Mercedes Well-Represented in List of 50 Coolest Rap Video Cars

Rap music glorifies plenty of things it probably shouldn’t, but one common hip-hop trope that definitely deserves lyrical veneration is the dope ride. Since Mercedes-Benz is a marque that conjures up visions of prestige, and since it’s pretty easy to rhyme with at least one variation of the name, Benzos have been well-represented throughout the history of hip-hop.

For those of us who grew up in the ’80s, the perfect example comes from N.W.A.’s mega hit, “F*** the Police” from the world-changing album, Straight Outta Compton. “You’d rather see me in the pen, then me and Lorenzo rolling in the Benzo,” charges Ice Cube, and in doing so, he not only drops a dope rhyme, but he uses the Mercedes as cultural cache in the most in your face way. It’s one of the coolest uses of a Benz in rap.

For some reason, Complex ignored my favorite Benz hip-hop reference when they compiled their list of The 50 Coolest Cars in Rap Video History, perhaps because the video doesn’t exactly give you a good look at the Benzo in question. Still, the list pays homage to four funky fresh three-pointed stars that spit mad game, as well as a handful of Maybachs.

Jay-Z and the C-Class Mercedes kick off the list with “Big Pimpin'” (shown in the NSFW video below), and while that’s cool and all, it seems like an S-Class might have been more appropriate, considering the size of Jigga’s yacht. Interestingly enough, the next car on the list is an S550, from Wale’s song “600 Benz,” so apparently the topic of the song and the star of the video needn’t match. Coming in at No. 44 is the fourth-generation SL-Class that fills up the screen as much as Ludacris’s big head in the video for “Rollout.” And lastly, coming in at No. 42, is Childish Gambino’s “Heartbeat,” featuring the W123 300D and Danny Glover, who apparently wasn’t getting to old for that s***, yet.

So Mercedes doesn’t even crack the top 40. Which seems wrong, but hey, 4 out of 50 ain’t bad, and certainly better than BMW, Audi, and Lexus.

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via [Complex]