3LW - I Do (Wanna Get Close To You) ft. Loon

2002

3LW - I Do (Wanna Get Close To You) ft. Loon (2002) Director: Chris Applebaum Era: Early 2000s Bad Boy R&B/Pop Crossover (2002) - Peak era of Bad Boy Records' influence on teen-targeted R&B, blending nightclub aesthetics, hip-hop fashion, and polished pop production for a mainstream TRL-era audience High curatorial value as a precisely dateable artifact of 2002 Bad Boy-affiliated R&B visual culture, directed by a major MTV-era auteur. Documents the aesthetic convergence of teen pop and urban hip-hop at a commercially significant moment, and preserves fashion, choreographic, and production design conventions that would define the first half of the decade. Also marks a transitional moment for 3LW, as this was the final single to feature original member Naturi Naughton. Context: Released in 2002 at the intersection of Bad Boy Records' commercial dominance and the peak TRL era, this video encapsulates a specific cultural moment when girl groups with hip-hop affiliations bridged teen pop and urban R&B. 3LW (3 Little Women), a group signed to SoSo Def/Jive, leveraged a Bad Boy Records feature (Loon) to access a wider urban audience while maintaining pop accessibility. The nightclub setting, VIP imagery, and bling aesthetics are direct signifiers of early-2000s aspirational Black youth culture, reflecting the influence of Sean Combs' lifestyle branding on mainstream R&B visual vocabulary. Director notes: Confirmed via IMVDb and Wikipedia as the director of the 2002 music video for 3LW's 'I Do (Wanna Get Close To You)' featuring Loon. The video depicts the group at a nightclub in search of a good time, consistent with Applebaum's prolific early-2000s output directing R&B and pop acts for major labels. The video was released in 2002 as the lead single from 3LW's second album 'A Girl Can Mack' on Epic/Bad Boy Records.