She shot a man in Kingston, but it wasn't just to watch him die. It's because he violently raped her in a back alley.
This music video for Rihanna's first-person reggae murder ballad "Man Down" follows the blueprint of the song lyrics, beginning with the killing and then looping back to show the environment and the act that lead to her sticky situation (her words, not mine). As you might guess, the video's BET debut raised all sorts of ire from the Parents Television Council and other similar groups, contending that it's an "inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song," an unsurprisingly shallow argument that stems from the same political climate that recast somebody like Common as a ganster rapper. The murder scene is indeed graphic (probably edging on a TV-MA rating) and the subject matter is dead serious, but being that the PTC release actually notes that the rape is "implied" — which you can infer to be a complaint or just a crutch to help their "pre-meditated" angle —one wonders if some of the offense is because it's a pop star doing something other than passively smiling or pouting for the camera. If anything, the video is a companion piece to director Anthony Mandler's Drake video "Find Your Love," another clearly fictional tale of bad things going down in Jamaica and another video that requires the viewer to be, well, mature. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm strangely thirsty for some Vita Coco. --> watch "Man Down"
Rihanna "Man Down" (Island/IDJMG)
Anthony Mandler, director | Ciarra Pardo, producer | Little Gino, production co | Malik Sayeed, DP
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