Rihanna’s Rude Boy Video vs Solange’s I Decided Video

When I first read the following this morning, I thought, “Has Solange completely lost her mind? Rihanna doesn’t need to rip off anyone or anything – she’s Rihanna for crying out loud.” Here’s what Solange tweeted after seeing Rihanna’s Rude Boy video:

“It’s flattering and frustrating when somebody does things u dif before way later. Well….. It’s actually kind of funny. Over and over. I think there’s emotion behind it because if you have been considered, “weird, kooky,” ect. scince u were a lil kid, & made fun of terribly and then u see folk who hopped on the “weird train” now that it’s pop culture to be “different”…it’s innnteeerrreesttting!”

Then. I. Watched. The. Video. In. Question.

There’s no denying that whoever was in charge of making the video used similar effects. I mean, when you put the videos side by side and play them (going back and forth between the two) it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Rihanna’s body, of course, serves as a pretty good compass – but other than that….

With gazillions of videos made a year, similar effects are going to show up. It’d kind of be like the first country star to wear a cowboy hat and drive a pick up truck in a video pointing his finger and laughing at the other stars who do it today. It’d be like, if they have more success with it now than you did… maybe they’re doing it better.

I don’t have anything against Solange – she’s a lovely, talented girl and I’m really surprised that she’s not a huge star in her own right – but, in all fairness to Rihanna, I doubt seriously she creates her own videos and if she did, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t say, “I want this to be a hot one – let’s see what Solange has done in the past.”

I mean, I had to search out the video to even see what it was!

What do you think?