Clearly making too much money at the moment, American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West, while searching for a theme for the music video to their collaborated hit song, “Otis,” managed to clear a fairly large space in their garage by removing an ultra-luxurious Maybach 57 to be used on the shoot. Not happy with the original styling of this R3 million Mercedes-Benz product, the two decided to take a blowtorch and angle-grinder to the film set and proceeded to “customise” the project.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the end product, and indeed the billionaire artists came in for some criticism once the video finally aired, not least for their efforts in destroying what some enthusiasts would consider a work-of-art, but also for displaying a glaring lack of respect towards those for whom one wheel of a Maybach alone might provide funding for a years worth of warm meals.
In an attempt to make the best out of the poor publicity, what was left of the Maybach 57 was auctioned off on 8 March, with the proceeds earmarked for the Save The Children foundation. Hoping to raise in the region of R1,5 million, auction house Phillips de Pury and Company stopped the bidding at just R456 000. That’s a loss of nearly R2,5 million over the car that originally left the Maybach showroom. At least it made for a fun music video then chaps…
View the video below in case you ever find yourself with an angle-grinder, a R3 million car, and vague aspirations of being a sculptor.