually_ mentioned above, my four and five year old nieces read and write HTML and CSS; the basics _really_ aren't complicated and I'm not sure why you think literacy in them is going down when it's actually been steadily increasing world wide. Not Long Enough: Show Code or Get Out Poser The HTML in my layman example above would look something like: Fun Text Will Be Blue! The background on the box this text is in would be an image! While the CSS might look like: fun-text-box: { color: blue, font-size: 13px, background-image: url("the actual image location url goes here.gif"), } Now all the divs you classify as a "fun-text-box" has blue font of a specific size and a gif looping as it's background. Surprisingly legible, eh? You need to learn that a is an element that contains other groups of elements and DIVides them from _other_ elements, like the comment section might have it's own div, containing div's for each individual comment, ect, while a is a Paragraph of text, and any can be CLASSified with a name to receive the same properties. Beyond that the code that changes how those elements _look_ is very nearly laymen's terms; _specific_ laymen's terms, yes, but reading them it should be clear what does what and if something ever slips your mind they hadn't been difficult to look up even before the time of MySpace.
@@tyrealmal2004 I feel you as someone who still works in software and was in college in 2009-2012 and had to learn HTML markup before CSS became the standard.
Limewire downloads were so tricky. They used to take forever and then you thought you had the right song and when you hit play it said "My fellow Americans..."🤦🏾♀️
Fellow (older) millennial auntie here👋🏾 I was a young teenager during this era, and a 4-12 year old watching the 90s videos, I can say first hand they had a HUGE impact on our little minds and how they developed. It’s crazy to see the parallels from that era to today and not to mention how much the kardashians completely embodied the whole esthetic and made it a crossover thing 🙃😅sometimes I watch tv from that time and think about the little kids that were watching it and think to myself ‘that explains SO much’ lol
I genuinely believe Khadija could wear a potato sack and still look ready for the red carpet. She's that beautiful. I agree though, her skintone loves this peach.
I'll always remember, a (French) Glamour issue published a story around 2004 about a video vixen and managed in two pages to humanize them, give them a voice and basically opened my eyes to the amount of bs these people were facing coming from regular folks. It painted an idyllic image of the industry, but I feel like it really helped me start to question the misogynic messages I was getting from TV hosts/teen magazines etc...
The early 2000s were a mess. We were taught at such a young age that being overly sexual, wearing revealing clothes, and being submissive was how we got power and attention. I think thats really the reason why so many of us became hyper-sexual earlier on. I also think there are points to be made about modern feminism. There’s a whole half that thinks that being “sexually liberated” is when you act like a video vixen and dress provocatively and no one is allowed to judge you (which yes 100% women can do/dress however they want) but this is the type of “feminism” that I think benefits men more than anyone else and the type that they will tolerate. It completely ignores the other side of sexual liberation which is women being able to have standards for how their bodies are treated/what they expect from a partner/the standards of respect that they expect from society. That is the side that men and society still do not like and have never liked from us.
Why can’t both be a thing? Someone can be sexual or not. Some could be both at the same time. I hate how almost every movement is an extreme of one or the other
@@imxel2193 that’s what I said. I mentioned both sides of modern feminism and how Women can be both but certain aspects of modern feminism are more tolerated from men and society than others
That's true hypersexuality was everywhere in the 90's and 00's sex and more sex so many girls and young men tried following that lifestyle I just stood back and watched.
Finding out you’re gay through music videos is such a universal experience like yeah mom I like it cause the song is catchy which is why I’ve watched it 48 times on repeat
Music videos in general are a big part of a kid discovering their sexuality especially if u were a kid in the early 2000s Lmaoo I remember the Brittany spears toxic video
ooh Khadija, please do a video on the sort of 'silent' promotion of traditional Black and POC female bodies as the beauty standard, but how credit is not actually given to Black and POC females. This is similar to what you said earlier in this video when you stated that 2000s video vixens influence what is now considered 'beautiful' and marketable on social media. I think it will be interesting to see how Black Beauty ideals influence a predominately yt society over time because even though black beauty was not always in the mainstream, Black and POC female body traits such as full lips, thick eyebrows, full bodies, curvy chests, etc were always championed as the beauty ideal in people such as Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, etc! Perhaps BIPOC beauty throughout time could be a series? ILY videos btwww
Extremely. I was a teenager from 2001 to 2008 and it was a very rough time. I have access to things in my 30s that I would’ve never been able to do teens to young adult because of the standard that was put in place back then.
@@itowilltube I was a teenager in the early 2000s. I’m in my 30s now. I got a modeling contract now with missing teeth, tattoos, piercings, and colorful hair-that would’ve never happened when I was 21.
Is there any chance where we can get a video discussing not only the hypersexualization of black women that has been used in order to objectify in degrade us, but how the media often tries to conceal it as simply pretty privilege? I am so sick of being treated like my nature as a curvy black woman is to be sexual and my place is to accept overly forward and rude sexual advances, and then being told I'm just sensitive for realizing how this label is used to dismiss my boundaries to the point of harassment and/or assault because it is used as dehumanization
Yes, everyone is always so quick to be "concerned" for the "privacy" of these men. How disgusting for a young black woman to UTILIZE and turn on the system that has exploited her for profit. But the industry using her, that's fine, right? This makes me so angry. I can't believe I watched Tyra as a young teen.
As a former “model” “video girl” this was great. I’m a professional dancer and former pro cheerleader. I was in college in the early 2000s so videos were an opportunity to make money. Digital cameras also brought about the easy access to model along with our new found sexual freedom. As a black girl in the industry, traditional modeling was not an option for me. I was too short, and too curvy. So I got auditions for videos and would go. I did country music and hip hop. The 2000s were the wild Wild West. Tip Drill shut shit down for the video industry. Also, simultaneously while Napster was taking down music, MTV started realty tv with real world and VH1 followed suit with the Surreal Life. Programming went from music to reality tv which was cheaper. Reality TV reigns supreme. No rooms for videos. No TRL, no 106, no video soul, no rap city. Who remembers Cita’s World! What a time! Also remember The Box! A video show no one really got but could see thru snow and had to call in to see the video. Video vixens moved from music to Flavor of Love. Watching that recently made me want to do a video on that and I just might.
Kpop albums are a rip off, and I see so many people selling them to get rid of them. Even the creased posters, flimsy photocards and stickers aren't worth it.
Instagram models are definitely the new video vixen , but I think Instagram model have a more stable platform because they don’t have y depend on a rapper or producer for exposure.
I feel like the tip drill video really made an impact. My sis was at spellman when they boycotted nelly’s attendance at the university. That credit card swipe was a HUGE DEAL back in the day.
Yes, I hope she mentions that video in detail in the next video. BET UNCUT is basically synonymous with that video due to that infamous credit swipe scene...!
Okay, I'm a 2000s kid, but I'd never heard of the Tip Drill video. I'm 23 and just watched it. Everyday I find a new reason to wonder why people were so mad at WAP when shit like that exists.
I had to go see the video. It was so sad. Tens of women just looking bored and some flashing their private parts and tits and looking absolutely miserable doing it 😐 i felt so sad for them. They probably thought that was what you had to do to get ahead in life.
I remember thinking it odd that my mom was ok with me watching glam rock videos with white biki models, but not being okay with me watching rap videos with vixens. Much confusion ¯\_ʘ‿ʘ_/¯
THIS RIGHT HERE‼️We need to start hearing one another out. Sure, some people do lie, BUT it’s a good thing to give a listen, especially when the person has receipts🧾
Please do a video on Tyra and how a whole generation of young girls were influenced by the standards she set on ANTM only to contradict herself on her own show with her “social experiments”. I’ll never forget the episode where she pretended to be homeless and living on the streets for a day (despite having big budget cameras following her everywhere). Or when she wore a fat suit for a day to see how people would treat her.
American Top Model used to confuse me because she was always changing the women to be something else. Subconsciously saying you cant be you in this business you are Whatever we tell you to be.
Before I finished reading your comment, her homeless experiment was the first thing that popped into my head! Sometimes, in looking back in old clips, I really wonder how I got away with idolising her as a child. Soooo many clips I’ve rewatched are so toxic and patronising.
