Hip hop automobile references shifted from American to European luxury brands after 2008

Evidence

In the 1990s and early 2000s, rugged American brands like Hummer (General Motors) and Jeep (Chrysler) were quite popular, while the Japanese brand Lexus (Toyota) was the luxury car of choice, in addition to the aforementioned Mercedes. As the recovery following the recession took hold, automobile references rebounded, but a far more exorbitant and exclusive portfolio of European sports car brands took prominence, such as Porsche (Germany), Lamborghini (Italy), Ferrari (Italy), Maybach (Germany), Aston Martin (British), and Bugatti (French). Not just brief occurrences in lyrics, but entire songs were titled and based around this new breed of luxury car: “Bugatti” by Ace Hood was a hit song in 2013; Chief Keef, Trey Songz, Wale, and Rick Ross have all recorded a song with “Aston Martin” in the title; and Future, Chief Keef, Meek Mill, and Rick Ross have all recorded a song with “Maybach” in the title. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 349

Categorization

• XREF: This is traceable data for the reader’s causal question: brand mentions shift with speculative opportunity, evidence toward the finance-shapes-form thesis.