Usher Throws Undead Dance Party in ‘She Came to Give It to You’ Video
Usher has revealed the video for his new single “She Came to Give It to You,” which features Nicki Minaj, just days after debuting the track at the MTV Video Music Awards. Produced by Pharrell Williams, “She Came to Give It to You” boasts the same retro vibe of “Blurred Lines,” but instead of borrowing from Marvin Gaye, Usher’s cut borrows more from the Gap Band. In the video, the singer takes us into one of those no-name electronics stores that are up and down New York City’s Eighth Avenue, except this one is actually a front for both an illegal pai gow games (run by Pharrell) and an undead dance club.
Things seem pretty normal at first with Usher just performing the UR cut, but at the 1:38 mark, some dude’s eyeball melts out of its socket. A few seconds later, another dancer’s face erodes off and leaves a skull. The Philip Andelman-directed video also features some impressive camera tricks that seem to bend reality like an Escher etching. Still, the weirdest thing about this video is Usher singing, “Don’t be stingy, pass the J.”
Like the “Bang Bang” video – where Minaj spends the whole video atop a helipad – the rapper makes another brief cameo appearance for her feature on Usher’s single. In both cases, it seems like the video directors were told “You have Nicki for two hours, good luck.” For “She Came to Give It to You,” Minaj sits in a room with video surveillance while a CGI tarantula crawls on her. However, the rapper did post an entertaining video of her and Drake on set for the “She Came to Give It to You” shoot. During a break in filming, the Young Money duo stop into a convenience store where we learn a lot about Minaj’s 7-Eleven habits, like how she loves Cheez-Its but not Nutella Dipsticks.