Mar 2, 2009 12:35 PM
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Rappers have been dropping brand names in their lyrics for cash for years; it's tasteless, but widespread. But why would you turn a memorial track for your dead friend into a Coogi ad?
In January Notorious, the biopic about the life of deceased hip hop legend Biggie Smalls, was released. One of the centerpieces of the movie's soundtrack was "Letter to B.I.G.," an in memoriam-type song by Jadakiss—a rapper that Biggie helped put on, with his group The Lox. Jadakiss told MTV: "it's nothing fabricated on there. It's gotta be all real on there. Everything was personal."
In his first verse, Jadakiss (who's wearing Coogi in the video) says, "In your memory I keep Coogi in my closet." Why? Well, Biggie did love those crazy ass Coogi sweaters. But a more important reason: because, a good source tells us, Coogi paid Jadakiss tens of thousands of dollars to drop their name in the song.
Maybe save the product placement for normal, non-memorial-to-my-deceased-friend songs?
Send an email to Hamilton Nolan, the author of this post, at Hamilton@gawker.com.
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