I am pretty sure I was born the same year as you (1992) and I remember in the Napster/Limewire era, my sisters and I were a fan of the song "Right Thurr" by Chingy (THROWBACK), and so we found the music video....only to realize we found the "unrated" version....because APPARENTLY THEY HAD TWO VERSIONS....and we were shocked! The power dynamics at play were so clear. These men totally took advantage of these women, and shamed them as a form of control. It was clearly a toxic way of using these women, while labeling them as "hoe" in order to keep that control. So let's just say that music video exemplified the ways in which women were really put in vulnerable situations. As an adult, especially post MeToo movement, I always wondered when people would discuss how these women were used to boost a man's ego. So many rappers from this same time complain about WAP, rather than looking at their own videos. The hypocrisy is real. Like apparently its okay for them to use these women for their own benefit, and slut shamed, but its a problem when these women empower themselves? What a patriarchal world! The misogyny is real.
@Ras Heed what do you want accounts of? Karrine wrote her account but other people didnt like her why do you not consider that her story? it seems like you want fairness from celebrity abuse that makes non sense
Born 1995 I remember how terribly they treated these women and overhearing conversations about “Supahead” in barbershops and aunties at the dining room table and cookout talk so bad about her and women like her.
Surprisingly my family nor people around me talked about her in-front of me... Or it’s probably because I was younger and born in 98. I believe you, especially with these clips of most of these people dismissing her💯
1) please add Tyra because she is/was a lot 2) “people don’t exist for you” SIS that is a WORD!! More people need to hear and UNDERSTAND that! 3) this video was so interesting to me because I kinda know about video vixens but not the history because I was not “allowed” to watch music videos in my youth and we did not have cable to watch MTv so this is so fun and entertaining! Thank you so much for the work you put into these videos 🤎🤎🤎
I’m a 97 baby and I DEFINITELY remember the video girls. I remember wanting to look like them and I held out hope that somehow my stomach would become just as flat so I could rock hip hugger jeans lmao.
right? i never heard of this particular woman or the term "vixen", nor did i ever stop to think about music actors/dancers/backdrop as a separate category!
I pronounced Karrine Stefan's name wrong EVERY TIME I SAID IT, apologies girl. CC's are enabled on all my vids! These are my small channel shoutouts for the month of April! Go give them some looooveee Ada on demand ua-cam.com/channels/HdojZtRVlsx_aQFa12ZRpA.html Intelexual Media ua-cam.com/channels/QVsTJx31Q_6o1bW9BHaO2w.html Axelleua-cam.com/channels/9gAHpZSRce9XVrkG3pMJtg.html Lauren Ashley ua-cam.com/channels/7lCEu1pXWe7bI4Gq2EaFUw.html Professor Flowers ua-cam.com/channels/GZrqXTq3GW2wNRz9M44Baw.html
I grew up in the 2000s in Nigeria, so MTV (mtv base at the time) would play all these music videos all the time. What I remember though is the stark difference between female and male artists. In music videos by brick & lace', Missy Elliot, alicia keys, Shakira, etc. there weren't vixens, rather what I'd call a "supporting cast" of women who danced along, played besties or rivals. Till this day, this is why my family calls pussycat dolls, Nicole and the gang. In contrast, I noticed that male artists would have so many scantily clad women that if my memory serves me right, confused me. I didn't necessarily want to look like them, I wanted to dress like them. Crop tops and shorts weren't things you'd get for an 8 year old 😅I didn't see the appeal of the women dancing in bikinis much less did I understand why adults (mostly men) expected us to learn from them so we can "bust a move" at Johnny's 10th birthday.
I read Steffan's first book when I was 17 and my Mom made me throw it out. I worked as a shooter girl in a strip club because I had the idea that I would be glamorous like her (and a lot of other things in culture that gave me that idea, as it grooms girls for trafficking far before our pimps do), as if it was normalized and thinking that I could be powerful or reclaiming of my sexuality...It wasn't. It's really interesting how on one hand she glorified her circumstances because she obviously wants dignity like we all do but we know that like many women in the sex industry that due to sexual trauma they think 'might as well get paid for it.' But that doesn't change the fact that it' still is misogyny and sexual trauma. Really interesting piece and thanks so much for posting. It's 'good business' but that's the thing about 'empowerment'... it's good for HER. It's not good for the liberation of all women. It's still the commodification of women for her profit as it is with any pimp or woman who benefits directly from it.
As a 90s baby who essentially grew up watching hip hop videos, I’ve always said the women in these newer music videos just simply do not compare to the “video vixen” of the early 2000s. They were so beautiful and *diverse* in their beauty that you could spot certain ones from video to video. I remember the COVV backlash and that god awful Tyra interview. Karrine Steffans deserved better.
You are so radiant!! The positivity from your videos could honestly make me cry? (not to be dramatic but also definitely to be dramatic) Thank you for creating!
I'm so glad you did a video on this subject. In my teens I always thought that women were over exposed in music videos but at the same time I was admiring how beautiful they all were. Such a confusing time for sure specially as a teenager. Love your videos BTW 😘
I was born in 01' but I still got into this type of music from a young age. I wanted to be Christina Milian from her 'Dip it low' video so bad 😭😭😭. Let me tell you Ciara really had me believing I had goodies. what the heck did I know 🤣
Don’t forget “my milkshakes bring all the boys to yard” 😂😂 for some reason my mom didn’t want me singing that. And CANT forget “my neck.. my back..” 😂😂 had no clue what I was singing
Gosh it's so interesting because I'm a latina who grew up watching videos like these and honestly, the video vixen lives on in the reguetón, bachata, salsa, etc. videos of our current times. My mother and I were actually discussing this yesterday so this video had perfect timing haha!
You mean you're a white woman speaking Spanish, a bilingual white woman?? Haha OK. Latina is not a race and we saw how Evelyn Lozada, DaniLeigh the white Dominican, Christina Aguilera the white Salvadoran who isn't a vixen but is still a white Latino or ethnically Hispanic, Fergie the white Mexican, Jennifer Lopez the "white Puerto Rican", Vanessa Bryant the WHITE MEXICAN, who was also a video vixen at SEVENTEEN BUT NOBODY BASHES HER AND HOW KOBE DATED HER UNDERAGE, or Erica Mena was also a video vixen and is a "tan white" Dominican.. Latin is a language construct group, and is not your caste. Your legal ethnicity is Hispanic which means more non English people who owned slaves in Latin America and here in the United States and need to stop pretending to be colored or minorities when you MFs aren't.. BLACK Latinas whi cannot legally ethnically classify as Hispanic or emigrate to the United States under the 1790 white skin color laws, like Amara La Negra are NEVER PROMOTED and DON'T GET ME STARTED ABOUT HOW all of the countries in Latin America promote the white skin color and pale beauty aesthetic in these countries; and never allow Black or biracial/Mulatto Latinas to represent their countries in international beauty pageants. They're always white women of those countries especially Mexico, hella whitewashed Colombia and Venezuela!! So quit!
We already know how WHITE Latinos or interchangeably speaking Hispanics promote harlots as well. Every ethnic group and nationality of males does this. In the white Eurasian K Pop industry the Korean pop stars are all sleeping with record executives for fame and promotion. Every performer in those girl pop bands slept with industry heads. AND THEIR MALES LOOK GIRLY TO ME. I SUSPECT SEVERAL OF THEM ARE GAY FOR PAY. This is a GLOBAL PROBLEM. You have to be primarily pale and definitely promiscuous and sexually willing and if you aren't then you get overlooked and they stall your career. Period. This is how all racial (there is only white, mixed and black), all ethnic groups and cultural groups of males are. They're ALL THE SAME no matter what the race, ethnicity and culture is and they are even preying upon minors and adult women and little boys in the religious communities and congregations. This isn't only in the music.
Very entertaining. I came for the content & stayed for the show. You are a riot Khadija, I feel like I'm watching a friend. Love your work sis.💗👏 The outfit pops. Beautiful colour on you.
