Get Your Mind Right: NBA Puppets
by Brian Sims
"Dunkin’ on that Reindeer" is the latest commercial in Nike’s MVPuppets ad campaign, starring Kobe Bryant and Lebron James puppets, with holiday themes, and the voice of KRS-One.
The premise itself is a riot: Blitzen, a rogue reindeer in Santa’s stable, is overtaken by jealousy at the thought of Santa hanging out with Kobe and Lebron. He records the equivalent of a reindeer diss-track, challenging Santa (played by KRS) and the two MVPs to a game of basketball; which prompts Santa to drop a response track chronicling the ensuring battle.
"...in the kitchen cookin: eggs & hash / got a call from Blitzen, talkin trash / Ol' Saint Nicky, can't you see / You and your boy's you'll neva beat me… You can tell Kobe you can tell Lebron / and they can meet me on the court it'll be uh uh on..."
Humor aside for one second, the track itself is produced well-enough for Top 40 radio. The beat is actually a hybrid of multiple Rap genres, sporting an old school boom-bap cadence over Death Row-era piano basslines, highlighted by clever Young Jeezy-esque punchlines. And, the cinematography in the video would make Hype Williams himself proud - as it clearly borrows from some of his late '90s conventions.
Once upon a time, I would have been outraged at the clear, in your face, “exploitation” of Hip Hop by corporate America, in this case: billion dollar athletic apparel giant Nike. I would have seen this commercial as another in the long list of co-opted, commodified renderings of black art; what Duke professor and author Dr. Mark Anthony Neal has referred to as the “corporate annexation of black popular music.” Or better yet, in the words of Dr. Christopher Johnson: Danceable capitalism.
After all, the video is “shot” on the playground in the hood (despite the fact that James, Bryant (and ostensibly, Santa) are multi-millionaires). And there’s the nagging but all-too-familiar caricature of black masculinity (remember Lil Penny?). Not to mention the uber-clever colloquial parodies used in the song…for example… Santa is in the kitchen cookin ("hoodspeak" for preparing crack to be sold); and Blitzen is shortened to “Blitz” which sounds virtually identical to another b-word stereotypically associated with Rap music.
But before we scream foul… let’s consider this: Hip Hop marketing has been around almost as long as Hip Hop itself. Life in our monetary society necessitates persuasion of others, and Hip Hop is far from an exception. If you have a problem with Nike leveraging Hip Hop to sell sneakers to “urban youth” than you also have to have a problem with Pfizer selling pharmaceuticals to the sick, CNN selling “news” to the uniformed, Walmart selling food to the hungry, Hollywood selling movies to the bored, Covergirl selling makeup to those with low self-esteem, and universities selling education to the ignorant.
Read the Full Essay @ HipHopDX
by Brian Sims
"Dunkin’ on that Reindeer" is the latest commercial in Nike’s MVPuppets ad campaign, starring Kobe Bryant and Lebron James puppets, with holiday themes, and the voice of KRS-One.
The premise itself is a riot: Blitzen, a rogue reindeer in Santa’s stable, is overtaken by jealousy at the thought of Santa hanging out with Kobe and Lebron. He records the equivalent of a reindeer diss-track, challenging Santa (played by KRS) and the two MVPs to a game of basketball; which prompts Santa to drop a response track chronicling the ensuring battle.
"...in the kitchen cookin: eggs & hash / got a call from Blitzen, talkin trash / Ol' Saint Nicky, can't you see / You and your boy's you'll neva beat me… You can tell Kobe you can tell Lebron / and they can meet me on the court it'll be uh uh on..."
Humor aside for one second, the track itself is produced well-enough for Top 40 radio. The beat is actually a hybrid of multiple Rap genres, sporting an old school boom-bap cadence over Death Row-era piano basslines, highlighted by clever Young Jeezy-esque punchlines. And, the cinematography in the video would make Hype Williams himself proud - as it clearly borrows from some of his late '90s conventions.
Once upon a time, I would have been outraged at the clear, in your face, “exploitation” of Hip Hop by corporate America, in this case: billion dollar athletic apparel giant Nike. I would have seen this commercial as another in the long list of co-opted, commodified renderings of black art; what Duke professor and author Dr. Mark Anthony Neal has referred to as the “corporate annexation of black popular music.” Or better yet, in the words of Dr. Christopher Johnson: Danceable capitalism.
After all, the video is “shot” on the playground in the hood (despite the fact that James, Bryant (and ostensibly, Santa) are multi-millionaires). And there’s the nagging but all-too-familiar caricature of black masculinity (remember Lil Penny?). Not to mention the uber-clever colloquial parodies used in the song…for example… Santa is in the kitchen cookin ("hoodspeak" for preparing crack to be sold); and Blitzen is shortened to “Blitz” which sounds virtually identical to another b-word stereotypically associated with Rap music.
But before we scream foul… let’s consider this: Hip Hop marketing has been around almost as long as Hip Hop itself. Life in our monetary society necessitates persuasion of others, and Hip Hop is far from an exception. If you have a problem with Nike leveraging Hip Hop to sell sneakers to “urban youth” than you also have to have a problem with Pfizer selling pharmaceuticals to the sick, CNN selling “news” to the uniformed, Walmart selling food to the hungry, Hollywood selling movies to the bored, Covergirl selling makeup to those with low self-esteem, and universities selling education to the ignorant.
Read the Full Essay @ HipHopDX
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