00:00Chocolate rain, some stay dry and others feel the pain, chocolate rain.
00:07Remember Chocolate Rain?
00:09That grainy, yellow-tinted video from 2007 featuring a young man with a deep baritone
00:13voice singing about chocolate rain while turning away from the mic to breathe?
00:17If you were around in the early days of YouTube, you know exactly what we're talking about.
00:20Tay Zonday became one of the first viral sensations, but the story behind his rise and where he
00:25is now is even more fascinating.
00:27Let's take a look.
00:28To fame, Tay Zonday was Adam Bonner, a Minnesota native juggling his academic pursuits and
00:33creative passions.
00:34By 2007, Bonner was three years into a Ph.D. in American Studies while moonlighting as
00:39a musician at local open mics in the Twin Cities.
00:41Recognizing YouTube's potential, he created the persona Tay Zonday to separate his music
00:46from his academic career.
00:47In April 2007, he uploaded Chocolate Rain, a self-produced song featuring hypnotic piano
00:52riffs, cryptic lyrics, and Zonday's unmistakable bass voice.
00:56The video's quirky delivery, complete with Zonday moving away from the mic to breathe,
01:00caught fire online.
01:01By the end of the year, Chocolate Rain had millions of views, an astounding achievement
01:05in the early days of YouTube.
01:06What started as a niche hit on 4chan quickly transcended the platform.
01:09Parodies, remixes, and celebrity covers flooded the internet, propelling Zonday to mainstream
01:14fame.
01:15He appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, was parodied on South Park, and even remixed his song for
01:19a Dr. Pepper commercial.
01:20Tay Zonday became the face of a viral internet moment before going viral was even a term.
01:25I don't think so.
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