LimeWire is making its triumphant return with the help of a Soulja Boy classic.
Last week, on July 7, the former file sharing client announced it will be returning in an all new form, different from its origins as an illegal music downloading hotbed. In the video promotion, two kids are shown leaving school and excitedly rushing home to download Soulja Boy's 2007 hit "Crank Dat (Soulja Boy)," which scores the commercial. The video then cuts to the two kids as adults. In a similar situation, they rush home to get on LimeWire. Only this time, they are going on the site to check on an NFT purchase.
The commercial closes with the message, "LimeWire is back. Your place for music NFTs."
Soulja Boy has reposted his fans' responses to the ad on Twitter.
"This man brought limewire back. Legendary," one person posted.
"First Rapper to bring Limewire back in 2022," another person wrote.
In the early 2000s, file sharing softwares like LimeWire and Napster were all the rave with people looking to illegally download anything from music to movies. In 2010, a U.S. federal judge issued an injunction against the company after several record companies and the Recording Industry Association of America filed lawsuits against LimeWire on the grounds of copyright infringement. The owners of LimeWire settled out of court for an amount that was rumored to be in the low nine-figures. In March, the new owners of the LimeWire name announced they would be rebranding as a music NFT marketplace for creatives and collectors.