What’s up with rappers starting on fashion designers? When did that become acceptable behaviour for onetime crack dealers and college students? This week there’s been a lot of discussion of A$AP Rocky’s latest track Multiply, on which he announces “I’m the motherfuckin’ lord of this fashion shit, don’t I deserve just to brag a bit?” and turns hood fashion critic, calling out Hood By Air as “weak” and Been Trill as “booty”. Once he loved these labels and wore them all the time, even modelling in the HBA catwalk show, but no longer. It’s like Nas says in The Message: “a thug changes and love changes, and best friends become strangers.” And to add injury to insult, from what A$AP’s wearing in the video it looks like he loves Palace now; that’s like cheating on your girlfriend with her younger, prettier English cousin.
Dressed in an unbuttoned shirt Kanye defended himself against the braying Parisian fashion mob. How has this happened? When did Hip Hop turn into Les Misérables?
This is the most high-profile battle between a rapper and a designer since Kanye wasn’t invited to a fashion show he was looking forward to. “This song was made after Hedi Slimane didn’t let me into his first Saint Laurent show,” he explained at the time, “so, off of that, I went into the studio with the producers [Daft Punk] that made the music for his show and made I Am a God.” That’s not all though. Just this Paris Fashion Week he found himself shouting at the booing front-rowers of the Lanvin show – “Alber asked to see us! We’re not late! Don’t boo us!” – after Kim and Kanye were the last to arrive at their seats. Dressed in an unbuttoned shirt he defended himself against the braying Parisian mob. How has this happened? When did Hip Hop turn into Les Misérables?
It’s faintly preposterous that you now have Kanye quarrelling with French fashion editors and A$AP bickering with American designers. Whatever next? Will 2 Chainz become disgusted with his chains? Will Nicki Minaj eventually tire of her quest towards the callipygian ideal and denounce bouncy backsides? Will Migos wake up one morning just really, really annoyed with Donatella Versace?
What I actually enjoyed about the A$AP controversy was Heron Preston from Been Trill’s thoughtful response: “What happened to rapper on rapper beef? The days of Biggie vs Tupac & Jay-Z vs Nas are over. Remember how Nas’s Ether or Tupac’s Hit ‘Em Up made you feel? The fact that a rapper dissed a clothing company is a huge sign of the times. Does that mean rap is boring? Has rap lost its edge?”
Certainly these are questions worth asking. Why is Hip Hop so obsessed with fashion, and does that mean it’s lost its relevance? On the one hand it’s refreshing that rappers are supporting experimental high fashion and trying out androgynous styles – like skirts and Céline womenswear – that were once unthinkable. On the other, maybe they’re all turning into shopping obsessives with too much money. Back in the day Jay Z was writing battle-tracks to Nas but nowadays he’s dedicating tracks to Tom Ford.
Rap looked a lot better back then too. Think of Tupac posing topless in his bandana. Nas rolling through nightclubs in matching white fur coat and hat. Cam’ron bouncing around New York in his bright pink bomber jacket and cape. Why are rappers suddenly so obsessed with the catwalks, and with continental fashion houses in particular? On his first album Long. Live. A$AP, Rocky name-checks the likes of Costume National, Damir Doma and Isabel Marant! I surely wouldn’t have associated him with any of these brands. This is the sort of thing that confuses 50 Cent: “I ain’t with it. I asked it on a mix-tape. Niggas wear skinny jeans. I can’t fit in… If you Google ‘rapper in a dress’, do you know how many will pop? Young Thug is the one that actually said, ‘This is a dress.’ The other ones will call it a kilt. What about that culture is making you choose to wear it for the evening?” Why indeed.
In Multiply A$AP also declared himself “the original Margiela madman” and “the original Balmain badass”. Now, this obsession with Balmain makes a lot more sense. Of course pop stars want to dress as opulently as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette; they love beauty, they believe in the divine right of kings and rappers. Kanye told Hedi, “I am a God.” A$AP told i-D, “LSD, I love it. It almost makes you feel like you’re the best creator next to God.” Actually the best time I had at Paris Fashion Week was at the Balmain party, where Derek Blasberg and Kendall Jenner were holding court under the coloured chandeliers, surrounded by a circle of supermodels all quaffing champagne and dancing to Soulja Boy in some sort of palace, and all of these things made so much sense together. The fantasy world of Olivier Rousteing is a perfect fit for Hip Hop’s most luxurious dreams.
Actually though, does the fashion industry does need criticism from rappers? What it needs is more visual inspiration from those that are supposed to represent the youth. It used to be that the streets dictated style rather than vice-versa.
But anyway, A$AP appears let down by his old friends at Been Trill and Hood By Air who still haven’t thanked him for all his support. “Nah, I ain’t really into throwin’ shots,” he raps, “but these motherfuckers better give me props.” So far none of those props have been forthcoming. Instead, in his unfrazzled response Heron Preston concludes that “today, power in music is style. Power is fashion. Let’s keep this shit shocking and competitive! This is how you push things forward. And the song/video is good. Let’s continue to shake shit up! Our culture needs it.”
Actually though, does the fashion industry does need criticism from rappers? What it needs is more visual inspiration from those that are supposed to represent the youth. It used to be that the streets dictated style rather than vice-versa. Musicians changed the history of fashion over and over again, and really they introduced a lot of us to fashion. Kriss Kross showed me that I could wear my clothes backwards. Smashing Pumpkins showed me that it was ok to look effeminate and moody and weird. Marilyn Manson showed everyone that it was ok to be a weird asexual monster with awful make-up and white eyes. In his own way, he was as influential as Boy George and the Taboo lot were to an earlier time.
Rappers are sometimes style icons but too often they appear as troubled souls, carefully treading their way through the back-stages of catwalk shows, worrying more about the politics of the fashion industry than their actual appearance. Somehow, Kanye is able to channel all that anger and frustration into ever more baroque, self-consciously experimental records – “Why do you think this song Niggas in Paris is called Niggas in Paris? Because niggas was in Paris! Because I had an office and a small courtyard across the street from Colette, where I couldn’t even find a good pattern cutter, that’s why we were in Paris!” – and that’s a massive strength for a pop star. Pleasing the notoriously fickle fashion crowds has become his equivalent of the psychedelic journeys of self-discovery that drove rock’n’roll towards explosions of creativity.
For A$AP though it’s just another distraction, and it’s not doing anyone any favours really. I asked someone I know about this, someone wise who’s also a rapper and has also modelled, and he suggested, “it’s fair enough to think, ‘I’m not feeling my Hood By Air anymore,’ but don’t write punch lines about it. Just put that shit to the back of the closet.” Rappers, don’t be so angry at fashion designers! They haven’t stolen your leather jogging pants, they don’t really owe you any props, and how are they even supposed to respond anyway? It’s very difficult to make a diss collection, after all, so let’s just learn to get along.
Credits
Text Dean Kissick
Still taken from A$AP Rocky’s video for Multiply