A 33-year-old man has started a company, American
Brandstand, that counts and tracks all the brand name dropping done in songs
that appear on hip-hop radio.
After listening to songs by Jay-Z, 50 Cent and
Lil’ Kim, Lucian James noticed a reoccurring theme: Mercedes Benz.
So James, a brand strategist based in San Francisco,
started counting how many times brand names were being said in rhymes and recorded
the information.
Soon after, he discovered Benz was the number
one brand mentioned followed by Burberry, which was second by large margin he
says.
Burberry, the plaid printed fabric, however has
not embraced hip-hop and it remains to be seen how the tracked information will
affect their decision to distance themselves away from the music.
Cars brands, on the other hand, appear willing
to consult with American Brandstand. James told Slate.com that several automakers
have contacted him wanting to know how hip-hoppers perceive their brands or
what it meant when they were mentioned in songs.
Though he will not disclose the names of the
auto makers who have contacted him, James, who does all the tracking himself,
plans to make public the tallies of his tracking, as he will issue periodic
reports once he gathers a larger mass of information.
