I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to Young Jeezy this summer when he announced a clothing line based on his snowman logo and the connection to cocaine seemed likely but I didn’t really follow it up at the time. However, let me make clear that cocaine is one area of exploration I’ve avoided, primarily because anyone I ever knew who was strongly associated with coke was a total asshole when they were doing it and I do not hang with coke heads, even the cute ones.
But I finally started paying attention to Young Jeezy’s branding when I read this disappointingly cynical piece by Shaheem Reid, who I’ve often given props here at ProHipHop, about the “symbolism of the snowman.” Jeezy maintains:
“You gotta understand what it symbolizes . . . It symbolizes a young hustler. . . Snowman is a cool dude . . . He’s a gangsta too. There’s a Snowman in every ‘hood, several Snowmen in the ‘hood. You gotta be that dude to look up to with the car and the girl. Whatever you do, be the best at it, because that’s what the Snowman is going to do.”
I know I’m being naive but MTV occasionally fronts like a real news organization and to print this statement at face value without mentioning cocaine and the long history of the snowman referencing a cocaine dealer, predating hip hop and outside the hood, is a cynical, let’s play along with a wink, maneuver.
I recognize that the snowman is a smart marketing move and a great brand for Young Jeezy, but I also appreciate the decision by the manufacturer of the original line to stop making the shirts because of the drug references. He could make a lot of money off those shirts.
Speaking of making money, I’d advise Kate Moss to start looking at hip hop promotional opportunities ASAP and I applaud the bootleggers making money off their versions. It just seems appropriate that hustlers at all levels should be making money off the snowman brand, from the streets to the MTV newsrooms.
This is quickly becoming a hot topic. Those shirts seem innocent, but they are not, and you don’t wanna knock someones hustle, but at what cost do we let this overtake us. Now we have all of the people who have been most devestated by “snow” wearing shirts depicting the guy who sells it. He is the “cool” guy. This is very destructive for all of us not just the youth, but for those who know better to use this as a tactic to sell an image. Im not a censor, but come on we have to use better judgement. All of these guys will be the first to say they are not role models, but they cannot deny the huge influence they have on people, how else would peole start wearing a snowman on their shirts. Its like they wanna deny the power they have over the youth until its time for that youth to buy those products. We need more indepth thought into the things we promote.
Yeah, I’m not even suggesting any form of censorship, though this does come under the possible heading of deceptive marketing to children.
But I do feel like it’s MTV’s responsibility to uphold some kind of journalistic standard in the face of obvious nonsense. They don’t have to attack anything. They just need to be stating the obvious.