There used to be an unwritten rule for Black video makers, that the love interest or centerpiece woman had to be noticably lighter than the man singing to her. When Donnie Simpson hosted Video Soul, they did a special on women in videos. They had a light skin honey(could have easily passed for caucasian) explaining about the hiring practices. She says that she only got the love interest or innocent woman roles but always got passed over for the hoochie or goldigger roles because they wanted the darker or more ghetto looking sisters for those roles. I guess light is Nieman Marcus and dark is KMART. Conversely, sistas, when have you ever seen a light-skinned black male hustler, drug-dealer, convict, thug, or otherwise negative character. It aint gonna happen. In this society, skin color or shade makes a difference in perception. BTW, I hate women to cut their hair, but I love chocolate sistas.
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