I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man ,Let me handle my business, damnnnnnnnn 
It might be the best marketing in the history of wine. The story of how a rap mogul transformed a $50 champagne into the next Cristaland received millions for doing so.
On a frigid February night, Im waiting outside a ground-floor apartment in Harlem, beginning to wonder if Ive got the wrong address. Suddenly, a voice calls my name. I turn around. Striding toward me amid a majestic cascade of dreadlocks is Branson B., the man credited with introducing champagne to hip-hop.
Branson gave rap legend Notorious B.I.G. his first taste of Cristal, the $500-a-bottle French bubbly that quickly joined Mercedes-Benz and Gucci as raps most frequently mentioned brands (he himself has been mentioned in over 60 songs). He greets me with a handshake and a chest bump and opens the door, then leads me into a room dominated by a full-sized bar.
Scattered before me are at least 20 bottles of wine and champagne in varying states of consump*tion; dozens more adorn the shelves behind the counter. My eyes fall on an empty gold bottle of Armand de Brignac, a trendy $300 champagne. Respectfully, I didnt care for it, Branson pipes in, as if reading my mind. I didnt think it was worth the money.
He gestures to a neighboring bottle. This is a Nicolas Feuillatte Palmes dOr Rosé, 1999, he says. I happened to go to a liquor store in New Jersey, and I was looking for something special for my birthday.
This, he says, pointing back to the gilded Armand de Brignac, is more the aesthetics, the pretty bottleand everything that goes along with it.
***
What goes along with Armand de Brignac is Jay-Z. The rap*per put the flashy bottle on the map when he featured it in his 2006 music video for Show Me What You Got. The video is typical of mainstream hip-hop, with one pos*sible exception: toward the end, a waiter presents Jay-Z with a bottle of Cristal champagne, and Jay-Z declines with a sweep of his hand. In its place, he accepts a gold bottle of then-unknown Armand de Brignac. Coming from some*one whod been rapping Cristals praises for yearsand once bragged that he was popping that Cristal when all yall thought it was beerthis marked a major departure.
Everybody should take a lesson who wants to sell wine that sucks, Fass says. Because it is probably the most brilliant marketing in the history of wine.
Jay-Zs sudden change in attitude wasnt without cause. In June 2006, a reporter from The Economist asked Fré*déric Rouzaud, manager of Louis Roederer, which produces Cristal, what he thought of rappers drinking his champagne. Thats a good question, Rouzaud replied. But what can we do? We cant forbid people from buying it. Im sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business.
As soon as Jay-Z caught wind of the comments, he publicly denounced Rouzaud and replaced Cristal with Krug and Dom Pérignon in his clubs, as Rouzaud had mockingly suggested. But the release of the Show Me What You Got video on October 10 immediately established Armand de Brignac as his favorite. By simply associating himself with the brand, Jay-Z was able to almost singlehandedly lift it from obscurity to the heights of celebrity chic; the gilded champagne sold out its initial production run (and all subsequent ones, according to representatives).
Some observers suspected that Armand de Brignac was Jay-Zs latest business venture. Accordingly, two days after the gold bottles inclusion in the Show Me What You Got video, Armand de Bri*gnac attempted to dispel rumors of a financial connection. Representatives issued a press release explaining that the wine was simply an ultra-luxury product in the high-end champagne category that was making its North American debut this year, after enjoying success as a pre*mium, high-end brand in France.
Amid the aftermath of the divorce between Jay-Z and Cristal, Branson B. found himself in France, hand-selecting grapes for his own Branson B. Cuvée cham*pagne. During the three months he spent in the heart of wine country, he never heard a peep about Armand de Brignac or Ace of Spades. The notion that it had enjoyed success as a premium, high-end brand in France just wasnt true. Didnt exist, he told me.
***
Jay-Z may tout Armand de Brignac in his songs and videos, but to some champagne industry veterans, its at best a medi*ocre product masquerading as a high-end delicacy. It tastes like shyt, says Lyle Fass, an independent wine buyer in New York. At least Cristal tastes good.
