Sprite has had a long and storied history of working with rap musicians, starting in the mid 80s when the beverage sponsor headlined Ricky Walker’s second ever Fresh Fest tour, headlined by Run-DMC. It continued with the hiring of Darryl Cobbin, who marketed Sprite by appealing specifically to hip-hop culture. In The Big Payback, Dan Charnas explains Cobbin’s mentality: ”The biggest connective word for Cobbin was ‘clear’: no additives, no bullshit. Sprite had no caffeine—or, in the language of hip-hop, no ‘hype.’ Hip-hop was, at base, about ‘keeping it real.’ Cobbin relayed these ideas to Sprite’s general market advertising agency, Lowe Lintas & Partners, which came back with a three-part slogan: Image is nothing. Thirst is everything. Obey your thirst.”
Recently, Sprite has brought real hip-hop back again, this time by placing famous lyrics from artists like Nas, Biggie, Rakim, and Drake on their cans. It’s a smart move, since fans of these artists will be able to potentially collect the cans, and haters will be able to physically deem the lyrics trash by dunking them into a bin. But what about the musicians that love rapping about Sprite who didn’t get to be a part of the project? Fortunately, we used our amazing journalism skills to procure the list of lyrics that didn’t get to make it on the Sprite cans.
Videos by VICE
Slava P is a 7UP kinda guy – @SlavaP
