Tide is Cool Like That

I can't front on artists trying to make some extra cash in these trying times. Record sales ain't what they once were and the attention span of the Hip Hop audience rarely lasts longer than the average ring tone. Old schoolers appear at lame radio shows and at NBA halftimes. They creep up on reality TV shows, pen memoirs, and occaisionally bless a verse on some random remix.

So it wasn't too much of a surprise when I caught Digable Planets' seminal hit "Rebirth of Slick(Cool Like Dat)" on a Tide commercial. Again, maybe Hip Hop is dying.

Millions of mommys and clothes washers will now hum the hit from the fall of 1992 while washing their kids' overalls and their dirty sneakers. The hit from the edgy group with the highly skilled female MC, Ladybug, is now rolling with Tide. They bust on the scene that year with the laid back jazzy flow, a deep bass underline, the whole "Hip Hop alternative" vibe before that term even existed.

When they were chanting about their blue-funk cool, who knew it referred to the cold water cleaning ability of a detergent?

Does the housewife in middle America loading up another washer full of dirties know that when Doodlebug spits about his crew of "seven and a crescent" that he is referring to the Five Percent Nation? They're an offshoot of the NOI that teaches radical racial thinking, including the white man is the "devil." But it can get grass stains out!

When they're speaking of Afro-centricity, nickel bags, and the bourough of "Crooklyn" is that some metaphor for the Tide's ability to leave your clothes fresh smelling and soft?

Someone keep an eye out for the new Wisk commercials featuring Public Enemy's "Fight the Power."