"Pop Champagne"
Single by Jim Jones and Ron Browz featuring Juelz Santana
from the album Pray IV Reign
ReleasedSeptember 4, 2008
GenreHip hop
Length3:35 (Album version)
3:32 (Pop radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Ron Browz
Jim Jones singles chronology
"The Good Stuff"
(2008)		 "Pop Champagne"
(2008)		 "My Swagg"
(2009)
Ron Browz singles chronology
"Pop Champagne"
(2008)		 "Arab Money"
(2008)
Juelz Santana singles chronology
"Splash"
(2008)		 "Pop Champagne"
(2008)		 "Ride (Remix)"
(2008)
Music video
"Pop Champagne" on YouTube

"Pop Champagne" is a song by American hip hop recording artists Ron Browz and Jim Jones, officially released as a single on September 4, 2008 by Columbia and Universal Motown Records. The song features a guest appearance from fellow American rapper and Jones' Dipset cohort Juelz Santana. The song serves as the lead single from Jones' fourth studio album Pray IV Reign (2009). The song proved to be Jones' second most successful single to date, behind his 2006 hit "We Fly High".

Background, recording and composition

"Pop Champagne" features heavy use of the Auto-Tune effect. Ron Browz, recounting the inspiration to use it, recalled hearing the song "I'm a Rider" by 50 Cent, which also uses the effect. He recounted: "I called one of my engineers like, 'Yo, I need that effect 50 [Cent] used.' They get it to me, I play around with it and by the grace of God, I made 'Pop Champagne.'"[1] It was the first time he had ever tried using the effect.[2]

The original recording solely featured the producer of the song, Ron Browz; the final released version of "Pop Champagne" featuring Jim Jones and Juelz Santana is actually a remix.[3] At the beginning of the song, Browz shouts his nickname "Etherboy", which is a reference to him having produced the beat for the song "Ether" for Nas some years prior.[4]

Jim Jones recalled the first time he heard "Pop Champagne": "I was going home one day, and DJ Jazzy Joyce — at 4:30 in the morning — was playing the [song]," Jim Jones recalled of the first time he heard "Pop Champagne." "And I know how much Ron wanted to become an artist and break into the game. ... So when I heard it, I was like, 'Damn, it got a good sound.' ... I was just being courteous, as he did so many hot beats for me. ... So, I jumped on the track, like, 'Let's see what it do.'"[3] Ron Browz, when asked about what the most impressive thing he had ever seen an artist do in a recording studio, spoke about the recording process with Jones. After arriving at the studio, Jones unexpectedly fell asleep, confusing Browz, who recalled "sitting there for two hours", unsure whether he should leave. Suddenly, Jones woke up, and requested the microphone be turned on, and immediately recorded his verse for "Pop Champagne", deeply impressing Ron Browz.[1] Jones recounted "It started to sound a little bit crazy, and I said, 'Well, let's see if we put Juelz [Santana] on it how crazy could it get. And I called Young Hub, and Hub was like, 'Aiight, on the strength of you, I'll jump on it for you."[3]

Music video

The music video was directed by Dale Resteghini (a.k.a. Rage) and Jim Jones (a.k.a. Capo). It features cameo appearances by Dame Dash, Busta Rhymes, Mike Epps and Jessica Rich (a.k.a. "Rabbit") from Real Chance of Love.[5][6]

Reception

"Pop Champagne" received mixed reviews from critics. VIBE magazine described "Pop Champagne", alongside "Arab Money" and "Jumping (Out the Window)", as representing Browz having "mastered the craft of creating mindless melodies that catch on".[7] MTV News ranked the song #27 on their list of the top 28 commercially released hip-hop songs of the year.[8] Ben Westhoff, writing for the Houston Press, said the song was one of the tracks on Pray IV Reign that showed off Jones's "hypnotic, breathy delivery".[9]

