It might pain the hip-hop purists to admit it, but rapping and advertising are inexorably linked. Rappers name-drop brands almost instinctively, while advertising companies co-opt their language, their image, and their cool.
This wasn't always the case. It took a while, with a few very visible missteps along the way, before the ad industry really recognized the marketing potential of hip-hop, but once they did the floodgates were forever opened. Money talks, and when it came calling, rappers blurted out slogans, donned ridiculous outfits, and gulped down beverages with a smile. Sometimes they even got to rap.
For many years it seemed like these ads would be left to our fading memories and scrapbooked Source magazine letters to the editor about the dangers of selling out. But today, thanks to technology, we can revisit two-and-a-half decades of hip-hop television advertising.
So Complex did just that and found 50 of the most memorable and culturally significant commercials to feature rap cameos, from the fan favorites to the embarrassingly bad and the downright bizarre.
Written by Andrew Noz (@noz)
#50. MC Hammer for Cash 4 Gold
#49. Jay Electronica for Mountain Dew Code Red
#48. Run DMC for The Gap
#47. Memphis Bleek for Garnier Fructis
#46. Young MC for Pepsi
#45. Dem Hoodstarz for CW's King of Queens
#44. Heavy D, Kid N Play, and Kris Kross for Sprite
#43. Curren$y for P. Millers
#42. Vanilla Ice for Castle Lite
#41. Biz Markie for Radio Shack
#40. Ludacris for Pepsi
#39. Styles P for And1 Kevin Garnetts
#38. Snoop Dogg for Nike
#37. Master P for Snickers
#36. Kool Keith, Mia X, Amil, Lady of Rage, and Bahamadia for Sprite's "Five Deadly Women" Campaign
#35. Shock G for Nike
#34. T.I. for Chevy Impala SS
#33. Run DMC and Max Headroom for Coke
#32. MC Hammer for Taco Bell
#31. Goodie Mob, Fat Joe, Common, Mack 10, and Afrika Bambaataa for Sprite's "Voltron" Campaign
#30. Jay-Z for Heineken
#29. Snoop Dogg for Vybemobil
#28. Kurtis Blow for Sprite
Year:
Back in 1986 Sprite brought in Kurtis Blow to act as a rap anchorman in this early ad. With Kurtis' stardom diminishing and the "Now More Than Ever" motto lacking the ring that "Obey Your Thirst" would have, the commercial didn't exactly light up the world. But it did mark the beginning of Sprite's relationship with hip-hop music and culture that would last for years that followed.
#27. MC Hammer for British Knights
#26. Redman for Karl Kani
Year:
Karl Kani brought in Brick City's finest for this Rap City staple. Red makes no compromises here, sounding as hard as he did on any studio track. So hard, in fact, that at the end of his verse the commercial comes to a hard freeze frame for no reason in particular.