American in Spain

My Rap Video Debut

February 24, 2013

Rap ThumbNormally, I try not to blog about my gangsta days in Los Angeles or all the rival gang members I popped caps in, but every so often one of my homies from da 'Hood calls me up to provide cameo cred to a rising rap star, and I take the private jet back to my L.A. stomping grounds. Snoop and I are still pretty tight, but I had a falling out with Jay-Z after Beyoncé found me a bit too fetching. You know how it is… Was that White Boy enough for you? The truth is that I really am in a rap video. One of my never-met-in-person internet friends, a guy that used to comment around this blog occasionally, sent me a Facebook message this morning asking me if it was really me in this rap video he was apparently watching. This video really is rubbish, but I can't judge, because I often watch some pretty embarrassing stuff on YouTube. It's not so much a rap song as a list of words read out in rhythm. Normally rap songs have some semblance of subject-verb grammar agreement, but this is just a list…of English words that begin with the letter L.

Warning, ladies! My appearance in this video is quite provocative. I appear around the 1:42 mark. Be prepared to swoon.

It is slightly annoying that this Epic Lloyd guy didn't at least seek a little permission to use my photograph. I'm normally pretty helpful when such requests come in, and I probably would've given him permission. It's also a bit ironic, given my life story, that the word chosen, for which my photograph was used, was "leer", which is a much more common word in Spanish – meaning: to read – than in English. An image search for it returns little more than books or people reading. Somehow – search for "leering"? – my photo was located and deemed appropriate enough.

Leering Erik

The really odd thing about this is that the chances of an internet friend I've never met happening upon this video and recognizing a practically subliminal image of my sexy mug seems extremely rare. This leads me to conclude that, for someone who shares as much photography as I do, there are probably many, many more videos, or other forms of art, that use my work without permission than I will ever find and that will never credit me.

It's also a bit creepy that the 100,000+ viewers (in the first month!) of this video have seen me leering at them, if only for a split second.

Peace out.

Word.