Rap's Economic Indicators

High gas prices are not only plaguing the gas tank of your Dodge Durango, but are curbing Diddy's personal jet use, too.

A new video blog from Diddy (aka Sean Combs, aka P Diddy, aka Puff Daddy) announces that the rapper has traded private flying for commercial because of the high price of fuel, a statement that would seem to ring the death knell for conspicuous consumption in the hip-hop community.

Standing gate-side in an airport terminal, Diddy declares to a handheld camera:

"Gas prices are too m***** f*****' high. As you know I do own my own jet, but I've been having to fly back and forth to L.A. pursuing my acting career, ok? Now, if I'm flying back and forth like twice a month, that's like $200,000, $250,000 round trip. F*** that! I'm back on American Airlines right now."

Diddy continues:

"I want to give a shout out to all my Saudi Arabian brothers and sisters, and all my brothers and sisters from all the countries that have oil, if y'all could please send me some oil for my jet I would truly appreciate it, but right now I am actually flying commercial. "

Well, see for yourself:

This is not the first time that a popular rapper has weighed in on America's beleaguered economy. Last year, as the dollar was midway through its downward spiral, Jay-Z got the attention of Wall Street with his music video for 'Blue Magic,' which features the rapper popping open a brief case full of 500 euro notes.

This, from the rapper whose breakout single in 1996 was "Dead Presidents" -- a song all about his fervent desire for the greenback.

As with Diddy, whose 1997 'It's All About The Benjamins" was an early hit, some of Jay-Z's best-known tracks have names like, "Money Ain't No Thing" and "More Money, More Cash, Moe Hoes."

Since the mid-nineties, one of the hallmarks of the hip-hop lifestyle has been images of big spending and lavish tastes, from Maybachs to Cristal champagne, to diamond encrusted everything. It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that bling, and all that.

But in today's struggling economy, is hip-hop adopting a more frugal frame of mind?

Not only has Diddy lashed out about the price of gas, but rapper Young Jeezy -- previously known for a his 2003 album "Come Shop Wit' Me" and a song candidly titled "I Got Money" -- is changing his tune with a with a new record out next Tuesday called "The Recession."

"I still got friends and relatives that deal with the everyday economy," Young Jeezy told the new York edition of Metro "I have clothing lines and businesses that felt the pinch. But I'm maintaining. I do that very well."

While none of the songs on "The Recession" deal overtly with the economy, one politically motivated track called "My President" does touch on his concerns:

Pay all these d*mn bills, feed all these d*mn kids,
Buy all these school shoes, buy all these school clothes,
For some strange reason my son addicted to Polos...

If that's not a leading indicator for back-to-school retail sales, I don't know what is.

Liz Gunnison