Cognac: the drink that's drank by... who, please?

September 11, 2007 2:32 PM

Sittin' in my crib, sippin' on 'nac... Who was the first rapper to promote and popularize the imbibing of cognac? What song was it and when did it come out?

I was listening to some '90s gangsta rap the other day while having a beer. And then I thought: "Who the hell started all this cognac-love, anyway?" Most Googlage recognizes that cognac has risen in popularity as a response to its endorsement in hip-hop/rap music, and usually they refer to Busta's "Pass the Courvosier." But I've heard references to cognac well before that (Snoop Dogg's "Gz Up, Hoes Down" in '93, and Ice Cube's "Down For Whatever" in '94, for instance).

Based on my own research (based on lyrics stored in my brain and just listening to whatever old school stuff I had on hand) I turned up, surprisingly, Paperboy's "Ditty" ("So Rhythm D, pour the orange juice / And let's relax while sippin' on 'nac"). This was the first reference I could find in popular rap music - it was released in January '93. Anybody know of anything previous?

I'm thinking either the song should have been fairly popular, or the rapper/group should have been influential enough that "sippin' on 'nac" would catch on as a meme. What say AskMe?

posted by krippledkonscious to media & arts (5 comments total)

"Humpty Dance" mentions Hennessy, that was from around 1990.
posted by padraigin at 2:55 PM on September 11, 2007

I heard Clevon Little tell some theater folks that when he grew up, black men drank brandy and cognac to make themselves seem more sophisticated than whiskey and gin drinkers. The meme could predate hip hop.
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 3:03 PM on September 11, 2007

padraign: Ah, that makes sense. 2Pac constantly name-dropped Hennessy later on.

spartacusroosevelt: I was wondering if the cognac preference had cultural roots, but didn't want to assume anything. Very interesting.
posted by krippledkonscious at 3:38 PM on September 11, 2007

The most prominent song I can think of with that lyric is Dre and Snoop Dogg's "Next Episode" on 2001 (released 1999). So, that's a second hit for Snoop, though I would think he did more for Gin and Juice...
posted by B-squared at 5:38 PM on September 11, 2007

As a side note, the history of Cognac is pretty cool.

"it was indispensable to provide daily drinking needs for the sailors, who were making long sea voyages and who couldn't keep their drinking water for very long. The only problem was that wine was too much encumbering. Then, the Dutch transporters, along with the French wine producers from Charente, thought of distilling the wine. The product became indeed considerably reduced in volume but also more stable and resistant to transportation. It was named "brandewijn", burned wine - the forerunner of "brandy"!

Later on, the French producers initiated the habit of double distillation, to guarantee even safer conditions and cheaper transport to their treasure, that kept in those times to be called "eau-de-vie", water of life. They stored the alcohol in oak barrels, meant to be diluted upon arrival on destination. It is purely by chance that they realised that these eaux-de-vie improved with time and contact with the oak wood. They began to drink it as such, and discover it was delicious. Soon, it would be named: Cognac."

Courtesy of: The Drink Shop
posted by Wezzlee at 6:25 AM on September 12, 2007