I would not have thought Snoop Dogg and TrueBlood would collaborate but then again, who expected to see Jaime Foxx at the Country Music Awards last year? The fact that HBO either paid for this music video to be made or fully endorsed it once it came out makes them even cooler than I already knew them to be. The marketing team behind TrueBlood have been crafty since the beginning - getting Tom Colicchio to hock the Tru Blood beverage like a Diet Coke commercial, selling the Merlotte's uniform that provided another option to the girls that are typically nurses, angels or devils for Halloween, to even building a complete site for the American Vampire League (Tru Blood also has a functioning web site!). Whether you are a fan of the show, of Snoop Dogg, or both you have to give him and the marketing team for TrueBlood credit for crossing a show with a growing fan base with an unexpected music character/pop culture mainstay.
By the way, I would kill, or at least maim, to meet any of the music supervisors HBO has employed for their hit shows starting with The Sopranos, placing Treme at the top of the list. TrueBlood features some great music placement; they are particularly good at fitting the perfect song to the end of an episode and the opening song is a perfect fit with the montage of images. If background music and song placement in shows is not something you pick up on regularly, try tuning into it for HBO, Showtime, AMC, and Current TV shows. I think The Hills and The City have taken it too far and too mainstream though; displaying the song and artist at the bottom of the screen every time there is music on is just annoying and it all sounds alike anyway.
Some of my favorite lines from the song:
"Order you a gin and juice at Merlotte's"
"We can do it in the daytime, Bill won't know a thang"
"Snoop is a thug, I smoke true bud"
Enjoy!
