Genius Marketing #19: Take it to the next level.

Nike hires the right people. That old Will Farrell joke: I hate your guts but I respect the hell out of you. (I dig their products, too; just not their company.) --RWK [via Carlton]

Rap Songs: Put On (a different song?)

I post this only to be a hater. A terrible song. Kanye can actually sing (Really he can) he doesnt need to use the vocoder, and doesnt need to be waxing sentimental about ho's he aint fucked yet right before he says he misses the fiancee he just dumped. Im starting to love the guy, I am. This is just a shit song though. Why post it? Ive listened to it 10 fucking times, someone else needs to as well.

Young Jeezy ft. Kanye West: Put On (via Z-share)

What Community? #33: I love the energy and the spirit here.

Since I fancy myself some kind of critic, lemme pledge solidarity with AO here, judging only by what I will post below.

Roeper is such a hater. So, I guess as part of the promo for John M Chu's Step Up 2: The Streets, or maybe just for fun, really, he and his star, Adam Sevani, challenge Miley and Mandy to "The Biggest Online Dance Battle in the History of Man Kind"...

Yea, that was dope. Right? Right. Okay, so how do them (idiotic? obnoxious?) jailbaiters respond? Pretty well. It's a better video for that Madonna single than the one she made with JT and Timmy...

Damn, that Channing Tatum guy is kinda tight. But, wait, the next response from the Adam / Chu Dance Crew has even more celebrity cameos. Spot 'em all! (They help you out.)

I'm fucking sold. When I saw TWBB last January there was a trailer for How She Move and I really wanted to see it then. Of course, I didn't remember it, or make time for it. But now I might start watching dance clips all the time on youtube. Also, I just want to see where this goes from here. The energy and the spirit -- both of them -- are fucking dope. The internet is a wonderous tool, platform, theatre and audience. --RWK

Encounter #84: Stress / Burnin' What Community? #32

This is rather unsettling. I don't know if Gaspard and Xavier really see themselves as banlieue bullies but this video certainly says their idea of "and justice pour tous" is anarchic (just like Metallica), their idea of faith is ironic (they believe in themselves, for sure) and their understanding of how to market themselves is pretty smart: only provide provocative art, and shift moods with each offering (see how different all their videos are), and never explain it -- just do it. (Oh snap!) Romain-Gavras directed this video, and a comment on his myspace page says he's the son of Costas-Gavras, which kind of makes sense, considering I've never seen a film by the elder Gavras, since I hear that Costa's style is a similar brand of immersive polemical. The scary thing is this clip's verité style looks so verité that I began to worry: how much are these boys acting? is the banlieue really this terrible? what are the moral implications of all this? how does this compare to Simon's B-more? how does it compare to West Oakland? East Oakland? Richmond? Hunter's Point? I really know nothing about the world. I live in such a safe bubble that my biggest worry right now is whether I'll ever get a job I like, not "Will I ever get a job?" So what's the value of this brand of art, really? Is it supposed to sell the song? It definitely performs an amplified stress with its parade of hate. Is it supposed to provoke me to take stock of ghetto life? I clearly have, at least superficially. Is it just an affective clip, plain and simple? I think it's a good selling technique to say you're not even a part of the world, that you're somehow above the law and that you're here to cause a little ruckus while you can. Sure. But that can be done with a little more joy, right? I'll grant that this could be read as an affirmation of the world in that there is pain in the world, but maybe I just want my music to be more fun. Clearly these boys like Daft Punk a lot, and they're modeling their career/s after the OG French robots, but what Daft Punk did with their robot rock was funnier and cooler and less pompous in a way. Their third single off Homework was "Burnin'." Here it is:

See, this one is definitely about being so cool you set the world ablaze, and want to see it, so long as it's a good time. The firefighter and the kid aren't who Daft Punk are aligned with: it's the Chicago house DJs making cameos next to those French robots at that table. Maybe I'm a wuss, but I appreciate the spirit of this video more. I just don't need to see kids beating strangers up any more. (I like the Burgess version of Clockwork better than the Kubrick version.) But if you do, here's a high quality Quicktime version of stress for you to download and get nervous with in the safety of your home. --RWK