Guest Editorial
Even if you've never tasted Cristal, you probably know what it is. After all, the highend champagne has been mentioned in lyrics by everyone from Ludacris to Jay Z, making it the 8th most referenced brand in music in 2005. With all the attention - and the increased sales such attention generates - you'd think Cristal would embrace hip hop culture, thanking its spokesmen and women, i.e. rappers, for the extra income. Not quite. Frederic Rouzaud, the managing director of Cristal, recently gave The Economist magazine the impression that he was less than happy with hip hop's obsession with his company's product, saying "we can't forbid people from buying it." With all the free endorsements rappers have given Cristal over the years, it's no surprise that Jay Z, platinum selling artist and record executive, took offense to Rouzad's statements. Let's hope others in the game will wake up and become more mindful of the products - and the images they broadcast to the world.
Hip hop music and culture has, both formally and informally, pushed a variety of products over the years. Cadillac, Nike...you name it and an artist has mentioned it in a song. And those lucky corporations profit greatly. After all, hip hop is consumed all over the world and many - including young, white suburbanites - learn everything there is to know about urban culture by listening to the music and watching the videos. If Scan "P. Diddy" Combs says "Pass the Courvoisier," chances are millions will do just that. Until now, mainstream rappers haven't paid much attention to the impact their words have. Sure, Common and others are mindful of the images they project, but they are the exception. With Jay Z calling for a boycott of Cristal, it seems hip hop is poised to move away from the brash materialism that has become its calling card.
In the 1980s, rap music moved from the fringes to the mainstream. As the popularity of groups such as Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions grew, the music ceased to be just about parties and good times and became highly politicized. With the rise of political rap came the introduction of gangsta rap, which depicted the performer's inner-city reality of violence and drugs. Gangsta rap gave way to the West Coast vs. East Coast drama that dominated the music through much of the 1990s. Fast forward to present day and rap music has many sub-genres: political, gangsta, party and everything in-between. Despite the variety in the music, it seems these multi-billion dollar corporations - the record labels, the beer and shoe companies, etc. - only take an interest in the music that negatively reflects upon urban culture. So, when the big corporations go looking for pitchmen, they tend to stick with the rappers that have "street cred," rappers who, for all their immense talent, are spreading images that are detrimental to the very communities they come from.
Jay Z has street cred. And he has talent. With his Cristal boycott, he is ushering in a new era in hip hop culture: that of conscious consumer. Let's hope more rappers take his lead. They can begin by researching the corporate philosophies of the companies they sing about before they expose the brand to millions of listeners. By knowing just what they're pitching, these artists will be setting a positive example for their many young fans.
[Author Affiliation]
Judge Greg Mathis is national vice president of Rainbow PUSH and a national board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
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