Stop Rapping To Me

Yesterday Farouk Shami lost his bid to be the Democratic gubernatorial candidate after getting that ass handed to him by former Houston mayor Bill White.

With Shami knowing he was a heavy underdog in the race he made a last-minute decision to release this campaign song in the form of an ad.

In my head I picture some poor misguided soul telling Shami:

1. Rap

+

2. Ad

=

3. Youth (or probably just black) votes.

Whoever the mastermind of this advertisement is, I hope they enjoy their new life pushing KFC’s new boneless chicken filets.

I never thought Jay-Z killed auto-tune, but I definitely think Farouk just put another bullet in its already fledging appeal.

I’m not mad at the artist J. Xavier because a check is a check, but I hope he uses said check to pay for tuition because a successful career in rap seems about as likely as RuPaul posing in Playboy now.

I completely understand the idea of marketing your product to audiences atypical of your core demographic by trying to incorporate themes that appeal to them in your ads, but who wants to hear T-Wack rap to you about job creation and education reform?

Not I and neither did any of the young people who didn’t bother to show up to vote for Farouk. I think this guy’s story of coming to America with $71 and building an empire based on hair care products is admirable, but he looks lame, out of touch, and simpler than a game of peak-a-boo for presenting his story in the form of a dated rap song.

But sadly, I have a feeling where Farouk and others get their inspiration from.

Anyone else sometimes get the feeling that they might have to leave the room whenever the commercials start running because a Soul Train may break out? Or a testimonial?

Thanks to McDonalds – among others – I hear raps, scats, and all sorts of croons trying to sell me everything from a truck to a chicken nugget.

On the other hand, yesterday the Bob Coastes of fuckery, Freshalina, posted a video that reminded of something:

Some people like these advertisements. These Negroes did this on their own accord so I have to acknowledge that hey, this stuff does work on some people (go test group leaders, go).

Which leads to this:

“Mac Snack Wrap with the swag of a Big Mac?”

I appreciate the outreach, but do these companies know that they don’t have to lay it on as thick as gumbo?

Wait, just in case any of you reading this blog works in advertising and marketing please don’t use the phrase “thick as gumbo” in a future ad. Next thing you know Mars will have up billboards off local car washes that read, “Not thicker than gumbo, but thicker than a Snicker.” I don’t want to be held responsible for that.

Look, I didn’t throw a fit about the chicken nugget sing-a-long commercial from a few years ago and for the most part I laughed at Farouk’s ad. But upon further reflection for this post I’m realizing that more and more people think they have to “blacken” their stuff up for black support.

Yeah, the infusion of some color and our commonly shared themes is cool. Using the word swag in an ad is not. Using the word swag period is questionable.

The ends justifies the means, but I really don’t like to be pandered to at great length. I don’t think it’s racist, just a little lazy in some cases.

With that said ya’ll can tell me: Are some of these ads annoying to you, too, or should I go sing that chicken nugget song and shut up?