Brand shout-outs in hip-hop songs are nothing new

Brand shout-outs in hip-hop songs are nothing new — but most focus on luxury names. Kanye West tells of a cutie with a “baby Louis Vuitton under her arm” in “Gold Digger,” Missy Elliott raps about a Cadillac Escalade in “Lick Shots” and anyone who has heard Busta Rhymes‘ “Pass the Courvoisier” knows his Cognac of choice.

Few songs, though, make a product or company their main focus. There was Run-DMC’s “My Adidas” in 1986. And now there is “Vans,” a song by Bay Area rappers the Pack that hit mainstream radio in California a couple of months ago and is shaking up the great footwear divide between the hip-hop and rock camps.

While the song has been climbing charts and driving traffic to the group’s MySpace.com page, it also has been spurring fans to plunk down $37 for a pair of Vans, the shoes that until now have been embraced mainly by skaters, surfers and punk rockers.