Where the hell did we make a wrong turn? If you grew up listening to hip hop in the early 90’s it was all about the 40oz of brew. Yes! 40oz of malt liqour PER PERSON wrapped in a brown bag in front of your stoop on a hot summer day or at a pebble beach picnic in Queens (the good ol’ days). Many brands made the 40oz such as Olde English, Colt 45, and King Cobra at that time but the one that eventually took advantage of the hip hop demographic was St. IDES. Rap music was on the verge and many of our favorite 90’s artist all had endorsements for the brand, including Notorious BIG and Snoop. It was “hardbody” as Lil’ Cease would say and it represented what the cement warriors or wannabes were sippin on.
Notorious BIG - St. Ides Commercial
Ice Cube - St. Ides Commercial
Then somewhere in that mix we went from beer to champagne, I think it had something to do with the Bad Boy era crossing into the Rocafella years. All of a sudden hip hop was crazy about some Moet and Cristal. Maybe this was a good representation of how Hip Hop had evolved and stepped their game up or someone figured out if they yelled something a little more expensive than malt liquor in their rhymes that the check might be bigger. Then of course, (this is the part where RapJaydar gets all moist) JayZ said fuck Cristal and eventually linked with Dame a few years later to put out Armadale Vodka. Nothing says “Ballin’ like a rap star” than a 300 dollar bottle of a black man’s vodka sitting on a table at the Supper Club. To be honest by 3am after a couple of drinks I couldnt tell you the difference between Armadale, Absolut, and some Hurricane. After Armadale came Sizzurp (brought to you by the good folks at DipSet), which was a ridiculous name for something that tasted like a purple Alize. Once Sizzurp dropped off the map a more appealing product by the name of Hypnotic started to appear in rap songs and music videos. This light blue substance could mix with any other brand you like and I guarantee you’d be stumbling out the club. Now Hypnotic was light blue, kinda like the Carolina blue on your favorite pair of Jordans so it still had a masculine twist to it.
Sizzurp Promo Commercial (We love DipSet by the way)
Now in 2009 hip hop was introduced to Nuvo. A sparkling pink vodka. Nuvo popped up in videos and hip hop clubs in major cities but I’m not sure if the fellas went to the bar to ask for that crap. How “gangsta” is a bottle that looks like pink lip gloss. Let’s not forget that it taste like a sparkling capri sun pak. This is what it has come to people? This is what some suit came up with for your favorite hip hop artist to promote? You still wondering about the tight jeans too? This all coincides you know.
Hip Hop has been castrated. Grown men running around with tight jeans and pink bottles singing on hooks. Don’t be scared of the truth, embrace it, and do something about it.
Ludacris and MC Serch for NUVO before that Conjure BULLSHIT Luda’s trying to push now
