Jay-Z backs Cristal boycott

[Pittsey]

In response to comments made by Frederic Rouzaud, the managing director of Louis Roderer Cristal, Jay-Z and his upscale sports lounge, The 40/40 Club, have announced that they will no longer be serving Cristal Champagne and Jay-Z will further help lead the boycott against Cristal Champagne in the world of hip-hop.

Despite loyal patronage by Jay-Z, his clientele, and the entire hip-hop community, Rouzaud said in a special edition of The Economist magazine that the company observes its association with the rap world with "curiosity and serenity."

Even though Jay and other rappers continually support the brand by including Cristal in their lyrics, as Jay did in his number 1 hit "Hard Knock Life," Rouzaud has labeled the name-checks as "unwelcome attention."

 

[SonOf2pac]

i'd still drink it if i could afford it and i have a fake id

 

[pclvson]

i'd still drink it if i could afford it and i have a fake id

jay and every rapper in the industry will invest some chips on the next champagne and thats why i only drink moet

 

[SkItZoSkAmZ]

Cristal tastes like ass anyways........Weak shit to be sippin on........Rather be drinkin some Grey Goose or Grand Marnier

 

[ARon]

What the fuck, you dont drink grand marnier by itself. Margaritas.

But that is cool what he is doin, why support something somone doesnt want you apart of.

 

[JamBox5000]

Um...I don't get the "rebellion" here by Jigga Man. Cristal WANTS rappers to boycott their bevergage, if he wanted to make a statement he would start drinking as much Cristal as he could and encourage others in the industry to do the same.

 

[AmerikazMost]

Unwelcomed attention? What a dick. Act like it didn't help his sales.

 

[Valeoz]

I'm a Cristal supporter on this one. And what you're leaving out of this article is that Jay-Z is boycotting because he saw the comments (by Cristal) as racist.(What a ignoramus). And who the hell could afford Cristal but the rappers? There is no way the rap industry is making their sales better. This is like Tom Cruise trying to ban those ultrasound machines or whatever from the public. Like anybody will pay thousands of dollars for that. Cristal ranges in the hundreds, you ain't gonna be like, "Oh, I feel like drinking Cristal today." You get my point.

Hip-hop is also unwelcomingly rebranding Cristal. In my eyes and some others, Cristal has become this sophisicated ghetto champagne.

 

[ArtsyGirl]

Um...I don't get the "rebellion" here by Jigga Man. Cristal WANTS rappers to boycott their bevergage, if he wanted to make a statement he would start drinking as much Cristal as he could and encourage others in the industry to do the same.

Mentioning it gives the company free advertisments that without they would suffer some kind of dent in sales. Whether it is large or not it doesnt matter, how many times is Cristal mentioned in rap songs? I remember hearing Puffy used to have stupid amounts of it at all his parties, if he doesnt do that anymore the sales will go down and that is when Freddie will realise the stupidity of his comments.

 

[JamBox5000]

I'm a Cristal supporter on this one. And what you're leaving out of this article is that Jay-Z is boycotting because he saw the comments (by Cristal) as racist.(What a ignoramus). And who the hell could afford Cristal but the rappers? There is no way the rap industry is making their sales better. This is like Tom Cruise trying to ban those ultrasound machines or whatever from the public. Like anybody will pay thousands of dollars for that. Cristal ranges in the hundreds, you ain't gonna be like, "Oh, I feel like drinking Cristal today." You get my point.

Hip-hop is also unwelcomingly rebranding Cristal. In my eyes and some others, Cristal has become this sophisicated ghetto champagne.

Excellent point. Have the rest of you considered that this "promotion" might actually be hurting Cristal sales by turning away their original core market? I'm pretty sure the executive has studied and is aware of his company's consumer demographics, and wouldn't have called it unwelcome attention for no reason. I'd be upset too if I were Jay-Z as I'm sure he thought he was doing them a favor, but in actuality he played himself for plugging a company that didn't want his help.

 

[JamBox5000]

jay and every rapper in the industry will invest some chips on the next champagne and thats why i only drink moet

You only drink Moet because you could see into the future and know that the economist would publish an article calling rap name drops of Cristal as "unwelcome attention" ? That's a neat trick!

 

[_carmi]

rappers will stop taking cristal and get to the next expensive champagne. i would name a brand but i have no clue of champagne brands lol..

 

[hizzle?]

I'm with Cristal on this one...

I understand them, it gives them a bad name and they can be associated with Rap music easily by the rich upperclass society who is the #1 clientele of this champagne...

