Not everything is racist, so put away the race card until it can actually make a good hand.

I’m not going to make a judgement on who is right or who is wrong in this Cristal Champagne/Jay-Z issue (in which Jay-Z is urging the Hip-Hop community to boycott the champagne) until I read the article in question.

(Agenda Inc. pointed to this Yahoo! URL as a copy of Jay-Z’s press release. If there is a more complete statement from Jay-Z, I’d be interested to read it.)

…

Okay, done. Read. And what do I think? I have to wonder if Jay-Z read the article. I assume he didn’t, as he stated:

“It has come to my attention that the managing director of Cristal, Frederic Rouzaud views the ‘hip-hop’ culture as ‘unwelcome attention.’ I view his comments as racist and will no longer support any of his products through any of my various brands including The 40/40 Club nor in my personal life.”

“It has come to my attention” makes me assume that he was informed at least second-hand, and did not read the article himself.

Jay-Z jumped to conclusions. No comments regarding race were made. Not one. In addition, Jay-Z claims that Rouzaud called the attention brought forth by Hip-Hop’s endorsement of Cristal “unwanted attention,” when in fact Rouzaud never made such a comment. Here are Rouzaud’s only comments presented in the article (in response to the question of whether or not “an association between Cristal and the bling lifestyle could actually hurt the brand.”) :

“That’s a good question, but what can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it. I’m sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business.”

That was the last line of the paragraph containing the comment. The very next paragraph, written by the writer (Gideon Rachman), states:

“Both Dom Pérignon and Krug have had their share of unwelcome attention, too.”

The writer himself called the attention “unwanted.” Now, this is a minute point, to be sure, but let’s be clear: Rachman wrote those words as his interpretation of Rouzaud’s sentiment. Rouzaud did not say them, as Jay-Z is claiming. We don’t know for sure if the interpretation came from a conversation between Rachman and Rouzaud that didn’t see print, nor do we know if Rouzaud used the phrase “unwelcome attention” in such a conversation. We only know what was printed. Therefore, the statement is Rachman’s and Rachman’s alone until evidence proves otherwise.

Rouzaud’s comments alone, without any further context, offer ambiguous interpretation, really. He could be saying that he really doesn’t know if such attention could hurt the brand, that it wouldn’t matter if it did since they cannot prevent people from buying the champagne, and that perhaps Dom Pérignon and Krug would love to have that kind of exposure.

Or, perhaps that last part was really sarcasm, implying that he views Dom Pérignon and Krug as inferior wineries and could see them being associated with such a lowly thing as Hip-Hop (“lowly” being my word for this example, so don’t get your panties in a bunch).

Both interpretations make sense, given the context in which Rouzaud’s comments are presented.

Now, let’s take into account the comments made by his father, who retired as managing-director earlier this year:

“We make our champagne for that 3-5% of consumers who really know wine, and who take the time to taste it correctly.”

(Granted, the time and date of this comment was not given).

Provided that comment is true, it can be assumed that the comment embodies the philosophy of that winery, since it was made by a former managing-director of a winery that has been family-owned for its entire existence. More to the point, consider that wine and fine champagne makers make their drinks for drinking. Yes, the high quality begets a high price tag, and being able to afford that high price is something to brag about. But champagnes such as Cristal are most likely purchased by those who appreciate the fine craftsmanship, ingredients, and care that goes into making such drinks. If a winery’s intent is to produce their drinks for such an appreciation, then it’s acceptable to think that those wineries don’t want to see their product splashed all over music fans, poured on the ground, and flaunted as “bling-bling” (the first two examples taken from a Morning Edition clip on NPR… which oddly has the host saying, “…Jay-Z picked up a special issue of The Economist,” contradicting my assumtion based on his comments made in his press release). Turning Cristal into an object of boastful showiness (the definition of “bling-bling”?) is bit more extreme than a mere bragging about being able to afford it, and certainly doesn’t fall in line with promoting appreciation for the drink itself. If the above comment does embody the philosophy of Rouzaud’s winery, then this viewpoint is understandable.

This is not to say that Jay-Z is not a connoisseur of fine wines and champagnes. For all I know, he could have high standards and discriminating tastes when it comes to those types of drinks. But it seems the genre of Hip-Hop does not promote the tasting and appreciating of Cristal, but rather makes the champagne part of showy boasting (judging from what I’ve read).

I can only comment on what the article presented, and from what I read, I think Jay-Z played the race card inappropriately. He has every right to stop stocking Cristal in his clubs and his home, and has every right to be offended. However, I think race is not necessarily an issue here, at least based on the article in question.