Erykah Badu: C /D, S&D

I don't see a lot of comparisons between "I don't look how I hoped I'd look in the video I agreed to be in, it's different from how it was pitched to me & the video sucks & that pisses me off" and rape, maybe you do idk

But I HAVE seen people making this comparison in this case! I've wondered if there's a way to be curious about the suggested disparity between the pitch for the video ("you're completely nude, in a tub, covered in glitter and blood and semen") and how it turned out, without fielding a 'blaming the victim' accusation!

Anyway, you're OTM - there's no possible way to know everything that's gone on here.

I actually liked the video, anyway. I like both Erykah Badu and The Flaming Lips, which seems to be rare here?

btw the whole "Gwyneth wrote 'Ni**as in paris' in a tweet" controversy was stupid

I actually liked the video, anyway. I like both Erykah Badu and The Flaming Lips, which seems to be rare here?

Yeah, I'm in the apparent minority there with you. Like 'em both (although generally more in the past tense with Flaming Lips), like the song, like the video.

Good grief, can someone dis-invent the internet please? Wayne really does come across like a total arse on twitter. Never really listened to any of his records, and now feel I would probably discriminate against him after looking at his twitter page. The sad thing is that it is argument about some tasteless, crass video which is just candyfloss really, its not about music.

Flying Lotus material can't drop soon enough imo.

D'you figure I'm correct in my understanding (as I don't think she really came out and said as much) that the core of her beef with the video itself is that it isn't made explicitly clear that the naughty bits aren't her own?

― Quiet Desperation, LLC (Deric W. Haircare), Thursday, June 7, 2012 10:19 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

she decided not to appear nude...but brought along a similar-looking sibling to do the nude scene. for the video of a song she sings on. how could she not anticipate that assumption?

it sounded to me like she was as upset about the lack of a chance to see and approve the video before it went online as what actually went online.

That she's doing some damage control is highly likely, but everything she says about the video's artistry is true. Win-win.

"I don't look how I hoped I'd look in the video I agreed to be in, it's different from how it was pitched to me & the video sucks & that pisses me off" and rape, maybe you do idk

Ehh, I read "pisses me off" as violated a contract and released some nude footage of my sister that we hadn't approved. Still strikes me as creepy.

My guess is that Badu is used to operating in a world very different from the Lips camp. Coyne puts himself out there, Badu is surrounded/protected by a machine. She's probably used to certain things, professional expectations, that a DIY sort like Coyne doesn't have to deal with.

First off im siding with the Lips here cos if she had a problem w it, yeah deal with it through management. There is a professional way to deal with this stuff.

Secondly, I'm frankly confused about the "This is tasteless" criticism unless they filmed 90% other unused footage and 10% naked glitter stuff. Maybe look into who you are collaborating with before you decide to record a song with them and shoot a music video with them too. If you've seen the past half dozen of Lips videos, they all have nudity and fake blood and b-movie shock stuff in them it's not anything new hell one of the first promo pics ever they made someone pretend to be dead on the ground in the background with fake blood for shock value.

I haven't had a chance to read all this, but she's always done one-off, "non-authorial" (as someone else put it) collaborations of varying quality between albums and they've never really had any bearing on the results of her more official output.

Also worth keeping in mind that Badu is possibly crazy.

This is dumber all around than the Nicki Minaj/Flex feud.

I don't understand what she wants from them. They removed the video.

She probably wants him to stop saying shit like Dang!!!!! @fatbellybella you really know how to do it!!!! You hatin on me has gotten the video 100,000 more views !!!LOVE LOVE LOVE on Twitter

I kinda want to wait until this all shakes out before making any judgments about who did wrong by who, but Coyne certainly isn't doing a whole lot to avoid looking like a douche in this sitch.

Also worth keeping in mind that Badu is possibly crazy.

trying to be the king of meme music with all his FOUR DAY LONG SONGS FEATURING KE$HA WOAH DUDE

i feel you, but haven't they been doing this sort of thing all along (zareeka etc)? one person's creative high-concept release is another's crass gimmick (see also bjork).

― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Wednesday, June 6, 2012 9:57 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

OTM. Lips have been doing this kind of stuff for ever. Even going back to the 90s with Zaireeka, the Parking Lot Experiments, the boombox concerts, the walls of xmas lights, Christmas on Mars movie (which they started working on back then), the bubble machine, the song about masturbation, etc. This isn't some thing they are cynically just starting to do now with the internet, it's kind of their MO.

