Dollar Van Demos, Joya Bravo, Wordspit and McDonalds

Recently, BirthplaceMag.com spent a day with Dollar Van Demos, a mobile video recording production company that records low-budget music “video demos” performed by artists, in the back of a Brooklyn dollar van, while it travels through the streets, picking up and dropping off regular passengers. We thought the concept was entertainingly brilliant, and our Steven Ortiz returned with a great write up on his ride-along experience with Joya Bravo and Wordspit.

But we’re not the only ones who noticed. McDonalds came a’calling, and soon, a strange advertising marriage was born. Mickey D’s, to promote it’s breakfast “Dollar Menu”, snatched up Ms. Bravo and the DVD crew, and shot a couple of commercials, which are now in heavy TV rotation.

Reactions have been mixed. There are those who are turned off by McDonalds using hip-hop and/or inner-city culture to their benefit, turning what might have been a legitimately underground, sincere artistic effort into a cheesy, made-for-TV gimmick.

There are those who are happy for the exposure to Joya Bravo, and Dollar Van Demos, who have, in all fairness, done the NYC underground music scene a huge service by providing their unique service, free of charge, to several upcoming artists.

In any event, the phenomenon is interesting. We’d like to hear what you think, as NY hip hoppers. Is McDonalds once again molesting hip hop culture and music, or is this a milestone, another breakthrough to the aboveground, that we should be proud of.

Are Joya Bravo and Wordspit sellouts? Or messengers of a movement, reaching the masses by any means necessary?

Read our original coverage, peep the ad and behind-the-scenes video below, read the commentary by advertising blog AdFreak and also check out the New York Daily News article.

---