Jay-Z recently announced that he would lead a boycott of Cristal Champagne after the company’s managing director, Frédéric Rouzaud, described the hip-hop community’s embrace of the expensive drink as “unwelcome attention.” Rouzaud told The Economist:
That’s a good question, but what can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it. I’m sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business.
Mind you, I have no beef with Cristal. Hell, I don’t even like champagne. And I certainly don’t support the rampant materialism and nouveau riche consumerism of many hip-hop artists.
But name-checks -- uncompensated product placements -- never made sense to me. While rappers give cachet and street cred to a wide range of products, the beneficiaries of their free advertising laugh all the way to the bank. Folks like Tommy Hilfiger, who reportedly sold his fashion label for $1.6 billion.
Let's hope that more rappers realize that there’s a reason it’s called the music business.
