What is Hip Hop’s Infatuation with The Four Seasons Hotel?
By: CJ Maruyama
Hip hop music is largely synonymous with flexing affluence and financial status. Jewelry, cars, expensive alcohol, you name it. Travel accommodations seem to coincide with this paradigm.
In 1979, The Sugar Hill Gang popularized the term “Hotel Motel Holiday Inn” in their classic breakthrough single “Rapper’s Delight.” This led to the mid-2000s bastardizing the phrase with Chingy’s “Holidae Inn” and Pitbull’s “Hotel Room Service” (does anyone else miss M.I.A.M.I. Pitbull?). With all due respect, when it comes to posting up away from the crib for a night, where do the real G’s stay?
“I wouldn’t even send my dog to the bathroom of a Holiday Inn.”
-Anon
Well, the pragmatic answer is all different types of places. But a post-Chingy analysis of hip hop lyricism would overwhelming point to The Four Seasons Hotel as the clear cut winner. For all of those like me who troll AirBnB and Hotels.com looking for value with your occasional splurge, you may fail to recognize what exactly The Four Seasons is. So I’ll let my friends below grace you with some insight:
- “We should’ve been together having Four Seasons Brunch”
Jay Z — Song Cry - “Top floor of the Four Seasons”
Weezy F Baby — Hustler Musik - “Four Seasons, take a shower, new clothes, I’m reloaded”
Kanye West — THat Part - “The night of ya life at the Four Seasons”
J Cole — Bring Em In - “Woke up, last night, was all, a blur. Four Seasons, 3 words, do not, disturb”
Rae Sremmurd — Unlock the Swag - “We spent four seasons at the Four Seasons twice”
Lil Yachty — 1Night - “Spring rolls at the damn Four Seasons”
Jon Bellion — 24 Freestyle - “It was me and my dogs trapping out the Four Seasons”
Cousin Stizz — Every Season
You get the point.
The Four Seasons Hotel has also featured in various hip hop cultural happenings. For one, the never-ending Drake/Meek Mill beef saw Drizzy on “Summer Sixteen” speaking “Out in front of Four Seasons” and Meek’s timely jab just fifteen minutes later with “War Pain” spitting “Location: Toronto; Status: five star hotel, Four Seasons. Them chumps right upstairs, they know not to come down here playin’ no real niggas.” How cute of them to have a play date at the #1 Four Seasons Hotel IN THE WORLD. Sorry, did somebody say publicity stunt?
Another instance occurred in 2005 (yes that was 12 whole years ago) when The Game was pepper sprayed and arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting an officer. This occurred at the Four Seasons Town Centre in Greensboro, North Carolina when he refused to remove a Halloween mask and cussed out the police. Oh wait, that’s right, The Four Seasons Town Centre is not associated with the Four Seasons Hotel, it is merely capitalizing on the latter’s brand name success. For this to happen to The Game at such a location is oddly symbolic, no?
Regardless, why does hip hop culture have such an obsession with the Four Seasons Hotel?
From NBA Stars to the Dalai Lama
Quite simply because it is is dope. It’s also because every other subculture seems to have a fascination with the five star hotel as well. NBA teams frequent it superstitiously. Barack Obama, The Dalai Lama, and numerous other culturally significant people find themselves as guests quite often. There is actually an entire website dedicated to revealing celebrity sightings at the place; a paparazzi’s perfect wet dream.
Beyond any shadow of a doubt, there remains a certain amount of prestige associated with The Four Seasons Hotel and its brand. It’s clean, luxurious, elegant, and affluent. The majority recognize it as a direct proxy of a wealthy lifestyle.
“It’s the Rolls Royce of hospitality.”
And hip hop is no different. In fact, it may perpetuate this attitude to an extreme. I’m sure as a rapper, there is nothing quite like the paparazzi surprising you after your PR “accidentally” leaks your whereabouts whilst you happen to leave the renowned five star Four Seasons Hotel wearing a fur coat, Rolex watch, and Gucci flip flops conveniently scurrying to your rented Lamborghini with a gorgeous escort by your side. All sarcasm aside, I wouldn’t blame them; image is everything nowadays.
At any rate, an extensive analysis of Four Seasons Hotel lyrical content provides additional insight as to why hip hop quite often endorses the hotel:
As observed, the data is there. Forget correlation, it is causation in its finest form. It cannot just be coincidence; it must be the parallel expression of worth and superiority. Helicopter rides, Serengeti tours, Michelin star rated restaurants. The hotel owns its own private island in the Maldives. If nothing else, the hotel has its own private jet that will quite literally fly you around the world. The Four Seasons experiences are by and large endless. In the eyes of a G, all else bows to The Four Seasons Hotel. Tell 50 Cent to sit down with his trivial Mondrian stays. There’s only room for one hotel in hip hop culture.
“Four four’s and the Porsche four door, Four whores at the Four Season’s fourth flour. Your money 4’4″ yeah I’m gunnin’ for the Forbes.”
–King Los — Versace Freestyle
For all things hip hop keep reading at True Too.
Originally published at truetoo.co on February 12, 2017.
