It is no secret rappers like to party. Whether they are celebrating a momentous occasion in their own personal career or just showing up to someone else’s affair for the free ride, bottles will be popped. Since its inception Hip-Hop has indulged in alcohol, whether it is the best of the best or what they could afford at the time – it was all good.
Now almost 30 years later, there are plenty of liquor brands that are Rap approved for your drinking pleasure. Recently the researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health took a look at the popularity of liquor name dropping in Rap music. The results weren’t all the surprising.
In rap, hip-hop and R&B music, nearly 38% of the tracks mentioned alcohol in some way; 21.8% of country songs and 14.9% of pop hits also explicitly referred to alcohol in their lyrics. Most common were references to tequila, vodka, cognac and champagne in hip-hop, rap and R&B, whereas country and pop music seemed to prefer whiskey and beer.
In honor of their findings, here are 10 specific liquors that have been cosigned by the Hip-Hop generation.
Photo: YouTube, MTV
When it comes to Cognac, Hennessy has had a longstanding position as the go to choice for rappers. With too many songs to list here that it has been mentioned on, we salute Kanye West for being drunk off his ass on that Henny when he interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Before Hip-Hop became a multi-million dollar business, most rappers enjoyed malt liquor. At the top was none other than St. Ide’s. It was steadily available and they were savvy enough to get rappers to endorse it via mini videos.
Snoop Dogg had the entire country drinking gin once he smashed the game with “Gin & Juice”. He famously name checked both Seagram’s and Tanqueray brands as his favorites on his seminal debut Doggystyle. What better stamp of approval can you get?
From the mid 1990’s to 2006, if you weren’t drinking Cristal Champagne then your player status was in serious question. The high priced bubbly reigned supreme as the symbol of success for a rapper alongside his platinum plaque. After some disparaging remarks made by Cristal’s Managing Director Frederic Rouzaud that shrugged off our spending dollars, Jay Z led a boycott that is still in effect to this day.
Now that Jay-Z’s preferred champagne of choice is Armand de Brignac, the “Ace Of Spades” is the new gold bottle of choice within the baller community.
Before flavored vodkas came to the game, Alizé was the way you would enjoy the night with a female. If you were with your crew you would just add some cognac to it and things would go back to normal. Unfortunately Alizé has gone the way of the dinosaur as it is recognized as the liquor equivalent of the throwback jersey.
When it comes to tequila, Patron has served Hip-Hop so well it is synonymous with any special occasions deserving of shots.
With the popularity of Rosé champagne, Moët & Chandon has cornered the market with their Nectar Imperial selection. Your VIP area is struggling if you don’t have this bottle in your vicinity b.
Admittedly Hip-Hop went soft when Nuvo literally became the toast of the town. Made by the same company that brought us Hypnotiq (remember “Incredible Hulks”?), this pink sparkler came in a real sexy perfume shaped liked bottle that had everyone intrigued. Then T-Pain had a diamond pendant made in its honor and we new then to move on.
Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka has cornered the market in terms of perfecting the flavors and bringing sexy back to clear liquor. Sean “Diddy” Combs has made everyone either a CirocBoy or CirocGirl with a constant presence throughout the world of Rap. Hopefully a Ciroc Grape flavor is not in the works or the streets will be in a permanent fix b.
