Look, it’s rough out there. How rough? Rough enough that even a guy who made one of the best-reviewed albums of the year — and actually has hanging, somewhere in his home or perhaps his studio, a diamond plaque connoting sales in excess of 10 million copies for one album — can’t shift units in significant numbers. Which is to say — of course we don’t have an issue with Big Boi getting paid for doing an NFL/Pepsi commercial. It’s not like he’s really doing anything in the spot all that dramatically different from what one would see in a traditional music video (including driving around, rapping into a microphone, and wearing a cool fedora). And the fact that they chose “General Patton,” maybe our favorite rap song of 2010, is great; the more people that hear this massive beat, the better. Plus, we know they couldn’t actually have him rapping the original lyrics, because (a) they would be irrelevant to the NFC wild-card match-up between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles and (b) they are very explicit. But the opening line used to be “Get the South’s dick up out your mouth.” Now it’s “the season’s on the line so lace up your cleats.” Which do you like better?! [Billboard]
