Antoine Dodson, star of the best viral video of the year (and possibly of all time), has turned his YouTube clip into big bucks. He’s bought a new house for his whole family and hopes to return to school, he tells Us Magazine. Ideally, he wants to open up his own salon or hotel.
To recap:
The folks over at Auto-Tune the News tuned Dodson’s rant and turned it into an R&B masterpiece. And, they didn’t forget Dodson in their fun; he got 50 percent of the profits.
Not only did the catchy hook reach the top 50 on the iTunes music charts, it was redone on Mario Paint, members of Paramore, New Found Glory and Relient K came up with a punk version and the entire North Carolina A&T State University marching band performed it on the football field. NPR did a story on the societal implications behind the fact a song about an attempted rape in the projects could become so popular, but even Dodson said he was glad that he ranted in the end.
“I was angry!” he said. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe this!’ I was really mad and everybody took the video and put it all out there. Now I’m glad that the world knows what’s going on so they won’t sweep this under the rug. This will bring pressure on the police department and investigators investigating the case.”
