Last night I tweeted that I can NOT get enough of this commercial. That’s probably an understatement. It’s in the running for my favorite commercial ever, a title that I don’t just throw around carelessly. But seeing as though every time I see it I join with everyone in giving Dr. J a standing ovation, there is something special about this one.
It took me a while, but I finally figured out the main ingredient that makes the ad appeal to me so much: the perfect melding of the different aspects of hip-hop culture. Hip-hop and basketball have always been connected, so that one’s easy. And bringing in the visual representations of rhythm was smooth. But the real insight of the director was to fold in the biking/skating/rock relationship with hip-hop.
That relationship has existed for a long time. Aerosmith and Run DMC. Puffy’s Benjamins remix. There’s a pretty extensive list there. But it’s really been a mostly one-way street over the years of hip-hop influence flowing into social circles typically dominated by white people. But it seems as though over the last decade there has been a bit more of an exchange of ideas, as can be seen in the fashion trends in hip-hop as well as in some of the musical stylings. Look, I’m not contending that hip-hop is postracial. I’m just noticing that as American youth move more toward a post-racial worldview, hip-hop is coming along for the ride. Both hip-hop and America have a ways to go until they are truly post-racial, however.
But you see the movement in projects like the upcoming collabo album put out by Travis Barker. Dude has some serious heavies on the record, including RZA, Raekwon, Rick Ross, Ludacris, E-40, The Cool Kids, Yelawolf, Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell, Clipse, Game, Bun B & Weezy. That’s more than a token cameo there.
Now the other thing that makes this commercial spectacular is it’s treatment of one Dr. Julius Erving. Everything about it from the mysterious hood, to the clean white suit that matches his white hair, to the big reveal, to the ball passing, to the Dr. J swag strut. Dude looking like a straight bball Jedi. It’s all so money.
It’s so intoxicating that I’ve found myself strutting around campus whenever the song gets stuck in my head. Too bad I’m not nearly as dope as the Dr.
You know what else is too bad? The fact that this commercial gets played rarely, while the three worst basketball shoe commercials ever made (yeah, I’m looking at you, Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, and the Malone/Jabaar duo) are run incessantly. Lame.
Renew and Restore
