It All Comes Crashing Down

Somewhere…Somewhere, a defiant group of Ca$h Money Millionaires are refusing to pawn their diamond dollar sign insignias in order to pay their mortgage.

Somewhere, the Wu-Tang Clan is sliding towards receivership (“I’m afraid you’re going to have to cut down on your purchases of platinum-plated shuriken, Gza.”)

Somewhere, Jermaine Dupri, no longer bubbling hard in the double-R flashin’ the rings, is picking up bills that he carelessly flung onto a strip club floor.

Somewhere, Jay-Z is looking at the value of his 401(k) and ruefully shaking his head.

Can you feel it?

The heady days of bling have died.

Although I’m still waiting for some rapper to drop a line about watching the TED Spread while waiting for his belly to be fed, the game has clearly changed.

The race to name-check Obama on vinyl has given way to the race to stylize our current economic woes (‘R’ to the… ‘E’ to the….).

And we have a winner.

Off the album, Seeing Sounds, I give you N.E.R.D.’s “Sooner or Later.”

Having discarded eighties-themed coke hop for the moment, in this recently released video, Pharrell and the other guy have turned a sweet, simple breakup ballad into an ode to Wall Street’s woes.

I’ll admit this pick (and the video) is about as subtle as a Zach Snyder soundtrack choice, but there’s something about Pharrell shout-singing, “It’s over/I’m leaving,” that strikes me as note perfect for the times. Isn’t that how we all feel about this recession?

For whatever reason, the video takes an unlikely turn in its final quarter with the market making a miraculous turn toward the celebratory. Given the patent unlikelihood of such an event, I feel that for this video to be truly emblematic of the current financial crisis, it might be best to replace everything after the paired drum kick and guitar wail at 3:10 with either Marc Faber's Gloom and Doom Report or this.

Yikes.

Bonus: Listen carefully to the first fifteen seconds and see if you can pick out the announcement of a “three year low against the Canadian dollar” against the image of a slumping, overweight hedge-fund manager placing brow to hand. Maybe there’s hope after all, Canadians!