Taco Bell Tabs Former Employee Lil Nas X to Star in Advertising Campaign

CREDIT: LIL NAS X/YOUTUBE

The wins keep on coming for Montero Lamar Hill. 

Better known by his rap non de plume, Lil Nas X, the 22-year-old openly gay rapper has taken the industry by storm in three short years, going from internet personality to multi-platinum artist with the record for most steams on Spotify. 

Along the way he has set records, avoided most of the public pitfalls of celebrity and even his seeming missteps, like the Satan Shoes fiasco that led to a lawsuit from Nike against the company that produced the entertainer’s signature shoe — have worked out in his favor. 

With music stardom firmly in his grasps and chatter of television and film projects on the horizon, Lil Nas X has decided to do things his way once again and return to a very familiar place to launch the next phase of his career.

Monday Taco Bell said “Yo quiero Lil Nas X,” announcing that the two-time Grammy winner has been appointed the company’s chief impact officer, an honorary role that will allow him to collaborate on the brand experience from the inside out. 

"Lil Nas X knows the job, the experience and the culture Taco Bell creates for its fans - including its people," said Mark King, CEO of Taco Bell of the reasons for the move. "This unique partnership will deliver on more than just marketing, allowing us to tap into the genius of Lil Nas X to inspire our team members and align with our commitment to unlocking opportunities for young people."

Following the announcement Lil Nas X, who famously worked at an Atlanta area Taco Bell in 2017 and featured the fast-food chain in the music video for his song “Sun Goes Down,” joked on Twitter that “life has come full circle, i officially work at taco bell again.” 

life has come full circle, i officially work at taco bell again. https://t.co/Z0xWBdHIFS

— nope 👶🏾 (@LilNasX) August 23, 2021

Initially, Taco Bell will team up with Lil Nas X to offer an “exclusive experience” around the upcoming release of his album "Montero," launching Taco Bell's newest menu innovations. The rapper will make a cameo in Taco Bell's breakfast campaign and is also partnering with the Taco Bell Foundation, announcing awards to the recipients of the Live Más scholarship. A total of $7 million was awarded to 725 students in 2021.

"Lil Nas X is one of the most important voices of this generation," said Jennifer Frommer, SVP Brand Partnerships & Commercial Sync at Columbia Records, of the rapper who plans to release his debut album later this year. "His expertise in understanding social media and youth culture alongside his skills in creating great music makes this partnership with Taco Bell exciting, brave and one of the most innovative campaigns I've had the pleasure of creating."

Beyoncé and Jay-Z Star in New Tiffany’s Campaign

 

Photograph by Mason Poole. Courtesy of Tiffany & Co.

Black is beautiful, and American jewelry powerhouse Tiffany & Co. revealed Monday that it is betting big that it can revitalize the luxury brand and help it expand to new frontiers of cultural impact and profit.

A year after being purchased by Paris-based LVMH, the 183-year-old company — under the direction of the 29-year-old son of LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, Alexandre, who is the executive vice president of product and communications at Tiffany’s — announced that Beyoncé and Jay-Z will be the stars of its latest campaign “ABOUT LOVE.”

"Beyoncé and JAY-Z are the epitomai of the modern love story,” Arnault said of the decision to make the black billionaire couple the anchor for its new creative push, reportedly the result of close collaboration and a shared vision between both the Carters and Tiffany & Co. 

As a brand that has always stood for love, strength and self-expression, we could not think of a more iconic couple that better represents Tiffany's values. We are honored to have the Carters as a part of the Tiffany family.

Tiffany & Co. brings out all the stops in the first images from the campaign. Sharing the stage for the first time in an ad, the couple quoted in a statement from the brand as saying, "Love is the diamond that the jewelry and art decorate," are framed by a painting by another black cultural icon — Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Equals Pi, painted in 1982 and never seen before in public.

Jay-Z, a huge Basquiat fan, rocks a hairdo reminiscent of the artist's own famous locks while the famous couple dons some of the jewelry company’s most famous pieces. Most notably Beyoncé becomes just the fourth woman, and the first black woman, to wear the 128-carat Tiffany Diamond, made famous by Audrey Hepburn who wore it in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

It’s a bold statement for a company that started at a time when many of those with the hue of its ambassadors were legally enslaved and has sought to appeal to a wealthy, mostly white clientele over the ensuing decades.

