No More Cris' for Hip Hop

Frederic Rouzaud, the president of Champagne Louis Roederer (the maker of Cristal) recently expressed to the Economist that he wasn't exactly pleased with hip hop's consumtion of the it's champagne Cristal. Since the mid-nineties, when what appears to be the never ended bling-bling era of hip hop began, Cristal along with a number of other expensive, luxurious products (i.e. Dom P., Moet, Maybachs, Cadillac, etc.) have received an priceless amount of free publicity. So Rouzaud's recent comment in the name of Cristal is naturally seen as a stab in the back. Hip hop, being the global trendsetter that it is, undoubtedly made Cristal a household name, which ultimately affected its sells, at least among its urban consumers. I know when I decided I was going to ball out of control before my college graduation and buy a couple of bottles of champagne I went with Moet because I had heard the free advertisement it received from hip hop. I mean what else do I know about expensive champagne???

Having African American's build a brand (or a nation) on free advertisement (or labor) and then turning around and saying that you don't want them to consume your product (or saying that they are only 3/5 of a human being) is nothing new. Timberland did it. Tommy Hilfiger is also rumored to have done so. And now Cristal. In this situation, I am extremely proud to see hip hop step up and say, "Heck naw, shawty." Jay-Z, probably the most respected and influential man in hip hop today, has publicly called for a boycott of Cristal and pulled the brand from his chain of 40/40 nightclubs. (Go Jigga!!!) Cristal was also noticeable absent from the 2006 BET Awards, according to AOL News reports. This is extremely unusual because for the past 10 years every major name in hip hop (Jay-Z, Tupac, Nelly, R. Kelly, Kanye West) have given the brand free publicity via their songs.

However, the question remains, is urban entertainment industry (hip hop, sports, etc.) large enough to affect Cristal's pocketbook. I personally hope so. I'm tired of people disrespecting me and my people and having little or no consequences. I want Cristal and Mr. Rouzaud to sincerely regret the comments made and realize that we (African Americans) will not sit by passively as we, our voices, and our consumer dollars are repeatedly unacknowledged and disrespected. Even more, I wish we would stop making other folks rich and start producing our own quality stuff and bring these big $$$ back to the 'hood. I say lets get our own. Keep as much $$$ as possible in our own community and stop making unappreciative buttholes rich. Just a little food for thought. Check out the AOL news article @ http://news.aol.com/entertainment/music/articles/_a/jay-z-puts-a-cap-on-cristal/20060705065709990001