I remember when Karrine's book came out and she was having interviews with Tyra, Wendy, and others. When I was younger I really didn't understand who she was, why everyone was upset with her, and how she got so famous. But rewatching the clips of the interviews that she did - all of those interviewers were sooo disrespectful and degrading to her! They were really talking to her crazy! 🙆🏿♀️🤦🏿♀️
I only found out about this woman on UA-cam, I remember as a kid hating the Tyra show, there was just something off about her that I couldn't understand. I'm glad the new generation is doing better and much more open minded
This was not only informative and well researched but it was also a blast from the past and a great reminiscent moment of watching 106 & Park and TRL during those days when they showed music videos 😁😁😁. Thank you Auntie🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Okay honestly this video makes me happy! As someone who grew up in the 2000's (90's baby), and had his musical pop culture awakening in 99, there is a lot of...content in the 2000's when it comes to Black culture (waits for someone in the universe to do something on 106 and Park). Video Vixens are an extension of the muse trope imo (which can have sexist undertones if you are not areful), and Black video vixen's were...a loaded topic (As seen by the fact that this long video is just part 1!). Coming up, even as a gay kid I knew ALL the vixen's names. They were stars. I don't want to repeat what you just said, but it was like if you had Melissa in your video, you were WINNING. The south and uncut videos were big forces in the day (the south still has a bit of a chokehold on rap albeit a little more diverse again). I remember watching the docs about video vixens, and like you mentioned we are in a much better space to analyze them. It's unfortunate how some of these women wanted to distance themselves because they knew how toxic the work environment was. Melissa likely never dealt with SEVERE effects of the industry (I say severe because she was a woman, who despite having a sizable platform and agency, in an industry that doesn't...protect...women), and it's understandable that she didn't want to associate herself with certain parts as that could lead to bad situations for her. Still I remember Melissa getting rumors thrown at her (it was either her or Buffy that had been deemed "crazy" on forums and blog comment sections back in the day) post her career, and it felt like a smear campaign all because she had said something remotely critical about the industry. But there is a level of disdain there for video hoes. For YEAR, They were the butt of jokes (along with "gold diggers" and the women who associate with athletes). That combination of sex work plus the 2000's growing vile attitudes toward women in "celebrity spaces" (So many videos coming out about the women of the 2000's as of late), plus just plain old mysogynoir...a perfect storm for devaluing women in these spaces. I need to rewatch those documentaries but I feel like not enough of a critical lens was put on the rappers and their own cohorts. Actually I think post Me too era is the perfect time to return to the topic! The last thing I want to say in this already too long comment, is that I look at Karrine like I look at Megan Fox. Both spoke up in an industry that does not protect them but valued them solely on their looks and beauty. Once they went against the grain, you saw just how...easy it was for the industry at large to shun them. For Karrine, it is worse because she is a Black woman in an industry that is largely...problematic...especially at the time she did what she did. I don't know. Again thank you for doing this. Took me down a whole trip of memory lane, and adding to a very much needed conversation! Apologies for the long comment.
the biggest change is the fact people moved from tv to youtube in the 2000s. the impact of music videos didnt have the reach and influenced it used to have anymore. Great video Khadija
I can't wait for the other half of this video. If possible, could you do a video on the history of light skin privilege and why it's important to not be "colorblind" or minimize the plight of darker skin black people. Specifically women. I feel like this younger generation is unaware that besides the perks of being a "house slave" there were other institutions and rules exclusively to elevate the status of the light skin black. Could you also include the blue vein society and that good ol brown paper bag test and anything else you are able to dig up, because there is much I still don't know. Love you, Queen! 😘❤
Khadijda.... I just discovered you and WOW, you are like the epitome of the kind of woman our world NEEEEDS right now. Thank you for bringing us so much culture, history, HUMOUR and for just being yourseeeeelf. I did not know how much I needed your videos. :’)
Surprised Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” wasn’t mentioned in the history segment. I’ve always heard of it being a pivotal part of music video history? Learned a ton of things I’d never known about before, though, so it was still very comprehensive :)
I am 30 but this is all new to me... but I also didn't watch music videos or listen to hip hop much as a child. I love the connection to modern day Instagram models - I can totally see it.
Omg, I read Confessions of a Video Vixen for my Black Women's Lit class in college! I ended up writing a paper on it about the objectification of women. But I didn't know much about the larger culture around video vixens then, so watching this gave me a lot of context. So glad you made this, and I'm so looking forward to part two!
@@KhadijaMbowe Although at this point, the more I learn, I wouldn't be surprised if you made a video about paper bags and I go "of _course_ they were invented for racist reasons" halfway through.
I could see this sprouting from revenge of the nerd. If this video gets made it wouldn't be complete without revenge of the nerds being mentioned when it comes to nerd culture intersecting with sexism.
your content always makes me smile and keep a close lens on the things that make my head turn... thank you for all the work you put into these videos out of your own curiosity!
It's crazy this is ur video right after I came across a video of tyra banks dogging her out in an "interview" which led me to find more videos of her and order her book which I'm currently reading. What a gift 😌😌😊
This was really interesting. As someone who grew up mid to late 2000s in a household where my parents only had on the country music top 20 count down show (don't ask why, no one in my family listens to country anymore), I had no idea that late 90s/early 2000s hip hop is where the instagram influencer aesthetic came from.
I'm ready for your analysis on Black and Black Latina video vixen women as well as a Tyra video. Tyra overreacted with Tiffany and I'm still pissed Tiffany was kicked out.
i'm gonna get back to this video, i swear, but every single time i watch one of your videos, i am just floored by how gorgeous you are. Your skin is flawless and literally glows. Everything about you is beautiful. Okay, back to the video.
@@rfldss89 I buy them because I like them, I also want to help my fav with their chartings and I collect them. Plus in kpop (from my experience) albums are more than just cd’s they also come with “goodies” and the are beautifully designed so personally it’s worth it💜
khadija, first of all i just wanna say i ADORE your content. you are so charismatic and funny and you know how to make really entertaining videos covering every aspect of the topic that's important but somehow always managing to make the audience engage. sometimes the subject is not of my biggest interest but when you talk about it, i'm suddenly all ears. i've recommended many of your videos to my friends and loved ones and got really good feedback about them. i wanna thank you for using your platform you're so amazing and i hope you continue to do these type of videos, you know if it weren't for the.. pandora box, i would attend your ted talks haha. second i wanted to agree with everyone in the comment section that you make a video on tyra. i've recently been watching reaction videos to antm and it made me realize how traumatizing that show was to the poor models and how it profitted off of that trauma, a lot of former models have spoken up about it from their past and i would really like to hear your thoughts about that, and of course about tyra as a whole. i hope you have a lovely day and thank you once again for making these videos :D
new sub here and i'm so excited for part 2 !!! this is fascinating. i'm 27 so i remember my cousins watching these videos on MTV and sneaking peeks lol. the very early 2000s are so interesting to me now as an adult. i think it's because they were a Weird Time right before the cusp of social media exploding. like i remember Point A but i really only experienced Point B (2004-2016) and now we're at Point C and it's like... an interesting sequence of events
black woman growing up seeing our bodies just be over sexualized for a 3 minute music video was not the best feeling.
Definitely not
@UCm0vuNowYmk2fGsfUgRzh_A being desirable seems to be a way to feel powerful? :/ Also money + recognition i would imagine
Yeah, it made me feel uncomfortable bruh
Well times have changed light skin, mixed and non black women are the rage.
I know it ruined the little bit of confidence I had
I can’t believe I was 7 years old thinking I was going to become a video vixen one day. We have to talk about being exposed to sexual content so early on in the black community.
Yess
Right I used to want to be in those videos 🥴🤦🏾♀️. I just thought they were so pretty.
Seriously!! I was 6 or 7 telling my family I want to be a video girl......
WE HAVE TO
This comment!
Yes please do a video on Tyra, that woman should’ve never been given a platform. I hate when ppl are invited on shows to be bullied by the host and goaded by the audience.
I second. The fact that this woman has not been held accountable for the incredible damage she's done, especially to young women of color, is beyond me.
You could do a feature-length film on Tyra; her show was a hot mess.
"I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU, WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU. HOW DARE YOU!"
yes we just nneed a video about tyra.
i second this!
I'm 36 and grew up in Philly. I've got stories of rappers rolling up to the high school to pick up the girls for the video shoots... don't get me started.
Oooh gurl spill the tea!
Oh nah I gotta hear this it sounds very r.Kelly like
Yes please spell the tea, I’m from as well,but rappers never showed up to my HS
This isn’t tea that’s predatory...and potentially pedophilia🤢 those poor girls
That part.
