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Top Of The Pops 2004

You've heard of the Billboard Chart, but what about American Brandstand?  Agenda Inc., a San Francisco based "brand management" consulting company, tracks mentions of brands in lyrics on the Billboard Top 20 Singles chart.  So when Missy Elliot says "I shake it like JELLO" score one point for Jello on the American Brandstand chart.  And 50 Cent's "You mix a little COKE with a little DOM PERIGNON / And a little HENNESSY / You know we fine to carry on" means a notch for Coke, Dom Perignon, and Hennessy (by the way, what kind of nasty drink is that?).  The totals are tallied up and published on their site.
 
Yes, people are actually keeping track of this.

So how often does Toby Kieth, Norah Jones, and Avril Lavigne mention a brand?  Not that often.  The chart is dominated by popular hip-hop.  Kanye West, Lil' Jon, Chingy, and Ludacris are ranked among the top 5 "Brand-Dropping Artists of 2004" because of their lyrics about fine cars (Cadillac, Mercedes, Rolls Royce), gear (Gucci, Nike), and gettin' crunk (Hennessy, Cristal).  In turn, the top three categories on the Brandstand chart are cars, fashion, and beverages.

All this brings up some disturbing questions.  The first being, are the companies paying for mentions?  It's hard to know. Regardless of whether a company is paying to have it's brand incorporated into rap lyrics, or artists simply volunteer to mention products, either way it's pathetic. 

Another issue is that these artists are becoming brands themselves.  Many rappers, (50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Sean Combs, etc.) own clothing and shoe lines.  Jay-Z even has his own brand of Vodka.  Not to mention the potential "synergy" between record companies, parent companies, and affiliated brands.  It all slips fairly quickly into an ethical grey area that the Brandstand chart only helps to point out.

There's little things too.  What should one think about brands like "MTV" and "Bank Of America" going from zero mentions in 2003 to significant positions on the chart in 2004?  With large corporations like Bank of America suddenly mentioned in rap songs, does it not start to smell fishy?  Or the brand "AK-47" jumping from 54th to 14th on the chart this year?  What is that a sign of?  And how exactly will the Holiday Inn capitalize on their newfound cred in the world of hip-hop?  We can only imagine.

And then there's the obvious further co-option of hip-hop culture by advertising.  Which is it's own very long and very sad tale.  But luckily, a battle still being fought.