Sometimes free advertisment is not positive. It can give you a bad reputation or you can be associated with something that can make your sales drop, like in this case...

lol @ jay-z calling it racist, i'm tired of hearing rappers playing the racist card on every comment concerning them

 

[EDouble]

"but in actuality he played himself for plugging a company that didn't want his help." how the hell does this make sense?

 

[EDouble]

its halarious that cristal is attackin rap (even other genres talk about drinkin it on records) its just the high end drink. and callin it 'unwelcome' attention. the boycott is jus that they won't get the general plug from the industry that they would depend on much the same as any other promotion they get.

whats even more funny is cristals reply (to jay's 'racist statement...) basically sayin that they never said they didn't want hip hop business. (even though they said it was 'unwelcome') Lol.
I was expecting them to answer to the racist shit with somethin but instead played it out and lied. fuck cristal lol. but its funny about how some one said they should jus rap it even more and drink it even more. but this is attempt to cut their sales obvious

with that said, jay z'll probably own cristal one day

 

[JamBox5000]

"but in actuality he played himself for plugging a company that didn't want his help." how the hell does this make sense?

Because EE, he was rapping the praises (and like you, assuming he was increasing sales) of a beverage that didn't want him to mention their brand in his verses. I assume Cristal thought this was unwelcome attention ever since he started talking about it in the 90's. So he has been promoting a company for a decade that didn't want him having anything to do with it. Does this make sense yet? Or do you need to break out the dictionary?

 

[JamBox5000]

"but in actuality he played himself for plugging a company that didn't want his help." how the hell does this make sense?

Um...as in you helping somebody(or thinking you're helping somebody) by freely promoting a product for a decade and then after ten years they tell you your endorsement was "unwelcome". Boycotting it now does nothing as he brought the product to an entire consumer base that most likely had no idea it even existed.

 

[ARon]

Um...as in you helping somebody(or thinking you're helping somebody) by freely promoting a product for a decade and then after ten years they tell you your endorsement was "unwelcome". Boycotting it now does nothing as he brought the product to an entire consumer base that most likely had no idea it even existed.

Well since he brought it to a consumer base with a positive sense dont you think bringing it to the same concusmer base with a negative sense would do the same.

 

[S. Fourteen]

stack rocks like colorado
bottle off the champagne, Cristals by the bottle
- Jay-Z, Can't Knock The Hustle

cock the hot pistol and pop the hot Cristal
- Jay-Z, Murdergram

bet it on, my whole crew is Don Juan
on Cayman Island with a case of Cristal and Papa Chula spoke
nigga with them Cubans that snort coke
- Nas, Affirmative Action

check my resume, sippin on Cristal and Alize
smokin on big weed, keyed the Cali way
- 2Pac, Fuck Friendz

bitch, I want some ass tonight, you know my steelo
Alize and Cristal
- 2Pac, No More Pain

and bitch fuck ya man tonite, you know my steelo
Sizzurp wit the Cristal, the corners playin cee-lo
you see me well you jus smile you know we on the le-low
I'm whippin thru the town like we boilin up a kilo
- Jome Jones, Honey Dip

I keep my pussy fresh like Dudley, watch the show
as my flow bubble over like Mo's and Cristal's
ain't scared to bust my pist-al, sippin hard on Cristal
- Lil Kim, Fuck You

my niggaz get locked up, and when they come home
it's mink coats and Cristal
- Noreaga, Reunion

so when I killed you and your homies, you wouldn't know it
Cristal I let you po' it
- Young Buck, Can't Keep Living

in the club, knock some coward and his pal out
then afterwards went to the restroom, pissed Cristal out
now I'm thinkin - which chick number I could dial out
- Big L, Holdin It Down

jacuzzi's hot, Cristal is so cold
neighbors catch contacts from the blunts that I've rolled
- Ludacris, Number One Spot

pour the Cristal on the way to trial
- Shyne, Bad Boyz

them hollow tips bent me up, but I'm back in shape
pour Cristal in the blender and make a protein shake
- 50 Cent, Hustler's Ambition

I play the bar with 8 bottles all night gettin' right
teachin' the hoodrats what Cristal taste like
- 50 Cent, Rotten Apple


Feel free to add more

 

[JamBox5000]

Well since he brought it to a consumer base with a positive sense dont you think bringing it to the same concusmer base with a negative sense would do the same.

Yeah, you're right. I just don't thing the negative will be the at the same magnitude that the positive was. Cristal doesn't seem to be broken up about the whole thing, anyway. But as I said in an earlier post, they don't want the attention that hip hop brought them so a boycott is ultimately serving their goal. Bear in mind that I don't think either party in this dispute is really "right". It's just a statement from a man who works for the company. Cristal hasn't banned their product from anyone or any market, and I don't see this as "racist" in any sense of the word.