That Wendy Williams clip was so cruel. Karine was in tears and Wendy was still throwing cruel jokes at her. You reap what you sow, Wendy has spent years spreading people's business and now look at her life , a mess. Her karma came back on her.
That’s Wendy! Queen troll.
Wendy is incredibly disgusting and insecure.
Wendy is absolute trash
Wait how is her life a mess? Didn't she release a movie? Dang I'm outta the loop but I do believe she should be de-platformed
Wendy Williams is like Pierce Morgan, troll that insist it's just a job for them but they're nice in real life 🙄.
Video Vixen era has turned into the IG/Influencer Model era in 2021
I haven’t watched the vid yet I’m just letting it load while I scroll through the comments but when I clicked on it I was hoping it would go in this direction because I feel like the ‘transformation’ is so obvious
You mean 2016?
Right
The MeToo movement hitting the hip hop community is long overdue. We’ve all heard stories about these rappers and it took a lot of courage for her to write this book.
She wrote this book in 2005!
I hope R Kelly's conviction was the first step.
The metoo movement was started by a black woman in 2005
Don’t let white feminism take credit for these movements
@@imxel2193 ok and even 15 plus years later the only black artist paying for his crimes is R Kelly.
That sexualization was so uncomfortable to watch as a teenager. I remember the boys would just drool over those music videos and all I could think was "I'm not like that, so no one will pay attention" and it was sad.
@@nharber9837 I’m sorry you went through and felt that way. I’m currently going through that now myself
Same. I knew I would be alone for the rest of my life because I didn't look like Melyssa Ford or the other video models I would see on tv
I am sorry you went through this growing up. In the early 2000s I was a kid born in 98💯
I was like: ‘I don’t ever want sexual attention... from men especially.... maybe if I dress in a way that hides every potential hint of curve, I will be safe.’ Dressed in long, loose jeans and baggy hoodies for the rest of my teenage and young adult years- preferring pools of back sweat to being seen as fodder for male sexualization... and it still didn’t work.
@@nharber9837 thank you this honestly made me feel better, thank you so much. Sending you all my love and good energies 💙
Tyra would have ppl bare their deepest darkest hurts in the name of good TV, only to victim blame and then turn the moment around and make it about her. The narcissism jumped out consistentlyyyyy.
Watch "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" interview with Tyra ""Chinatown" episode it plays with her narcissism.
Listen Theres a UA-camr on here who has videos picking about America's Next Top Model. Through watching these I realize how ridiculous Tyra is. She is a mess
Tyra always acted like she was a great scholar with the greatest IQ.
Like honestly!!!!!!!!!! I think the stereotype that models are dumb got to her really bad so she tried to over-prove that she was smart and beautiful and was the full package. She would also do all these publicity stunts try to be "relatable".
@@ms.x1669 But she's not.
Even when that Rihanna/Chris Brown case happened and Oprah did her show on Domestic a**** where Tyra was a guest. Never understood why she was there.
She acted like she's a counselor and was like: oh Oprah look look she's ( referring to a girl ) saying no or whatever. She just needs to sit down.
You petty. 💀 😂 She sure did sit there and act like she knew something. 😂 She was honestly just a bully with a mic.
@@xBlackBunnyx YUP she was.
@@xBlackBunnyx big time
Tyra's treatment of Kim Kardashian was really interesting... She treated Ray J extremely differently, being overjoyed to see him and was deeply patronizing to Kim.
I think overall, people like the idea of a woman being sexually liberated and powerful until she gets too powerful, then she becomes the enemy. Everyone was down for/with Karine until she surpassed the average everyday video vixen lol once she started REALLY capitalizing not only off of her body but her EXPERIENCES in those spaces, she was no longer relatable or "like" the rest of them. As soon as she decided to cash out on all the trauma that got her in those spaces, people started trying to shut her up. That just goes to show that no matter how much men and even some women champion female empowerment and sexual liberation, the support will always be conditional. As long as you're relatable enough or within reach of the majority, you'll receive support. Once you step out of that box you are a target. It's truly unfortunate.
well said
They want women to be complacent 😞
👏 👏 👏 say that!!!
I wish I could upvote this multiple times!
Do you watch Tee Noir?
When I think of video vixens, I think of Nelly. I hate to admit it, but he was very influential on what I thought was sexy for a long time. He was everywhere! My mom banned shows like 106 and Park, yet I still knew all the dances. I remember being in kindergarten and seeing girls loop the bottom of their shirts through the neck hole to make it look like a bikini because of a Nelly video. You could do a stand-alone documentary on his impact on the vixen culture. Also, Tyra getting mad at a vixen when her career is founded upon selling her attractiveness is peak dissonance.
Say that last sentence again for the people in the backkkk!!!!
Kindergarten oh god
Omg my mom banned 106 and park too and people always thought that was mad weird😭
Karrine gets so much shit but her story is a reality for some women. The backlash she faced was so wild! I always thought it was so weird
People were telling on themselves by the backlash.
I was 15 when her first book came out and I remember thinking then that it was stupid how people were mad at HER and not the married men she was being paid to sleep with.
Facts, all the former video vixens that openly shamed her, saying "it's not my story etc"...... okay... so don't identify with it then. Yes there will inevitably be narrow minded people that assume all video vixens act in the way Karine did, but to then get defensive and publicly bash her after claiming it doesn't reflect your story..... yeah thats definitely a choice lol. Turning a nose up at Karine is not the flex some women think it is😀I'm not speaking out on shit especially if it has nothing to do with me.
the girls were mad bc she was getting the attention and the coinz ...oh yea and wrote a book that has made her so rich she never has to work again ......the dudes well men dont like to be exposed
@Leniese Loves Film yes! her life was tragically abusive and she named every single man who ever took part in it. Yet, of course, they didnt get half the vitriol she did. People are weird with what their "morals" lead them to be outraged about
I remember when my sister got this book and appreciate the response she had to it. My sister said and I quote “Good for her! These men don’t deserve secrecy.......Let them be mad.”
Growing up, knowing how to burn CDs and download music off sites like limewire was a necessary skill. I always feel like we are such a skilled generation, coding on MySpace before we even knew what coding was.
Honey that was how I was making my lunch money in middle school 😂 I was burning cds doing Buy (one (charging them 5) get one free personalized cds by the end of the week I had a nice $50 🤣😂
Yeah, nowadays there aren't as many people who just casually do programming stuff. As someone with serious trouble comprehending programming (more specifically remembering all the commands and what they do), a large portion of people just casually using coding to make their social media profiles look pretty is impressive af
@@miglek9613 TL:DR at bottom, followed by a code example of the laymen term explanation in HTML and CSS if you're interested. Sorry for the rant, I didn't realize how long winded it was getting until after I was done :P
As programmer, I'm rather loathe to dispel any of the great mystique surrounding our ways, because I like looking like a magician, the awe of the masses fuels my ego to keep chugging past my depression and anxiety, and my boss would question my wage if he realized I wasn't unlocking the secrets of the philosophers stone on every project but... MySpace pages _generally_ weren't that impressive and you can build _a lot_ only knowing how to copy and paste code; I fix copy-paste code from "professional" coders on the cheaper end of the spectrum so often that it _actually_ contributes to my mental health problems.
Don't get me wrong, there were definitely some examples of more advanced code implementations floating around on MySpace, but for the _most_ part they leaned on rather basic HTML and CSS with any JavaScript used _generally_ being copy-pasted into place with some naming variables swapped to fit your page; and the occasional intervention from a (sometimes online) friend that actually understood what they were doing if things they copied _really_ didn't work how they should.
The things that got most frequently altered without the aid of copy-pasting tended to be simple HTML and CSS, which largely boiled down to 'I want a box here with text inside, and I'll name it X', the HTML, followed by a different bit of code in your CSS saying 'things that are named X: have a font that's Blue, a font size of 13px, and a background image found at _this_ url'; or styles might be inline if you hate yourself and like typing the same things over and over. The commands for all of that are very legible and rather straight forwards; they were even more so then, but even with modern browsers and the new things they let us do they still aren't hard now.
