Rap newcomer Chika pays homage to one of Black television’s great love stories with her first video under her new Warner Records deal, “Can’t Explain It,” featuring none other than R&B legend Charlie Wilson. The video, produced by AJR Films and co-directed by Chika herself along with Top Shelf Jr., takes inspiration from beloved 1990s HBCU sitcom A Different World, which followed the Cosby Show character Denise Huxtable to her parents’ fictional Hillman College alma mater.
Of course, after one season, actress Lisa Bonet had left the show, turning it over to its real stars: Spoiled Southern belle Whitley Gilbert and streetwise geek Dwayne Wayne, whose tumultuous relationship became the focus of much of the show’s six-season run. In the “Can’t Explain It” video, Chika dons Dwayne’s signature flip-up sunglasses to woo her own Whitley, actress, singer, and filmmaker, Rozet Tandy. As Uncle Charlie croons the hook from Tamia’s 1998 mega hit “I’m So Into You,” Chika and Rozet — ahem, Dwayne and Whitley — smoothly slide out of a party at their “Hillmayne” College student union to find a little private time.
Chika, who first achieved viral prominence thanks to her “open letter to Kanye” freestyle that impressed celebrities like Erykah Badu, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Jada Pinkett Smith, recently signed her first record deal, made a late-night appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and got a shout-out from Cardi B during the kerfuffle over Jermaine Dupri’s derogatory comments about female rappers. She’s currently working on her debut EP.
Chika is a Warner Music artist. .
