 | This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: article. (December 2023) |
Average Homeboy (also known as Denny Blaze and Denny Blazin Hazen) is the creation and alter ego of Cleveland-based AV artist Denny Hazen.[1]
Hazen (as Blazin Hazen, a self-proclaimed "Suburban White Rapper") was the subject of a circa-1989 video demo tape that mysteriously appeared on YouTube in 2005,[2] and achieved viral video status in a relatively short time.
"Average Homeboy" polarized viewers and critics, who were divided between praising the inherent entertainment value of a sincere, clean-cut teenager in 1980s attire attempting to rap, and denouncing the excesses of the era, absurdity of the rap, and ineptitude of its star, yet it garnered the attention of several prominent news and infotainment entities, including Time[3] and VH1,[4] as well as men's culture magazine Complex, which, in a 2011 article, included it in its list of the 100 Best Viral Videos of the 2000s.[5]
- ^ Stipe, Zach. "Once lost demo vaults rapper to Internet fame". Vindy. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
- ^ Kane, Dan. "Unexpected fame continues for 'Average Homeboy'". Canton Rep. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
- ^ Friedman, Megan (March 28, 2010). "Top 10 YouTube Train Wrecks". Time. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
- ^ "The Greatest> Ep. 72, 40 Greatest Internet Superstars". VH1. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
- ^ "The 100 Best Viral Videos of the 2000s". Complex. Retrieved March 24, 2014.