Exclusive: David Banner ‘Evolves’ With Gatorade

(AllHipHop News) Rapper/producer David Banner sat down with AllHipHop.com to explain his motivation behind Gatorade’s commercial “Evolve,” which promotes their new G Series products. Banner and BLACKstreet vocalist Kermit Quinn teamed up create the music for the “Evolve” spot, which was produced and written by David Banner.“What we did was imagine if there were only three people,” David Banner told AllHipHop.com on how the music was created. “One dude with a tuba, you had one dude with the snare and side stick and maybe the kick in the bass and we wanted to act like it was a small band, like a three or four piece band from back in the day,” Banner told AllHipHop.com. The Grammy Award winning producer said that his message in the “Evolve” spot is one that he has been trying to deliver to Hip-Hop fans for years. He expressed a bit of frustration in having to produce a nationally renowned commercial, in order to reach his intended demographic. “The song is saying a lot,” Banner revealed to AllHipHop.com. “I actually am surprised and proud of Gatorade for giving us this opportunity to speak our voice. It’s not their responsibility to support our movement. It’s their responsibility to sell Gatorade. That’s what we have to realize. Unless we make ourselves profitable then our movements don’t mean s**t.”The spot features a montage of older athletic equipment as flashes of champions such as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Serena Williams and Boston Celtics Center, Kevin Garnett, Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard, Jamaican track star Usain Bolt and others. The advertisement has been playing during high profile competitions during the NBA Playoffs in addition to the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Finals.“This is one of the first songs that’s not a rap song that people gave me 100% freedom to write what I felt,” David Banner told AllHipHop.com. “It doesn’t matter to me the medium. That’s what God has blessed me with.  That’s what I tell the young rappers. It doesn’t matter if it’s rapping, if it’s a book, if it’s a movie, a book, by any means necessary.  If you really want to do for your people, then it doesn’t matter the medium.  That’s how the devil fools us.”David Banner is preparing to release a new album with producer 9th Wonder titled Death of A Pop Star. Banner handled the lyrical duties on the album, while 9th Wonder crafted the sound. “I wanted to use this 9th Wonder record to prove that I can spit,” David Banner stated. “Like I didn’t want to produce any records.  This record is about the death of the black contemporary musician.”The full Q&A will run on AllHipHop.com tomorrow.