The Type of code that _actually_ requires you to memorize a bunch of commands, the rules behind the data structures those commands are aimed to effect or use, chain logical statements together to achieve a specific end, manage state and typing so that the _number_ "1" doesn't become a bool "True", ect ect ect was beyond the scope of what most people played with 'casually'; they might not have been _paid_ to do it _professionally_ at the time, but it was still an effortful endeavor.
The truely impressive implementations tended not to be 'casual', with people sinking serious time into making certain features work as they liked and then sharing code blocks so that others could copy paste them into _their_ pages at lower effort. Many of the people who put in the most effort are _professionals_ now, though obviously not all.
TL:DR Obviously, an insider perspective changes my view of the matter somewhat, but _most_ MySpace pages were the equivalent of cooking Hamburger Helper from the instructions on the box. Sure, some people might have added some red chilly flakes or substituted ground turkey in place of ground beef, and it definitely impresses someone that's only ever order take out or boiled ramen noodles, but it's not _really_ that impressive if you take a moment to read how simple and completely non-magical the instructions on the box are. As an aside not _actually_ mentioned above, my four and five year old nieces read and write HTML and CSS; the basics _really_ aren't complicated and I'm not sure why you think literacy in them is going down when it's actually been steadily increasing world wide.
Not Long Enough: Show Code or Get Out Poser
The HTML in my layman example above would look something like:
Fun Text Will Be Blue! The background on the box this text is in would be an image!
While the CSS might look like:
fun-text-box: {
color: blue,
font-size: 13px,
background-image: url("the actual image location url goes here.gif"),
}
Now all the divs you classify as a "fun-text-box" has blue font of a specific size and a gif looping as it's background. Surprisingly legible, eh? You need to learn that a is an element that contains other groups of elements and DIVides them from _other_ elements, like the comment section might have it's own div, containing div's for each individual comment, ect, while a is a Paragraph of text, and any can be CLASSified with a name to receive the same properties. Beyond that the code that changes how those elements _look_ is very nearly laymen's terms; _specific_ laymen's terms, yes, but reading them it should be clear what does what and if something ever slips your mind they hadn't been difficult to look up even before the time of MySpace.
@@tyrealmal2004 I feel you as someone who still works in software and was in college in 2009-2012 and had to learn HTML markup before CSS became the standard.
Limewire downloads were so tricky. They used to take forever and then you thought you had the right song and when you hit play it said "My fellow Americans..."🤦🏾♀️
YES PLEASE TYRA I BEG YOUUUU
OMG FRAN!! Why am I so happy that you watch Khadija too??! 🥺 Big fan of your illustrations!!
On a lighter note, that transition to "GAYYYYY" was amazing
Senor Cheng!! 😂
I looked for this comment
and SO. relatable
Love the phrase “transition to gay”.
Fellow (older) millennial auntie here👋🏾
I was a young teenager during this era, and a 4-12 year old watching the 90s videos, I can say first hand they had a HUGE impact on our little minds and how they developed. It’s crazy to see the parallels from that era to today and not to mention how much the kardashians completely embodied the whole esthetic and made it a crossover thing 🙃😅sometimes I watch tv from that time and think about the little kids that were watching it and think to myself ‘that explains SO much’ lol
That color is fire on you....you are killin’ it, the beauty is 100%!!!
totally agree!!
I genuinely believe Khadija could wear a potato sack and still look ready for the red carpet. She's that beautiful.
I agree though, her skintone loves this peach.
I'll always remember, a (French) Glamour issue published a story around 2004 about a video vixen and managed in two pages to humanize them, give them a voice and basically opened my eyes to the amount of bs these people were facing coming from regular folks. It painted an idyllic image of the industry, but I feel like it really helped me start to question the misogynic messages I was getting from TV hosts/teen magazines etc...
Girl giving us an Adam and Eve sponsorship because she knew this video being so good would give us metaphorical blue balls as we wait for part two.
😹😂
🔵🔵
The early 2000s were a mess. We were taught at such a young age that being overly sexual, wearing revealing clothes, and being submissive was how we got power and attention. I think thats really the reason why so many of us became hyper-sexual earlier on.
I also think there are points to be made about modern feminism. There’s a whole half that thinks that being “sexually liberated” is when you act like a video vixen and dress provocatively and no one is allowed to judge you (which yes 100% women can do/dress however they want) but this is the type of “feminism” that I think benefits men more than anyone else and the type that they will tolerate. It completely ignores the other side of sexual liberation which is women being able to have standards for how their bodies are treated/what they expect from a partner/the standards of respect that they expect from society. That is the side that men and society still do not like and have never liked from us.
Why can’t both be a thing? Someone can be sexual or not. Some could be both at the same time. I hate how almost every movement is an extreme of one or the other
@@imxel2193 that’s what I said. I mentioned both sides of modern feminism and how Women can be both but certain aspects of modern feminism are more tolerated from men and society than others
3rd wave feminism is complicated. Men are never asked to do complicated.
I remember the 2000‘s were so misogynistic!!!
A woman Could never do good
That's true hypersexuality was everywhere in the 90's and 00's sex and more sex so many girls and young men tried following that lifestyle I just stood back and watched.
Finding out you’re gay through music videos is such a universal experience like yeah mom I like it cause the song is catchy which is why I’ve watched it 48 times on repeat
truly !!! shakira's whenever, wherever video was an awakening for me
@@slm613 oh sameeee
A true win for the girls 😌❤
Music videos in general are a big part of a kid discovering their sexuality especially if u were a kid in the early 2000s Lmaoo I remember the Brittany spears toxic video
@@gnarrcan108 omg yep, add that one to the list
ooh Khadija, please do a video on the sort of 'silent' promotion of traditional Black and POC female bodies as the beauty standard, but how credit is not actually given to Black and POC females. This is similar to what you said earlier in this video when you stated that 2000s video vixens influence what is now considered 'beautiful' and marketable on social media. I think it will be interesting to see how Black Beauty ideals influence a predominately yt society over time because even though black beauty was not always in the mainstream, Black and POC female body traits such as full lips, thick eyebrows, full bodies, curvy chests, etc were always championed as the beauty ideal in people such as Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, etc! Perhaps BIPOC beauty throughout time could be a series? ILY videos btwww
The world was a very different place for women just 15-20 years ago. This video brought up some memories, whew.
To be honest. Definitely a different place😏😭
Extremely. I was a teenager from 2001 to 2008 and it was a very rough time. I have access to things in my 30s that I would’ve never been able to do teens to young adult because of the standard that was put in place back then.
@@ashdacraft huh?
@@itowilltube I was a teenager in the early 2000s. I’m in my 30s now. I got a modeling contract now with missing teeth, tattoos, piercings, and colorful hair-that would’ve never happened when I was 21.
We still haven’t recovered
Is there any chance where we can get a video discussing not only the hypersexualization of black women that has been used in order to objectify in degrade us, but how the media often tries to conceal it as simply pretty privilege? I am so sick of being treated like my nature as a curvy black woman is to be sexual and my place is to accept overly forward and rude sexual advances, and then being told I'm just sensitive for realizing how this label is used to dismiss my boundaries to the point of harassment and/or assault because it is used as dehumanization
The 2000s was really something, looking back even though I was a literal CHILD it was a fever dream 🙇🏾♀️
Yep
To be honest. It was definitely something else💯
This was so well done; yeah I remember Melyssa Ford being HUGE back then; glad to hear she made her money!
PLLLLLEEEASEE do a video on Tyra, PLEASE! Girl you can't tease a video topic like that. We need you to talk about Tyra.
Yes, everyone is always so quick to be "concerned" for the "privacy" of these men. How disgusting for a young black woman to UTILIZE and turn on the system that has exploited her for profit. But the industry using her, that's fine, right?
This makes me so angry. I can't believe I watched Tyra as a young teen.
You and me both Queen.
Mad when we "victimise ourselves" (not even a thing) and mad when we stand up for ourselves
🗣 My exact thoughts
We were all brainwashed
As a former “model” “video girl” this was great. I’m a professional dancer and former pro cheerleader. I was in college in the early 2000s so videos were an opportunity to make money. Digital cameras also brought about the easy access to model along with our new found sexual freedom. As a black girl in the industry, traditional modeling was not an option for me. I was too short, and too curvy. So I got auditions for videos and would go. I did country music and hip hop. The 2000s were the wild Wild West.
