His name is Al James, and he just rapped his way into a McDonald’s commercial. It’s a peculiar choice for a fast-food giant to tap into a relative unknown (at least when it concerns the realm of mainstream artists). It’s certainly odd for this writer’s group of friends, whose mention of the name “Al James,” quite frankly, doesn’t ring a bell. Yet a few seconds into his track, Pahinga, which one later fires up on Spotify, it’s a completely different story. That’s the magic of James, an unlikely crossover hip-hop artist who’s managed to rack up 20 million hits on YouTube, and then some. Chances are, you’ve heard the slow bop somewhere, but can’t quite place a finger on it: whether blared over secondhand speakers on the chaotic sidewalks of EDSA, or reverberated in the shadow-filled corners of Black Market.