Mon 10 Oct 2005
The fact that Mos Def did a commercial for GMC to promote their Denali line of SUV is old news, but I just recently sought out and viewed the actual spot. For those like me who heard the news, but never saw the ad:
Download Mos Def’s GMC Denali Ad
I’m interested in your thoughts on this. The fact that Mos Def did the ad, the ad itself (the rhymes, the beat), etc. Post your thoughts in the comments to this post.
November 11th, 2005 at 4:37 pm e
i held mos in really high regard until i heard, then saw, this clip. he was the only emcee that really embraced the progression of the lower class, and the black community… or so it seemed. i lost a lot of respect when he sold out his values he preached that seemed so honest, but now i have to question his true motives.
December 18th, 2005 at 7:45 am e
I notice that the initial post on this subject is months old now but I’ll toss out my own two cents anyway. I thought the Def/Denali ad was subtle and smooth. Until I found this little spot online while checking to see if that in fact was Mos Def… I thought the ad was brand new because I’d never seen it.
As a good bit of corporate advertising with black stars (or people of color in general) goes, this ad was shown during the wee early morning airing of America’s Black Forum. Why do companies with things to advertise still choose to segregate their ads? African Americans watch more than BET, UPN and/or black awards and talkshows yet advertising geared towards this market is often locked specifically to shows of that sort.
I suppose it could be said that they’re trying to maximize exposure to the specific viewing demographic that’s likely watching it’s still segregation though. Anyway, there’s a whole other argument beyond the breadth and scope of the topic here so I’ll let it go.
I’m happy to see Mos Def out there making money so I won’t rain on his parade. He’s not given nearly the same press or ad opportunities as say 50 Cent and Mos has the more positive image. Again another area that merits its own discussion. The rhyme, the beat of the Denali ad all smoothly, subtle in comparison to so many car ads that really beat you over the head with visuals and volume. It was a nice change.
Too bad that it’ll probably get seen none too often.
February 15th, 2006 at 2:28 am e
Leave Mos Def alone he can do what he wants!His talent speaks for itself!
February 25th, 2006 at 9:54 pm e
Whatever choices Mos makes…Is he selling out? probably but the fact remains he’s got talent
March 29th, 2006 at 6:13 am e
Mos Def is very talented and smart. He has a right to make a living and nothing wrong with liking SUV. As long as he buys made in America…give the man a damn break.
April 2nd, 2006 at 9:19 pm e
Am I missing something? who cares how fantastic the car ad is, or how talented he is! the point is that mighty mos def sold out to dance around in front of a company logo for a couple bucks. I forgive him because of everything he’s given to hip hop, but let’s not get it confused…he sold out.
April 10th, 2006 at 6:03 pm e
I agree with ‘htedrom.’ I love Mos Def’s music, his beliefs and the empowerment that he wants to impart to us. For this reason, I find it really hard to forget what he has to say. I will continue listening to his music, because at least he is sending a positive message.
Actually, I’m having mixed throughts at the moment. Mos Def has acting in A class movies for years. And it’s kind of hard to consider it an artistic endeavor when he’s playing in the Italian Job, a run-of-the-mill, “make money” movie.
I guess it all depends as what you view as selling out. Hell, he could be sitting on a street corner spitting for one would go as far as to say it is “selling out.”
Thanks for bringing the topic to mind, I’ll be checking back when I have a little more composure to my opinion.
April 17th, 2006 at 3:04 pm e
Leave the dude along.. it is a car ad for Christ sake.. not a malt liquor ad or the next shoot up so called “Urban Movie”. He is showing that black people can be in all facets of life, he is movie star who picks good roles and an artist who has some pretty fresh lyrics.
April 18th, 2006 at 5:06 am e
Surprise Surprise, capitalism steals another black man’s soul.
Queen Latifah did a Wal*Mart ad.
Capitalism is designed to destroy the souls of black folk.
To quote brother Malocolm, “you don’t blame the victim, you blame the oppressor. White power is the enemy…” and in this case, you can insert capitalism as well.
of course SUVs are fucked up. Of course global warming is fucked up. Of course Mos is prostituting himself and that’s fucked up.
But it ain’t necessarily all his fault. Yes he deserves to be admonished and publicly condemned for what he did, but we must forgive and forget. the real criminal is GMC.
Much love, much respect, big up y’self.
May 8th, 2006 at 2:23 pm e
Pleeeease! The man gotta eat! It’s just an ad for a truck!... Being underground and real and postive is great, really. But do you expect the man to starve for his beliefs?! Get real…
May 30th, 2006 at 11:54 pm e
I want to know how Mos Def doing a freaking commercial can be selling out. Are you trying to tell me that Black people can’t have nice things. “Oh, I come from the hood, I gotta keep it real, I can’t see out. Come on people, every person’s goal in life is to become successful and when you become successful and have money you buy nice things for yourself wehther your black or white. The commercial is not selling out because there is no such thing as selling out. Who wants to be a poor bum all their life living in the crappy projects? No one.