Tip Drill shut shit down for the video industry. Also, simultaneously while Napster was taking down music, MTV started realty tv with real world and VH1 followed suit with the Surreal Life. Programming went from music to reality tv which was cheaper. Reality TV reigns supreme. No rooms for videos. No TRL, no 106, no video soul, no rap city. Who remembers Cita’s World! What a time! Also remember The Box! A video show no one really got but could see thru snow and had to call in to see the video. Video vixens moved from music to Flavor of Love. Watching that recently made me want to do a video on that and I just might.
Khadija: could you imagine paying $30 for a CD now???
K-pop fans: 👁👄👁
My exact reaction!
I was looking for this comment 😂
at least it comes with a posters and pics lol
Me casually looking at my BTS BE album that was $50🤭
Kpop albums are a rip off, and I see so many people selling them to get rid of them. Even the creased posters, flimsy photocards and stickers aren't worth it.
looking back on early 2000s media... the misogyny was so hard. This is not so long ago. This is what we grew up with
Many people still have this mentality
I don’t think you understand how much joy it brings me to hear the pencil skirt song again whilst you sway your hips in this salmon number
Instagram models are definitely the new video vixen , but I think Instagram model have a more stable platform because they don’t have y depend on a rapper or producer for exposure.
I feel like the tip drill video really made an impact. My sis was at spellman when they boycotted nelly’s attendance at the university. That credit card swipe was a HUGE DEAL back in the day.
Yes, I hope she mentions that video in detail in the next video. BET UNCUT is basically synonymous with that video due to that infamous credit swipe scene...!
I never heard of that video until this comment. I watched the video and wow.
Okay, I'm a 2000s kid, but I'd never heard of the Tip Drill video. I'm 23 and just watched it. Everyday I find a new reason to wonder why people were so mad at WAP when shit like that exists.
Apparently that credit card swipe was the Model’s idea...not saying it was right tho
I had to go see the video. It was so sad. Tens of women just looking bored and some flashing their private parts and tits and looking absolutely miserable doing it 😐 i felt so sad for them. They probably thought that was what you had to do to get ahead in life.
I can’t help but find the 2000s video vixen era fascinating
PLEEEEASE do a video on the Tyra show. I used to watch religiously when I came home from school everyday.
@Jasmine D me too, now looking back I realise Oprah was much nicer than Tyra although very tone deaf herself.
@Powerful Oprah so she deliberately promoted Dr. oz and Dr. Phil? (and more, arguably worse examples)
@Powerful Oprah Oprah tore a dead Michael Jackson down for a $$$…
@@tajsimms8976 and ? That nigga dead lol
I remember thinking it odd that my mom was ok with me watching glam rock videos with white biki models, but not being okay with me watching rap videos with vixens. Much confusion ¯\_ʘ‿ʘ_/¯
Khadija is THRIVING 2021 this channel is growing so quickly!
Absolutely. She deserves it. You can tell how much effort she puts on this channel👏🏾‼️
'People don't exist for you' I love that!
I feel bad for her cause a lot people were really victim blamed her. Like this is why people don’t come out about anything 🙄
THIS RIGHT HERE‼️We need to start hearing one another out. Sure, some people do lie, BUT it’s a good thing to give a listen, especially when the person has receipts🧾
@@JulianSteve Exactly but when it involves a famous celebrity or influencer it literally just gets swept under the rug 🤦🏽♀️
@@nevaehl2212 *#FreeBritney* 👑👑👑
Please do a video on Tyra and how a whole generation of young girls were influenced by the standards she set on ANTM only to contradict herself on her own show with her “social experiments”. I’ll never forget the episode where she pretended to be homeless and living on the streets for a day (despite having big budget cameras following her everywhere). Or when she wore a fat suit for a day to see how people would treat her.
I remeber the fat suit 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣, and it looked so fake. And she so desperately wanted to prove points.
She is a mess. Like I started watching Jessica Kobieski's vids about ANTM and looking back at it, that show is a mess.
American Top Model used to confuse me because she was always changing the women to be something else. Subconsciously saying you cant be you in this business you are Whatever we tell you to be.
Before I finished reading your comment, her homeless experiment was the first thing that popped into my head!
Sometimes, in looking back in old clips, I really wonder how I got away with idolising her as a child. Soooo many clips I’ve rewatched are so toxic and patronising.
I broke your 111 likes
I am pretty sure I was born the same year as you (1992) and I remember in the Napster/Limewire era, my sisters and I were a fan of the song "Right Thurr" by Chingy (THROWBACK), and so we found the music video....only to realize we found the "unrated" version....because APPARENTLY THEY HAD TWO VERSIONS....and we were shocked! The power dynamics at play were so clear. These men totally took advantage of these women, and shamed them as a form of control. It was clearly a toxic way of using these women, while labeling them as "hoe" in order to keep that control. So let's just say that music video exemplified the ways in which women were really put in vulnerable situations. As an adult, especially post MeToo movement, I always wondered when people would discuss how these women were used to boost a man's ego. So many rappers from this same time complain about WAP, rather than looking at their own videos. The hypocrisy is real. Like apparently its okay for them to use these women for their own benefit, and slut shamed, but its a problem when these women empower themselves? What a patriarchal world! The misogyny is real.
@Ras Heed of course your a man 🙄
This Makes The "N-Word" Makes Sense.
@Ras Heed what do you want accounts of? Karrine wrote her account but other people didnt like her why do you not consider that her story? it seems like you want fairness from celebrity abuse that makes non sense
👑👑👑 #FreeBritney 👑👑👑
But WAP wasn’t female empowerment at all 👎🏾
Khadija that peach makes your skin glow like a goddess. You're so pretty.
Born 1995 I remember how terribly they treated these women and overhearing conversations about “Supahead” in barbershops and aunties at the dining room table and cookout talk so bad about her and women like her.
Surprisingly my family nor people around me talked about her in-front of me... Or it’s probably because I was younger and born in 98. I believe you, especially with these clips of most of these people dismissing her💯
1) please add Tyra because she is/was a lot
2) “people don’t exist for you” SIS that is a WORD!! More people need to hear and UNDERSTAND that!
3) this video was so interesting to me because I kinda know about video vixens but not the history because I was not “allowed” to watch music videos in my youth and we did not have cable to watch MTv so this is so fun and entertaining!
Thank you so much for the work you put into these videos 🤎🤎🤎
wow being a 2000s bby, i need this nostalgia rn 😭
how can you remember this stuff if you were born in the 2000s i was born in 2004 and can't remember any of this
@@ceci9570 re-runs and MTV
@@ceci9570 same born in 2004 but also when I was little these videos were playing on tv and on the radios so like yea
yall lying LMAO
@@jessislistless Yes and VH1 too. People be forgetting the re-runs. Also, UA-cam plays a part of watching throwback music videos💯
I’m waiting for Khadija’s album drop. Specially looking forward to “Sparrows on the Tiddies” and “Pencil Skirt”
I’m a 97 baby and I DEFINITELY remember the video girls. I remember wanting to look like them and I held out hope that somehow my stomach would become just as flat so I could rock hip hugger jeans lmao.
Sameee 😂😂😂
i can't believe these videos are free to watch, I'm learning so much! ty for the education, you're an icon
I have absolutely no idea what this video topic even is LET'S GO LEARNIN'
right? i never heard of this particular woman or the term "vixen", nor did i ever stop to think about music actors/dancers/backdrop as a separate category!
@@thetheodora2371 You should read Karrine's book, Confessions of a Video Vixen.
Video vixens were very popular in 2000s hip hop culture. They had covers on hip hop magazines and they were the influencers of their time
@@onlinebri444 Yes they were. Video vixens set the trend for some of these influencers💯
@@JulianSteve oh yea i remember my dad buying king magazines and how I thought the women on the covers were absolutely gorgeous
I applaud her for taking advantage of men who were somewhat taking advantage of her and obviously didn’t care much about her. I have to read this one.
I pronounced Karrine Stefan's name wrong EVERY TIME I SAID IT, apologies girl.
CC's are enabled on all my vids!
