Tay Zonday has moved on from chocolate rain to financial pain.
In 2007, Zonday was getting his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota, studying the relationship between theater and social change. Then his video "Chocolate Rain" went viral, racking up more than 73 million views to date, plus an even truer sign of success --parodies on "Family Guy" and "South Park."
Now Zonday, who moved to Los Angeles in 2008 and supports himself mostly through his cuts from YouTube promotions, is taking on a weightier, more complicated subject in "Mama Economy."
It's not as catchy or kitschy as "Rain," nor should the lyrics be used as economics-lesson CliffsNotes. But Zonday uses his authoritative, velvety deep baritone to equally great effect, singing in a sort of smooth-jazz rap lines like "the stocks go up, but the jobs disappear," and "turning thirty, forty, fifty, gotta move in with my parents." The fact that he's 29 but still looks 14 only adds to the charm.
Zonday said that he wanted to put the problems "in layman's terms" and hopes the new song "broadens the number of people who can take part in the discussion of what to do about the economy, because so many people don't know even the basics."
This could be the most fun way yet to learn at least a few of them.
