There are quite a few rappers out there. There are quite a few commercials out there, too. But how many brands attempt to combine the two to sell their product? Well, there’s this Sprite commercial that, quite frankly, is terrible. I’m sure there are others, but the most recent is a new offering from Powerade. Check it out then scroll down for more…
I’m Not Against Rap. I’m not against rappers. But I am against those who put them in commercials. The higher ups at Powerade went the urban route with this ad. I’d call it an air ball coming from the brand owned by Coca-Cola, who infamously used AI to create a poorly received Christmas commercial last year. The rapper in this Powerade commercial is Flau’jae. You might recognize her from this Lil Wayne song or from her career playing college basketball at LSU. Her team recently lost in the women’s tournament and there are rumors she’ll declare her availability for the WNBA. I’ve never seen her play so I guess I know her more as a rapper since I’ve now listened to 2 of her songs. In her defense, while the 30 seconds used in the Powerade commercial was pretty bad, the full track isn’t as bad.
I can’t decide which irritates me more– the arrogance or the choppy delivery style of the lyrics. I’ve been listening to rap since the 90s. It was hard to live in Miami, FL and not know at least a little bit of what was going on in this relatively new genre (early 1990s). Clearly it takes talent to perform this type of music. I’m still constantly in awe of rappers in how they word things, weave stories together, rhyme, their ability to deliver so many words in a few minutes, much less how they remember all those lyrics! I don’t want to take anything away from Flau’jae’s goals and aspirations but goodness gracious this is a terrible song. Either that, or I’ve become one of those people who complain about modern music while championing music “from the good ol’ days.” So I’m seriously asking… does anyone out there think the song for this Powerade commercial is good music?
Mainstream rap music, broadly speaking, is usually about feeding one’s high ego… something like the spotlight effect in psychology. “Everyone wants to be me” because of the car(s) they have, the money they spend, the high end lifestyle they live. The world revolves around them. This is the foundation of most mainstream rap music (and the opposite of traditional country music). This track from Flau’jae is no different. Maybe that’s why the song is so forgettable. It’s just another narcissistic track from an average rapper.
Unlike this gem from the good ol’ days.
-Out of the Wilderness
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Out of the Wilderness 