The no rap, rap.

Back in college, there was a lot of talk about your "rap." Which meant, the lines you used to pick up women, or at the very least, what you said to a woman when you started talking to her. There was always discussion and envy of the guy with the smooth rap, who always seemed so confident and sure of what to say, and who always seemed to get the girl in the end. Then there's this... the rap with no rap:

http://youtu.be/9uMT9YrEZiI

The phrase came up one night as my friends and I discussed our "raps." I think I said something to the extent that I had no rap and therefore was at a disadvantage, another friend who knew me too well, countered that my rap was the no rap, rap.

Other than the "guy with two first name" I thought this ad was interesting (interesting as opposed to effective, which I'm not sure about). It's not a bio or any other specifically message driven on it's surface. But it's subtext (like many ads) is really where the meat is.

This ad is the political equivalent of the no-rap rap. I hate political ads, so I'm going to talk about my seemingly random friends. But what Gregg is talking about is a way of life, a way of thinking, and his connection to it. I would guess he's betting a lot of Indianians know guys like Hobo and his friends, and somehow, being a kind of regular guy is an advantage against his opponent former Washington, DC Congressman Mike Pence.

Political ads today are almost always about the smooth rap -- the focus on message over everything else. Sometimes that smooth rap is effective, usually when it's authentic, something it's just aired with such repetition that it becomes true, and often it's just a bloodbath with two candidates fighting it out with their smooth raps to see which one voters like the best.

An ad like this stands out, whether it stands out for the right reasons or not, I'm not sure, but it's interesting... or maybe it's just my appreciation for the rap with no rap.