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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Mariah Turns "Mean Girl" In "Obsessed" Video

by Billy Johnson, Jr. in Hip-Hop Media Training

I just watched Mariah's video for "Obsessed," the first single from her new album, "Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel," due out on August 25.
Good job Mariah. This video is clever and funny. It is your best video yet.
I especially like when your
Eminem-like character gets hit by a bus. Bam. I didn't know you could be so mean. I am impressed.
Mariah's husband Nick Cannon said the song is not about Eminem. "I don't think that she would take her time," Cannon told MTV. "My wife doesn't beef. She's Mariah Carey. She's not beefin', she's a vegetarian."
Nick Cannon is a good husband. He totally loves, supports and defends his wife until the end.
But come on. No believes that explanation. If we just look at the video alone, it is a bit easier to pretend that it is not about Eminem who took jabs at Mariah and Nick on the song "Bagpipes From Baghdad."
Nick said the video was inspired by the movie "Mean Girls" which is apparently where Mariah borrowed the line, "Why are you so obsessed with me?"
In the video, Mariah isn't feuding with a rapper. She is being followed by a male stalker, a character she portrays in the Brett Ratner directed clip. The creepy goateed stalker pops up as a doorman at her hotel, an assistant on a photo shoot, and follows her as she walks down the street. She also plays a character wearing an Eminem-styled fleece hoodie and lives in a Mariah shrine with walls lined with her photos.
While an Eminem slant in the video is arguable, there is no debate that the controversial Slim Shady MC is the subject of Mariah's lyrics.
A week prior to the release of Eminem's "Relapse" album, the "Bagpipes From Baghdad" song leaked. Eminem rapped, "Mariah, whatever happened to us, why did we ever have to break up?" Then his sarcasm ensued with derogatory references to Mariah and Nick.
A month later, Mariah released "Obsessed" and there was no argument that the song was a response to the rapper she briefly dated years ago. The song attacks a "delusional" detractor who claims to be "sexin'" her. She blames his drug use for his lies. "Tellin' the world how much you miss me, but we never were so why you trippin'," Mariah sings.
On "Bagpipes" Eminem claimed to have been intimate with Mariah. It is part of the reason why Nick went on a psychopathic rampage after the song's release. And everyone knows about Eminem's drug problems. His album is called "Relapse." Who else could Mariah be talking about?
I understand why Mariah would imply that the song and video are not about Eminem. It would look bad if Mariah more obviously engaged in a public feud with Em. As her lyric goes, "[he is] a mom and pop and [she is] a corporation."
I actually appreciate her more subtle digs at the rapper who disses everyone.
You win Mariah.

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