“Pardon me, would you happen to have any Grey Poupon?”
These words—along with the image of two men chatting from the backs of their town cars—became one of the most recognizable advertising campaigns of the 1990s, associating the white wine-infused mustard with wealth and class, as well as affordability. And though it might be easy to shrug off the occasional Grey Poupon reference in rap as an anomaly, it turns out that creamy, Dijon mustard is one of the most common food references in hip-hop, appearing in dozens of songs over the last 24 years.
In a new video from Vox, Estelle Caswell dives into rap’s long history with Grey Poupon, from Das EFX’s 1992 hit “East Coast” (“He's the Don, have you seen my Grey Poupon?”), to Big L’s “Sandman 118 Freestyle” (“I'm fucking with Grey Poupon and Dom Pérignon”), to Big Sean’s 2014 verse on "Detroit vs. Everybody" ("From futons to Grey Poupons, in church tryna get a little savings; yeah, a coupon”).
Not only does the phrase Grey Poupon rhyme incredibly well with worlds like coupon, futon, and Dom Pérignon, the product also held a strange air of opulence while sitting on supermarket shelves for around $3 a pop.
[via Vox, Pigeons & Planes]