June 2nd, 2006 at 8:44 pm e
The man is doing what he loves to do: acting and MCing. Leave him alone…
June 8th, 2006 at 12:42 am e
As far as I know his music, Mos has never really avoided the good things in life. Why must he deprive himself of them now that it means he is “selling out.”
What I enjoy about a good artist is exactly what he give me. He rides that wonderful line in between absolute definition. He is neither one stereotype or the other recycled product thrown at me from record dompanies. He is simply Mos Def.
Why does he have to be one way or the other? Why does he have to be either a gun toting thug with malt liqour in one hand trying to hawk his timberlands in the other … or the underappreciated underground, underpaid artist that we can put on a saintly pedestal? Cant he be Mos Def? The guy who has given some great accomplishments to hip hop and the entertainment industry … and happens to like the GMC Denali?
... and happened to make some money before the gas prices force the SUV market to come crashing down around us… haha.
June 9th, 2006 at 10:20 am e
i dont think Mos Def sold out at all. I think he very talented and has alot of various skills and talents. i think he was taking advantage of capitalism to the fullest and why not, we all got prepare befo this worlds ends aiight. make that paper for sho but dont deny him the fact that his lyrics give the black man and everyone else in the hood a direction for us to emulate. holler
June 20th, 2006 at 6:08 pm e
Mos Def probably eats pretty well without doing GMC commercials, or movies, or selling CDs.
This is an argument about obscene income. Why would Def do this commercial? Because he likes SUVs? Maybe. Because he likes money? Probably , but that doesn’t suit his message.
June 28th, 2006 at 11:37 am e
It is only a problem b/c people hold him in this high regard b/c of how his music affects them. the bottom line is mos is a person like the rest of us. he makes good decisions and bad decisions. i’m not saying this was a bad decision…i’m not saying it was good either. it was his decision though. it is not our place to judge him solely on this decision.
July 11th, 2006 at 2:50 pm e
So doing a commercial is selling out? haters please explain selling out? why cant Mighty Mos Def do a commercial? if he appears on TV he is suddently labled as selling out? please explain…
July 11th, 2006 at 2:52 pm e
why stereotype black folks into believing that only the white man can do nice commercials? Is Mos not allowed to own a nice truck? let him do him and be on a commercial, this is not hypocritical of what he stands for. He was doing movies before rapping, why isnt he selling out for that?
July 17th, 2006 at 11:52 pm e
hey the dude is just being real, yeah he has deep lyrical finesse but that doesnt pay the bills, u may call it sellin out but it comes with the territory, even kweli did it when he did nba all star spot.
July 21st, 2006 at 7:16 pm e
hey folks,it is the 21centuary,this is a world for us all,we dont have to feel like black and white everyday,we have millions or wonderful whites and equally millions of terrible blacks!so it’s not color ,its the kind of person you choose to be..yeah capitalims sucks,but who killed tupac???so as pac used to say it is a set up!!discovery just landed back,you have an idea how much it cost to go exploring “empty space” ?billions and what do they spend killing iraqis in the name of spreding freedom and democracy???yet millions of people are dying of starvation in africa and aids is killing people!all this capitalims is just a new form of slavery
millions of the brightest ,smartest africans,chines,latinos are leaving their countries for the promise of a better life here,yet their countries sacrificed taxpayers money to train them,now they are serving capitalims!!so mos def is just another casualty and victim of capitalims
July 25th, 2006 at 5:14 pm e
He’s not selling out by doing an advert.
He keeps his music real, its not lke he was parading about with jewellery in a fur coat with a couple of loose women.
He just did an advert.
And just because he keeps it real does it means he can’t try and reach out to the mainstream.
He can’t stay in a little “underground hip hop” box forever.
For him to spread he’s message he has to branch out to the mainstream as well as the “true” hip hop fans.
And him being black has got nothing to do with whether or not he cannot do an advert.
Just because we are black doesn’t mean we have to subject ourselves to a life of starvation, poverty and depression.
He should be allowed to do an advert.
Regardless of color, and music genre.
August 1st, 2006 at 2:43 pm e
i bet if each of you had the oppurtunity to do a commercial like that you would do it in a heartbeat, i dont think we should be so judgemental about an artist who has greatly contributed to music itself. I actually met Mos Def in Atlanta at one of Dave Chappelle’s stand-up shows and he is very quiet and personal at times. If you met him for the first time you would never expect such a person to be outspoken and influetial. I think the greatest asset in the entertainment bizz is to be one of the greatest known unknowns. Look at 3 6 mafia, in the game for 16 years until recently there story was told and, BAM they have an Oscar.
