Sevyn Streeter Talks About The Color Complex In Urban Music

Does urban music elevate white, light skinned, or ethnically ambiguous women on a pedestal?

Sevyn Streeter Talks About The Color Complex In Urban Music

Via The Grio reports:

A former member of the R&B group RichGirl, the Atlantic records artist and protégé to Chris Brown just released music video for her hit duet “It Won’t Stop,” and the track is making waves on the charts.

“The video fits perfectly for the sound of song,” Sevyn told theGrio. “It’s light and playful.”

And it should be. Her love interest and rumored boyfriend, Portland Trail Blazer Dorell Wright, appears in the clip as well.

“He’d be flattered to be called a model,” Sevyn laughed. “But yes he’s a basketball player first.”

Hip-hop and R&B have long been criticized for having a color complex, for elevating white, light skinned, or ethnically ambiguous women on a pedestal.

A self-proclaimed “chocolate skin beauty,” Streeter never gets offended when people utter the dreaded phrase “pretty…for a dark-skinned girl.”

When it comes to colorism, Sevyn believes “It’s all about how you view yourself first as person. It starts there.”

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Grio/GETTY