Babyface - This Is For The Lover In You

What this video is

Released in 1996 at the peak of the mid-90s R&B crossover era, this video represents a deliberate inter-generational bridge: Babyface, the era's dominant songwriter-producer, remaking a Shalamar classic while reuniting the group's key members (Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniel) alongside hip-hop star LL Cool J. The collaboration reflected the mid-90s industry strategy of fusing legacy soul with…

Why it matters

A landmark R&B crossover artifact demonstrating the mid-90s industry formula of soul revival plus hip-hop collaboration. The video exemplifies Hype Williams' commercial peak aesthetic and represents one of the earliest high-profile video reunions of a legacy R&B group (Shalamar) within a…

The director

Harold 'Hype' Williams (born August 1, 1970, Queens, NY) is an American music video and film director of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adelphi University and began his career through graffiti tagging before transitioning to video…