2012 was filled with some of the most ratchet, booty bouncing and just plain ol’ ignant songs. Anything made from 2 chainz or a down south rapper had to be ratchet. If it wasn’t ratchet, it wasn’t hot. There’s more songs that could of made the list but it’s safe to say that these songs were the most heard — and possbily the most obnoxious. Let’s check out some of the videos that made you twerk

Have you experienced this: you like a song only to like it less after seeing a disappointing video? On the flip side, have you loved a song only after seeing the amazing video that came from it? I often wonder why so many artists, especially the ones who have the clout, don’t exercise their right to create complementary videos that take their songs to the next level. Just like a great film, a four-minute video can really enhance the meaning and story of a song.  And we know that vision is even more critical to a song that wants to communicate heartbreak, longing, and romance.  These videos did just justice to their songs of origin by integrating narratives, scenes, and landscapes to create a story. In a sea of videos shot on soundstages, these stand out amongst the pack. Do you agree with my selections? Sound off in the comments section.

Lauryn Hill – Turn Your Lights Down Low

Director: Francis Lawrence

Hands down, this is the most perfect video I’ve seen in terms of how it heightened my appreciation for the song. Lauryn Hill’s reinterpretation of the original song by Bob Marley takes us to a beautiful and lush Jamaica. The colors, Rohan on a motorcyle, the close-ups of Lauryn pinning her hair, the intimate house party, and the next morning at the beach equals a perfect look at a beautiful 24 hours in a Caribbean town. Although the relationship with Rohan is not the focal point of the video, it is a beautiful backdrop. Who could forget them walking into the house party in utter darkness?

DMX at the BET Hip Hop Awards. Via @HipHopAwards

Over the years many people have complained about Black Entertainment Television (BET). Among the complaints: too much focus on entertainment, not enough news, too much low-brow entertainment, to many explicit music videos. Complaints really peaked when BET failed to cover live the 1992 L.A. Riots following the beating of Rodney King by LAPD. During all of this, BET co-founder Robert Johnson would always answer his critics that BET was entertainment TV—not news TV.

Now Johnson’s former wife and BET co-founder, Sheila Johnson, is lamenting the history of BET, which was sold to Viacom in 2001 for $3 billion.

Johnson recently spoke at  the “Conversations and Encounters” program at the Carmel Art and Film Festival in Monterey County, CA where, according to EUR, she said she thought BET is a “squandered opportunity.”  She added, “I think we squandered a really important cable network, when it really could have been the voice of Black America. We’re losing our voice as a race as a result. I’m really worried about what our young people are watching. There are so many young people who are using the television as a babysitter. We have parents who are not being parents and not monitoring what their children are watching.”

News only recently returned to BET with Don’t Sleep with TJ Holmes. Prior to that, former BET journalist Ed Gordon’s news segments always struggled to find a solid place on the network, which played more video than news. And even the videos have come under attack, with calls for BET to censor some of the explicit videos and critics claims that BET promotes African-Amerian stereotypes.

Regardless, BET, which launched in 1980, remains the most prominent TV network targeting  African Americans. It currently reaches more than 90 million households.

Are you watching Don’t Sleep? Do you think they should air more news content?

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Image: Nikki Nelson/WENN.com

St. Louis-born film, music and television director Millicent Shelton is turning Hollywood upside down. She’s made history with her directing work. Created some of the most talk-about video clips. And is now in constant demand in television.

Shelton, who began her career in 1989 as a wardrobe production assistant on the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing, made music videos for artists such as Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, Aaliyah, CeCe Peniston and Salt-n-Pepa, creating that latter group’s iconic “Let’s Talk About Sex” video in 1991. After directing more than a hundred music videos, Shelton, a graduate of Princeton University and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, made her first feature film — the hip-hop inspired Ride in 1998.

After working hard to break into television directing, she now has racked up not only impressive credits, but an Emmy. In fact, she became the first African-American woman to earn a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the episode “Apollo, Apollo” on the series 30 Rock. She’s also put on the director’s cap for episodes of Everybody Hates Chris, The Bernie Mac Show, Girlfriends, Castle, Californication, My Name Is Earl, 90210, Men of a Certain Age, Pan Am, Leverage, Parenthood, Jane By Design,  and Cougar Town.

Madame Noire recently caught up with Shelton in between filming. Here’s what she had to say.

Madame Noire: What is the most enjoyable part of what you do?

Millicent Shelton: I like to create. Taking words on a page and bring them to life in living color is an amazing experience.

MN:  Do you find there are more women directing in TV?

MS: The Directors Guild Of America just published some statistics based on the 2011-12 TV episodic season. They found that 11 percent of the episodes were directed by Caucasian females and only four percent by minority females. Those percentages are up one percent from last season, so, no, there has not been a significant change in the amount of TV episodes that female directors are working on.

Part of me says that this industry is naturally nepotistic the other part of me thinks that some males find it difficult for a female to be in that type of leadership position.

MN:  What have been some of the obstacles you have faced as an African-American female director?

MS: Lack of work. Always hustling for the next job. Which you can say is an obstacle for all directors. I just think that sometimes the hill is a little higher for me to climb. I face it by putting on my hiking boots and forging forward…never looking back.

MN: Do you feel you are opening doors for other women in the industry?

MS: I don’t have a clue. A door may be open on a show that has worked successfully with me and they feel like, “Yeah it doesn’t matter that she’s a woman or an African American. It matters that she’s a good director.” But if the door opens, then it is up to the individual director to succeed on her own merit.

MN: What are some of your latest projects?

MS: Go On with Matthew Perry on NBC and Parenthood on NBC. I am shooting a pilot for BET right now called What Would Dylan Do?  Dallas is my next stop.

MN: What is one project you want to work on soon?

MS: I really want to direct an episode of Shameless and House of Lies.

MN: Advice to young filmmakers?

MS:  It’s going to be tough. Learn your craft well. Never give up.

MN: Any tips on juggling career, marriage and motherhood?

MS: It’s the hardest thing in the world. Most of the time I feel so torn between loving what I do and loving my children. The two clash a lot especially since I have been traveling out of town to work fairly frequently during the past two years. My kids are amazing giving souls. They accept that mommy is working and we Skype almost every day.

MN:  What’s your favorite downtime activity?

MS: Spending time doing anything or absolutely nothing with my kids.

I’m sure you heard about the fact that the honorable folks over at BET decided to ban Nicki Minaj’s video for the track “Stupid H*e.” Depending on who you ask, that was an awesome decision to some sick of tasteless and mindless music, while it was a sexist and stupid decision by others. To keep it pretty real, BET is known for not having the best taste when it comes to music video choices, allowing the most ratchet and somewhat tasteless videos by rappers to get clearance but wanting women to stay ladylike: they’ve also banned Ciara’s sexually charged video “Ride,” and Teairra Mari’s pretty harmless “Sponsor” video. But all in all, I’ve seen a lot worse. We could run down a list of the very disgusting Tip Drill-esque videos BET has shown late at night with all the booty bouncing and credit card sliding, but instead, we’re running down some of our favorite stupid videos that we probably could have lived without seeing. If they were banned we probably wouldn’t have felt any real way about it (*Kanye shrug*).

Well, dang. Just a few days after our one-month anniversary Prince says the internet is a done deal.

In his recent interview with Mirror he talked about his qualms with the World Wide Web and how he’s boycotted it. In the past he’s refused to release his videos to YouTube, music to iTunes and even shut down his official website.

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