Rip Slyme sells his soul to Sony in latest music video
By Darren Murph 
posted February 23rd 2007 5:32PM
posted February 23rd 2007 5:32PM
Here at Engadget, we've got no qualms with a jumpin' beat, and we certainly have no issues with Sony's svelte lineup of (admittedly pricey) Vaio lappies, but even those two shameless endorsements can't hold a candle to Rip Slyme's latest vid. Presumably funded entirely from the linings of Howard Stringer's own pockets, the music video for I.N.G. seems to mock a typical Sony end-of-quarter board room meeting, but after 30 seconds or so of dancing around with Sony laptops (the C-series in particular), we get the feeling this just might be for real. While the artist could've just looped his tune behind a large Sony billboard and got the same message across, the "product placement" here would make any marketing professor quite proud, and while we have no real way of verifying, we'd speculate that Mr. Slyme's producers used a few Sony-branded machines to do the tweaking. So while all these words might not make much sense just yet, click on through when you've got a tick and watch the whole thing through -- now this is a Sony fanboy.[Thanks, Louis S.]
weird, I couldn't find slyme in my dictionary
Well, it worked for Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Oh wait.. No it didn't.
It's funny how Engadget uses the topic of "selling your soul" for the title of this post ... is it becuase it's a Sony product on display here? ... I'm sure if it was oh say an MacBook or even something related to the XBox, Engadget would be using the topic of "This just proves that more people like ... [so and so] ..." ... oh and "Presumably funded entirely from the linings of Howard Stringer's own pockets"??? Yea and maybe Steve Jobs funds all those people out there who say Apple computers are the best ... and maybe, just maybe, Bill Gates funds all those people who say that the first wave of 360s never had bricking issues ... and maybe Stringer is funding me to post this becuase it sounds pro-Sony rite? ... *sigh*
Who are you kidding, did you watch the video?
I dont understand a word they are saying but good lord, that might as well be a 5 minute ad for sony laptops, heh.
Tasogare Surround is still my fav rip slyme song regardless.
yeah, maybe if i knew who he was
It's like somebody took all the subliminal stuff and put it on a billboard...
Also the music is officially now nothing more than "the song from that commercial," much the way car manufacturers have been ruining my playlist since the early 90s.
What the hell is a "Rip Slyme"?
I think the "selling your soul" comment was justified. Why? Because this man probably considers himself as an artist. But he took money to advertise Sony´s products in a videoclip of his song. Money is more important to him than his creative work. Ergo: He has no higher goals than money. Therefor: Sold his soul. :-) But maybe his dream was a load of cash to begin with.
On a different note: Isn´t it fascinating to watch them plan an advertising campagne for a product inside and advertising campagne for that same product. Wow, man... It´s like looking into a mirror reflecting a mirror. Or something.
It´s almost like a parody of a commercial. Only... not. It´s actually just a commercial. And people buy that song?
Rip Slyme is a Japanese hip hop group.
Seriously, is using google or wikipedia really so hard?
http://www.google.com/search?q=rip+slyme
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Slyme
I just like it when they sing wowoowowoowowowowow.
I think this must be one of those internal videos that big companies make to inspire their employees. They sometimes go to great expense, like hiring real-life entertainers, to make them. Somehow this one got out of the office (remember the time Microsoft used a British comedian for their internal motivational movie?).
need.... vaio.... now... wait, wtf are they saying? i think playing it backwards will say buy vaio buy vaio look at all the pretty colors! buy vaio
need.... vaio.... now... wait, wtf are they saying? i think playing it backwards will say buy vaio buy vaio look at all the pretty colors! buy vaio
I couldn't make it half way through the video - that music is garbage... nice laptops though!
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oh dear...it shows how deperate sony really is.
i used to be a semi sony fanboy, but after getting $hitty responses from sony products & services in general, i decided to ditch sony from my buying list without any regret. if sony screws even more on ps3, only the true die hard fans will remain on sony's side & it won't be many
again people please look at kiryen's post again. You might learn something about something outside America.
Sells HIS soul? You don't even know who Rip Slyme are, so why post about THEM?
Never thoguth I'd see the day that one of my favorite japanese rap groups was on an engadget post. Weird.
For those that don't care to use google, Rip Slyme started a japanese rap group known as "Lip's Rhyme", but their fans (japanese) can't pronounce it, so they just changed it to what everyone was saying: Rip Slyme.
Rip Slyme is a pun of the original group's name: Lip's Rhyme (リプス ライム). They're a very mainstream Japanese rap group and a poor representation of Japanese hip hop.
As K Dub Shine of King Giddra once put it:
「リリックつらい 屁理屈ライム」[lyric tsurai, herikutsu rhyme] (annoying lyrics, pointless rhymes)
did anyone stop to think that this is an ACTUAL sony commercial, viral advertising.
and hence, boardroom hip-hop was born.
maybe it will become a trend? I found it very amusing - I would love to sit in a meeting and get a presentation like that, _especially_ the arm-waving movements as the charts appear on screen. And the woo-woo-woo-woo sound.
it's got to be either an internal company vid or a real commercial. this isn't product placement - music takes a distinct back-seat to the products here.
rip slyme is awesome.
I grew up in Asia, and even though this commercial may look stupid to those of us sitting here in North America, I am willing to bet this thing will be a hit.
Howard Stringer is genius. Sony hired him for a reason; he understands how to market western concepts to an Asian crowd. He is a bridge between two fortunes.
it's still windows
as the person said... if you're going to post / criticize ... please... for the love of all that is good... get correct information.
Rip Slyme is not a Mr. Slyme.
Rip Slyme is not like Moby (a one-person techno funk band)
Rip Slyme is a GROUP.... multiple people. Despite them selling their artistic merit (at least momentarily), I still think they're music has some good stuff
my favorite song is "one"
-boojitsu21
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/boojitsu21
So the lappy comes in 6 colors... dazzling.
This video is part of a advertising campaign between the group Rip Slyme and Sony. Basically, the multiple smaller commercials that Sony is airing in Japan are segments of the full vid we're seeing here. See:
http://www.6colors.jp/
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/Concept/Vision/index.html?product=typeC&contents=CM
Anyway, what's the big deal? Celebrity endorsements are huge in Japan and Rip Slyme is a well-known hip-hop (J-hop?) band there. Why shouldn't they make a little money from Sony, as well as get some free press, if they're popular enough to do so? They built their rep on making groovy songs and having light-hearted fun so it's not like they're betraying their image, as you've not-so subtly implied.
Just to add to my last comment, it's interesting to see how the Japanese advertise products as opposed to a more Western style. Check out the links below for a comparison:
Japanese-style
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/Concept/Vision/index.html?product=typeC&contents=cmgallery&movie=mtv04
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/Concept/Vision/index.html?product=typeC&contents=cmgallery&movie=ss01
Western-style
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/Concept/Vision/index.html?product=typeC&contents=cmgallery&movie=mon01
On the whole, I think Japanese commercials tend to be more musical, more absurd, and more visually "busy" than what we see in the USA.
There are definitely cultural differences in play here. In Japan, celebrities aren't looked down upon or cheapened by appearing in commercials, which is one of the reasons why many well known American actors/actresses do commercials in Japan (but then sue all platforms online that show it to American audiences).
I actually enjoyed this clip, I think its a welcome change from all the subliminal product placements in the world right now.
I agree though, I think selling your soul is waaaaay too strong of a phrase to use.