Branding In Hip-Hop

Mos Def - Got

Like, come on now ock, what you expect?/ Got a month’s paycheck danglin’ off your neck/ And while you Cristal sippin’, they rubbin’ up they mittens/ With heat in mint condition to start the getti-gettin’

Ever meet someone who constantly brags about their possessions and achievements?  Ever meet someone who has to show it off through status symbols such as expensive liquor and jewelry?  Mos Def has, and he is not impressed.  Mos Def sees these people drinking Cristal and wearing flashy chains (a month’s paycheck dangling off your neck) and warns them about the attention they are attracting.  While many people will be impressed, there will be others that are plotting a robbery with their heat (slang for gun, hence the mittens reference).  And just like that, the Cristal sipper gets “got”

Expensive brands are a must have for some people.  However, be careful where you are flaunting your status.  For a place like Brooklyn (Mos Def’s hometown), you may want to be careful when it comes to attracting the wrong kind of attention.  

And either way, people don’t drink Cristal anymore!

Jay-Z - Pray

Treat shame with shamelessness/ Aim stainless at anuses/ You know what game this is?/ Move coke like Pepsi, don’t matter what the brand name is

Jay-Z provided (in my opinion) one of the greatest movie “soundtracks” ever with “American Gangster.”  As a tie in to the Denzel Washington movie of the same name, Jay-Z details the life and sins of a successful drug dealer.  It is hard to say whether drug dealers deal with inner demons or understand the harm they are causing to citizens.  in the lyrics above, Jay gives an idea on how drug dealers can cope with the conflicting dilemmas they face.  Esentially, treat shame with shamelessness.  Don’t worry about being ashamed.  Just continue to do your job, point your stainless handgun literally at other anuses if you are dealing with an issue, and, most importantly, move your product.  Whether it is pure or less potent than your competitor’s drug, still move it.  Because whether it is “Coke” or Pepsi, you need to sell the product and a lot of it.  Brand name doesn’t matter.

If only all companies could say that brand names don’t matter. Unfortunately they usually do in non-drug dealing occupations.  Hell they even do for many drug dealers, especially Frank Lucas (as seen in his famous brand and marketing lesson to Nicky Barnes).  Still, you gotta respect Jay-Z’s infamous tacit business expertise and selling products no matter what.  After all, he is a hustler that can sell “water to a well.”

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.” 

Cam’Ron “Killa Cam”

Yellow diamonds in my ear, call em lemonheads/ Lemon head end up dead, ice like Winnipeg/ Gemstones, Flintstones, you could say I’m friends with Fred 

The always clever Cam’Ron sure does love jewelry.  While others not doing as well are simply “lemon heads that drop dead”, Cam’Ron is living well with diamonds that look like ice from the cold city of Winnipeg, Canada.  The gemstones are even equivalent in size to flinstone rocks, making someone easily confuse Cam’Ron as a friend of Fred Flintstone.  I mean, Fred does know about big rocks thanks to his work with Mr. Slate at the stone quarry.  And Cam’Ron knows rocks because he is wearing them in his ears.  The yellow diamonds are so big that they can easily be confused with Lemonhead candies.  I personally am not sure about the worth of diamonds based on color and size, but if I had to guess I’m sure there would be a lot of money on those ears.  

Lemonheads are bright yellow and very sweet.  For some, they may look identical to actual lemons.  Customers probably imagine that these nice looking lemondheads have to taste like actual lemons too.  In Cam’ron case, the flavor and look of his earrings are just as sweet as the classic candy.

Ludacris “Roll Out” 

Are you custom-made, custom-paid, or you just custom-fitted?/ Playstation 2 up in the ride and is that Lorenzo-kitted?

In “Roll Out”, Ludacris is detailing all of the monitoring people around him are doing.  Wondering about Ludacris and his life after fame, people ask all types of questions revolving his lavish life.  Does he have all this women?  Is he driving a car that hasn’t even been released yet?  Is it simply customary for Ludacris to be made, paid and fitted?  All answers can be inferred by just looking at Ludacris.  The guy drives in a car with a Playstation 2 installed in it.  Ludacris recorded this song in 2001, less than a year after the PS2 was released.  Therefore, Luda driving with a PS2 in his Lorenzo car in 2001 is pretty kitted.   

Video game consoles have been massively growing in popularity.  No longer are they just for kids.  Everyone wants their hands on the latest gadgets that provide top notch entertainment.  Adding this value into an automobile makes the owner of that video game console even more cooler.  

Hopsin “Trampoline”

I used to be the nigga chicks didn’t wanna hang with/ Sitting alone with a capri sun and raisins/ My senior year in high-school I was always truant/ Had a lot of homework but I would never do it, screw it

Hopsin reflects on his past and remembers those days when he wasn’t the most favorable person in high school.  The torment the underachiever faced was from all over.  He was essentially the little guy that girls didn’t pay attention to, sitting alone in the cafeteria drinking his small Capri Sun and eating raisins.  This all led to him feeling school is not worth the effort, causing him to skip not do any homework.  

Capri Suns are quite the delight for any kid during lunch (I remember I was fascinated by the cool looking pouch it came in).  Maybe in Hopsin’s case, this and the raisins were the only thing that were sweet in his childhood.