"Pop Champagne" was compared by multiple critics to Jones's 2006 hit single "We Fly High".[10][11][12] Chris Ryan of Spin magazine said it was the only song on the album Pray IV Reign "that recall[ed] the balls-out hedonism" that "We Fly High" possessed,[10] and David Jeffries of AllMusic called it a "club anthem".[13] Chris Gaerig of PopMatters was far more negative, describing the song as "a shell of its predecessor, 'We Fly High'". He called the song's "listenability [...] near zero", referring to Browz's hook as "processed garble" and saying the song was worse off as a result of the lack of "[Jim Jones's] staple ad libbing".[12] Jesse Cataldo of Slant Magazine called the song "remarkably anemic, nearly drowning in Auto-Tune, with a low-key shuffle beat that underlines the verses clashing with a more bombastic chorus".[14]

Singer T-Pain, known for his use of the same Auto-Tune effect that is featured prominently in "Pop Champagne", criticized the song, saying Browz did not understand how to use Auto-Tune correctly.[15][16] Browz responded to the criticism in an interview, saying "I [...] did the record two days after I got the [Auto-Tune] plugin, you know what I mean? [The track] was hot. [...] That's my philosophy: If something is hot, it's hot, something is not, it's not.[2]

Other versions

After the 2008 United States presidential election in which Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, Browz made a remix of "Pop Champagne" with rewritten lyrics referencing Obama, including the line: "We pop champagne for Barack's campaign."[17] This version also features rapper Busta Rhymes, who raps about his experience voting for Obama.[18]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2008–2009) Peak
Position
US Billboard Hot 100[19] 22
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[20] 3
US Rhythmic (Billboard)[21] 8

End of year charts

Charts (2009) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[22] 98
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[23] 36
US Rhythmic (Billboard)[24] 39

References

  1. 1 2 "Studio Sessions: Ron Browz was shocked when Nas used his beat to diss JAY-Z on "Ether"". Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  2. 1 2 Browz, Ron (December 22, 2008). "Ron Browz Responds to T-Pain and talks Pop Champagne / Autotune w/ DJ Skee on KIIS FM" (Interview). Interviewed by DJ Skee.
  3. 1 2 3 "Jim Jones Kick-Starts Major-Label Solo Debut With 'Pop Champagne' And A Hip-Hop Play". Archived from the original on October 20, 2008.
  4. ↑ "Freeload: Ron Browz, "Pop Champagne"".
  5. ↑ "Preview Jim Jones' 'Pop Champagne' Video". Archived from the original on October 8, 2008.
  6. ↑ ""Pop Champagne" Video Behind the Scenes". YouTube.
  7. ↑ "Ron Browz Killed Auto-Tune Before Jay-Z". 25 February 2010.
  8. ↑ "MTV News' Top Hip-Hop Songs of 2008". Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  9. ↑ Westhoff, Ben. "Jim Jones: Pray IV Reign". Houston Press. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  10. 1 2 "Jim Jones, 'Pray IV Reign' (Columbia)".
  11. ↑ "Jim Jones - Pray IV Reign". HipHopDX. 2009-03-23. Retrieved 2024-01-05. In short, there's nothing here that's got quite as much radio-appeal as "We Fly High"–except maybe "Pop Champagne," which apparently belongs to Jim now (not Ron Browz) –but the fans that jumped on for that hit will probably feel more comfortable with this album than the one it actually appeared on.
  12. 1 2 Gaerig, Chris (April 13, 2009). "Jim Jones - Pray IV Reign". PopMatters. Archived from the original on April 15, 2009.
  13. ↑ Jeffries, David. "Jim Jones - Pray IV Reign". Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  14. ↑ Cataldo, Jesse (2009-03-23). "Review: Jim Jones, Pray IV Reign". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  15. ↑ "T-Pain Says Ron Browz Don't Know How to Use Autotune on the Pop Champagne Song!".
  16. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: Ron Browz, T-Pain End Beef with New Song "All the Way"". 24 October 2013.
  17. ↑ "Obama is inspiring new hip-hop wave". November 20, 2008.
  18. ↑ "Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Common Celebrate Barack Obama's Win with New Tracks". MTV.
  19. ↑ "Jim Jones Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  20. ↑ "Jim Jones Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  21. ↑ "Jim Jones Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard.
  22. ↑ "Year End Charts - Year-end songs - The Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved November 12, 2010.
  23. ↑ "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs – Year-End 2009". Billboard. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  24. ↑ "Rhythmic Songs – Year-End 2009". Billboard. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
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