MC Hammer literally can’t touch this. This Sunday, the hip hop legend will appear in a Super Bowl ad spot for Cheetos that plays on the snack food’s famous messiness.
The commercial features a man with cheese-dusted fingers avoiding chores like moving a couch or doing paperwork to the tune of Hammer’s hit single “U Can’t Touch This.”
Hammer himself pops up throughout the 30-second spot to sing his famous hook, including once as a mustachioed, sunglasses-wearing baby that the protagonist refuses to hold.
Given that this is the first Super Bowl spot for Cheetos in 11 years, the Frito-Lay-owned brand appears to have taken the go-big-or-go-home approach to Super Bowl marketing. No mere hired gun, Hammer waxed poetic to Cheddar about the beautiful bond between music and Cheetos.
“I think Cheetos and music go hand in hand because all of us as kids ate Cheetos,” he said. “You take the memory of food, the memory of music, combine them together, and you got something great.”
He also commented on the enduring appeal of “U Can’t Touch This”, which marked its 30th anniversary this year.
“It lives on because it still stimulates. Kids see it for the first time right now, and they start dancing. It’s a special gift that’s built inside the song,” he said.
When asked if the music industry would continue to produce lasting hits like his own, Hammer expressed confidence that it would. How they produce them is the question, he said.
“We don’t know the platform. We don’t know if it’s a new AI algorithm that drives engagement and the sharing of music. We don’t know if it’s all going to be by suggestion,” Hammer said.
The most likely scenario, according to the rapper, is that artificial intelligence will produce the hit singles of the future.
“If machines can learn from machines, they could easily learn how to compose,” Hammer said. “They’re already doing it, but it’s going to get better and better. In the near future, you’ll have songs that are completely produced by AI.”
President Donald Trump is talking up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum. While Trump has seized on similar announcements to show that his presidency is boosting the economy, there were already expectations of a massive buildout of data centers and electricity plants needed for the development of AI.
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