August 12th, 2006 at 4:59 pm e
I’ve waited a long time to see this ad and the response to it and quite frankly, I feel that anyone who’s taking this to heart as Mos selling his soul to GM for a buck has it all wrong and truely doesn’t understand Black Dante. The man done told y’all “I ain’t no perfect man, I’m tryin to do the best that I can, with what it is I have…” so why are you holding him to standards that defy reality and logic?
The man’s entitled to being both critically acclaimed, socially responsible and commercially successful…what? Would Mos be less of a sellout to y’all if he made the albums for the labels and you got them for free? Puhlease! He is an artist with commercial aspirations and there is nothing wrong with that.
August 20th, 2006 at 2:41 pm e
Look, he sold out. I’m happy that he had the opportunity to do so, and hell, I’m almost happy he did it. It’s nice to see him get some money. I define the term selling out as changing yourself for corporate America. What distinguishes him from many other rappers is that he doesn’t deliver the thug image that’s so popular in rap today, but instead stays true to who he is-namely an eloquent, smart dude. It’s just a bit sad to see him go to work for the same type of big bad corporations that he ridiculed in Takeover. Still…gotta eat. I don’t buy the stuff about white people not liking this ad because it shows a black man doing well. Why would they at a Mos Def website if they hated successful black people?
p.s. alex, I don’t know if i like mos def being compared three six…
August 20th, 2006 at 7:09 pm e
Wow. The ignorance and jealousy is ripe in this thread. So you favorite rapper starred in a commercial? So what? He needs cash too. And I bet for the amount they offered him, theres no way he was going to turn it turn it down. He doesnt car what some schmucks on the internet think of him.
PS: Im a huge Mos Def fan. Get your heads out of your asses.
August 21st, 2006 at 11:11 pm e
I don’t mind the selling out bit so much…after all we are all consumers, are we not? That said, we all have our causes and live with our choices. I think SUV’s are repulsive, useless, and frequently unsafe vehicles that destroy not only our environment, but our communities as well. But maybe the mighty Mos just wasn’t aware of all that.
August 25th, 2006 at 12:30 pm e
The issue here isn’t about a guy “trying to make some money”... we’re all trying to make money in some way or another. Read what this guy wrote about it:
http://www.rapnews.net/0-202-260437-00.html
“You do not deliver your community to corporations.”
September 10th, 2006 at 9:37 pm e
I’ve been a huge Mos Def fan for about a year or so, and enjoy “Black on Both Sides” as my favorite hip-hop album, because it wasn’t the same old song and dance that 50 and the gangsta artists were providing.
At the same time, I’m a big Green Day fan. They recently did some advertisements for Yahoo! and other stuff.
Now, it comes to me as a predicament. I believe the definition of selling out is not doing an advertisement, but more of compromising your sound, and letting the producers tell you what to make. Now unlike “The New Danger”, which I’m not too much of a fan of, he created that music, and more power to him. I’m talking about when people have the songs made for them, or when their vocals are majorly filtered, etc. So that’s not my concern.
My concern is that the advertisement in question is just the thing the people in the projects need to get out of. Buying nice cars isn’t the ticket in life, and Mos knows that. I can tell you this though: I remember a line from “Got” that says that Mos Def likes to have nice things, but you just don’t throw it around like hotcakes. He did one ad, it probably won’t mean anything. He probably likes the damn car. It would be a problem if he had just whored himself to the media, and decided to start marketing something life, “Mos Def condoms” that shit’s ridiculous.
We all make mistakes, some we wish we could take back, but if he seriously likes the car, I don’t think I have a problem with it.
September 27th, 2006 at 12:23 pm e
Seriously, if GM offered you about $500 g’s for the same commerical, would you turn your nose up?
And don’t generalize his songs. “Takeover” is about old, white record labels feeding immoral hiphop to the black community. “New World Water” is about corporations polluting the environment/water for cost reductions. These songs are not about corporations in general.
“Sellout” is putting an ally’s well-being at stake in order to seek white approval or to gain material assets (similar to Uncle Tom).
Mos Def has a job to do. He has to reach the masses with tasteful, soul searching hip hop. He is changeing the world in the Godliest way he knows how. He’s making good business and career moves to achieve this huge goal. He has done nothing wrong. He’s not Snoop Dogg doing commericals that basically endorse immoral, “thugged out” lifestyles.
If you owned a business and had the money to advertise, you would make the same moves as GM. And if you were an artist in the industry trying for positive change, you would make the the same moves as Mos.
I say do your research, set high (respectable and Godly) goals for yourselves and then work hard to achieve them.
