Video Vixens: The ‘Black & Sexy’ Women in TV Outside of Shondaland

Video Vixens: The ‘Black & Sexy’ Women in TV Outside of Shondaland

Oscar-nominated Actress Viola Davis now commands the silver screen every Thursday night as a cold and cunning criminal defense attorney in the new ABC drama How to Get Away with Murder. She joins Scandal’s Kerry Washington in a sorority of primetime divas born in Shondaland, the production company and common reference to screenwriter and producer Shonda Rhimes. Yes, Rhimes has stirred the pot when it comes to diversifying casts in contemporary serial dramas. There’s no doubt that her mainstream success has tipped a long-awaited spotlight on Black women as both leading ladies and media creators. But it doesn’t look like it’ll get lonely at the top for Rhimes as creative and courageous Black women carve out their territory in the world of media production. Here are the top five Black women in television and video that have me at the edge of my seat.

• Issa Rae

It all started with a single question: “Am I the only who pretends I’m in a music video when I’m by myself?” So asks the first line of The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl, Season 1 Episode 1, the web series created by and starring Issa Rae. It took me 3 minutes and 40 seconds to fall in love with this series (the duration of the first episode). Within it, Rae manages to amplify the comedy and absurdity of mundane experiences with a production style that’s mediocre at best and makes no attempt at a flashy Hollywood aesthetic. The charm of Awkward Black Girl–what makes it utterly addicting–is its honesty and relatability. And I don’t mean Black-girl-specific, Girlfriends/Waiting to Exhale relatability. Instead Rae offers us a main character whose identity and experience is colored by her race (no pun intended) but is not entirely defined by it. The traits “Awkward”, “Black”, and “Girl” carry equal weight in the development of main character ‘J.’ Issa Rae’s choice to reject the common tropes of Black womanhood in favor of a quirky, multi-dimensional representation spiraled into massive web series success. Awkward Black Girl sustained two seasons and a total of 16 episodes as a YouTube series. Rae has since gone on to collaborate with Pharrell Williams through his media brand I Am Other, is currently developing a comedy for HBO, and is slated to release a book through Simon & Schuster publishing company. She also recently launched her own independent production company Color Creative.TV where she’ll continue to develop and host content commited to truer, mutlifaceted portrayals of Blackness.

• Numa Perrier

Numa Perrier is gaining some well-deserved attention as the co-founder of the independent Web TV venture Black&Sexy.TV.  Nevermind the fact that she’s a stunner in front of the camera and that her name sounds like it could double as a luxury beverage brand, Numa can be credited for nudging the envelope on both her stylistic choices and the stories she chooses to tell about Black relationships, romantic, platonic, and everything in between. Black&Sexy.TV is the home of web short series’ like Hello Cupid, a fun, flirty show that follows a new-age love triangle that emerges when two female roommates experiment with Internet dating. RoomieLoverFriends is another Black&Sexy.TV original highlighting the rocky waters of a friends-with-benefits situation when the beneficiaries live in the same apartment. My personal favorite show in the Black&Sexy family, That Guy takes a voyeuristic lens to the lives of three best friends, two male and one female, as they navigate relationships, mishaps, and shenanigans. It’s literally recorded on a miniature hand-held camera and “documented” as if the characters were shooting it themselves. Ms. Perrier is doing her thing when it comes to creating fresh, original content with a Black aesthetic and no over-wrought agendas. Not to mention that the “network” features original music by independent musicians created specifically for its programming. Numa Perrier is well on her way to creating a media empire.

• Jeanine Daniels

On the topic of Black&Sexy.TV, fellow co-founder of the network, and creator and star of That Guy Jeanine Daniels is another notable feminine force in the game. Daniels plays Deonne on the show, a woman whose quick wit and no-holds-barred demeanor situates her perfectly amongst the chemistry of her male counterparts, Judah and Mike. The show’s success at portraying a candid and believable image of Black interaction without pigeonholing anyone into a stereotype is a true testament to the talent and vision of Deanine Daniels. Outside of That Guy, Daniels is also the creative mind behind another Black&Sexy series called The Couple, which is now confirmed to make its transition from Internet sensationalism to HBO.

• Melina Matsoukas

If you’ve been watching music videos at all in the past few years, chances are you’ve come across the work of Melina Matsoukas. In fact, if you caught a whiff of the trailer that Jay-Z and Beyonce released for their “On the Run” tour, you witnessed a bit of her magic. Matsoukas is the quiet storm behind the music videos for hit songs like “Sensual Seduction,” by Snoop Dog, “Rude Boy” and “We Found Love” by Rihanna, and way too many more to mention. Seriously, her catalog is ridiculous. Though the NYU graduate has remained camouflaged behind the camera, her work speaks for itself with its pop color, 90s-retro inspired flavor. Her cinematic visuals are always consistent and conceptual, yet she seems to have the type of imagination that will never wear thin.

• Jessica Williams

Young, smart, funny, and Black? Jessica Williams is a lethal combination. Bringing a youthful and witty voice to the “liberal” political satire game, Williams is the first Black woman to be cast as a commentator on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where she uses the platform of comedy to comment on topics like Stop and Frisk laws in New York, Stand your Ground, and sexism. Sporting a signature do of long black twists, Williams’ very presence on mainstream Cable television as a young woman of color asserting a bold, albeit satirical, political opinion disrupts common framings of Blackness, womanhood, and young adulthood. Not to mention, she is at the head of an only-recently emerging attempt to include Black female comedians in the casts of popular satire programs. At the beginning of this year, Saturday Night Live just hired their first permanent Black female cast member in the past 6 years. While TV watchers are becoming more accustomed to seeing Black women populate dramatic roles, Jessica Williams is commanding her comedic voice making sure we don’t forget that better representation is about showing multiple dimensions, not electing one character trope over another.

Briaan L. Barron October 14, 2014

If youre not already in tune with “Black & Sexy Tv ” do me a favor and get in tune !!!!