About a month ago the song Hard For (2016) by Kevin Gates made a resurgence on TikTok, or at least on my For You page. The official sound has over 86.1 thousand posts, most being James Charles memes –ugh, i know– and people making generally –subjectively– uninspired and unassuming TikToks. The few videos that are entertaining –again subjectively– are the edits of fictional characters and car commercials that utilise the song. One of the most popular edits, with over 2.2 million views, is one of a Ford F-150 commercial, Forward March (2015). They fit very well together, somehow finding a way to perfectly compliment each other’s energy. This edit, shown below, was posted by @editnicole2323 (Nick) on TikTok.
DISCLAIMER: This song, especially the chorus, is kinda silly. I realise that. Though that doesn’t mean it’s not deep and you can’t read into its message. I’d recommend taking the extra 4 minutes to listen to the full song.
It is difficult to analyze Nick’s TikTok in isolation because it exists within an ecosystem of comments, reposts, and other TikToks that help build a collective understanding of its meaning and why the song being visualised by this Ford F-150 commercial makes so much sense. I’ll. Try. Anyway.
The Song
Gates offers a narrative of a man, particularly a black American man, who has invested his time and energy in the ways in which American society has ascribed to black men. Within this narrative you hear Gates describe drug related gang violence, which he compares to the mafia, “Luca Brasi” is in reference to The Godfather, and the hyper-sexuality of black men and their objectification by women, highlighted in the chorus.
Mistakin' it for trust, starin' right in the eyes Women say they love, but never more than the eyes You the only one that my dick could get hard for I'm confused, what the fuck you want my heart for? You the only one that my dick could get hard for I've been misused, what the fuck you want my heart for?
At the same time Gates understands that the life he’s describing is one that’s unfulfilling and constantly puts him and his loved ones at risk of being harmed. His emotional detachment in his romantic relationships, seeing his only value as his sexual availability, is related to the necessity of emotional detachment required to pursue a dangerous and violent line of work. Gates speaks towards a kind of masculinity that does privilege his male identity; tough, virile, aggressive, emotionless, financial prowess, etc. But in recognizing his identity as a black man in America these qualities not only reproduce stereotypical images of black masculinity, but reproduce the conditions in which this form of masculinity is required to survive. Think of the role that organized crime plays in the prison industrial complex, which targets black men.
The Ad
The March Forward ad offers a more commercial image of masculinity. It is important to note that the only bodies visually represented in the commercial are the bodies of white men (and trucks). This ad isn’t selling the trucks as much as it’s selling access to this “more desirable” kind of masculinity that has white men as the face of it. Similar qualities of masculinity are exemplified in Gates song and Ford ad; toughness, hard labor, heavy machinery, dangerous work environments, etc. The original audio of the ad is a man with a deep voice narrating all of the benefits and perks of the new Ford F-150 on top of an industrial electric guitar instrumental. They take care to show the shiny new trucks in contrast to the hard working men, who have mud and dust and dirt all over their bodies. These men are also wearing protective equipment appropriate to their job sites. It sets up this image of rural masculinity with the depiction of blue collar men and country-type guitar based music, and then it says “this brand new truck is for you, working class American man”. Ford is an American company. This is a white kind of masculinity. It’s hard working and rural identity serves as a benefit not a hindrance, allowing it to be associated with the new shiny, most likely expensive, trucks that the all-American Ford company sells.
An Intersectional Analysis of a TikTok Edit
In the edit the deep voice of the ad’s narrator is replaced by Gates’ gravelly singing voice. The guitar remains a musical staple, but the genre moves away from rock and roll and towards a hip-hop sound with a much stronger beat, both genres of music pioneered by black Americans. This elevates the image of masculinity that’s depicted by the ad, but specifically feeds into the conception of masculinity as aggressive and tough. All together it becomes a working class song to sell a working class car to a working class man. Which is a service to the Ford ad, but a disservice to black American men entrapped by this stereotype. Still the reason why so many people in the comments of this edit recognize it as being “so blue collar” -@jaydalashae or “so American” -@Serena127/7 is because of its emphasis on this hard working class kind of masculinity, that relies heavily on black American influence, whether it be the rock and roll sound of the original ad or the new energy provided by the Kevin Gates song. Again this builds a concept of masculinity that isn’t a real material benefit to anyone. Gates recognizes the unfulfilling aspects of these masculine stereotypes for black American men in Hard For, while the ad is able to bolster and sell this ideal version of masculinity through its American trucks and white men. American men need to buy it, their manhood, because they don’t already posses it, the truck.
I’ve come to the end of this blog post to realise, I don’t fully have a point. I just wanted to share this observation. I don’t think Nick was purposefully making any commentary when putting together this edit, but the conversation is in why this song and this ad fit so well together. Why are they so complementary to each other? Why is this even a relevant conversation to have? It’s probably along the lines of it being important to recognise that there isn’t just one type of man, and masculinity (and its expectations and stereotypes) impact men differently based on other relevant identity factors. . . or something like that.