The Rap Of Luxury

From Cognac To Cars, Hip-Hoppers Have Pumped Sales Of Old-Line Brands. Now A Few Stars Are Launching Their Own.

By Johnnie L. Roberts | NEWSWEEK

From the magazine issue dated Sep 2, 2002

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We gon' tell that brotha, pass the Courvoisier

Everybody sing it now, pass the Courvoisier

--The chorus of "Pass the Courvoisier"

Radio stations have played Busta Rhymes's latest megahit more than 97,000 times. Busta performed his ode to the pricey cognac on "The Tonight Show." And MTV and BET have aired the video version a combined 600 times. In it, Busta and his collaborator, P. Diddy, defeat evildoers, get the girls and toast their triumphs with "yack," hip-hop's shorthand for cognac. Across the Atlantic, British spirits giant Allied Domecq, which owns Courvoisier, is toasting Busta, too. Over the past several months Courvoisier's U.S. sales have popped by double digits, thanks in part to Busta's making the drink "the hero of the song,'' says Stephanie DeBartolomeo, the cognac's brand manager. Talk about free advertising--no deal was struck between Busta and the distiller beforehand. And it's not even his favorite cognac. "I'm a Hennessey dude," he tells NEWSWEEK. Lucky for Courvoisier he liked the sound of its name better.