On the list of things you expect to cross your email inbox on any given day in the digital media biz, this is… Hell, I don’t even know where this ranks. Low? High? Who knows, man. Who bloody knows.
You might remember the name Jesse Willesee from his somewhat notable protest on the steps of Sydney Town Hall, wherein he embraced his inner badass and punched a joint in full view of the constabulary. 420 blaze a trail, d00d.
You might also remember him from his subsequent “protest” on a live ABC forum on drugs, wherein he stood up, removed his shirt, and summarily had the camera cut away from him in a stunt that left precisely no one chortling.
Also there was that one time where he took a bunch of dick pics to make… y’know… some sort of point about dudes and the internet and consent, or something like that.
Dude’s made a couple of points, is what I’m getting at.
Today, thanks to one of the weirdest PR releases our office has ever encountered, we have learned that since his days as an activist, Jesse has since relocated to Hollywood and officially launched a career as a rapper under the name Jesse Sunset.
Per the release, Jesse explains how creatively stifled he felt here in Australia, and the freedom to express himself that a city like Los Angeles has sparked within him:
“Rap wasn’t an option for me in Australia. LA has this vibe like you can do anything. People started asking, “why aren’t you rapping” right away.”
“Rap is the most relevant language of our time and as an artist it’s very limiting to not be able to communicate in that language.”
And so here, against all empirical iterations of better judgment, is Jesse’s debut single ‘Palm Tree Party,’ a collaboration with “viral German rapper and fashion icon” Candy Ken, and inspired by “internet memes and the Beach Boys.”
The accompanying film clip was directed by Jesse, a fact I want you to have in the forefront of your minds before you hit play, and features naught but a disinterested-looking Willesee alongside Ken checking their phones as two scantily-clad women push the boundaries of YouTube’s sexual imagery policy by spitting strawberry milk all over each other.
Shane Skillz, RAED, and now Jesse Sunset. For better or worse, the pantheon of Australian hip-hop music just gained another legend.
Source: Supplied.
