Agreed. I saw this last night and wanted to puke, and I didn't even realize it was Common - I hoped it was just some poor sap they got off the street to rap about hoodies and peace for 10 dollars, a free hoodie and a spot in a Gap ad. Now I want to puke even more, repeatedly.

Isn't that Will.i.am from black eyed peas?
http://www.gap.com/browse/category.do?cid=26203&mlink=5058,650402,12&clink=650402
See, Common didn't do nuthin' to you.

Val L: As per your link: Music produced by wi.l*liam, performed by Common.

Upon my first viewing of this commercial, I wanted to puke too! Especially because of the Dave Chapiple (wtf?) reference. However, I heard Common did the commerical to educate Americans about the positive side of hip-hop. Many people automatically assume that hip-hop is all about sex, drugs, and violence. Common wants to prove that hip-hop is also about peace, love, and well... gap.

So, ya not the best defense of common, but I don't hate it as much as the first time I saw it.

You know how desperate Gap is, right? Sales down 8%. That's HUGE. There may not BE a Gap in a year.

There's such a thing as good rap?

Re: Wil.li.am at #4:

So, Common's allowing idiots who think 50 Cent is the whole of hiphop (like, say, TTT at #6) dictate his career choices?

Lame.

# 6

I have one thing to say:

Salt-N-Pepa.

Thank you, Andrew.

Push it real good.

First, in a snarky aside to Val L... that's a clear picture of Common on the post wearing a Gap sweatshirt. Please refrain to commenting on things which you know. (Though I'm happy to have Will.i.am dragged into it because this is just another example of him watering yet another good thing down, and I'm not referring to Fergie's "accident")

Second, thank you David for panning this POS commercial. From the first second I saw this thing I was mortified. If he really wanted to show that there's a positive side to hip-hop he should have dropped a good track while he was cashing in. I guess the only good thing I can say about this ad is that the track thankfully doesn't mention London Bridge or "humps"...

Hm,

Makes me wonder if he secretly hates The Gap, and figured, "I'll take the $$, but give them a POS commercial that they'll run anyway".

And FNARF, you make it sound like this would be a BAD thing.

I am studiously neutral on the topic of retailers.

Gawd, did he really ryhme "hood" with "hood" over and over again? ugh.

Longball: Yes. Yes he did.

Yay, someone cooler than me thinks that commercial sucks. I feel a bit more secure in my judgement of pop-culture.

Common has always been over rated IMO. You should've jumped off his dick when he started selling Coke with your girl Mya.

"it's got to BE real!!"

that commercial made me realize that not all hiphop is about guns, bitches and bling.

Whatever. I'm off to have a Budweiser Select. Keep hating while David Stern tells NBA teams they can't play hiphop anymore. Sometimes you have to cater to the "idiots."

Peace, Love, & Gap,
- Will I Am

Amen.

Hey, some people need to stop waiting for their marching orders from KRS One. All this shit about Hip Hop's not about sex, drugs and violence?

What's next? Rock n' Roll ain't about sex, drugs and Rock n' Roll?

Shiiiit. Some of us are not that excited at the prospect of a Hip Hop equivalent to The Decemberists. Well...Subtle's kinda cool but Young Jeezy got me all like, "Hey! I Love It" so fuck all that.

Come to think of it, why don't Jeezy do a Coke commercial? It's got to be REAL! (And then he pulls out the test vial and shakes up the product 'til it turns blue).

Kanye West's (PROJECT) RED commercial for Motorola isn't much better. Oh well. I agree with David that Common's still pretty hot, and I'd recommend "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" for those who aren't yet convinced.

blah blah blah. hip hop has been selling out since madison avenue noticed it. who cares?

even the fat boys pimped swatch, back in the day.

hip hop artists endorse things for the same reason anyone does: for the money. what, hip hop isn't about money?

what's next, that hip hop shouldn't brag any more?

sheesh!

Think of who the target audience is for this ad--and it's probably not you, or anyone who really knows anything about hiphop. Totally agree with you that it's pretty pathetic, but to those prepster college kids, or suburban families, they'll be all over this. And Gap will again be heralded for good, catchy ads that people want to watch.

Think of who the target audience is for this ad--and it's probably not you, or anyone who really knows anything about hiphop. Totally agree with you that it's pretty pathetic, but to those prepster college kids, or suburban families, they'll be all over this. And Gap will again be heralded for good, catchy ads that people want to watch.

GForce: I have no problem with artists making commercials. But Common's made an embarassingly sucky commercial.

On the other hand, you coined the term "rap-hole" which has got to count for something.

oh. well, in that case, i kinda like the commercial.
it's right in line with the gap's brand, and it works. also, i like common's hat.

Nobody in Chicago is mad at Common. Sure, the rhyme is embarrasing, but he probably thought of it en route to pick up his check. I say get that money. I'd rather artists and companies cashing in from something relatively positive instead of sensationalized violence.

David- Thank you for correcting me with some finesse.

Love Him- The rhymes were clearly influenced by will.i.am, whihc is what initiated the comment to start with. Thanks though, for being the cool guy police.

GAP- Your commercials continue to sell out my childhood and I don't appreciate it. Chill with it already.

God, I loathe holiday commercials. The GAP is sweatshop chic and such a capitalistic monolith that it isn't going anywhere - no matter how bad their sales fall. They'll just hit up the government for a hand-out if things get too bad. Corporate welfare is big business. How could the economy survive without Gap, Baby Gap, Gap Kids, Old Navy, Banana Republic, etc?