by Blake Pudding
Rappers have a taste for the finer things in life and not only do they love luxury goods but they love telling us about their love of luxury goods. Cristal champagne is the most famous example but Courvoisier, Bentley and Rolex have all been praised by hip hop types. Now no one likes conspicuous consumption more than me, but isn’t it a little disappointing that they went for such obvious brands?
If I was in a position to influence popular tastes then I’d go for something more distinctive; something that speaks of taste without being pretentious. This must have been the thinking behind top grime artist Tinie Tempah’s (real name Patrick Okogwu) decision to plug Yorkshire Tea on twitter yesterday. His exact words were “Omdz move over PG Tips.” I’m not sure exactly what he means but the sentiment is clear – Mr Tempah is a discerning tea drinker and he is not afraid to shout about it. Not as discerning, however, as one of his fans who comments that he prefers Yorkshire Gold calling it “the Cristal of teas”.
Tinie Tempah is currently riding high in the charts with Pass Out. Let’s hope that Taylors of Harrogate, producers of Yorkshire Tea, will not now try to distance themselves from their place in popular music as the makers of Cristal did so disdainfully with American rappers. Perhaps they would like to sponsor his next tour with a special one off free gig at Bettys Tea Rooms in Northallerton.
4 comments:
The DJ Mr Scruff is a famous tea lover. He presided over "Mr Scruff's Tea-Pee" at the Big Chill Festival, a venue dedicated to leftfield dance music and hot beverages. He also sold a range of tea cups and pots decorated with his own illustrations.
Actually, there are numerous references to tea in albums by British rapper The Streets.
It's interesting to speculate that British dance music like most things British is fueled by tea and not ecstasy or cocaine as the mainstream media would have us believe.
The American urban artisterati, sadly, have taken against our national brew, for some reason. Why, one of them has even given himself the moniker "Tea=Pain".
More fool him, that's what I say.
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