The video for Rihanna's third Rated R single "Rude Boy" has debuted on Vevo, and yes, it looks like an M.I.A. video. That's the buzz on the Internet, and there's no denying that RiRi heavily borrowed some of Kala's style for the clip, which features the singer posing in front of a green screen that blasts out images of lions, zebra prints, floating lips and every color in the Crayola box. To Rihanna's credit, the video does do a great job on a higher budget of emulating the Jamaican dancehall movement that inspired both M.I.A. and "Rude Boy."
Check out Rihanna's fiercest fashions.
At around the 2:30 mark, Rihanna ditches the green screen, dons a skintight cat suit and is seen singing atop a zebra with black balloons mounted to its head. It doesn't make much sense, but after a series of Rated R videos that were linked thematically by being confrontational and violent — "Russian Roulette" and "Hard" — it's refreshing to see Rihanna willing to just strut around a soundstage in crazy wardrobes like it was "Umbrella" again. "Rude Boy" marks the second straight video where Rihanna has teamed with "Sensual Seduction" director Melina Matsoukas, who also helmed "Hard."
For comparison's sake, watch the video for M.I.A.'s "Boyz":