Some cultures fuse, some collide.
A Well of Death, Disrespect and A New Friend.
Big Dawgs: A whirlwind music video from India.
Selfishly Speaking: Brilliance & ambiguity around winning being everything, amidst Nike’s latest.
Let’s Be Friends: Because who needs people, anyway?
With: Amazon’s sporting ambitions, a dodgy AI-generated campaign, losing cash.
1. Friday Find: Big Dawgs
Coming at you from Bengaluru, via Kerala, Texas a Well of Danger and Def Jam India, this week's dose of pop culture is an adrenaline-fuelled music video that hits hard.
Sooraj Cherukat is originally from Kerala. He moved to Texas as a child, later returned to Bengaluru in 2015, and started a career in music. A couple of weeks ago he released a track that's blown up in all kinds of geographies.
“Pushin' culture baby, got that product you can't measure”
He is Hanumankind, and this latest drop is Big Dawgs, a hard, unapologetic track, housed in a video that is raw and wild, demanding attention. They combine for a whirlwind rap experience.
Arguably, the video plays a huge role in popping this, especially outside of India. Because it features a setting and action that many in India might be familiar with, but looks absolutely mental if you haven't seen it before. The Maut Ka Kuan, or Well Of Death.
Go take a ride on the wall here:
[ I recall filming at a Maut Ka Kuan years ago. My instinct was to dig out a photo memory from then, but this was before those brilliant devices we carry around in our pockets now. ]
I like this video. No hip hop tropes of jewellery and branded clothes and flashy cars. Great beat. “Gritty, no-holds-barred rap”. Huge props to Hanumankind’s partner in crime Bijoy Shetty who has done most of his videos (many worth checking out).
Big Dawgs has exploded by most measures; I stepped into some rabbit holes, so you don’t have to.
climbing to 12m streams on Spotify
gone past 9m views on YT ( Ihave had to refresh this number multiple times)
past 6m on IG and on fire on Tiktok (which is not even available in India)
Hanumankind says he wrote the song in “like, 20mins”.
There's a pretty nifty and seamless Simba beer product placement.
Some of the Youtube reactions & comments:
“no way. This **** sounds like a mixture of Memphis & Texas”
“You think this guyz is from India?”
Why does he look like Quinton de Kock? (the South African cricketer, whose sleepy eyes are a recall for sure :) “
“Nepalese here- hits harder than the rocks falling from the mountains”
“Didn’t know India was chill like that?”
And then these are the nations I saw repped in the Youtube comments section: Mongolia (”mom of two”) Phillipines, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Mexico, Iraq, Germany, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Italy, Tibet, Brazil, Australia, Switzerland, South Africa, Canada, Mauritius, Bhutan, USA, Nigeria, Kenya, Dominica, Spain, PNG, France, Saudia Arabia, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Georgia, Denmark, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Norway, Lebanon, Uganda, Wales, Estonia, Malawi, UK, Indonesia, Surinam, Pakistan, Singapore, Honduras, Greece, Bangladesh, Fiji, Cameroon, Portugal, Hong Kong, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Salvador, Iran, Siberia and Reddit. Then I was done. I couldn’t go through more.
When I die they will not bury me, not what I want
Burn my body, pour my ashes in a river y'all
That's how we knowin' that the flow about to carry on
See immortality's a fallacy, I prove 'em wrong
I can’t entirely let go of the feeling the rapping is a bit derivative, and closing my eyes gives me nothing to say its ‘Indian’. Thats not to say that an Indian artist has to ‘sound Indian’, because there’s no one such thing. Also, this aspect of hip hop- a broader sharing of rap cultures and styles- is integral to that world in a very different way than other music scenes. ‘The culture.’ So lets not (quite) go there today. Maybe it's just that I've got remnants of the other desi hip hop in my head - Divine, Talha Anjun, MC Stan or even Hanumankind’s Go To Sleep with Parimal Shais with *that video which is a tribute to Fight Club! But then, my dips into desi hip hop are occasional, and casual.
Hanumankind also got a shoutout from his idols- Project Pat, whom he references in the lyrics, and Bun B from the rap group UGK.
“These are my idols, my heroes. They hit me up. They’re messaging me, telling me that they appreciate what we’re doing over here. Now I don’t need to care what anyone else says.”
