“I want to be the next youtube star.” – Nicholi Flav, Da Apple Store Kid
I just happened to be on my homey Combat Jack’s Blog over at daily-math.com and I stumbled over a particular post that ended up holding my attention for about 30 minutes. Now, my online attention span is about that of a fly in a clean house. Let me tell you…it takes a lot for me to laugh until tears run, but that is exactly what happened when I saw one of these videos. Very cool and very funny.
Nicholi Flav stands in the massive New York Apple Store and lip synchs Hip-Hop club songs as customers ogle and eyeball him in amazement. So, I had to share this with a few people, but not too many to spoil my column. The first person I IM’d this to was Derek, the Director of Technology for AllHipHop.com, and like adults, we were compelled to make sense of Nicholi and his campaign.
What was this?
Did his mother/father work there on 14th Street? Or was it more sinister like some ingenious viral marketing scheme by Steve Jobs and Apple? Is this a case of a Black kid forcing the digital divide completely closed?
In some ways he reminded me of a younger version of myself, making something out of nothing a decade ago. I’ve always been a Mac freak, from my parents Apple 2E’s with the floppy disks to the present. At AllHipHop.com’s inception I didn’t have the money for Go-Live, Dream Weaver, Photoshop or any of the other snazzy website programs that I managed to obtain by any means. This kid is clearly using video blogging in similar ways for a different set of goals – youtube stardom. This seems pretty simple -he’s having fun.
So why not help a young hustler obtain his goal? Nicholi employs Mac’s Photobooth camera to record these cool videos, plays iTunes and
then immediately uploads to youtube for his thousands of fans. Let us boost those views a bit and everybody wins.
I present DA Apple Store Kid Nicholi and some of the very entertaining videos from the Apple Store on 14th Street in New York City. (Hint, Hint: Major labels…this is a walking, talking social media strategy to promote your music. Apple: he’s right there in your store! Pay this kid!)
Black Eyed Peas – “Boom Boom Pow”
Kid Cudi – “Dat New New” [Viking Remix]
LMFAO –“Love Lockdown” [Remix of Kanye’s Original]
Lil Wayne – “Prom Queen”
Michael Jackson dedication – “Billie Jean”
The kid says thank you.
Bonus – Kid Cudi – “Day N Nite”
For more, check out Da Apple Store Kid Nicholi at his Youtube Channel.
Chuck Creekmur is a founder of AllHipHop.com, a cultural critic, public speaker and yet to be turned into a trending topic. Sometimes, he can be found at www.twitter.com/chuckcreekmur. He wishes he was as cool as Nicholi.
