Press Yourself: Ridin' with Smokes
The whole point of flyers, posters, merch items, and publicity photos is to attract attention to yourself and/or your event. We at The A.V. Club go through dozens of these things a week, and it's true that some are better than others. In Press Yourself, we reward clever, gimmicky, and/or offensive promotional tactics by highlighting them.
Even with all this talk about the Internet making it easier for just any old band or MC to bypass the usual music-industry trappings and still have a career, there are still those who go to great lengths to project an image of big-label success—nay, conglomerate-grade world domination—before the larger public even has a chance to hear them out. But hey, if your local plumber/Mary Kay sales rep/luxury dog-groomer can plaster business logos all over his or her vehicle, why shouldn't your local entrepreneurial rapper? While walking up to the Barrymore Theatre earlier this month for the Ghostface Killah show there, The A.V. Club noticed a late-model SUV plastered with the giant face and name of South Korea-born, Madison-based MC Smokes, and, of course, his MySpace URL and the logo of his Imperial Music Group label. Going around to the driver's side of the car, we noticed the gas-tank hatch rests in Smokes' chin.
The back end of the car plugs his recent mixtape, Money Back Guarantee. And hey, he's not passing on the cost of this elaborate body-wrap to his listeners: The mixtape is available as a free download through his website. Compared to the way most people (Smokes included) cram their MySpace pages with browser-drowning bells and whistles, this use of marketing-on-wheels seems almost tasteful. Anyway, we mention it today in hopes that Smokes will roll up once again to the Barrymore for tonight's Brother Ali show. We want that weird double-take experience of seeing him out in front of his own giant visage again.
BONUS: Smokes' sidekick, Hypeman D-Boi, has a wrapped car of his own to match! In the spirit of "doin' it big," the two give props to the company that did the wraps, while showing off their rap-mobiles, in this video.