While you are with Hanumankind & Bijoy, take a look at the “tribute to Fight Club” video for Go To Sleep
2. Selfishly speaking.
There has been a lot of chatter around Nike’s latest campaign leading up to the Olympics. There’s the brilliant spot, and plenty of other elements seen across the world.
Creatively, its powerful and riveting, especially the film. Beautifully written. Visually stunning. Iconic athletes. And the cherry - Willem Dafoe's singular, intense, provocative narration.
“Am I a bad person?” captures the ruthless drive of elite athletes- raw, unfiltered, obsessed, even narcissistic. These are qualities we often associate with achievement at the highest level. Yet, are these the only qualities
There's a line between celebrating ambition and glorifying a win destroy-at-all-costs mentality. Nike clearly chooses to walk across that line, not merely smudge it.
“I’m selfish” ; “No empathy” ; a chuckling “I don’t respect you”.
These are thoughts that don’t resonate with my worldview of sport (or life). And definitely not the one that represents the spirit I see showcased overwhelmingly, daily, in Paris 2024.
But then, I am not an elite athlete, and maybe thats their point- “what do you know?”
Yet that in itself departs from what I have thought has long been the Nike space- inclusive, sport for all, inspiring. All the more dissonant when released around an event that is all about the ‘Olympic spirit’. (Of course, it could be said they are going back to earlier roots, on the lines of "You don’t win silver, you lose gold”. Another line I find no connect with.)
Oddly, I did spot one that was less brutal, right here in Singapore.
Collide.
In some ways, it is a collision of worldviews. How we all look at sports’ place in our lives, the role it plays in society, what values it carries and instils. These are not always clear, and definitely not always agreed upon. Such a collision can be more than merely useful for a brand.
Nike describes the campaigns with "Great Athletes Remind the World There's Nothing Wrong With Wanting to Win”, and most would wholeheartedly agree with the notion of burning ambition in sport. But the creatives go beyond just that. It feels like they look to polarise, provoke, grab headspace. And they definitely succeed.
Meanwhile, offset it with this, from Nike around the London 2012 Olympics.
And here's Nike in 2024, also with a powerful, no-holds-barred attitude, but without the exclusion. For these Olympics, to boot.
So, Winning Isn’t For Everyone- creatively brilliant, ethically ambiguous, deliberately provocative?
Post Script
Was the narration by Willem Dafoe or Green Goblin? And are you sure?
The spot is directed by Kim Gehrig, who also helmed the fantastic Sydney Opera House piece I shared some time back.
Nike suffered the worst day in its history last month, reporting disappointing Q4 & full-year results- 2% decline in fiscal Q4 revenues totalling 12.6 billion. A day ahead of the Olympics, shares were down more than 30%.
3. Let’s Be Friends.
"I think the fine people of technology are the only people who watched dystopian movies and thought they were the playbook, not warnings." Brilliant line from Tom Goodwin. What's it about? A new product that even as I write this, I have to wonder if it's some kind of parody.
friend is an expression of how lonely I've felt.
So says Avi Schiffmann, (presumably) the founder/inventor of this product called, erm, Friend. Its intent and use to humanity is best understood ( I use the term loosely), by watching the video and this bare product page.
Watch the ad:
IF this product is real (and there has to be a part of me that believes/hopes that this is some Black Mirror-esque stunt, please?), then woe is us. Though note, it clearly says ‘not imaginary’.
Waiting to see those who tell me why this is such a wonderful use of technology and AI. Maybe this will be "democratising friendships"?
5. Peanut Masala
(where I share stories or tidbits I find interesting)
Amazon is building a sports media empire. “I believe we will be a major sports broadcaster in every major market around the globe”.
Singapore’s Ministry of Finance put out a few ads that caused a bit of a stir. Not because of their message, but the AI generated imagery they chose to use. It’s hard to look beyond “its cheap and kinda quick, so lets do this” as the guiding rationale here, and I get that. But surely there have to be some standards? Or is that the point of AI In advertising- lower expectations till we don’t really care?
Cash transactions are becoming more rare around the world (well yes, clearly, but there’s more). Via
In the last four years, the biggest drops occurred in India, Nigeria, and Thailand.
By 2027, the report predicts that France, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the U.S. will fall below the 10% transaction value threshold for cash.
Off for my brew!