Kells, Usher: an objective analysis

If you haven’t yet, I recommend you go home and check out the music video to the song “Same… If you haven’t yet, I recommend you go home and check out the music video to the song “Same Girl,” by R. Kelly featuring Usher. This column will enhance your viewing.

Here are my Cliff notes to “Same Girl” music video.

Characters:

Usher: When we first see Usher, he’s seated in his giant mansion, talking about how busy he is making huge amounts of money on the phone, explaining to an agent that no, he cannot realize a certain opportunity to make a huge amount of money because he’d have to forgo other opportunities involving relatively huger dollar amounts. Such is life of the relaxed, yet savvy Usher. He lives in Atlanta, and has a basketball court in his house.

R. Kelly: “Kells.” We first see Kells chomping down on a fat cigar, presumably from Cuba, engaged in an argument similar to that of Usher’s. From this point on, it’s apparent that Kells is a baron of badass. And yet, he has a softer side. It’s Kells, not Usher, who describes Same Girl as “my potential wife.” He lives in Chicago, and owns a private jet. Everything tied to Kells, his apartment, clothing, jet and party, is white, reinforcing his status as a saint of seduction. Throughout the video, R. Kelly continues to distance himself from the rest of humanity on both the bizarre and awesome axes.

The Same Girl: The most intriguing feature of the song “Same Girl” is the absurdly detailed characterization of the Same Girl. For example, Missy Elliot is the subject of most of her videos, and yet I still don’t know all sorts of important details about Missy, such as her address and alma mater. Not so with the Same Girl. We learn that she went to Georgia Tech, works at TBS, she got a kid, loves some Waffle House, lives on Peach Tree close to 17th street, got a tattoo on her ankle and drives a black Durango, license plate say “Angel” because she’s making a substantial quantity of pesos.

Themes:

How rich R. Kelly and Usher are: Throughout the video, the gentlemen’s affluence is clear, displayed boldly but with class. Each expense is a necessity to these tycoons of taste. To illustrate, R. Kelly is not content to probe the matter of the doubling up of the lust further over the phone. He alights, in a private jet, to Atlanta, just to talk over this junk with his friend, Usher. Additionally, R. Kelly and Usher both deem it essential to dress in suits before a fire and drink liqueur from gold goblets in order to give the discussion a worthy setting. R. Kelly even appears to be wearing a gold-laced, four button suit jacket in the style of Mao ZeDong, presumably for the added expense rendered by the profusion of diamond-studded buttons. Usher has a b-ball court, in his house.

The triumph of male camaraderie over romantic interest, i.e. “bros before hos”: Even after R. Kelly and Usher realize they have been messing with the same girl, their friendship endures, and questions of jealousy, wrath and double-crossing never emerge. The problem even intensifies the gravity between these super planets of passion: “We been messin’ with the same girl!” they crue, as they clink their goblets together. This goblet toast is discussed more rigorously in the collection, “Toward a Critical Disbifurcation: Repression in the Same Girl Music Video,” edited by Harold Bloom, but it will suffice here to recognize that the Same Girl may be the symbolic realization of a mutual attraction between R. Kelly and Usher, and the toast, a touch of the manly intimacy the two crave.

I’ve also included some topics of discussion:

1. In the scene of the party in Chicago, where R. Kelly meets the Same Girl, he is pouring the Same Girl a drink. What is that bright pink junk? It looks like they’re drinking perfume or something.

2. In the scene of the party in Atlanta, where Usher meets the Same Girl, money is falling from the ceiling. Why is there money falling from the ceiling? To break even, the club owners would have to make the price of admission to this party several thousand dollars. Given the impossibility of such a scheme, to what extent does the “Same Girl” music video borrow elements of magical realism?

3. Why is R. Kelly wearing that crazy jacket?

4. Is the ending real or a dream sequence? It seems unlikely that, given she got a twin, the Same Girl would invite her twin unannounced on the date. To what extent then, is the Same Girl a shared delusion between R. Kelly and Usher?

5. Ladies, who would you rather be your man? Usher or Kells?

6. Gentlemen, which twin would you rather be your woman friend?

And finally, some memorable quotes:

“Tell me what’s wrong dawg. What the hell you damnin bout? You’re my homie so just say what’s on your mind!” -R. Kelly

“Do I know her? Like a pastor know this world.” – Usher

“She gonna be lookin so stupid when she see us together!” – R. Kelly

“Homie we bout to bust this trick.” – Usher

Enjoy.