Maxo Kream attends 2024 PrizePicks World Championship at Pullman Yards on November 17, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images for PrizePicks
Houston rapper Maxo Kream has taken a page out of Academy Award hopeful Timothee Chalamet’s marketing playbook to promote his new single “Fake Jeezy,” which dropped today.
During the lead-up to Marty Supreme, Chalamet took some unconventional marketing tactics to get people, specifically young people, to watch the table tennis epic in theaters. The Dune star conducted an 18-minute Zoom meeting to discuss Marty Supreme’s marketing plan with staff from distributor A24, then “leaked” it on Instagram.
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Chalamet presented his bold ideas and unconventional strategies, like leaning into the orange ping-pong ball that is in the movie, having a team of guys with giant orange ping-pong balls on their heads, and commissioning a Marty Supreme blimp, Marty Supreme-branded jackets, all while pleading for more energy from the marketing team that was being ambushed with passion and ideas.
The marketing campaign kind of worked, as Marty Supreme is now projected to gross more than $100 million at the domestic box office. Maxo Kream is hoping for some of the Chalamet magic to rub off on his new single.
On Thursday, Maxo posted a video of a marketing call with his label, echoing Chalamet. In the video, he presents his ideas and frustrations over how he is marketed, making his case for why they should go all out for his latest work.
“Everybody is in here, but I don’t feel like the energy is here, you feel me,” Maxo said on the Zoom call.
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The Alief rapper then drops some bold ideas for the music video, suggesting they rent out NRG Stadium and invite the city to watch, even suggesting they get a couple of private jets and invite some of his Nigerian fans, since Maxo has Nigerian heritage.
“I keep hearing Marty Supreme Christmas day, n—a f–k Marty Supreme Christmas day, it needs to be Maxo Kream this Friday,” the rapper said. “I’m Himothy Chalamet, Maxo C, and the C is for Chalamet.”
Maxo then pointed out that Chalamet had the Marty Supreme blimp fly over Houston with the orange blimp spotted over downtown on Dec. 30. Maxo suggested that they should get two blimps and fly them over the city to promote his new single, to get the critics talking.
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Maxo then disparages popular YouTube music critic Anthony Fantano, who Maxo says is always hating on him but loves his collaborators like Tyler, the Creator, Denzel Curry, and JPEGMAFIA.
“I think Imma do his ass like Marty Supreme did the Japanese n—a in the movie,” Maxo said after calling Fantano bald.
The marketing team acknowledged Maxo’s passion but suggested they may get a live stream with him, Denzel Curry, and JPEG, since they are crunched for time. Maxo ignores the suggestion and doubles down on his requests, suggesting that they attach two snow machines to the blimps and make it snow in Houston as well as handing out Maxo Kream jackets in the style of the viral Marty Supreme jackets for free “on some boss s–t.”
Surprising the marketing team, who have all just been nodding and being very attentive to the Houston rappers’ probably unrealistic, but extremely passionate demands, start asking about who has a snowmobile plug in Houston, and can they get somebody on the phone for a blimp.
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When safety concerns and potential FAA regulations were brought up, Maxo addressed them, saying, “We don’t need this energy for this moment; we need to make it happen.” To which the meeting leader told everyone to make it happen, holding his face in his hands.
After leaking the meeting, Maxo posted an image of two blimps with snowmen on them floating over downtown Houston with the caption “We AIN’T PLAYIN.”
Maxo Kream’s new single “Fake Jeezy,” featuring Denzel Curry, produced by JPEGMAFIA, is available to stream now.
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