FORGOTTEN VIDEOS: Rick James “Super Freak” 1981
If there is one thing the video to the 1981 hit “Super Freak” illustrates about the late Rick James, it is that he was hardly in denial about his own superfreakiness.
The song alone does little to distill this: its subject, the girl who’s “very kinky” (and “the kind you don’t take home to moth-ah”) is described in fairly explicit detail — she rides in limousines; she likes the boys in the band; she’s partial to incense, wine and candles. But what about James himself? If it wasn’t for this video, shot well before the public escapades that led to his considerable legal troubles and heightened TV visibility, listeners the world over might never have known they were lending their ears to a bona fide male super freak.
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