K-Ci & JoJo - It's Me

JAN 01 2002 · 12:00

K-Ci & JoJo - It's Me (2002) Director: Nzingha Stewart Era: Early 2000s Contemporary R&B (2002) - Late-era MCA Records R&B production; post-millennium urban soul with Darkchild production polish and theatrical music video aesthetics typical of early-2000s Black mainstream pop. This video holds moderate-to-strong curatorial value as a well-preserved artifact of early-2000s mainstream R&B visual culture, directed by Nzingha Stewart, a director whose subsequent television career (Little Fires Everywhere, Daisy Jones & The Six) gives her early music video work increasing retrospective significance. It documents both a transitional moment in K-Ci & JoJo's career and the Darkchild production aesthetic at its commercial peak, making it relevant for genre history, director retrospectives, and label-era archival research. Context: Released in 2002 as the lead single from K-Ci & JoJo's fourth studio album Emotional (MCA Records), 'It's Me' arrived at a transitional moment for the duo. Following the massive commercial success of 'All My Life' (1998) and 'Tell Me It's Real' (1999), the brothers faced a declining commercial trajectory; Emotional did not chart internationally and marked their first RIAA-uncertified album. Produced by Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins, one of the era's premier R&B hitmakers, the song and video attempted to re-anchor the duo in the polished, emotionally intense neo-soul ballad space they had pioneered. The video, directed by Nzingha Stewart at the height of her music video career, reflects early-2000s Black mainstream R&B visual grammar: theatrical studio settings, dramatic lighting, and rapid cutting synchronized to vocal performance. Director notes: Confirmed via IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27436522/) as director of the 2002 music video for K-Ci & JoJo's 'It's Me,' a single from their fourth studio album Emotional (MCA Records, November 26, 2002), produced by Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins. The video was released in 2002 concurrent with the album. IMDb lists a runtime of approximately 4 minutes, consistent with the archived file duration of 225.85 seconds (~3:46). Stewart was an active and prominent music video director during this period, noted by Boards Magazine as an Inaugural Director to Watch in October 2000.