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from NY Daily News

McHip-hop name-drop

Chain wants rappers to mention Big Mac

BY OREN YANIV and LAURA WILLIAMS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

With names like Big Pooh, Big Daddy Kane, Big Rich Tha Don and Notorious B.I.G., "big" is already huge for rappers.

Now, McDonald's reportedly hopes to lure hip-hop artists to drop references to Big Macs into their rhymes.

Though it's not offering money upfront, the fast-food giant is willing to pay rappers $1 to $5 each time songs with the plug hit the radio, according to today's Advertising Age. McDonald's hopes to have its signature sandwich in several songs by summer, the mag says.

And it looks like the plan just might boost sales, some McDonald's customers said yesterday.

"If 50 Cent says so, they're gonna buy so many Big Macs," predicted Kai Davis, 27, a customer service rep and Jay-Z fan from the Bronx. "[Rappers] have a big influence."

"Anything they say, people are going to do," added 16-year-old Benji Lusena of Harlem.

But others said they weren't so easily led. "I usually don't use stuff just because somebody else uses it," said Pedro Rojas, 20, of Jersey City. "If you like the food, then that's about it."

Rappers have been pushing products gratis since Run DMC revived a flagging sneaker brand with its 1986 smash "My Adidas." Hip-hop artists have famously rapped about high-end brands like Cartier, Versace and Dom Perignon.

Sales of one French cognac went through the roof thanks to Busta Rhymes' "Pass the Courvoisier."

McDonald's isn't the only company now paying to break through to the hard-to-reach youth market. The marketing firm Maven Strategies, which McDonald's hired for the Big Mac project, got Seagram's gin mentioned - for a fee - in five raps last year, Ad Age says.

McDonald's has final approval over the Big Mac mentions, so perhaps the company won't want oversized pitchmen like Fat Joe. Decades ago, McDonald's dumped chubby Willard Scott as Ronald McDonald in favor of a leaner clown. Dem Franchise Boyz, on the other hand, might be the perfect spokesgroup for the 30,000-outlet chain.