I am going to have to find a way in the room with the decision makers when they seek to infuse Hip-Hop, culture and music in their big budget campaigns. Take the new colorful, delightfully artsy commercial with the eternally enigmatic Jay Electronic and Toyota. What could have been an epic moment in an already epic year, Hip-Hop fans were simply left flustered and, in some cases, upset.
The video is vibrant. There is a dope beat. There is a golden clash of commerce, color and culture. Early in, we see Jay Electronica writing something (presumably rhymes) and later rapping as paint bounces off booming speakers. The only problem: not a single bar is uttered during the whole 3-minute melodramatic episode. The tease was real and it only activated the savage in the rap fan still awaiting an album from Mr. Electronica.
So, we are simply left with more questions from Jay-E. That’s nothing new. Mystery is his brand. Are we going to get an actual track? Will there be a follow-up commercial that reveals a new song? Does this tie-into a bigger project like Jay-Z’s relationship with Samsung? We don’t know, so there is opportunity to make this right. Until then…they just got a free look on a bunch of sites through an artist we respec. That beat was ripe for J.E. to rip too.
Yes, the art was cool, but we all know why we watched the whole video.
