A Time to Shill
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But for whom? None of the bands has exactly burned up the charts, and it seems unlikely that shilling for Calvin Klein will do much to alter their fortunes. It does seem like a surefire way to surrender whatever street cred they might have.
These guys ought to take a hint from the Wu-Tang Clan: if you’re going to use your music to sell lifestyle accessories, why not use it to sell your own? That’s what the New York hip-hop collective’s main man, RZA, has done with “Wu-Wear: the Garment Renaissance,” his recent single with Method Man and Cappadonna. The crew has been hawking its own line of clothing, Wu-Wear, for a couple of years now, and last year opened a retail outlet in Staten Island. A few weeks ago they opened a second store in Atlanta, and the RZA single–taken from the forthcoming sound track to the movie parody High School High–doubles as a commercial to celebrate the expansion.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Smoking Popes photo by Michael Halsband-photo manipulation by Godfrey Carmona.
