> Hell yeah it was contrived <BR>>to a degree. D admitted <BR>>it was his manager's idea. <BR>>But if men got pissed off <BR>>and flew off the handle every <BR>>time we saw a contrived video <BR>>(i.e. every damn Hype Williams video) <BR>>that was designed to either be <BR>>controversial or get us excited, we <BR>>wouldn't have time for much else <P>i agree. most videos are contrived in order to present a certain image. i just don't feel this video is some deep metaphysical visual depiction of "stripped-down soul" like some people have suggested. i think "untitled" is just some shit to get the ladies hot. i wouldn't claim that the "vibrant" girls were illustrating q-tip's "almost stripped-down hiphop" either. <P>>I don't was similar to Max's <BR>>at all. <P>well, they are both one setting videos of an naked heart-throb r&b dude. and we all know that maxwell and d'angelo are often placed in the same sort-of-organic musical category. furthermore, both videos were the first single off of both artist's sophomore efforts. in all honestly, i think that d'angelo's people wanted to one-up maxwell with "untitled". <P>>As far the sex symbol thing, he's <BR>>been that for awhile, like <BR>>i said before i've known plenty <BR>>of women that wanted to suck <BR>>his toes well before the Untitled... <P>that was my point. <P>>Did this help him sell <BR>>more albums HELL YEAH!!!!!!! <P>that was my point too.<P><BR>>if you simply think it's contrived or <BR>>dull, you'll choose to do as <BR>>I assume you do and change <BR>>the channel or say "Man that <BR>>shit is wack!" But you <BR>>won't cover your eyes like Medussa's <BR>>trying to ice grill you. <BR>>That's my only point. <P>i definitely agree with you on that right there. i'd rather watch a bunch of dull "vibrants" than "untitled", but i'm not flipping the fuck out on some j edgar hoover/roy cohn shit when d's naked-ass grins out of mtv jams.<P><BR>guinness's song of the week: "hey" -- by MF Doom