What music do you like to dance to when you’re drinking? Salsa? Reggaeton? Rock? Or perhaps you like something a little more drum and lyric-heavy such as hip-hop. For many people, their choice of music depends on what they are drinking, something we can certainly get behind. Rum with Caribbean-based music, cocktails for ambient dance, or vodka with trance or tequila shots with rap music. The link between music and alcoholic beverages is strong, and this is certainly the case with hip-hop and the taste of tequila.
There is more than just the taste to consider of course, and that is something that we are going to take a deeper look into here. Just how did tequila and hip-hop form such a strong bond? Let’s dig into hip-hop and tequila culture to discover why they combine so well at a party.
Hip-Hop’s History With The Alcohol Industry
Before we start looking into how hip-hop and tequila fuse so well in a party setting, we have to go back a touch further and understand the strong ties between hip-hop and alcoholic beverages. In the early beginnings of this culture, alcohol was rarely mentioned. Upon the birth of street hip-hop and gangsta rap, however, MCs would often talk about their drink of choice.
In many ways, mentioning what the rapper was drinking would help form part of their identity. This is especially true when it comes to the different regions where hip-hop was created, and who belonged where. Many hip-hop artists would drink a product or cocktail that very much represented the fashion of where they were from.
As different drink fashions came and went, many rappers realized that they would be able to capitalize on the opportunity of representing drink brands. In most cases, this was a natural next step from shouting out their favorite products, to getting paid for doing so. Nas famously did deals with Hennesy, P Diddy with Courvoisier and later Pitbull would do the same for vodka. It would only be a matter of time before hip-hop music artists would bring tequila into the fold. In fact, these days seeing rappers drink shots with tequila in music videos is very much the norm.
Parties, Energy, and Partnerships
You only need to look at brands such as Olmeca Tequila to realize why people love tequila so much, and that is because it is such a great product to elevate a party with. Unsurprisingly, hip-hop also has a great influence on a party setting. So much so in fact, that many songwriting ideas begin with beats and hooks that can be sung and danced to in clubs across the country.
So what is it about tequila that makes it such a great party drink? In the main, this is down to tequila slammer, the most popular shooter in the US. There is something about the togetherness of doing tequila shots with your friends that brings everyone together. This, coupled with a strong alcoholic drink, is exactly why people love drinking tequila at the party.
Not all hip-hop is for the club of course, and since its creation, there has been a clear division between hip-hop music for the club, and lyrically-powered songs created for listening. In recent years, however, we have seen a larger percentage of new rap music, made for the club setting. This perfectly lends itself to a relationship with tequila, the drink of choice for those who love to party.
Artists Connecting With Brands
The strong ties between hip-hop and tequila made investing in brands a smart business move for so many artists. We’ve already seen this in the celebrity world, with many famous people like Kevin Hart, Mark Wahlberg, and George Clooney launching tequila brands. Rappers too have invested in tequila, with varying levels of success.
Rapper P Diddy is no stranger to a smart investment, and he has found great success with his tequila brand. Another example would be Jeezy, who was an investor in high-quality Avion tequila for several years. Both artists would often mention the name of their brands in songs, to further increase the popularity of these products.
There is a perfect circle of popularity and influence between hip-hop and tequila products. It is thanks to the popularity of brands like Olmeca tequila, that caused so many in hip-hop spot an opportunity. In turn, the attachment of a hip-hop artist to a brand further increased its trendiness and sales revenue. Yet another example of this perfect marriage at work.
Songs Featuring Tequila
Tequila’s relationship with music has been changing for decades, and it has an uncanny way of staying with the times. Tequila is a drink that has featured in lyrics of revolution music and corridos in Mexico, closely associated too with the golden era of Mexican cinema. As the decades rolled on the drink would be mentioned by rockers such as the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, and Sammy Hagar.
Since the turn of the century, this popular Mexican spirit has been featured in the lyrics and titles of dance anthems, indie classics, and of course, hip-hop bangers. What this indicates is that tequila is, and always has been, on-trend. Not only this but so much of the music that we know and love has been written about tequila or has been fuelled by it.
Here are just some examples of hip-hop songs that have been written because of, or about tequila.
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Kid Cudi – Tequila Shots
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Wiz Khalifa – Tequila in the AM
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Cypress Hill – Tequila Sunrise
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Drake – Girls Want Girls
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Nicki Minaj – Do We Have a Problem?
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Young Thug – Sin
These are just some of the songs that you could include in your hip-hop playlist for the perfect tequila party.
Long-Lasting Legacy
What is most interesting about this relationship between tequila and hip-hop culture, is that it doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon. In the last 30 years, since the mainstream success of rap music, brands have come and gone. Drinks that were once dominant in this space, are no longer thought of as cool or hip. Tequila, however, as we have seen, has always stayed close to the hottest music, and we see no sign of that changing.