Cognac is a kind of brandy made in France, with an extraordinary popularity among African Americans, a popularity that dates back to the two world wars, during which black soldiers operating in the European country have learned to greatly appreciate. In effect, more than 40% of the entire annual production of cognac is sold in the US, and the majority of consumers are African Americans. Those consumers have a true veneration for Hennessy, the earliest of cognacs. Logically, due to the described popularity, there are hundreds of songs dedicated to cognac, and the genre most involved is hip hop, accompanied by blues and rock. The liquor is considered as an accessible luxury, and a vehicle of socialization. A part of the reputation of cognac is bound to the land of origin, that’s considered the homeland of chic, in various commercial sectors.
French cognac is exported in a large part of the world. The global leadership of France for cognacs and champagnes is resisting since a long time, while recently Italy has acquired the leadership for wines, particularly the ones with a favorable quality-price ratio. As you know, there’s a continuous progress of globalization, and a clear duopoly provoked by the influences of the two main world powers, China and the US. Particularly, in this year 2025 there’s an important news in the matter of global commerce, the imposition of tariffs by China and by the US. About the topic of the page, the Chinese tariffs on cognac vary from 27,7% to 34,9%, and the same American tariff is at 15%. Before proposing some observations, I think I can recall the title of the page, that’s notably probable.
As some of my readers know, I’m convinced that free and competitive markets de facto don’t exist, and that there’s no exception to that, because the impact of State administrations is high all over the world. Consequently, no one can seriously affirm that capitalism is mistreating all the working classes, simply because communist countries are behaving exactly the same ways of capitalist countries, or even more ferociously in the field of profit. So, what about the tariffs coming from the cited duopoly? It seems to me that the cited praxes don’t respond to the classic notion of protectionism. Rather, I think that the duopoly is feeling the need for more capacity of influencing other countries. With other words, the goal is not a better protection of national productions, but more international oppression. Something similar happened for the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, even if there are no decisive evidences of the engineering of the virus. In conclusion, Orwellian visions seem more and more justified, as days go by, and there are no truly different behaviors between the most important political left and political right, the ones proper of China and the US. The war in Ukraine looks like a confirmation of the conclusion. In effect, apart from chattering, I haven’t seen any substantial difference between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump. Don’t let the increasing political violence fool you, power for the sake of power is the key, and Machiavellianism is on the rise.
As you can easily imagine, the short mix of the page is dedicated to the religion of cognac, largely spread among African American musicians.
File name “Max Look’s mini-mix, the cult of cognac (end of Sept 2025)”, length 12’ and 28”, it’s a collection of samples taken from songs about cognac.
Cognac, Hennessy, the playlist:
1. Enima – Henny (2017)
2. Dej Loaf feat. Lil Wayne – me u & Hennessy (2014)
3. 2Pac feat. Obie Trice – Hennessy (2004)
4. Nas – affirmative action (1996)
5. Buddy Guy feat. Jeff Beck, Keith Richards – cognac (2018)
6. Nas – Memory Lane (sittin’ in the park) (1994)
7. Drake – in my feelings (2018)
8. Mavado – weed and Hennessy (2013)
9. Busta Rhymes – pass the Courvoisier II (2002)
10. Snoop Dogg – Hennessy n Buddah (2000)
11. Drake feat. Wizkid & Kyla – one dance (2016)
