I am really puzzled why Louis Vuitton & Gucci blocked T.I.’s Swing Ya Rag video. Didn’t Louis Vuitton host a T.I. vs T.I.P. release party in ATL’s Lenox Mall last year? LV didn’t mind product placement in the What You Know video, even with a chorus that included “Louis knapsack / where I’m holding all the work at.”
Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH, is the world’s largest luxury brand conglomerate and no stranger to product placement in hip hop videos. They own over sixty sub-companies which manage such brands as Hennessy, Belvedere and every baby baller’s favorite champagne, Veuve Clicquot.
Gucci is owned by another French multinational holding company called PPR. This corporation owns many other luxury brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga but also enjoys profiting off the common man via their majority stake in Puma. I don’t remember them hating on all the product placement they’ve enjoyed in hip hop videos.
So just what in the hell is going on in this video? Could it be T.I.’s current legal woes …or is Louis Vuitton so invested in the Jim Jones’ scarfy movement, this is merely retribution for not featuring Capo on Swagga Like Us? On the real though, when will we stop supporting these companies that hate us and our culture?
Special throwback after the jump since rapper’s are too worried about brand endorsements these days. We need a Dead Them Louie Rags remix!