Since the early 1990s, cognac consumption has seen a significant transformation in its American consumer base from a predominantly older, affluent white demographic to younger, urban, and black consumers. Cognac has even become ingrained in hip hop culture, celebrated in songs.
Pernod-Ricard, the parent company of Martell, has acknowledged that “the USA is the biggest market for cognac, and African-Americans are a priority target. After poor sales in 1998 due to an economic crisis in Asia (cognac's main export market at the time) sales of cognac increased to approximately US $ 1 billion in America in 2003. This was a growth that coincided with hip-hop's entry into the mainstream of American music.