The rap on Vans: Pro and con

The latest addition to the history of hip-hop odes to products, sneakers in particular, is “Vans,” by Bay Area rap group The Wolfpack, or just The Pack. (Here’s the group’s MySpace page — the song starts playing as soon as you arrive, and it’s laced with profanity, so, you know, click with care.) It’s about how great Vans are, and how they’ve always been great, and how you should throw out your Nikes, and so on. But that’s not what’s interesting.

What’s interesting is that somebody called Drino Man has responded with an answer remix about how much he hates Vans. In fact his track is called “Fuck Vans.” Nikes and Jordans, among others, are declared “real sneakers,” and Vans are … well, I guess the title pretty much sums up where this guy is coming from. Here’s his Myspace page; the lyrics are quite obscene, so, you know, you’ve been warned.

I don’t think either song is particularly good, but that’s hardly the point, is it? I’m slightly interested in whether Vans will do anything with or about all of this (or whether they’ve orchestrated the whole thing somehow), and also in whether marketing guru types will pick up on it as another example of technology “empowering” consumers to “join the conversation.” Assuming, of course, that bickering about sneaker brands counts as a “conversation.”

I heard about this by way of The Weekly Drop. The Pack’s pro-Vans song is also discussed at ProHipHop.com.