It’s a new world; however, Tiffany’s says that the “ABOUT LOVE" campaign “reflects its continued support of underrepresented communities,” and as a part of the house's partnership with the Carters has pledged $2 million towards scholarship and internship programs for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Whether or not the effort becomes the game-changer it aspires to be remains to be seen. For now, however, it has both fans and critics of the move buzzing and that may be worth the steep price of admission into a whole new world of luxury advertising. 

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New Anthology Aims to Capture the History of Hip-Hop

If you're feeling down and hip-hop is your medicine of choice,  "The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap" may be just what the doctor ordered. 

Released today, the collaboration between the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the multimedia collection is described by its makers as a first-of-its-kind "collection chronicling the growth of the music and culture from the parks of the Bronx to solidifying a reach that spans the globe."

Featuring 129 tracks spread over nine CDs and over 40 years of hip-hop history, the collection was a natural extension of what the National Museum of African American History and Culture aims to do and a necessary one according to NMAAHC director Kevin Young.

... our museum is about the past but also about the present and the future. And hip-hop has been around with us for 40-plus years, and so it's just a natural outgrowth of looking at the African American experience through a contemporary lens," said Young of the impetus for the project in an interview with the Washington Post,  adding that, "for Smithsonian Folkways, a lot of the desire around this project is really seeing hip-hop as community music, looking at its birth and its origin stories, really coalescing around the idea of community and finding a voice to express joys, sorrows, anger about the current circumstances.

In addition to the tracks, whittled down from an initial pool of around  900 songs suggested by a committee of scholars, artists, journalists and industry folks in 2014, the collection features essays from leading hip-hop figures, critics, and writers as well as a 300-page book designed by Cey Adams, a legendary visual artist and founding member of Def Jam Records.

While the liner-notes, visuals and essays offer an intimate perspective of how hip-hop has changed, evolved and even challenged the norms of society as a medium over its relatively brief existence, it is the music that is the star of the project in Young's eyes.

For me, as someone who's first record I ever bought with my own money was Run-DMC's "King of Rock," I was just blown away by the  tracks, the real breadth of the collection. I think that's really important," he told the Post.  "And having, you know, paper anthologies of poetry and other things, it's really hard to pick, you know, and to pick out of 50 years really of this music. I think it's just so dynamic and powerful. And the essays alone are worth the price of admission, and so to have that music and the essays in conversation with each other, too, is really important.

The Anthology is the third produced by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings that tells the story of a defining era of music “of, by, and for the people." It frequently highlights the objects and stories of hip-hop displayed in the NMAAHC galleries,  in an attempt to offer perspective on the African American experience and its impact on American culture. 

It is currently available for purchase on the Folkways site for $159.98. A complete track listing for the collection follows:

Tracklist

Disc 1

Fatback - King Tim III

Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight

The Sequence - Funk You Up

Kurtis Blow - The Breaks

Funky Four +1 - That's the Joint

Spoonie Gee feat. The Sequence - Monster Jam

Treacherous Three - The Body Rock

Blondie - Rapture

Grandmaster Flash – The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel

Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock

Disc 2

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message

The Fearless Four - Rockin It

Cold Crush Brothers - Punk Rock Rap

Herbie Hancock - Rockit

Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Looking for the Perfect Beat

Run-DMC - It's Like That

Whodini - Friends

Cold Crush Brothers - Fresh, Fly, Wild & Bold

T. La Rock - It's Yours

The World's Famous Supreme Team - Hey! DJ

Newcleus - Jam On It

UTFO - Roxanne, Roxanne

Disc 3

Roxanne Shanté - Roxanne's Revenge

Fat Boys - Fat Boys

Doug E. Fresh & MC Ricky D - La Di Da Di

LL Cool J - I Can't Live without my Radio

Schoolly D - P.S.K. ‘What Does It Mean?’

