Bangs gets his own car ad

Some of you might have come across rapper Bangs due to his song Take U To Da Movies, which became a worldwide sensation on Youtube, where it has so far garnered more than 3 million hits. It's popularity was not due to the song's quality, however; Take U To Da Movies is one of the most woeful examples of hip-hop you'll ever come across, to the point where it becomes unintentionally hilarious. I have great trouble watching it - I feel embarassed for the guy - but if you haven't heard it, here it is:



Ugh. Bangs, or "ya boy Bangs" as he refers to himself, is in some ways the canary in the mine of what rap music has become. Too many artists thinks rap is all about the posture, the look and the bling, forgetting that skills on the mic are the foundation of rap; Bangs takes this to its most ridiculous conclusion. A Sudanese refugee who now lives in Melbourne, Bangs has acquired a bizarre level of fame, due largely to his attempts to rap in rudimentary and heavily-accented English.

Well now ya boy Bangs has turned up in the new series of ads for the Honda Jazz. To emphasise how roomy this small car is, Honda have launched a marketing campaign in which members of various subcultural
groups fit themselves inside. It's a clever concept - apart from the rap one featuring Bangs, there is also one asking "How much hipster can you pack into a Jazz?", plus another one featuring bodybuilders and one with ninjas. They are all quite funny - except it is worth noting that everybody seems in on the joke. Except for Bangs, that is, who busts out a verse in his ad that is worse than what a grade 1 kid could write. Check it:



Oh man.

This is the hipster one:


You can check out the others here.

I actually like the quirky humour to the ads. Except I feel bad for Bangs. He's famous around the world, yet he doesn't seem to know it's for the wrong reasons. And Honda are capitalising on that.

Does it matter? Maybe not. Maybe he's "living the dream" and getting paid.

Maybe what bothers me is the fact that so many people are laughing at an immigrant's poor English skills; it plays into some of the more unpleasant stereotypes some people have about migrants.

At least William Hung knew he was terrible. I think.

I'm really hoping Bangs will one day collaborate with Namata.

(Btw, while doing my background research for this post I discovered that googling "bangs movies" gets you a lot more than you bargained for)