Peace.
October 8th, 2006 at 11:12 pm e
You have to make money to donate to charities somehow.
October 10th, 2006 at 1:40 pm e
Listen, I love mos def’s music and his lyrics. He is my favorite hip hop artist because he has stayed true to his message and always writes positive lyrics and continues to progress hip hop.
But to the people that are saying “it’s just a commercial” and “the man needs to eat” are you really mos def fans? Do you have Black on both sides? Have you heard New world water?
New World Water is about conserving energy because we as Americans are wasting it. It is about NOT driving SUV’s (in the song the H2 is used as the example.) Now tell me, you think that rapping about conserving energy and not driving gas guzzling cars and than advertising for an SUV or gas guzzling car is not selling out than what is? What type of message does this send to the people that respect and live by his words?
I guess it sends the message, your words/morals/and values aren’t worth as much as GMC will pay you.
As said by Black Thought of the Roots
“If you ain’t speakin’ your life, your rhyme’s adopted
If it don’t feel right, then stop it”
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:37 pm e
Um (cough) let me begin,
I guess the beat is kinda smooth, but if this ad seems “right” to any of you people that are Mos Def fans, then there’s something wrong with you. I find it hard to believe that even Mos felt comfortable while uttering those hollow lines in front of the camera. It’s cool for him to dedicate time to his acting career, but this is flat out wrong. The car is a gaz guzzler, and from an industrial design standpoint, it’s boring, and borderline butt-ugly to be honest.
If anyone should be worried about global warming, it should be BLACK people, you know, a large percentage of which are stuck in urban concrete jungles were the air stinks to high heavens, and where babies are more likely to be born with lung problems. For God’s sake, of course black people deserve to have “nice things”, but how about a f’in hybrid, or owning a piece of land or a house somewhere greener than the inner city?!? There are a million things more important things that can help move black people forward, ridiculously oversized car ownership is not one of them.
A big ass car does not equal respect or status, it’s just another empty promise. I think of it as more of a pacifier, kinda like McDonalds or BET. Rich(er) peoples have the mobility to move out to greener pastures, aka the suburbs, while a large percentage of those of colour are stuck in the city. At least those ignorant bastards in the suburbs that own SUVs can at least escape the issue for the time being, they have plenty of tree cover and breezy winds. But when you live in the hood and you decide to purchase a gas guzzler, you’re basically suffocating your own damn self.
I don’t know if Mos Def had any ulterior motives with this one, I sure hope he donated the money to charity to offset the negative message he sent out to those young minds that consider him a role model.
Anyway, at at least Adam above seems to understand the urgency of the issue.
“Hey lil souljahs you’re ready for more?
But don’t ask what you’re fighting for”
(mos – the rape over)
December 3rd, 2006 at 6:10 pm e
i’m not really a mos def fan. i don’t know all of his creation, but as much as i know, i like it. and it sometimes speaks to me.
but that’s not the issue, i just saw the commercial and let me say about it that is below average. in my opinion, mos def tryied something new here and it didn’t came out right.
i think that this here is the exception that confirms the rule!
after all he is human and we all make mistakes; in the end it counts only how we overcame them.
so! stop throwing rocks and enjoy the message that he delivers through he’s music.
and remember: do what the preacher says, not what he does!
peace! out!
December 3rd, 2006 at 11:11 pm e
The greater issue is the fact that we all are ‘selling-out’ in some way. Even the simple act of typing these words requires the burning of coal to supply the electricity. This is just an example of how we are all forced to go against our own morals and better judgment in order to survive and function in this society. Bottom-line Mos Def is a musical and lyrical genius and his action of ‘selling out’ should just give cause for us to reflect on ourselves.
December 6th, 2006 at 5:06 am e
I think the ad soils his intentions in trying to do “positive” hip-hop. He has pulled a 180 and went to bat for the same system that he was speaking out against years ago. Listen to Tru3 Magic and the last album, you can tell that his heart is not in hip-hop anymore. He’s an actor and this was an acting job.
December 12th, 2006 at 10:41 pm e
there’s a line from a book by Chuck Palahniuk that expresses my feelings on this pretty well:
“What matters…is what the artist leaves behind, the artwork. Not how you paid the rent.”
April 8th, 2009 at 7:26 pm e
I did not see or hear the ad, but the bottom line is we all have to eat and how is doing a commerical about a suv selling out, but i suppose doing a ST IDES beer commerical that many rappers were doing(NATE DOGG) back in the day was cool. If he did a ad with a FOREIGN CAR would that have been punishable by death. Fall back please I respect him and his music. How many cats sold their soul to the music industry abd we are still bangin their music. Niggas always hatin. At least he is working for his money and not hustling.