This week, Goodie MOB debuted a music video for “Amy,” arguably the most controversial song on their 2013 comeback album, Age Against the Machine. The track touches on the taboos surrounding interracial love, and on the surface, that shouldn’t be surprising. Since their debut, songs about uncomfortable race-related issues have been the MOB’s calling card. The quartet made their reputation in the 1990s with topical music.
But what shocked many longtime Goodie MOB fans was the track’s tone. It’s hard to tell if it’s social commentary, winking satire or just a gleeful ode to having sex with white women. For fans who loved Goodie MOB for songs like “Beautiful Skin,” their tribute to black women from their critically acclaimed 1998 album Still Standing, it’s surprising to hear frontman Cee Lo Green singing about his “very first white girl.”
It’s somewhat telling that the video was produced and premiered on Funny Or Die, as opposed to the typical music video platforms. It’s also noticeable that the track is more or less a Cee Lo solo track. The other members of Goodie MOB (Big Gipp, T-Mo and Khujo) are barely on the track–and barely in the video. When Goodie MOB’s reunion was announced, many wondered how the group’s defiantly pro-black image from the 90s would fit with Ceelo’s more current image as a pop iconoclast.
Some would argue that it doesn’t fit. Take a look at the video and decide for yourself:
