jay-z is stupid (paraphrased) ...

[upfromsumdirt]

INFLUENCE
Leonard Pitts Jr, columnist

It seems that in recent weeks, Carter, a rap star and music executive known professionally as Jay-Z, has pronounced himself angry with the makers of Cristal champagne. Cristal, you should know, is frequently referenced in rap lyrics as a synonym for the high life, for pimping and drug dealing your way into an existence where the women are always willing, the luxury cars always gassed up, the sheets always satin.


This prompted the Economist magazine to ask Frederic Rouzaud, president of Champagne Louis Roederer, parent company of Cristal, whether it might hurt the brand's image to be associated with such a coarse, outlaw culture. Rouzaud's reply: "That's a good question, but what can we do? We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business."


To which Jay-Z responded angrily. The rapper, who in his music has done as much as, or more than, anyone to position Cristal as hip-hop's bubbly of choice, issued a statement decrying Rouzaud's "racist" statement and calling for a boycott.


And here, it might be worthwhile to observe two facts.


One: Cristal has managed to thrive for most of 130 years without Jay-Z's endorsement. Indeed, the brand is manufactured sparingly and is perpetually sold out around the world.


Two: Cristal retails for upward of $200 a bottle. How, exactly, do you launch a boycott of something most people can't afford? Might as well ask me to boycott Gulfstream private jets while you're at it.


It is, on both sides, a silly contretemps. Still, there is something poignant in Jay-Z's apparent surprise and hurt at Cristal's blithe rejection of hip-hop's operating ethos: that acceptance can be bought.


There has never been an entertainment form that placed as much faith in the healing virtues of materialism as rap. From the days when Run-DMC first extolled the virtues of Adidas shoes, rappers have invoked brand names and branded themselves with talismanic fervor. Timberland! Hennessy! Lexus! S. Carter!


They seem to feel that when you can afford these things, it makes you, I don't know ... complete. As if, with Tims on your feet, Hennessy in your glass and a Lexus in your garage, you're good, you're covered, you're in the club.


For an art form whose artists and fans are largely young, largely black and largely from poor, bullet-scarred neighborhoods, it is a powerfully attractive fantasy. But it is a fantasy nevertheless.


Which is, in so many words, what Frederic Rouzaud just brutally explained to Shawn Carter: that he is not in the club. That no matter how much Cristal he buys, he will never be in the club. Sure, kid, we'll take your money. But don't mistake that for respect. Not while you're young. And black. And reeking of nouveau riche. And representing values that are anathema to our own.


So yeah, I feel sorry for Carter. But at the same time, what's it tell you that he was even surprised?


Among the many lies of hip-hop, this whole notion that wearing or imbibing or driving the proper brand will make you whole is in some ways the most infuriating. It represents a corporatization of cool that would have made Miles Davis ill. In his era, after all, cool meant being an iconoclast, a visionary threat to the status quo. In Jay-Z's era, it is a brand name, it has a sponsor, it can be bought off the rack.


Rap could have been, should have been, a truth-teller and world-shaker. Instead it has largely contented itself with being free advertising for corporate titans, selling fake cool, sometimes with corporate assent, but often, without even a thank-you. Brand names, it says, will make you whole.


It is painful to know that Jay-Z has sold that lie to young people by the millions. What's more painful is that apparently, he also bought it himself.

[derick PO gibbs]

Man, it's good to be grown

These days I couldn't give a what about which rapper, ballplayer or pop star was wearing, drinking or driving the hottest shit. I understand how it all affects/effects my child though and mostly because I loved my shelltoes back when, strictly because Run told me I should.

That being said, I see two things here (not bright enough to take it all in at once). One is, I never had a whole lot of anything at one time except love. When we were hungry, we had just enough to eat to not be hungry anymore, but when we needed family to be family, blessings were an abundance. Still, if I could have bought moms a mansion or my father an island just to go fishing ……… Done!! and I would have told everyone who was listening, and what's more, wrote it into my lyrics.
If I had so much influence on the world over that even folks my own age behaved like impressionable children and wanted to start buying mansions and islands also, hey what the fuck ever. If you can afford it, do you. Jay can pay for big things so he does and brags about it (all it really is, braggadocio type lyrics). I wouldn't tell nobody to stop buying from the companys that made mansions and islands (huh?) because the island and mansion makers really didn't want my name associated with their mansions and islands though. That's like my niece getting mad with one friend and telling another not to play with the one whose "a big old stinky head" right now, just because they can't get along.
And I don't know if that was one point or two because I lost my train of thought, but anyway..... even though bigballers like Iversen and myself aren't directly responsible for everyone else's kids (he already said he ain't no role model), we know how it do around the way. You still hear, "Jordan!!" before layups on the court and it feels real er when you take it to the hole and you're wearing a pair, the same way it must feel to make the logo for Roc-A-Fella (the roc) if you're “blingin” or sipping Cristal, so the new and improved so-called prodigies have to be a little more conscientious of the impact they have..... or care more, I don't know.


