Why is Jay Electronica — the well-respected, not-commercially-relevant emcee — starring in a national Mountain Dew ad campaign? Well, this is exactly the kind of stuff that happens when Jay-Z decides to put you on. Mirroring the look of that magical night of magic at NYC venue the Box when Electronica was officially signed to Roc Nation, the spot shows the dude doing a bit of his recent track “The Announcement†to a fervent crowd that disappears when he closes his eyes and then reappears when he opens them again. We would call out some of the more amusing elements of this — namely, the idea that Jay Electronica’s preshow routine involves swigging Mountain Dew Code Red (“they call me Jay Electronica / fuck that, call me Jay elec-Mountain Dewâ€) — but if this commercial is really going to run on TV, that’s actually fairly commendable, seeing as it’s basically just a long shot of the guy rapping and not doing much else. Better question: Since when does Mountain Dew have TV commercials? And what does Code Red taste like again?
