Words by Jesse Serwer
For their latest Jamaica-inspired commercial, Puma tapped dub poetry/improv crew No-Maddz to play “the world’s fastest band” (“Rocker, Flex And Groove”). The ad, which follows the quartet as they harmonize their way through the Jamaican countryside (where they, naturally, encounter Usain Bolt) is part of a broader campaign tied to the launch of the company’s Faas series of running shoes. Despite the seemingly Dutch spelling, Faas, Puma explains on its entertaining website for the shoes (“It has been scientifically proven the world over: Jamaicans are fast”) was inspired by Jamaica and, specifically, the “less-is-more” approach yardie runners take to training. See the second clip after the jump for an earlier, and longer, Jamaica-set commercial, also featuring Bolt. For a quick background check on No-Maddz, whose Sheldon Sheppard is the star of Storm Saulter’s game-changing new Jamaican period film Better Mus’ Come, check the EPK for their 2010 live album The Trod below, or listen to the album on their Facebook page (linked above).
