#Rap

Few true car enthusiasts are able to respect MTV’s Pimp My Ride, but that hasn’t kept it from being a hit with the kids. Big shiny rims and bigger, shinier, TV screens are all it takes to aim a teenybopper’s attention toward a car.

Regardless of the mechanical merit behind the show, or lack thereof, the once-hardcore gangster rapper turned TV personality, Xzibit, quickly became a poster boy for tricked-out transformations. If that image proved one thing since it’s inception in 2005, it’s commercial marketability.

Something about the lowriders of Long Beach and bong-rattling bass that seems to accompany is a recipe for sales success, which is something Volkswagen-owned Skoda Auto of the Czech Republic seems to be aware of.

In one of its latest ads, the automaker features a nerdy-looking white guy pulling up to an obvious imitation of the Pimp My Ride garage called “Czech Coast Customs” and saying “Mr. Xzibit, could you fix my car? Please?”

In seconds, the car is mutilated and dragged out with sparks flying. Then, in typical fashion, Xzibit pulls a cloth off the kid’s new ride, a Skoda Yeti. Watch the commercial below, it’s pretty funny.

Despite being the only example in the world, the Maybach Exelero has been around the block a few times. First concieved as a concept car for Fulda Tires (who wanted to use the vehicle for tire testing), the Exelero then appeared in a Jay-Z video.

Cars like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Ferrari F430 and Cadillac Escalade tend to be the standard rap video vehicles, but independent R&B artist Frank Ocean, a mega-talented R&B singer with a lot of internet buzz, tends towards the enthusiast end of the spectrum.

The album art for his record Nostalgia, Ultra features an orange BMW M3 from the early 1990s, and his newest video, for the hauntingly beautiful song Acura Integurl features not just one but two modified Acura NSXs carving through canyon roads. Considering Ocean’s love of cars that are oriented towards “Go” rather than “Show” we’re pleasantly surprised at his choice, but support it wholeheartedly. The only thing missing are the actual engine noises, which would nicely compliment his pitch perfect vocals.

Video after the jump

Dr. Dre’s long awaited new album Detox has had more false starts than the Toyota FT-86, but the legendary hip-hop producer has finally released a single, titled I Need A Doctor. If you like hip-hop music, you’ve doubtlessly heard the song by now, but you might not have seen the video, which involves a horrific crash involving a Ferrari 360 Modena.

The intro to the video has Dre driving the 360 along some twisty mountain roads while reflecting on his earlier rap career, followed by the Doc losing control of the car and crashing violently. While the crash scene is pivotal to the entire video, we were a little surprised that the crash was real, and not done via CGI or any other method. Then again, with video budgets reaching higher and higher, a used 360 is probably a fraction of what it costs to put together the actual video.

[Source: Carscoop]

Behind the scenes video after the jump

The undisputed king of automotive-themed rap songs is Rick Ross, whose “Maybach Muzik 2” and “Aston Martin Muzik” have provided back to back bangers for hip-hop junkies who also like six-figure whips.

At the bottom of the scale we have a gentleman named C.KhiD, an up and coming rapper who didn’t take the advice of countless fore-bearers and “keep it real”. Instead, he joined in a horrible collaboration with Jeep to create “2011 Jeep Wrangler Music”. While only one of Autoguide’s staff is into hip-hop, we could smell a rat immediately, and it only took one listen for us to declare the song as “worse than the  Sebring “.

This type of marketing is so transparently uncool that it will probably turn off anyone who comes into contact with the song. Even more astonishing is that Jeep sponsored this guy for a tour (according to the press release below) but Jay-Z’s one line in “On To The Next One”, where he talks about how he “bought a Jeep, tore the m*********ing doors off” probably did more for the brand than any youth-oriented marketing campaign ever could.

[Source: Jeep]

Video and press release after the jump