Jay Don't Play....

Jay-Z's Cristal Clear Decision

By Natalie Finn


Beyonce's beau is switching brands of bubbly.

Cristal, the champagne that has been name-checked in songs by rappers like Lil' Kim, Snoop Dogg, Sean "Diddy" Combs and 50 Cent, no longer has a place on Jay-Z's table. The Def Jam Records president announced Thursday that he would be boycotting the beverage, both at home and at his chain of nightclubs, due to comments made by a Cristal executive that he found offensive.

Frederic Rouzaud, the managing director of Louis Roederer, Cristal's parent company, told the Economist magazine that his organization viewed the hip-hop world's affinity for its champagne with "curiosity and serenity."

For an article titled "Bubbles and Bling" featured in a summer 2006 issue, Rouzaud was asked whether Cristal's image as a symbol of a flashy lifestyle was detrimental to the brand.

"That's a good question, but what can we do?" he said. "We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business."

Although that doesn't exactly sound like a direct slam, Jay-Z read them as fightin' words.

"It has come to my attention that the managing director of Cristal, Frederic Rouzaud, views the 'hip-hop' culture as 'unwelcome attention," the rapper-turned-industry mogul told the Associated Press. "I view his comments as racist and will no longer support any of his products through any of my various brands including the 40/40 Club nor in my personal life."

This coming from the man who helped launch Cristal hysteria in 1996 when the late Notorious B.I.G. rapped about "Cristal forever" on the song "Brooklyn's Finest," featured on Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt.

Jay-Z took repeated turns extolling the pleasures of Cristal in songs like "Can't Knock the Hustle" and "Dead Presidents II," where he rapped:
"My doe flip like Tae-Kwon, Jay-Z The Icon/ Baby, you like Dom, maybe this Cristal's to change your life huh."

In Jay-Z's video for "I Just Wanna Love You," the rapper's fridge is loaded with bottles of Cristal, which sell for $450 to $600 a bottle at his 40/40 chain, which so far has branches in Atlanta and Manhattan. The "Big Pimpin'" video shows Jay-Z sipping the glam brand from his perch on a luxury yacht. The disgruntled connoisseur even used to take the beverage onstage with him during concerts.

But perhaps Jay-Z won't have to go cold turkey after all. It was actually the author of "Bubbles and Bling," Gideon Rachman, who used the words "unwelcome attention."

After Rouzaud mentioned that Dom and Krug would probably like a piece of Cristal's action on the hip-hop scene, Rachman wrote: "Both Dom Perignon and Krug have had their share of unwelcome attention, too."

Maisons Marques & Domaines, a California-based Cristal importer, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2004 that it got about 40 requests a year to use the brand, with its trademark clear bottle and gold foil, in videos and movies.

In a 2005 survey ranking the number of times brands were mentioned in songs on that year's Billboard Top 20 singles chart, conducted by Agenda Inc., Cristal tied with Louis Vuitton for eighth place with 35 mentions from artists including The Game, Trina and Lloyd Banks. Mercedes Benz was the number-one brand with 100 mentions.

Jay-Z, who despite retiring from rapping three years ago will perform Reasonable Doubt in its entirety June 25 at New York's Radio City Music Hall to commemorate the album's 10th anniversary, says that he's now planning to replace the bottles of Cristal at his 40/40 clubs with Dom Perignon and Krug.

Or maybe he'll take a cue from Busta Rhymes and Diddy and "Pass the Courvoisier."