Synopsis

Wyclef Jean performs "Perfect Gentleman" in a lavish ballroom filled with dancers and partygoers, framing the song as a playful salute to gentlemen's clubs and the women who work in them. The video then shifts into a mock academic setting, where Jean appears as a college dean presenting his philosophy of proper behavior. Hope joins the narrative as the stripper whose ambitions extend beyond the club, while scenes filmed around Washington, D.C., including the White House, give the production a grand, tongue-in-cheek scale.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in Washington, D.C., and includes a recognizable shot outside the White House.

• Wyclef Jean plays more than a straightforward performer. In the ballroom scenes he acts as the host of an extravagant spectacle, while the later college-dean sequence turns the song's title into a mock lesson in manners and romantic conduct.

• Hope, who contributes a featured verse to the song, also appears in the video's storyline as the dancer with plans to use her work to pay for college.

• Harry Tait, one of the song's co-writers, makes a guest appearance in the video.

• The clip was included as an extra video on the UK CD single release of "Perfect Gentleman."

• The song's central refrain and the video's comic presentation helped turn an otherwise provocative premise into a polished, radio-friendly early-2000s pop-rap presentation.