These are my small channel shoutouts for the month of April! Go give them some looooveee
Ada on demand ua-cam.com/channels/HdojZtRVlsx_aQFa12ZRpA.html
Intelexual Media ua-cam.com/channels/QVsTJx31Q_6o1bW9BHaO2w.html
Axelleua-cam.com/channels/9gAHpZSRce9XVrkG3pMJtg.html
Lauren Ashley ua-cam.com/channels/7lCEu1pXWe7bI4Gq2EaFUw.html
Professor Flowers ua-cam.com/channels/GZrqXTq3GW2wNRz9M44Baw.html
Axelle and Professor Flowers' links aren't working
@@natanbcpc fixed!
I love you. Our culture is so worthy of this reflection and analysis. Thank you! So well done. ❤️
When we slowly ponder why you/we might be obsessed with the video vixen... and the simple ‘gay’, it is fine art.
Oh my goodness I’m blown away by how thorough your references page is. I really respect it.
I grew up in the 2000s in Nigeria, so MTV (mtv base at the time) would play all these music videos all the time. What I remember though is the stark difference between female and male artists.
In music videos by brick & lace', Missy Elliot, alicia keys, Shakira, etc. there weren't vixens, rather what I'd call a "supporting cast" of women who danced along, played besties or rivals. Till this day, this is why my family calls pussycat dolls, Nicole and the gang.
In contrast, I noticed that male artists would have so many scantily clad women that if my memory serves me right, confused me. I didn't necessarily want to look like them, I wanted to dress like them. Crop tops and shorts weren't things you'd get for an 8 year old 😅I didn't see the appeal of the women dancing in bikinis much less did I understand why adults (mostly men) expected us to learn from them so we can "bust a move" at Johnny's 10th birthday.
I read Steffan's first book when I was 17 and my Mom made me throw it out. I worked as a shooter girl in a strip club because I had the idea that I would be glamorous like her (and a lot of other things in culture that gave me that idea, as it grooms girls for trafficking far before our pimps do), as if it was normalized and thinking that I could be powerful or reclaiming of my sexuality...It wasn't. It's really interesting how on one hand she glorified her circumstances because she obviously wants dignity like we all do but we know that like many women in the sex industry that due to sexual trauma they think 'might as well get paid for it.' But that doesn't change the fact that it' still is misogyny and sexual trauma. Really interesting piece and thanks so much for posting. It's 'good business' but that's the thing about 'empowerment'... it's good for HER. It's not good for the liberation of all women. It's still the commodification of women for her profit as it is with any pimp or woman who benefits directly from it.
As a 90s baby who essentially grew up watching hip hop videos, I’ve always said the women in these newer music videos just simply do not compare to the “video vixen” of the early 2000s. They were so beautiful and *diverse* in their beauty that you could spot certain ones from video to video. I remember the COVV backlash and that god awful Tyra interview. Karrine Steffans deserved better.
Agreed. Despite of the hyper-oversexualized of the "Video Vixen" I will say that era did have diverse beauty. Nowadays it's just one certain look.
You are so radiant!! The positivity from your videos could honestly make me cry? (not to be dramatic but also definitely to be dramatic) Thank you for creating!
I'm so glad you did a video on this subject. In my teens I always thought that women were over exposed in music videos but at the same time I was admiring how beautiful they all were. Such a confusing time for sure specially as a teenager. Love your videos BTW 😘
I think that the point is these actresses are filling the role of using their beauty for profit. Supply and demand, really.
22:00
I like the ladies but I don't like the male-gazey >:(
As a huge Beatles fan...thank you for including my boys!! A hard days night was like the first musical....well maybe not first- but it was hilarious!
It's crazy. As a man who was in his teens and early 20s at the heyday of this Era I'm astounded at the way the culture has shifted.
I love this woman's energy you rock Khadija
Khadija that outfit is 🔥🔥🔥
A GODDESS 😍😍😍
@@MadinahtheHerbalist yeah forreal 😍
I was born in 01' but I still got into this type of music from a young age. I wanted to be Christina Milian from her 'Dip it low' video so bad 😭😭😭. Let me tell you Ciara really had me believing I had goodies. what the heck did I know 🤣
Girl me too !!! Lmao I was a child talking about "meet him at the door with nothing on" 😂😂😭😭😭
@@CookWithStephh 🤣🤣🤣 Don't kill me. So much of the music really influenced me
@@MissBB6041 me too lmaoo
Don’t forget “my milkshakes bring all the boys to yard” 😂😂 for some reason my mom didn’t want me singing that. And CANT forget “my neck.. my back..” 😂😂 had no clue what I was singing
@@CookWithStephh I was 18 singing it and beyonce songs too such beautiful days being young and free.
Gosh it's so interesting because I'm a latina who grew up watching videos like these and honestly, the video vixen lives on in the reguetón, bachata, salsa, etc. videos of our current times. My mother and I were actually discussing this yesterday so this video had perfect timing haha!
You mean you're a white woman speaking Spanish, a bilingual white woman?? Haha OK. Latina is not a race and we saw how Evelyn Lozada, DaniLeigh the white Dominican, Christina Aguilera the white Salvadoran who isn't a vixen but is still a white Latino or ethnically Hispanic, Fergie the white Mexican, Jennifer Lopez the "white Puerto Rican", Vanessa Bryant the WHITE MEXICAN, who was also a video vixen at SEVENTEEN BUT NOBODY BASHES HER AND HOW KOBE DATED HER UNDERAGE, or Erica Mena was also a video vixen and is a "tan white" Dominican.. Latin is a language construct group, and is not your caste. Your legal ethnicity is Hispanic which means more non English people who owned slaves in Latin America and here in the United States and need to stop pretending to be colored or minorities when you MFs aren't.. BLACK Latinas whi cannot legally ethnically classify as Hispanic or emigrate to the United States under the 1790 white skin color laws, like Amara La Negra are NEVER PROMOTED and DON'T GET ME STARTED ABOUT HOW all of the countries in Latin America promote the white skin color and pale beauty aesthetic in these countries; and never allow Black or biracial/Mulatto Latinas to represent their countries in international beauty pageants. They're always white women of those countries especially Mexico, hella whitewashed Colombia and Venezuela!! So quit!
We already know how WHITE Latinos or interchangeably speaking Hispanics promote harlots as well. Every ethnic group and nationality of males does this. In the white Eurasian K Pop industry the Korean pop stars are all sleeping with record executives for fame and promotion. Every performer in those girl pop bands slept with industry heads. AND THEIR MALES LOOK GIRLY TO ME. I SUSPECT SEVERAL OF THEM ARE GAY FOR PAY. This is a GLOBAL PROBLEM. You have to be primarily pale and definitely promiscuous and sexually willing and if you aren't then you get overlooked and they stall your career. Period. This is how all racial (there is only white, mixed and black), all ethnic groups and cultural groups of males are. They're ALL THE SAME no matter what the race, ethnicity and culture is and they are even preying upon minors and adult women and little boys in the religious communities and congregations. This isn't only in the music.
Very entertaining. I came for the content & stayed for the show. You are a riot Khadija, I feel like I'm watching a friend. Love your work sis.💗👏 The outfit pops. Beautiful colour on you.
I remember when Karrine's book came out and she was having interviews with Tyra, Wendy, and others. When I was younger I really didn't understand who she was, why everyone was upset with her, and how she got so famous. But rewatching the clips of the interviews that she did - all of those interviewers were sooo disrespectful and degrading to her! They were really talking to her crazy! 🙆🏿♀️🤦🏿♀️
Bet she is as rich as they are now. And she never has to work again.
@@deborahfrederick916 She's worth 4m
#FreeBritney
this color on you !!!!!! you’re so gorgeous it’s unreal
I only found out about this woman on UA-cam, I remember as a kid hating the Tyra show, there was just something off about her that I couldn't understand. I'm glad the new generation is doing better and much more open minded
This was not only informative and well researched but it was also a blast from the past and a great reminiscent moment of watching 106 & Park and TRL during those days when they showed music videos 😁😁😁. Thank you Auntie🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Okay honestly this video makes me happy! As someone who grew up in the 2000's (90's baby), and had his musical pop culture awakening in 99, there is a lot of...content in the 2000's when it comes to Black culture (waits for someone in the universe to do something on 106 and Park). Video Vixens are an extension of the muse trope imo (which can have sexist undertones if you are not areful), and Black video vixen's were...a loaded topic (As seen by the fact that this long video is just part 1!). Coming up, even as a gay kid I knew ALL the vixen's names. They were stars. I don't want to repeat what you just said, but it was like if you had Melissa in your video, you were WINNING. The south and uncut videos were big forces in the day (the south still has a bit of a chokehold on rap albeit a little more diverse again).
