New York Times Monday, September 2, 2002 Section C1 Hip-Hop Sales Pop: Pass the Courvoisier And Count the Cash

By LYNETTE HOLLOWAY Rappers on the Roc-A-Fella label, charged a penny to provide the kind of including Jay-Z and Cam'ron, are now exposure that companies pay millions Pass the Courvoisier. busily writing rhymes to the of dollars for in advertisement and phonetically challenged vodka, said product placement. What many artists Everybody sing it now. Kareem Biggs Burke, the chief have settled for are free samples of executive officer of the company products. Pass the Courvoisier. along with Jay-Z and Damon Dash, the hip-hop impresario. Jay-Z has "That would be selling ourselves out - So goes a refrain of the popular song, already mentioned Armadale in his - to get paid to advertise someone "Pass the Courvoisier Part Two" by song, "All I Need." else's stuff in our videos," said James Busta Rhymes, featuring Sean Combs, Street Outlaw, a spokesman for who is known these days as P. Diddy. "We've made a lot of money for a lot Armadale Vodka. "We rap about the It became a party anthem du jour. of companies over the years," Mr. things we like." Burke said. "Since we have so much But after the song improved the sales influence, we can make money for But Lyor Cohen, operating officer of of the Cognac, it became something ourselves by expanding our Island Def Jam Records, is negotiating more -- a symbol of the economic businesses. No more Belvedere Vodka with HP Marketing to develop a plan power of hip-hop. or Cristal Champagne in our music or videos."to charge brands for placement in songs and video, a high-ranking "Pass the Courvoisier Part Two" Also trying to cash in for their own company official said. helped increase the sales of the liquor products are Joaquin Dean of Ruff by 4.5 percent in the first quarter of Ryders, who owns Dirty Denim; As hip-hop grows as a mainstream this year and into the double digits in Russell Simmons, who owns Phat genre, rappers are increasingly recent months, said Jack Shea, a Farm and Baby Phat, which is run by appreciating the depth of their spokesman for Allied Domecq Wine his wife, Kimora Lee; and Mr. influence on products. and Spirits, an American arm of the Combs, who owns Sean John. British drinks company that owns ' "Pass the Courvoisier' has changed Courvoisier. Mr. Combs is seeing the benefit of the the rules," said Biff Warren, a push. In a new remix of Foxy Brown's spokesman for Busta Rhymes. The influence of the song has kicked popular single, "Stylin'," she gives a "Courvoisier is in the title and the off a move by hip-hop artists to cash shout out to the hip-hop mogul's chorus. It is itself a character in the in more on the free advertising in their clothing line: "It's necessary we rock video. It has a different meaning in music by rhyming about their own the Sean John with a nice throwback that sense because Busta and P. Diddy products and not just products like and some Air Force Ones (Nike sneakers.)"are so big now that everything they Prada, Gucci, Burberry, Belvedere touch becomes popular and sells. But Vodka, Alize Liqueur, Hennessy For years, hip-hop artists have helped that's not what they're thinking about. Cognac, and Cristal Champagne. the sale of certain products simply by They're thinking about the music." wearing them in videos or mentioning Leading the pack is Roc-A-Fella them in their rhymes. It started in Mr. Warren said that Busta Rhymes Records, the major hip-hop label that 1987 with Run-DMC's "My Adidas." unwittingly turned the "shine," or owns the clothing line Roc-A-Wear Since then, rappers have sung about spotlight, on Courvoisier. "He picked and the film company Roc-A-Films. products in their music, including Courvoisier because it worked in the Roc-A-Fella, whose parent company Tupac Shakur, who talked about Alize song." Mr. Warren said that Busta is Island Def Jam Records, recently and Hennessy and Snoop Doggy Rhymes, who declined to comment, bought Armadale Vodka from a Dogg, whose 1994 hit "Gin and Juice" did not get paid to write the song. Scottish company. extolled Tanqueray Gin. But only a "Busta actually drinks Hennessy," he said. few artists had product lines of their own.

Most hip-hop artists say they have not Mr. Shea, the spokesman for Allied Domecq, said that the company did "Southern Hospitality," says, not pay Busta Rhymes to write the "Cadillac grills, Cadillac mills, song. But after the song's success, Cadillac fills . . . " Besides Ludacris, Allied and Busta Rhymes's label, the rappers Ja Rule and Baby also wax Violator Management, struck a about Cadillac. promotional deal, Mr. Warren said. Hip-hop delivers a potent Avirex, the maker of leather jackets, demographic. Last year hip-hop has enjoyed free publicity from hip- accounted for 21 percent of $5.4 hop artists almost from the beginning billion in music sales in urban areas, of the movement, said Mindy Gale, a according to Soundscan, a system that spokeswoman. While the company tracks the sales of music and music does not pay artists, it gives free video products in the United States. samples. "You need them wearing your product to create a buzz," Ms. Advertisers have also begun to focus Gale said. on 18- to 34-year-olds, the age group that mainly listens to hip-hop. In the Free of charge, Avirex designed an last five years, advertisers have orange leather jumpsuit of embossed increased their spending to $40.3 crocodile for Lil' Bow Wow that he million from $28.7 million, according wore to a photo shoot, Ms. Gale said. to research by Wilkofsky Gruen The company rejected a request from Associates, an economic consultants Eminem to give him free products, group in New York City. Ms. Gale said. "We don't like his image," she said, whispering as if he David Mays, the founder and chief were in the room. Avirex has also executive officer of The Source, the given gear to Method Man of the Wu hip-hop magazine, said that in just one Tang Clan, the rap group from Staten year, he has seen a difference in the Island, she said. way advertisers approach his business. Last year, The Source ran three pages Cadillac is a beneficiary of free of car advertisements, he said. This publicity from hip-hop, too. The year, he projects that the publication company is enthusiastic about the will have 35 pages of car ads by the influence of the music on its sales, end of the year. said Leslie Rajewski, a spokeswoman for Cadillac Escalade in Detroit. "Once our audience takes to a particular product, their influence is The company does not compensate tremendous on the rest of the artists for lyrics or placement of its population," Mr. Mays said. "For cars. But Ms. Rajewski said that years, automakers designed and individual dealerships do lend the marketed their products to the baby vehicles to rappers for video shoots. boom generation. But what they all have found in the past couple of years "Usually when a vehicle comes out at is that in order to go forward, they launch, its popularity fades within a have to appeal to the new generation." year, but not the Escalade," she said.

The sales for Cadillac were up 22 percent in July 2002 compared with July 2001, Ms. Rajewski said. The Escalade, a sports utility vehicle, boasts a 345-horsepower engine and looks like a Prada suit on wheels.

The rapper Ludacris, in his song