The reboot of “A Different World” is on its way but a music video by a recent Winston-Salem State (WSSU) grad featuring other HBCU talent is floating around.
The track appears on The Zenith, the new project from Jada Douthit and S14H. The video for its track “Back To (90s Love)” leans directly into one of the most recognizable pieces of Black college television history.
Inspired by the original “A Different World,” the visual brings that classic HBCU energy to Winston-Salem State University. It features WSSU students and The Powerhouse of Red and White, giving the video a true campus feel.
Douthit is a recent WSSU graduate. She is also a former basketball player for the Rams. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in mathematics and a minor in data science.
Her story already has several layers. Douthit is the daughter of legendary hip-hop producer 9th Wonder. She was also born with significant hearing loss. Still, she became a student-athlete, honors graduate and music producer.
Now she is using WSSU as the stage for her own creative voice.
“A Different World” meets new HBCU generation
The influence of “A Different World” starts at the retro title and goes throughout.
The original series helped shape how many people saw HBCU life. It showed friendships, classrooms, style, music and campus pride. It also made Black college culture feel both specific and universal.
Douthit’s video taps into that legacy while keeping the focus on today’s students. The WSSU campus becomes more than a backdrop. Students bring life to the visual, while The Powerhouse adds sound, movement and tradition.
That matters because HBCU culture has never been limited to one space. It lives in bands, dorms, courtyards, classrooms and creative circles. It also lives through students who turn those experiences into art.
“Back To (90s Love)” fits that approach. The title alone points toward an earlier era, but the execution is rooted in the present. The Collective is not simply recreating the past. She is using it as a foundation for something current.
The timing also stands out. “A Different World” is set to return to a new generation through Netflix. The Zenith arrives in the same cultural moment, showing that the spirit of the original series still resonates. But this is not nostalgia alone.
It is a recent HBCU graduate using the language of the past to tell a new story from WSSU.
HBCU creatives power WSSU-shot video
The project stretches beyond WSSU.
Iris Moon, who sings the hook, is an HBCU graduate from North Carolina A&T. S14H is a former student at Fayetteville State University. The video was shot by The 25th House, an NCCU alumnus.
Swank and Soup are also connected to the project, adding to the creative circle behind the release.
That gives the video a wider HBCU footprint. WSSU is the setting, but the network behind the visual reaches across several Black college communities.
For Douthit, the release continues a remarkable year. She graduated from WSSU. She helped charter the brand new Phi Epsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She released The Zenith with S14H. Now she has a video inspired by one of the most iconic HBCU shows ever created.
The result feels familiar and fresh.
“A Different World” gave viewers one version of Black college life. With “Back To (90s Love),” Jada Douthit is showing another one.
And she is doing it from WSSU.