I remember watching the docs about video vixens, and like you mentioned we are in a much better space to analyze them. It's unfortunate how some of these women wanted to distance themselves because they knew how toxic the work environment was. Melissa likely never dealt with SEVERE effects of the industry (I say severe because she was a woman, who despite having a sizable platform and agency, in an industry that doesn't...protect...women), and it's understandable that she didn't want to associate herself with certain parts as that could lead to bad situations for her. Still I remember Melissa getting rumors thrown at her (it was either her or Buffy that had been deemed "crazy" on forums and blog comment sections back in the day) post her career, and it felt like a smear campaign all because she had said something remotely critical about the industry. But there is a level of disdain there for video hoes. For YEAR, They were the butt of jokes (along with "gold diggers" and the women who associate with athletes). That combination of sex work plus the 2000's growing vile attitudes toward women in "celebrity spaces" (So many videos coming out about the women of the 2000's as of late), plus just plain old mysogynoir...a perfect storm for devaluing women in these spaces. I need to rewatch those documentaries but I feel like not enough of a critical lens was put on the rappers and their own cohorts. Actually I think post Me too era is the perfect time to return to the topic!
The last thing I want to say in this already too long comment, is that I look at Karrine like I look at Megan Fox. Both spoke up in an industry that does not protect them but valued them solely on their looks and beauty. Once they went against the grain, you saw just how...easy it was for the industry at large to shun them. For Karrine, it is worse because she is a Black woman in an industry that is largely...problematic...especially at the time she did what she did. I don't know.
Again thank you for doing this. Took me down a whole trip of memory lane, and adding to a very much needed conversation! Apologies for the long comment.
the biggest change is the fact people moved from tv to youtube in the 2000s. the impact of music videos didnt have the reach and influenced it used to have anymore. Great video Khadija
I really need to see the Tyra video. It sounds like it’ll be wild 😅😂
We absolutely need the Tyra series. I grew up idolizing her and then one day it just hit me “this woman is out of her damn mind” lol
I can't wait for the other half of this video. If possible, could you do a video on the history of light skin privilege and why it's important to not be "colorblind" or minimize the plight of darker skin black people. Specifically women. I feel like this younger generation is unaware that besides the perks of being a "house slave" there were other institutions and rules exclusively to elevate the status of the light skin black. Could you also include the blue vein society and that good ol brown paper bag test and anything else you are able to dig up, because there is much I still don't know. Love you, Queen! 😘❤
Khadijda.... I just discovered you and WOW, you are like the epitome of the kind of woman our world NEEEEDS right now. Thank you for bringing us so much culture, history, HUMOUR and for just being yourseeeeelf. I did not know how much I needed your videos. :’)
Surprised Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” wasn’t mentioned in the history segment. I’ve always heard of it being a pivotal part of music video history? Learned a ton of things I’d never known about before, though, so it was still very comprehensive :)
Same here, but I understand why she did not mention ‘Thriller.’ At least she put a clip of ‘Thriller’👏🏾😏
Or Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream" ! If I'm not mistaken, it remained the highest budget for a music video for quite a while
That and "Billie Jean".
Im with yall, but maybe since he's had so many videos- like it'd be a lot to talk about hard not to have half of it end up being Michael's videos?
His Billie Jean was what kicked off the playing of black artists.
I love this channel!
I am 30 but this is all new to me... but I also didn't watch music videos or listen to hip hop much as a child. I love the connection to modern day Instagram models - I can totally see it.
You have inspired me to lean into the random songs I use to narrate my life. "Pencil Skirt" is a hit.
Please do that video on Tyra, watching back some of the clips from her old show is crazy to see.
Omg, I read Confessions of a Video Vixen for my Black Women's Lit class in college! I ended up writing a paper on it about the objectification of women. But I didn't know much about the larger culture around video vixens then, so watching this gave me a lot of context. So glad you made this, and I'm so looking forward to part two!
"Why are we going through the history of music videos?"
Listen, you can go through a step by step history of paper bags and I would listen.
LOOOL
"Now in order to understand why we have the paper bags we do today we need to first go back to the early 1700s..." I can't take myself seriously
@@KhadijaMbowe Although at this point, the more I learn, I wouldn't be surprised if you made a video about paper bags and I go "of _course_ they were invented for racist reasons" halfway through.
@@rolfs2165 i don’t know if you meant that, but i heard of the 'paper bag test' to see if someone is light enough, so yeah lol
I would watch that it sounds interesting lol
For real, though.
Could you do a video on history and rise of "nerd culture" and its intersection with sexism?
This
I could see this sprouting from revenge of the nerd. If this video gets made it wouldn't be complete without revenge of the nerds being mentioned when it comes to nerd culture intersecting with sexism.
Nerd culture has intersected with sexism? Real question.
Pls 😌
We definitely need this
Can you start doing hour-long videos? I promise we won’t mind 🥺
I second this
I third it
@@Animefreak242 I fourth this 🤓
Yeah and better money for midroll ads
I 6th this
your content always makes me smile and keep a close lens on the things that make my head turn... thank you for all the work you put into these videos out of your own curiosity!
It's crazy this is ur video right after I came across a video of tyra banks dogging her out in an "interview" which led me to find more videos of her and order her book which I'm currently reading. What a gift 😌😌😊
Omg I just love listening to everything that you have to say. Much respect, you do what you do very well! 🎉
This was really interesting. As someone who grew up mid to late 2000s in a household where my parents only had on the country music top 20 count down show (don't ask why, no one in my family listens to country anymore), I had no idea that late 90s/early 2000s hip hop is where the instagram influencer aesthetic came from.
The fact that people felt comfortable using the phrase “kiss and tell” in relation to this situation tells everything, so wild to me
I'm ready for your analysis on Black and Black Latina video vixen women as well as a Tyra video. Tyra overreacted with Tiffany and I'm still pissed Tiffany was kicked out.
i'm gonna get back to this video, i swear, but every single time i watch one of your videos, i am just floored by how gorgeous you are. Your skin is flawless and literally glows. Everything about you is beautiful. Okay, back to the video.
“Could you imagine paying almost $30 for a cd right now?”
Me, a kpop Stan: uhhhhhhhh yes I can 😭
Girl, you invest in your happiness. Don’t feel ashamed.
You do you, but like... why a cd? Their even worse quality than spotify on low setting. Is it just a matter of financially supporting the artists?
@@rfldss89 CDs are better quality than Spotify lol, and not everyone wants to be on their phone/computer all the time
@@rfldss89 I buy them because I like them, I also want to help my fav with their chartings and I collect them. Plus in kpop (from my experience) albums are more than just cd’s they also come with “goodies” and the are beautifully designed so personally it’s worth it💜
@@rosedalinevaletine6931 💜💜💜
khadija, first of all i just wanna say i ADORE your content. you are so charismatic and funny and you know how to make really entertaining videos covering every aspect of the topic that's important but somehow always managing to make the audience engage. sometimes the subject is not of my biggest interest but when you talk about it, i'm suddenly all ears. i've recommended many of your videos to my friends and loved ones and got really good feedback about them. i wanna thank you for using your platform you're so amazing and i hope you continue to do these type of videos, you know if it weren't for the.. pandora box, i would attend your ted talks haha.
second i wanted to agree with everyone in the comment section that you make a video on tyra. i've recently been watching reaction videos to antm and it made me realize how traumatizing that show was to the poor models and how it profitted off of that trauma, a lot of former models have spoken up about it from their past and i would really like to hear your thoughts about that, and of course about tyra as a whole. i hope you have a lovely day and thank you once again for making these videos :D
Omg I am SO EXCITED for this video!! Karine books were super amazing. I read them on audible.
new sub here and i'm so excited for part 2 !!! this is fascinating. i'm 27 so i remember my cousins watching these videos on MTV and sneaking peeks lol. the very early 2000s are so interesting to me now as an adult. i think it's because they were a Weird Time right before the cusp of social media exploding. like i remember Point A but i really only experienced Point B (2004-2016) and now we're at Point C and it's like... an interesting sequence of events