Run-DMC feat. Aerosmith - Walk This Way

Beastie Boys - Paul Revere

Ultramagnetic MC's - Ego Tripping

Ice-T - 6 'N The Mornin'

Kool Moe Dee - How Ya Like Me Now

LL Cool J - I Need Love

Eric B feat. Rakim - Eric B is President

Mantronix - King of The Beats

Disc 4

Stetsasonic feat. the Rev. Jesse Jackson & Olatunji - A.F.R.I.C.A.

Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Parents Just Don't Understand

Audio Two - Top Billin'

MC Lyte - Lyte As A Rock

Big Daddy Kane - Raw

Marley Marl feat. Master Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, & Big Daddy Kane - The Symphony

MC Lyte - I Cram to Understand U (Sam)

Tone Lōc - Wild Thing

Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - It Takes Two

Jungle Brothers – I’ll House You

N.W.A. - Fuck Tha Police

Public Enemy - Fight the Power

The Stop the Violence Movement - Self Destruction

Too Short - Life Is...Too Short

Slick Rick - Children's Story

3rd Bass - The Gas Face

Disc 5

Queen Latifah feat. Monie Love - Ladies First

Public Enemy - Bring the Noise

De La Soul - Me Myself and I

Biz Markie - Just a Friend

The D.O.C. - It's Funky Enough

2 Live Crew - Me So Horny

Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance

MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This

Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby

Brand Nubian - All for One

Geto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me

A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario

Black Sheep - The Choice is Yours

Salt-N-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex

Yo-Yo feat. Ice-Cube - Can't Play with My Yo-Yo

Naughty By Nature - O.P.P.

Disc 6

Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang

Ice Cube - It Was a Good Day

Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back

Arrested Development - Tennessee

Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)

House of Pain - Jump Around

Positive K - I Got a Man

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)

UGK - Pocket Full of Stones

Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.

Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain

The Pharcyde - Passin' Me By

Eightball & MJG - Comin Out Hard

Common Sense - I Used to Love H.E.R.

Da Brat - Funkdafied

Nas – N.Y. State of Mind

Craig Mack feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Rampage, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes - Flava In Your Ear

Disc 7

Beastie Boys - Sabotage

The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy

Gang Starr feat. Nice & Smooth - DWYCK

Warren G feat. Nate Dogg - Regulate

Snoop Doggy Dogg - Murder Was The Case

E-40 feat. Suga T - Sprinkle Me

Goodie Mob - Cell Therapy

Coolio feat. L.V. - Gangsta's Paradise

2Pac - Dear Mama

Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Part 2

Method Man feat. Mary J. Blige - I'll Be There For You / You're All I Need To Get By

Foxy Brown feat. Jay-Z - I'll Be

Lil Kim feat. Puff Daddy - No Time

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Tha Crossroads

Wu-Tang Clan feat. Cappadonna - Triumph

Busta Rhymes - Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See

Master P feat. Silkk The Shocker, Mia X, Fiend - Make ‘Em Say Uhh!

Disc 8

Missy Elliot - The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)

Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing)

DMX - Ruff Ryders’ Anthem

The Roots - The Next Movement

Mos Def - Mathematics

BG - Bling Bling

dead prez - Hip Hop

Eminem feat. Dido - Stan

OutKast - Ms. Jackson

Nelly - Country Grammar (Hot Shit)

Ludacris feat. Pharrell - Southern Hospitality

Nas - One Mic

50 Cent - In Da Club

Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz feat. Ying Yang Twins - Get Low

Disc 9

Talib Kweli - Black Girl Pain

Kanye West - Jesus Walks

Three 6 Mafia feat. Young Buck, Eightball & MJG - Stay Fly

Rick Ross – Hustlin’

Lupe Fiasco feat. Nikki Jean – Hip-Hop Saved My Life

Young Jezzy feat. Nas - My President

David Banner feat. Chris Brown & Yung Joc - Get Like Me

Lil Wayne feat. Robin Thicke - Tie My Hands

Jay Electronica - Exhibit C

Nicki Minaj - Super Bass

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - Thrift Shop

J Cole feat. TLC - Crooked Smile

Kanye West - Blood On The Leaves

Drake - Started From the Bottom