Music Videos That Move You...Or Make You Move

Music videos are one of my favorite art forms besides the music itself. I feel videos are in a really good place right now, especially with summer upon us. The storylines are unique and/or haven’t been seen in a while, particularly in hip-hop and R&B. Even the ones that aren’t so creative have elements of excitement in them. I’ve decided to feature six of my current favorites from Drake, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Diddy, and Ciara along with my thoughts afterwords. Listen to them, let them move you, or make you move… even if you can’t quite move like Ciara. And ladies, I know you’re going to go home and try. Enjoy.

Drake – “Find Your Love”

First of all, “Find Your Love” is quite a risk for Drake. Why? Well, it’s produced by Kanye West (not a risk), but it has more of a somber 808’s and Heartbreak feel more than raw hip-hop like his previous single “Over”. Nevertheless, Drake hits this one out the park, meaning the risk was worth it.

As for the video itself, I think the idea and storyline is great. I saw a very funny tweet on Twitter the other day about this video. It read, “Let Drake’s ‘Find Your Love’ be a lesson to you all. Don’t ever chase a girl to Jamaica and dutty wine with her in the club. She will kill you.”

Hilarious.

Alicia Keys - “Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)”

Beautiful song. The video is emotional and touches on a subject that absurdly still bothers some today: Interracial love. I love how the settings switch back and forth between point of views times and the emotion of the actors feels real. Great song, even better video.

Mary J. Blige f/ Trey Songz – “We Got Hood Love”

The queen of R&B is sharper than ever. This song is classic Mary, yet the tune is so modern and new. I really like the plot of the video, it touches on the one thing that will make or break a relationship: trust. Waiting on their men to come home, wondering if he’s out doing dirt, is a feeling many women everywhere are all too familiar with. This video shows it well. If you’ve got that “hood love” you’ll withstand anything.

Usher f/ Will.i.am – “OMG”

Autotune is not dead (sorry Jigga) and neither are drop-crotch pants (I wish they were). Usher rocked this Will.i.am produced track and showed out in the video with his signature dance moves and smooth R&B look. I can’t say there’s much creativity in this video, but I like the song and I enjoy watching Usher dance… and peep the red pocket square with the white blazer. I will be stealing that look.

Diddy: Dirty Money f/ Rick Ross & T.I. – “Hello Good Morning”

Nothing creative or new about this video. Everything is done on a large scale just how Diddy likes, I can dig it. I like Dirty Money’s look and the song makes me wanna dance.

Ciara f/ Ludacris – “Ride”

Uh…ummm… er… Go Braves!