Kathryn Jean-Lopez summarizes:
Cannon's new music video "Can I Live?" tells a tale that's very different from a gangsta's paradise of dirty dancing and booty calls that Cannon may be sandwiched in between on MTV or BET. In the song, the hip-hop pop star tells his life story — or at least the beginning of it and his mom's close call with abortion.
Cannon, 24, appears in the video as a ghost (or an angel, if you prefer) and sings, "Mommy, I don't like this clinic. Hopefully you'll make the right decision, and don't go through with the knife decision."
A scared teen, his mother was on a gurney — that's how close the call was — but got up, and, at least in the video version, ran.
He points out to his mother something she got on some level, or she wouldn't have gotten up: "That's a life inside you, look at your tummy. What is becoming Ma, I am Oprah bound. You can tell he's a star from the Ultrasound."
The video images tell a stirring, gripping story regardless of where you fall in the abortion debate.
Babies are being saved on account of this video. Cannon is currently collected testimonials for a forthcoming book.
