Have you ever sat down and really listened to "Rude Boy" by Rihanna? It's one of my favorites because it was on top 40 radio at the time of its release, and it contains lyrics like "Come here rude boy, boy. Can you get it up?" When you are hanging out with friends and listening to some music that's not that intriguing, but you have to admit at some point a group of people in a laudromat somewhere listened to Rihanna challenege a dude to get an erection. Or possibly a hospital waiting room.
"Rude Boy" has always stood out to me as a great Rihanna song, and accompanying video doesn't dissapoint. So today, we're watching 2010's "Rude Boy" by Rihanna, directed by Melina Matsoukas.
Rihanna is known for her colorful videos, but "Rude Boy" is colorful in a different, more frenetic way. It features Rihanna, in a variety of different outfits and environments inspired by Caribbean culture and art, in front of fast, graphically-instense visuals. The symbol of the Rastafrian religion, the lion, makes a lot of appearances as both an image and a giant stuffed lion. Rihanna's disembodied mouth is also a prominent visual.
Rihanna is from Barbados, but there is definitely a lot of Jamaican refrences here, and she has described the visual inspiration for the video as "Jamaican dance-hall-queen". If you have no clue what "dancehall" is (like me), it is a form of popular Jamaican music that has its roots in the 1970s but has evolved throughout the ensuing decades. As the name might imply, its more than just about music, it's also about dancing and the cutlure that goes along with that. Dancehall even has its own star - Gerald "Bogle" Levy, who is often referred to as "Father Bogle" in Jamaica because he was such a huge influence on dancing there. He's considered the greatest Jamaican dancer of all time, and Beenie Man offered $1 million dollars for information about the people who killed him in 2005. Yes, Beenie Man.
As far as dance references go, Rihanna definitely does the "Bogle" dance at around :47. Don't know what the Bogle dance is? These ladies will helpfully demonstrate. Try it out at your next party!
After a lot of color in the video, we get to the black and white sences, which feature visuals partially inspired by artist Keith Haring. We can't find any reference to Haring ever using a stuffed zebra with black balloons on top of its head, but hey, Melina Matsoukas and Rihanna can do whatever they want.
Aside from all the references, however, this is also a really fun, colorful video that lets Rihanna just go for it without having to perform as a character or within any other structure. She seems to be having a lot of fun, and why shouldn't she? She's not the one who has to get it up. Or wonder about if she is big enough. However, we do get to be the captain, and that's something.
