I'm sorry, but I have to say something about Rihanna and the barbed wire photo. Would somebody please sit this young sister down and talk some sense into her? Before I go any further let me set the record straight: I've only seen one Rihanna video in my life and I wasn't impressed. She's young and sexy and consumer-friendly, but I prefer Jill Scott, Lizz Wright and Dianne Reeves for my viewing/listening/buying pleasure. In a nutshell, I'm not a fan. I'm simply a concerned citizen of the thinking-redwine-drinking world.
First, Rihanna decides not to mention anything about Chris Brown and the domestic violence. Now she's striped down to her bare essentials and wrapped in barbed wire on the new Russian Roulette cover. It's not real barbed wire, of course, but it certainly suggests that either she, or her PR folks, decided her recent abuse makes her a prime candidate to sell sadism. In fact, if given more time to meditate on this, I could assume Rihanna might even be into a sadomasochist lifestyle. Maybe that's why she chose not to say blip about Chris Brown's attack on her face. I'm pushing the envelope here, I know, but that's why somebody should sit this young songstress down and talk some sense into her. Or, at least, tell her to come out of the closet and confess she's a proud member of the S&M club. Who's advising this sister?
Keith Josef Adkins is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and social commentator.