Anyone who's watched Britney writhe in her "Slave" promo knows 21st century music videos are often, shall we say, oversexed. In the case of "Lapdance" for N.E.R.D. and "She Said" for the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (JSBX), the sass-factor goes far beyond what MTV execs feel their viewers can handle.

Boards went to the source to find out why labels and directors even produce these soft-core statements.

"Lapdance," directed by Diane Martel of the Production League of America, LA, shows nerdy Neptunes "interacting" with porn stars Cheyanne and Devon. One cut, available online, tears down the already transparent border between erotica and hip-hop imagery. JSBX's "She Said" takes "an elegant, vintage horror vibe," putting Spencer in the role of a lecherous werewolf whose lupine machismo reduces a group of nuns to topless vixens. Floria Sigismondi directed "She Said" via Toronto's Revolver Films.

While the entertainment value of such pieces can not be disputed, the reasoning behind commissioning promos too racy for TV is less clear. Both videos eventually aired on MTV or MTV2, although the broadcaster demanded less explicit edits.

"They didn't have thematic problems with it, just specific images: the woman being gagged against her will, or the breasts (even censored)," says Nils Bernstein of Matador Records, who commissioned the JSBX vid. "Based on the feedback from MTV's standards meetings, we made an MTV-friendly edit. That said, MTV programmers may not feel the video's feel and content fits in with their bright and shiny teen-oriented look. But, to cater to that moves into dangerous territory. Since even MTV2 is quite mainstream now, the limited play indie videos get on MTV isn't the extent of our video promotion and isn't our sole concern in making a video."

Similarly, Martel says the MTV version of "Lapdance" has "no titties or macro shots." She says the label wanted an attention grabbing, porn-related piece on a limited budget, so she approached LA porn agency Vivid and easily found the talent required for the one day shoot.

"In terms of photographing tits and ass for adults, it's just another thing to photograph for me," says Martel. "The porn version is only available on the N.E.R.D. Web site. I think the way this thing was shot, with an abstract aesthetic, is sexy and photographic, not tawdry."

What's more, sexist labels don't fit in this case: both were directed by women.

Webfiles:
N.E.R.D> http://ww.n-e-r-d.com
Matador Records> http://www.matadorrecords.com/jsbx