In response to such criticism, employees of Cattier, the French Champagne house that produces Armand de Brignac, like to tout their products accolades. In December 2009, for exam*ple, it was named the worlds best-tasting champagne by Fine Champagne magazine. Fass wasnt impressed. These wine tastings are garbage, he says. Everybody has a wine tasting Theres a lot of stupid people in the world.
Armand de Brignac tends to score in the low nineties on the industry-standard 100-point wine rating scale, which places it on par with wines that sell for $50 or less. Yet Armand de Brignac has sold 100 percent of every annual release. Everybody should take a lesson who wants to sell wine that sucks, Fass says. Because it is probably the most bril*liant marketing in the history of wine.
So why would Jay-Z get involved with a second-tier cham*pagne? Because of the immense profit potential. Fass estimates that Cattiers pro*duction cost for each $300 bottle of Armand de Brignac is a mere 10 euros. Assuming Jay-Z is an investor, the connection could be through any number of outlets: Cat*tier itself, the brand Armand de Brignac, the importer, the exporter, or the distributor. All of these entities are registered with an array of state and national government agencies in the United States and France. Theoretically, the link could be established with a little bit of sleuth work.
***
My first call goes to the French offices of the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, the leading Champagne trade asso*ciation. A woman named Brigitte informs me that Cattier is 100-percent family owned, but that the brand Armand de Brignac might have a different structure. She suggests trying the French department of agriculture. Via e-mail, one Isabelle Ruault explains that the brand Armand de Brignac is regis*tered to an export company owned by J. J. Cattier. Ruault supposes the brand belongs entirely to the family, but the exact details are impossible to know.
Turning my attention stateside, I place a call to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explo*sives in Washington, D.C. A representative redirects me to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which in turn points me to the New York State Liquor Authority in Harlem. There, a man named Kashif Thompson informs me that Armand de Brignac is distributed by Sovereign Brands, LLC, and imported by Southern Wines & Spirits. Southern is one of the largest liquor distributors in the country, and its known for having personal relationships with some of the biggest names in hip-hop. A call to the Florida Department of Business and Profes*sional Regulation turns up a list of Southerns owners. Jay-Z is not listed among them.
The last link is Sovereign Brands, whose owner is listed as Brett Berish. Berish, I later learn, distributes and owns a line of spirits called 3 Vodka. The brand was launched in 2004 as a partnership with Atlanta-based hip-hop mogul Jermaine Dupri, who overlapped with Jay-Z as a member of Island Def Jams executive ranks. I also discover that shortly after Armand de Brignacs 2006 launch, Berish issued a press release saying that Armand de Brignac and Jay-Z have not entered into any agreement, sponsorship or otherwise. However, he didnt specify whether there was a financial agreement between Sovereign and Jay-Z. Besides Berish, the only other owner listed for Armand de Brignac is Shannon Bullinger, Sovereigns operations manager. If Jay-Z has a Dupri-style partnership with Berish, its not on the books.
Next, I return to hip-hops sommelier. Standing behind the counter of his champagne speakeasy in Harlem, Branson gazes intently at an empty bottle of Armand de Brignac.
The funny thing, he says, is I drank that before.
He points across the bar to a bottle of another Cattier champagne, Antique Gold, strik*ingly similar to the empty Armand de Brignac sitting in front of us. That bottle there, a friend of mine brought it back from Monaco, he says. Its like 60 dollars, 70 dollars, 80 dollars in the store.
I nod, realizing the magnitude of what Branson has just said. Antique Gold has been around for decades. Armand de Brignac looks nearly identical and costs four or five times as much. Both are made by Cattier. The only real difference seems to be the Ace of Spades label slapped on the more expensive bottle.
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.. breh you aint ever gonna do shyt in life..jus off yourself a$ap... an im sayin this shyt confidently on the strength of this one post 
