Branding In Hip-Hop

Malice - Mr. Me Too

We cloud hoppers, tailored suits like we mobsters/ Break down keys into dimes and sell them like gobstoppers

Pusha and Malice of Clipse are notorious for their vivid drug references in most of their music.  Never shy to tell it exactly how it is, Malice is letting the listener know that they lived the life of crime and provide very specific details for all.  In these lyrics, he explains that they are professionals like the stereotypical mobster who wears tailored suits.  All they have to do is break down the drug product into small dime bags.  Then, the sale is as seamless as selling candy to kids, hence the Gobstopper reference.  It also helps that dime bags resemble little Gobstoppers.  

Everyone, drugs are bad for you.  But that won’t stop Clipse from selling it to anyone who is interested.  Whatever it takes to make a living and live that dream.  

Pusha T - So Appalled

Success is what you make it, take it how it come/ a half a mill in twenties is like a billion where I’m from/ an arrogant drug dealer, the legend I’ve become/ CNN said I’d be dead by 21

Pusha is well known for his vivid lyrics on hustling drugs as a means to make money and support himself.  The definition of success is relative to everyone, and in Pusha’s case success is to return to his hometown with stacks full of twenty dollar bills (equaling $500,000) from his drug sales.  He is so good in his drug dealing ways that he feels the success and arrogance that money brings.  CNN, periodically creating articles and blog posts about the life of minorities in lower-income neighborhoods, is mentioned as a way to reinforce the success he has attained.  When statistics and new reports say that drug dealers from lower-class neighborhoods will be dead by 21, Pusha can’t help but feel some sense of immortality.  Especially now that he is a successful rapper on one of the best labels out right now. 

CNN, though with its share of critics, has been a formidable news source for decades.  Their reports are often respected by most.  However, news articles can’t always be right, and stats can’t speak for all individuals.  There is the chance that someone can escape the dark lives they come from and attain success.  However, it is up to the individual on whether the pursuit of that success is legitimate (rapper) or illegal (drug-dealer).  

Pusha T - Mercy

Check the neck check the wrist, them heads turnin’, that’s exorcist/ My Audemar like Mardi Gras, that’s Swiss time and that’s excellence/ Two door preference, roof gone George Jefferson/ That white frost on that pound cake so your Duncan Heinz is irrelevant

If you do indeed look at Pusha T’s neck, wrist and vehicle there is a high chance that you will be impressed (unless material objects don’t impress you).  Anyone impressed will be bound to turn their heads and look at all the flashy objects Pusha had.  The Audemar watch and two door car with no roof shows it all.  Makes you wonder how he got it all.  The white frost on that pound cake that Pusha is referring to is cocaine.  His product is pure and more valuable than any other dealer around.  It’s so white, it even rivals the frosting that Duncan Hines makes.  In fact, anyone who is selling cocaine other than Pusha T may have a better shot selling Duncan Hines frosting when compared to Pusha’s coke.

A clever pun that that ties into Pusha’s old past career as a drug dealer.  Duncan Hines makes many different flavors for their frosting that is sure to be relevant to many families and chefs.  However, leave it at home when you are dealing with Pusha’s “frosting.” 

Pusha T “What Dreams Are Made Of”

I’m what dreams are made of…/ Cocaine, Ronald gave us…/ Then Nancy tried to save us…/ By that time we had Motorola pagers 

Ronald Reagan is famously linked to the crack epidemic of the eighties as well as many social issues that negatively affect African-Americans to this day.  Various inner cities in the country were hit hard by the drug.  Nancy Reagan, first lady at the time, started the Just Say No campaign as an attempt to educate young people on the dangers of drug use.  While it may have worked for some kids, others may not have cared at all what this woman had to say.  In Pusha T’s case, selling crack is a ticket towards achieving dreams of living better.  For Pusha, crack will earn him the finances, status and success.  While it seems like he is glorifying this occupation, he also provides stirring details on life as a dealer and the rewards that comes with it, including Motorola Pagers.  While Nancy gave an attempt to educate people, it is really hard to just say no when you are getting Motorola Pagers and earning enough money to live that “dream life.”

Using Motorola Pagers in this rhyme, Pusha reveals a deeper motivation to a drug dealer.  It is the concept that you can finally afford the things you didn’t even dream of owning, even if there are very dangerous risks involved.  How badly do you really want it though?