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Flashback Friday: Chuckii Booker “Turned Away”

This is my jam and Chuckii is the man. He got a deal with Atlantic through his godfather, Barry White, and wrote, produced, sang, and played every instrument on his debut CD which included this hit. He had a few more hits between 1989 and 1993, but then his career took a different turn away from performing. Since the mid-90s, he’s been a sought after music director on tours for artists like TLC, Faith Evans, Mary J Blige and Keyshia Cole. He probably won’t make another album, but at least he’s not hiding in obscurity in some backwards corner of New Mexico.

But back to the video. The other day there was a discussion about how no matter what the artist in a music video looks like, the girls they choose are always light-skinned with some ambiguous background and long hair. Sometimes there are a few token dark-skinned girls sprinkled around with the camera usually focused on their butts or their boobs, but the light girl always gets the lead role. This is true in just about every hip-hop video that comes out. Well, “Turned Away” is a nice representation of that same trend from way back in the late 80s. Back then they weren’t video hoes shakin it at the camera, but the light-skinned girl with the long hair being prized above All Else isn’t a brand new thing. It’s as old as slavery and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.