Also how is Wayne the bad guy in this? He seems to be the adult/professional in this situation:

Conservative audience! The video was intended for mature audiences and is NOT an Erykah Badu statement.. It is a Flaming Lips video!!!
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6 Jun Wayne Coyne Wayne Coyne ‏@waynecoyne

For the making of and the content of the controversial video !!! We are very sorry if it has offended some of Erykah Badu's more
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6 Jun Wayne Coyne Wayne Coyne ‏@waynecoyne

To all the haters who think Erykah Badu has lost her mind!!! She has NOT!!! The Flaming Lips take full responsibility ..
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We are very sorry if it has offended some of Erykah Badu's more
Conservative audience! The video was intended for mature audiences and is NOT an Erykah Badu statement.. It is a Flaming Lips video!!!

sweet apology, dude

He coulda gone the EB route and called her a greedy, tasteless hack like she did them.

lol @ "conservative audience"

OTM. Lips have been doing this kind of stuff for ever. Even going back to the 90s with Zaireeka, the Parking Lot Experiments, the boombox concerts, the walls of xmas lights, Christmas on Mars movie (which they started working on back then), the bubble machine, the song about masturbation, etc. This isn't some thing they are cynically just starting to do now with the internet, it's kind of their MO.

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, June 7, 2012 1:35 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm aware of that. at no point was i suggesting that it was a break with their past, just that introducing the internet into the equation, and the guy being middle aged and fairly successful now, has given it a whole gross tinge that those old stunts didn't have imo.

He seems to be the adult/professional in this situation:

Dang!!!!! @fatbellybella you really know how to do it!!!! You hatin on me has gotten the video 100,000 more views !!!LOVE LOVE LOVE

no adult/professional has ever used the phrase "To all the haters"

Yeah how exactly is that unprofessional? I mean his job is King Meme, and this is placing this ridiculous thing in a business context. I say looking on the bright side rather than being personally vindictive is the adult way to go.

I mean "See the greed up close"? Really, EB? Like, how much money do you make from having a music video on youtube? Maybe enough to pay for the studio, crew, lights, etc.

Here's a good wrap-up so far

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/184262/epic-twitter-battle-ensues-between-erykah-badu-wayne-coyne-and-michelle-coyne/

God, I really miss suggest ban option right now.

Lol

I bet Ke$ha put Coyne up to this.

zomg Erykah showed up 6 hours late for the video shoot!

"Glitter, Wayne! Glitter!"

Sparkle, Nayrock! Sparkle!

razzle dazzle!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5pgUbxMsHQ

i thought "see the greed up close" was a pretty good zing and pretty much showed coyne to be pretty shallow

also who the f thinks badu is crazy?!

(She's a little crazy, from the firsthand tales I've heard)

I think she's a little crazy, but in the good way. Not the "bad, shallow, opportunist faux artist" way. Of course, I understand if some people disagree with me on that point, but they better not be Flaming Lips fans.

ppl think shes eccentric for sure

fwiw i think shes coming off better than he is here

I say looking on the bright side rather than being personally vindictive is the adult way to go.

Posting pictures of your lips covered in glitter = adult and professional. Okay.

It's unprofessional to air this kind of stuff in a long rant in public. All of that is something she could have just sent in an email, directly to him. Most of the remarks are personal, or have to do with the working relationship, stuff that none of the public has any first hand knowledge of, so why would she feel the need to put all this out there in public?

Posting pictures of your lips covered in glitter = adult and professional. Okay.

Posting a long public rant about problems with your coworker and calling them an asshole. That is more adult and professional?

One of them is making a move at saving her artistic integrity. The other one is mocking hers. Seems pretty simple to me.

I think Badu's rant does more damage to her artistic integrity than the video did. I had forgotten the video even existed.

eccentric ≠ crazy. of course badu is eccentric but that doesn't mean she's some paranoid nutcase whose allegations can be dismissed with "lol crazy".

public calling out seems a legit move to me if what badu alleges is true - the working relationship has obviously broken down, and that was down to coyne.

how does badu calling out someone who was a douche to her harm her artistic integrity? it adds to it if anything. people should be applauding her.

I'll give her this, it definitely makes her out to be the more self-important Artiste of this whole affair.

It's unprofessional to air this kind of stuff in a long rant in public. All of that is something she could have just sent in an email, directly to him. Most of the remarks are personal, or have to do with the working relationship, stuff that none of the public has any first hand knowledge of, so why would she feel the need to put all this out there in public?

Because, in direct violation of the agreement they made when she and her sister agreed to do the video, she was not granted a viewing or a say on a video that contains naked shots of both her sister and herself before it was blasted out to the public?

If the beef was just "you picked my shitty vocal" you would have a halfway defensible point, but in what universe is the person who said "so you are comfortable doing this video, we will show you the video so you can give input on it before it goes out there... *waits for door to close* *uploads to Pitchfork* *snickers on Twitter*" the more professional person here?

Dudes they had already taken it down before the whole rant!