As Guru[1] said on Gangstarr’s classic with Nice ‘n’ Smooth,’DWYCK’, “Lemonade was a popular drink and it still is”. You can’t fault the man, he is spot on. In fact, lemonade is so popular in the hip hop community with ‘Golden Age’ MCs that it turned product placement into full blown endorsement, because as we all know, you ain’t a real MC unless you love that carbonated lemon zest.
It took Sprite (the Coca-Cola trademark) just a few months to look at Run-DMC with their Adidas shtick and realise they needed to throw some money at a lemon and lime loving MC, and Kurtis Blow was his name. Blow duly delivered; he doesn’t just appear in the commercial, he delivers a Sprite tailored rap, including a diss of 7Up (“without lime in its not happening, so sorry 7Up” – Oh shit) and manages to work in that catchiest of catch phrases ‘Now, more than ever, it’s Sprite’. The emphasis here is clearly on knowing what’s hot, because as Blow says he’s “chillin’ out with the taste that’s in” and you need to tell a friend. I’m no marketing expert, and an advert with Blow rapping at a desk in front of a video of Blow rapping in ‘street’ wear may not look that good now, but it must have worked because Sprite have been signing up MCs and pissing on 7Up ever since.
Sprite learned from some of their mistakes though, and came back early nineties style with a new hip hop friendly hook – ‘obey your thirst’ – everyone can get that into their rhymes now surely. In this case it’s the legendary Pete Rock & CL Smooth as they freestyle in a vaguely Sprite related manner, or as it is now christened “spri-dite”. They have a way with words, but obviously not irony; check the commercial rap put down delivered whilst appearing in a commercial (“knowing that commercial rap needs to be recycled”). Pot . . . kettle, and all that. Finally, it is important to note the way Pete & CL maintain credibility as Pete Rock tosses off two lines and then just can’t be arsed to carry on; they’ll take your money, they’ll appear in your commercials, but you can’t pay for them to give a fuck – they like Sprite, just not that much.
