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Pharrell has his "Qream", P. Diddy hawks his Ciroc, and Busta Rhymes probably still has some Courvoisier lying around somewhere. Rappers are not shy about pimping their favorite booze, and these days, getting into the booze business, even.
Local-boy-made-good Chingy is getting into the act, buying an interest in Phenix Spirits, the Kansas City-based importer of a Russian vodka called Shpilka.
Shpilka (which is pronounced "spilka"), means stiletto in Russian, and the label features the image of a willowy young female in a short dress and high heels, a come-on not lost on the girl-happy rapper when he decided to diversify.
What's fascinating about the marriage between the distillery and the rapper, currently in the thrust of a career renaissance, is the degree to which they've integrated one another's marketing. In Chingy's latest videos, he and his buds are pouring, glugging, and splashing Shpilka all over the place. In the back of luxury cars, next to girls' bubble butts, and amidst all the usual shenanigans at "the club," Shpilka is "right thurr," if you will. Then there are the commercials for Shpilka viewable online, which, not coincidentally, feel a lot like rap videos. This doesn't just defy Neil Young's "This Note's For You" pillorying of product placement, it blows past it into a territory where music and product-marketing are thoroughly and unashamedly united.
The next phases in Chingy and Shpilka's plan for world domination include Phenix HQ's imminent to move to St. Louis and the Central West End, which will put them near the Sub Zero Vodka Bar, one of Shpilka's biggest supporters. Then, in 2013 Chingy will play a concert in the nation where Shpilka is distilled and bottled, Kyrgyzstan. It's fair to say he'll probably be the first Western rapper to play Bishkek.
We caught up with Chingy and with Phenix Co-founder and CEO Ray Edwards to learn more.
So who approached whom first?
Chingy:
I was working with some friends of mine, some producers called Fastrax, in the studio, and this vodka bottle caught my attention. I asked my friends whose liquor it was. They told me a friend of theirs, Ray, has a vodka company. They encouraged me to talk to him, which I did. I let him know I wanted to be a part of the brand, and the face of Shpilka. It’s a new business for me, but I'm learning from Ray. It’s a great thing.
Ray:
It was pretty exciting. I come out of the spirits industry. I've been part of a lot of brand launches, and I understand star power. A good friend of mine connected Ciroc with Puff Daddy. The day the producers called to ask me for bottle of Shpilka to put in their music video was an exciting day. I actually got the call, and said the name "Chingy" aloud in the car, having no idea who he was. My 18-year-old son in the passenger seat immediately said, "Dad! 'Hotel, motel, Holidae Inn!'" (laughs) I knew that song. Chingy and I met, I told him I'd like him to be involved not just as a face, but as a partner. We'll teach him this business, and he'll teach us the music business.
Chingy:
It's cross-promotion -- the liquor helps the music, and the music helps the liquor! We're both taking off together. I'm behind this 1000 percent and I'm always gonna involve it [Shpilka]. I walk around with a bottle wherever I go. If I'm going out to a club, they have to tell me 'you can't bring that in here!' (Laughs)
Chingy, do you drink a lot of vodka?
I prefer vodka over the cognacs. But you know the bottle alone caught my attention. I love the ladies, and it's got a sexy young lady on there. In fact, I got a lady that looks like that.
I understand Shpilka benefits from an elaborate filtering process. Last May, the spirits writer for Esquire magazine praised Shpilka for its "clean and creamy" texture, and for basically being the best vodka on the market to sip straight.
Ray:
Shpilka is Russian winter wheat, the best raw material you can use for vodka because it doesn’t retain the minerality of potatoes or the vegetable tones of grapes. Filtration is how you take it to the next level in taste. The recipe, which partially dates back to 1757, now uses filters made from charcoal, pumice, and long-grain rice, and it's finished with a platinum filter. The rice filter reduces a hangover, by the way.
Chingy:
I don't have any hangovers after drinking Shpilka. I tend to drink it straight. It's dangerously smooth – it's almost as smooth as me. (Laughs) Some people say it's as smooth as water.
Have you both been to Kyrgyzstan, where Shpilka is made?
Ray:
Chingy is headed over with me in April of next year, and he'll be putting on a concert for 10,000-plus people there. I've had a relationship with the distillery for a little more than five years, and I just completed my fifteenth trip to Bishkek. One of the things that we're doing with the brand is, because Chingy is such a fan of the ladies, we refer to Shpilka as "her." We think she's beautiful and awesome. So in April, the Bishkek concert and another concert a couple days later in Moscow will kick off the “Chingy and Her” tour. There will be a song and video called "Dangerously Smooth" centered around Shpilka.
Tell me about the other two spirits that Phenix imports.
Ray:
Samogon is a 90-proof Russian moonshine. Mig Fuel is a shooter. It's meant to be in the same space as Jagermeister, the 21-to-35 demographic. It's made from Samogon with a blend of flavoring herbs, and it tastes like a Cadbury chocolate orange with a hint of vanilla, and tertiary tones of elderflower and honey. It's very light, but it's also 90 proof.
Shpilka has a relationship with the Sub Zero Vodka Bar in the Central West End?
Ray:
They were one of the first bars to bring the product into the market. The first meeting with the owner, Derek Gamlin, we tasted Shpilka, Samogon, and Mig Fuel. After trying Shpilka he said, 'that’s the best vodka I've ever drank -- and I love the bottle.' They have been one of our cornerstones of support. Now, they carry Shpilka at Salt and Sanctuaria and Wildflower, mostly because they’ve heard about it from Sub Zero.
Did you know that "shpilkes" is Yiddish for being jittery, or having "ants in your pants"
Ray:
A friend of mine, a diamond dealer in New York, told me that, yeah, he said it means butterflies in your stomach. Actually, in Russian it technically means knitting needle, but it has evolved to mean stiletto.
Are there plans to shoot any Chingy videos in St. Louis?
Ray:
"I’m Hurr" is doing really well on the radio, so we are in the process of planning a video shoot shoot here in St. Louis, maybe somewhere like Three Sixty.
I understand Phenix Spirits is relocating from Kansas City to St. Louis
Ray:
Chingy is definitely one of the major factors. Phenix was started in Springfield, Mo. We have shareholders there, and in St. Louis, too.
Chingy:
It also makes sense what with all the partying me and Ray are doing.
Ray:
That always seems to happen when we get together.
Chingy:
It starts in the day, and lasts the whole day and night! (laughs) We call Ray the O.G. Ray thought that meant "Old Guy." (Laughs)
Ray:
Hey, I knew it wasn't "Olive Garden"!
Twitter:
@chingyjackpot
@shpilkavodka
www.Phenixspirits.com
www.Buyshpilka.com
www.Fulldekk.com
On Facebook: Shpilka Vodka
Shpilka is sold at Lukas Liquor; Randall's Wines & Spirits; Friar Tuck Wine, Spirits, & Beverages; the Wine and Cheese Place; and the Wine Merchant.
