Xscape - Just Kickin' It

What this video is

Released in August 1993, 'Just Kickin' It' arrived as Atlanta was emerging as a new center of Black popular music, with Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label challenging New York's hip-hop hegemony. The video visually codified a Southern, street-rooted female R&B aesthetic that was distinct from the polished, fashion-forward presentation of contemporaries like En Vogue — a contrast Dupri explicitly acknowledged. The…

Why it matters

A foundational document of hip-hop soul and the Atlanta R&B crossover movement. 'Just Kickin' It' demonstrated that Southern female vocal groups could compete commercially with New York acts, helping establish So So Def as a major label imprint and paving the way for a decade of Atlanta-centric…

The director

Brooklyn-born American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1968). Began career as a protégé of Spike Lee, working on Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), and Malcolm X (1992). In the 1990s directed numerous R&B and hip-hop…