Jay-Z still chills without Cristal

Music mogul Jay-Z's war with a French champagne giant continues to bubble.

A year and a half after Jay-Z called for a boycott of Cristal, the luxury brand produced by maker Louis Roederer, "I guarantee they got what they wanted," he said.

The rap megastar told Vegas Confidential on Sunday that Cristal's business in the rap and hip-hop community "is definitely not where it was. Drastically. They really don't want our business."

Cristal, which has a cult following in the celebrity world, sells for $700 to $1,000 at many clubs in Las Vegas.

Stung by what he considered racism, Jay-Z has replaced Cristal in his three upscale 40/40 Clubs with Armand de Brignac's Ace of Spades, Dom Pérignon and Krug.

Jay-Z, who was in town to watch the Super Bowl at 40/40 Las Vegas with his girlfriend Beyoncé, called for the boycott in June 2006 after Roederer's new managing director, Frédéric Rouzaud, told a British magazine, The Economist, that Cristal's popularity in the hip-hop community brought "unwelcome attention."

Rouzaud said the champagne producer viewed Cristal's association with rap "with curiosity and serenity."

When the newspaper asked whether he thought the association would harm the brand, he replied, 'that's a good question, but what can we do? We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business."

Las Vegas Review Journal