Here are the black men who currently (December 18th 2008 ) have a top 50 song in America (according to the Billboard Hot 100 list). Next to each I put the pictures and names of the latest women they have dated (according to whodatedwho.com). I list up to as many as five for each, the latest five:
Note: Whodatedwho.com moved their pictures, so while I fixed the links I brought the list up to date. The following is as of December 30th 2009 – a year after I wrote the post.
T.I.: Hoopz, Tiny, Paula DeAnda, LeToya Luckett.
Kanye West: Jennifer Metcalfe, Amber Rose, Amelie Berrabah, Brooke Crittenton, Alexis Eggleston.
Ne-Yo: Vivica Fox, Casha Darjean, Tennille Jimenez, Jesse White.
Akon: Susan Owori (not pictured), Gina Wild, Rozonda Chilli, Mina Zia Karkaragh.
Lil Wayne: Lauren London, Sarah Bellew, Trina, Nivea, Antonia Carter.
T-Pain: Amber
John Legend: Petra Nemcova, Christy Teigen, Tavo Otiti, Danielle Abreu, Wafah Dufour.
Jim Jones: ?
Jay-Z: Beyonce, Shenelle Scott, Rosario Dawson, Charlie Baltimore, Amil All Money Is.
Chris Brown: Natalie Mejia, Rihanna, Lil Mama, Keshia Chante, Teyanna Taylor.
Usher: Grace Miguel, Tameka Foster, Eishia Brightwell, Joy Bryant, Naomi Campbell.
I know, I know: Who cares who they date? That is their business, blah, blah, blah. True, but it is still hard not to be curious. A huge part of the magazine industry is built on this stuff. I went to whodatedwho.com to find out about Jessica White, who I was writing a post on, but then got drawn in.
The thing that struck me is how light-skinned most of these women are. Well, how most of them are considerably lighter than the men dating them. I was not born yesterday, I know rich and successful black men often marry white women and all that, but even so I did not expect to see the light-skinned/white-skinned woman thing on such a scale.
I thought maybe it was just an accident of who I was looking up, so I chose just those who have a current hit song. That way I would have no control over who made the list, making it a fairer sampling.
The lightness of the women seemed strange to me because it does not match anything in my experience. Most black men I know married medium to dark-skinned women. On occasion there will be someone who seems to chase just light-skinned women or even marry a white woman, but they are hardly the rule.
It would be bad statistics to draw any conclusions from this list and, besides, everyone knows that Jay-Z and the rest do not live in our world.
But still I wonder why it is like that. Why?
The people at Essence or Black Men magazine would see nothing strange in this: black men prefer light-skinned women. It seems to be an article of faith with some black women. Others, like Steve Sailer and the intellectual skinheads at majorityrights.com, would say it is because black men secretly want white women because they are so much better looking than black women.
This list would seem support ideas like that since these men are rich and famous enough that they can have pretty much any kind of woman they want. Except that it would be dangerous to draw conclusions based on such a small and strange sample.
See also:
- whodatedwho.com
- colourism
- Black Men magazine
- Jessica White
- more on some of the women:
- intellectual skinheads:
- majorityrights.com, who I talk about in this post: Maria Shriver’s jaw
- Steve Sailer
Abagond 