12 Alcohol Brands Associated With Hip Hop Stars

Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre have a new collaboration ready to drop, but it doesn't include dope beats. The longtime friends and business partners are set to release a new alcoholic drink called Gin & Juice. A release date hasn't been announced yet, but we do know it will be available in melon, apricot, citrus, and passion fruit flavors.

Snoop and Dre are by far not the only hip hop personalities to have dabbled in the booze business. In fact, it's hard not to miss Snoop's wine blends released by 19 Crimes Wines at your local party store or grocery. Check out this list of grown-folks drinks associated with hip hop celebs that you may or may not have known about.

"Effen" is the dutch word for "smooth". This vodka from Holland was founded in 2002 and 50 Cent partnered with the brand holding Effen parties and featuring them in his music videos for "I'm The Man" and "Bring My Bottles".

Although he ended his partnership with Diageo, the makers of Ciroc, last year, Diddy was the brand ambassador for this vodka since 2007. He reportedly ended their deal when Diageo wouldn't agree to give him equity in the company.

In 2021, Travis Scott jumped on the spiked seltzer train as brands like White Claw were flying of store shelves. He teamed with Anheuser-Busch to release Cacti, available in pineapple, lime and strawberry. Unfortunately, the drink was short-lived. After the tragic deaths that occurred Scott's Astroworld music festival, Anheuser-Busch decided to stop all production and brand development for Cacti.

Rick Ross became a brand ambassador for the French wine company, Belaire, after they released their rose blend. He name dropped them so much in his song lyrics that most people probably thought he owned the company.

Jay-Z invested in Armand de Brignac Champagne in 2006 and worked with their owners, Sovereign Brands, to develop the D'usse Cognac brand. D'usse was sold to Bacardi and Jay shares ownership of the brand with them.

A partnership between Drake and liquor entrepreneur Brent Hocking resulted in the debut of Virginia Black in 2016. Drake voiced commercials for the whiskey that also featured his dad, Dennis Graham, and celebrated with the octagon-shaped bottles onstage at the Billboard Music Awards.

This mix of cognac, vodka and natural fruit flavors sold in a purple bottle was developed to (legally) capitalize on the popularity of the "purple drank". It's long-gone from store shelves so consider yourself lucky if you were able to sample some back in the day.

Plenty of alcohol brands wanted Nicki Minaj to sign up with them, but she insisted that she represent something that she would actually drink. Myx is a Moscato wine mixed with fruit juice and other flavors and can still be found in stores.

Pharrell launched the desert-inspired Qream vodka in 2011. It was available in strawberry and peach crème flavors and the marketing was directed toward women. But it didn't exactly become a best seller. After only a year, the company that produced Qream, Diageo, decided to discontinue production.

Owned by Sovereign Brands, Bumbu's first-ever marketing campaign was endorsed by Weezy, who still has a relationship with the brand. Bumbu is Caribbean rum, blended with sugar cane from 8 different countries and aged up to 15 years in American oak barrels used for bourbon.

A$AP Rocky launched Mercer + Prince in 2022 and named the brand after the cross streets in the SoHo neighborhood in Downtown Manhattan. In an interview with Vogue, Rocky boasted about the flavorful whiskey saying, "You don’t even need anything to drink it with—you can just drink it neat. Instant gratification.”

This one's not a drink, but a drink enhancer. Cardi created this whip cream, available in vanilla, mocha and caramel flavors, in 2021 as a "party starter". Unfortunately, it will take some effort for us here in Michigan to give it a try. Whipshots is only available in select liquor stores in California, Colorado, Washington, and Florida.

Since Memorial Day I have been fortunate enough to attend a wedding, beachside barbeques, and neighborhood get-togethers. Though food options varied, I did notice hard seltzers were a common beverage. There were multiple brands, so I decided to rank the ones that I tried.

Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer can be credited as the first official can to hit the shelves in 2013. Or you can go back to Zima as being a pioneer in this carbonated alcohol space. Nowadays, it seems like every brand has their own variation of spiked seltzer. With limited creativity in terms of flavor options (most people would prefer a simple pineapple flavor to a green apple, cherry, celery mashup any time), now certain beverage companies are swapping out the vodka mix for tequila. Furthermore, funny commercials and vibrant cans allow different marketing angles on seemingly similar drinks.

Speaking of marketing, a thinner can is often associated with containing a lower-calorie drink. A CNN  op-ed speculates that most hard seltzers are displayed in these taller, skinny cans to distinguish themselves in a crowded liquor store.

In creating this ranking of the best hard seltzers, there were certain criteria that I considered to be most important. Taste is a broad category. It was imperative here that the drink was smooth, did not contain a syrupy aftertaste and actually tasked like the flavor it suggests. Then, I looked at the overall "nutrition" facts. Finally, I'd ask myself a question: "Would I drink another one, or would I buy a case of this repeatedly?"

It's important to note that I disqualified top beer brands. While I applaud their efforts for the attempt at entering the hip space, I have yet to find one where their best product was not actually their beer. Lastly, I am not a big fruit juice person. Nor do I typically like citrus mixed with alcohol. In this case, however, there are four hard seltzers where I find the fruit flavor enjoyable. My top choice here is now a brand that I do keep stocked in my cooler.

What I liked most about Truly is that they are accessible. Many festivals, concerts and sporting events carry Truly. So there is consistency. They seem to stay in their lane and always deliver on their flavors the distribute at mass-events, as opposed to trying to reinvent their options. There are 100 calories in a Truly and it's 5% alcohol by volume. Selected flavor: Wild Berry.

This is my favorite can of the bunch, but looks aren't everything. Wild Basin certainly knows who they are visually, as their logo perfectly encapsulates the outdoor and chill vibe of hard seltzer. What holds them back is that they are not always easy to find in New England. Various liquor stores carry them, but not a ton of restaurants do. There are 100 calories in a Truly and it's 5% alcohol by volume. Selected flavor: Lime Coconut (there's good reason why this is part of their "paradise" mix pack.

This is my hard seltzer OG. Fun fact: when I google "White Claw" a sponsored Truly option is the first result to pop up. I love a little friendly seltzer competition. In full disclosure, I am a surfer and White Claw has done a tremendous job inserting their brand into that community. Their tagline of "those who bring the wave," has worked well. They say they are "inspired by the power, purity and potential of ocean waves," and so am I. This is a simple explanation that centers around the fact that when I drink a White Claw I always enjoy it. There are 100 calories in a Truly and it's 5% alcohol by volume. Selected flavor: Black Cherry.

There's no complicated answer here. It has the best taste, is refreshing, and the brand I select when given the option. I like how you feel like carbonation base as opposed to fruit flavor completely taking over. That's when I get suspicious of artificial additives. High Noon seems to have mastered the recipe of a natural fruit juice percentage to alcohol. Their new tequila seltzers are consistently enjoyable as well. There's a slight dip in alcohol volume at 4.5%, but it too has 100 calories. Selected flavor: Watermelon.