Anyway, if Hova's in idiot, is Stephan a hero?



from "The Scent": Ummah Blog

I'm no sports fan, but I know of Stephan Marbury. He has made a fortune playing Basketball and now he is giving back. His brand, Starbury, is fashionable and ridiculously affordable. They are available at Steve & Barry's.

By now many people already know that $100-$200 dollar sneakers only cost about $5 dollars to make. Stephan knows it too. It is simply a crime to pay so much more than what those sneakers are worth. It is a hardship on most everyone. Here's what he has to say about it in his own flavorful way:


This story isn't about taking from the rich.
It's about looking out for those who aren't.

I know what it's like for people who want to shine but can't because prices for sneakers and gear are so crazy. So do the people at Steve & Barry's. And they've been doing this for years.

That's why I hooked up with them and created the Starbury movement. Starbury means maximum shine for minimum expense. Now that's a win-win.

As for those other lines... well, let's just say they like robbin' the 'hood.


.


:
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[upfromsumdirt]

caint stand marbury (not that i know anything about him outside of basketball), but yeah - he's a hero for that one... think i have that story buried sumwhair in the projects/too lazy to dig it up tho. but at the time he was only charging about 15 bucks for a pair of kicks...
...good man!

me? i do the two-for-one sale every 7 or 8 years at footlocker or sumshit...
no allegiance to any brand - ashamed to say that i never ever own't a pair of shell-toes before...
buddy's/chuck's/the original nike runnin shoe was what i came up on, but when i DID pick a brand it was PONY then FILA...

a pair of pony's was the shit.

anyway...
this is the same exact argument that rappers had when timberland said "fuck all'a yall! - our target audience is the outdoorsman, not yall hiphop muhfuckas!"

and tho rundmc is still my all time favorite ol'school act, i blame 'em for gettn all
this 'blingshit' started. yeah, they said "dont want nobody's name on my be/hind"
but after adidas hooked them up, commercial artists began to see the value in
having a brand-name sponsor their shit...

but THAT is the american goal - SELLING OUT. ...maybe not consciously (intentionally) but whatever ur goods are that ur puttin out there for mass (or mini-mass) consumption.
everybody wants to eat good/sleep warm/shit comfortably... would love to see
all the PJs poets get published and earn royalties BECAUSE THE PJs HAS THE BEST
WRITERS. PERIOD.
and if i thought that shoutin out a brand of liquor (POGUE BOURBON IS THE SHIT!) would earn
us enough kickback to push out an anthology then i'd have they name up above
the masthead...

but yeah - it all goes back to bein grown about it.

u caint pitch a fit when ur unsolicited endorsement goes unappreciated.

when u ride the corporate jock, then thats the shit thats supposed to happen.


aint no cryin in hiphop.

[neil]

great post, Ron.

the sow's ear posers at the top of the hiphop
foodchain have done more to destroy the
streetcred of the artform than all the
efforts of neuronally challenged
detractors combined.


it makes me sick.
it makes me sad.
but then i just cue up the real
stuff and they all go away.

[upfromsumdirt]

i caint even enjoy the real stuff like i used to.

i think im waitin on heavy d to make a comeback/word.

[kriticool]

..

Used to think those comin out the lab was meant n suppose to drop bombs. Sometimes kamikazi style..
Mistakes made were part of the process
For quite awhile itz been different. Too much joystick dependent upon bein plugged in.
Spirit~turned into Science~turned into Game~turned into Bizness n Bottomline.
What can u expect when ya made in america? It is what it is.

..

[upfromsumdirt]

im all done with the 'bomb-droppers' - gimme the emcees who are booga-pickers
and im good to go!

(peace to biz!)

[neil]

[rips Dirt off for the 493 millionth time ... stole away 'n' gone]

[blueplanetii]

You can have Heavy D....I'm waiting on the return/rebirth/spawn of

CHUCK D!!! yeah thats whats good in the bluehood!

[poeticrebellion]

Jus how outta place am I? Ancient suckas.

Dirt blame RunDMC and I thought it was Masah P's fault

[upfromsumdirt]

naw, masta p jus built on the foundation... jus like ying yang twins built they
careers off'a the rappin duke (whistle while u twerk? dah-HA-ha-ha!!)