Would videos be the same without vixens?

Three weeks ago I received a link from one of the big wigs in the industry informing me that Rapper AY and Diamond had released a remix of the former’s hit single ‘Zigo’.

I quickly took my laptop to view what he had categorised as ‘a very hot video’. 

As it turned out it was really ‘hot’ and the girls were even hotter in a video which was shot in South Africa.

 As agreed may be AY’s video would not have attracted over a million viewers in the first week of its release without these models who were dipping in and out of the swimming pool.

In the Tanzanian market there are some established models who have made a name for themselves from this trade and they form the hottest of their lot, endowed with jaw dropping curves.

Names such as Agness Gerald aka Masogange, Maggie Vampire, Peninah Beda, Zuhura Gora, Baby Nahiyah, Magdalena Olutu aka Minaj, Sabrina, Kaytesi, and Caroline Bernard are just some of the hottest in the game.

These are video models that are used in pop videos today to bring out the message and to give glamour to the video and this is the true world of a video vixen.

The video vixen image has become a staple and a nuanced form of sex work within music; especially within the genre of hip-hop.

 Many video vixens or hip hop honeys are aspiring actors, singers, dancers, or professional models.

The work of video vixens and their portrayal in music videos have on many occasions drawn criticism.

Criticism 

Critics suggest that music-video models are typically placed in subordinate and submissive roles while male artists are shown in positions of power.

 Others argue that music-video models are depicted as sexual objects, signs of male power, and referred to in derogatory terms.

The whole idea of using female models in videos such as when Agnes Gerald aka Masogange appeared in Belle 9’s video came under particular criticism for its depiction and sexual objectification of women. 

Cynthia Masasi is a Tanzanian socialite whose rise to fame can be attributed to her many appearances in hip-hop and rap music videos with singers such as TI and Rick Ross. 

She too believes that music videos as a whole are demeaning to women.

While there are those who argue that the women who appeared in most Bongo Flava videos voluntarily chose to participate, others insist that male artistes continue to sexually objectify the models while denying that the hip hop artistes’ career is, at least in part, based on the exploitation of other people. 

The hard liners maintain that video vixens are faced with emphasis on their physical aspects for videos where sex is often used to sell both the performer and the performer’s image. Women’s derogatory images are the commodities sold through videos and photographs.

Career choice

One video model who preferred anonymity says despite the stereotype that surrounds her field of trade, to her it is mere art and she does it because it pays the bills and not otherwise.

“Being a video vixen is not all about provocative dancing and gyrating -- it’s an art,” she says. 

“So when the cameras start rolling everything else revolves around eye contact, posture and, of course, the dance. It’s about holding the attention of the audience and having fun with something you love deeply.”

“There is this misconception about women in entertainment being dropouts, irresponsible and loose. How do you make blanket statements like that? This is art, mind body and soul. The role of the vixen is to make the video look hot, and that translates into commercial success for the song. Our job is to accentuate the creative direction of the video – period,” she says.

Changing times

Video vixens haven’t always been this big. There was a time when there weren’t avenues for their kind of artistic expression and society was at its stifling worst. So obviously they lost out on a lot of action as many branded them as immoral.

 Things have changed a lot however, since satellite television and Western TV stations started beaming signals into homes. So seeing scantily clad young women shaking on TV is not so outrageous anymore even though there are a few pockets of resistance.

The reality, however, is that the video vixen culture is branching out into a whole industry of its own with managers, tour dates and choreographers tagging along and becoming a constant feature of contemporary music.

Some video vixens who have made a name for themselves in the music industry, as well as girls with limited work as hip hop models, have gone on to other types of work with greater success, mostly by marketing themselves.

In 2009 Agnes Gerald rose to celebrity status after her exploits in Belle 9’s video and soon she was one of the hottest poster girls in the city attracting photo shoots from several agencies.

She was the girl everyone wanted on their cover magazines to the extent that a certain Belgian magazine tried to make contact in 2011.

 Their offer wasn’t good enough and she rejected the deal as she had better things to do.

She soon became a common feature airport lounges across the continent than the runway not until the infamous drug case in Johannesburg which she was acquitted for lack of evidence.

But perhaps before Agnes came to the limelight another model that shook the Bongo Flava World to the core was Jackie Cliff.

Her stakes rose so fast that she became one of the most trending socialites whom you would never miss at a party scene.

Jackie was two years ago arrested in Macau China where she is reportedly serving an unspecified jail term for drug trafficking.

But irrespective of what side one might look at it, marketing executives in the industry have long realised that images of beautiful women is what music videos sell whether the women in the videos are playing the part of cheerleaders or die-hard groupies. They are the eye-candy of the industry.

To them, these women in the videos are what gets the attention and guarantee of a male audience and it is this traffic that attracts the advertiser’s dollars across the globe.