A$AP Ferg and Chid Liberty — the founder of the sustainable, fair trade, and social conscious label Uniform — are collaborating on a limited-edition line of clothing that empowers children across Africa. For each Traplord x Uniform piece sold, a school uniform is donated to a child in need. The belief is that kids in uniform (and even more importantly, school) have a brighter future. Back in April, a ten-piece capsule collection was made available online at Bloomingdales. This weekend, the partnership between A$AP Ferg and Chid deepened as they dropped their full men’s and women’s collection during a pop-up shop in New York’s Soho. The event, which was organised by Traplord, UNIFORM and Tidal in conjunction with Pop Up Mob and Studio Space, showcased the limited-edition 11-piece collection and the premiere of the Tidal documentary A$AP Ferg: Where Stars Are Born. We sat with Chid to discuss why Ferg and Uniform are an ideal fit and how it’s important to give back.
In general terms, rap and trap are genres associated with a certain number of things but not necessarily helping kids go to school in Africa. Why did you decide to collaborate with A$AP Ferg?
Traditionally, rappers are rarely seen as caring about much more than “bitches and money” (laughs) but this is a false narrative. As someone who worked in the entertainment business, I wanted to cast the black rapper as a philanthropist, so that we could put a difference face on philanthropy.
So a rapper, rather than an athlete or actor, is specifically who you wanted to work with?
Without a doubt! From the minute we landed in Liberia with Ferg, every kid ran up and wanted to talk to him! When we went into a classroom to give out uniforms or when visiting kids we had donated uniforms to, every kid wanted to come up to Ferg and just rap!
Is this because hip hop and rap have become so universal and recognisable worldwide?
Rappers are some of the most influential people in our world right now. Rappers have such a global influence right now and have created such a culture around the world, whether you’re in Japan or Africa, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day I wanted to cast that person as the philanthropist.
Do you feel that makes the collaboration more accessible and authentic?
I do. You have these kids in school who a bored out of their minds, listening to their teacher drone on about this subject and that subject. Then we have a scene in the film of Ferg walking into a classroom and he says: “Yo, I’m A$AP Ferg and I am here to teach how to be a baws like Rick Ross!” And the kids explode! They’re like “yesss! This is amazing!!” (laughs) How dope is it to have an assembly where Ferg is the central figure, to have A$AP Ferg teach your class in your school?!
In retrospect, Ferg was a great choice.
We can’t talk about rap without the genius behind it. Ferg is one of the hardest working people that I know. His ability to create, his ability to have a vision and go after it, is amazing. I mean that both in music and in fashion. I think that for our kids to really see that genius in action was very powerful for them.
Do you think that seeing his genius in action was powerful for the kids?
Yes! To realise it can happen for them, that it is real. To see his face, to see somebody who looks like you as a person giving charity, that’s incredible for these kids. How many times in Liberia, as a kid, do you see some rich person from America who doesn’t look at all like you, come by and say “I’m going to do x, y, z for you…”. And then to have this dude from Harlem and say, “Hey, you are my culture”…
Why was it important to visit Liberia in the context of this collaboration?
The first time I got on the phone with Ferg, he was like, “Tell me about this brand, tell me about what you’re building” and I told him. Next he goes, “I need to come to Africa, I need to meet and touch the people”. The whole idea of Ferg is the hood pope, that people champion; it’s real. He just wants to be there, that’s where all the energy came for him for the entire trip. We didn’t necessarily have the budget to host a rapper and his entourage in Liberia! So we started to talk to potential sponsors and all of them said no until Tidal accepted the project.
Could you tell us how the uniforms positively impact a community?
Well, the data is there. MIT [through their Poverty Action Lab] did research and found that if you donate uniforms to kids, attendance increases by up to 62 percent, that test scores increase by a 0.25 standard deviations, and that for every three young girls that receives a free uniform, two will delay their first pregnancy. The second way is job creation. All the uniforms are made in Africa, generally by working mothers. Moms get a job, kids get a uniform and in the best case scenario in Liberia, we have mothers working at the factory sending their own kids to school wearing the uniform they made. Pretty powerful!
Is a quantifiable impact important for Uniform and the collection?
Absolutely! We need to deal with systemic issues and for us it was about dealing head on with two issues: first, this stuff needs to be made in Africa and also benefitting by creating jobs for people, and two, what we’re giving away must have a documented impact. And so that’s we did…
What does the future of Uniform look like?
We have a gigantic Pan-African vision. It’s about connecting our cultures. Education is a piece of it; entertainment, culture, and all those things are also pieces of it. A bigger goal is to make sure that hip hop culture and its roots in Africa are connected and grown into opportunities for people on both sides, here and there.
What do you hope people will take away from project?
We want everybody to believe they can change the world. A$AP Ferg has worked to become a highly successful platinum selling rapper; I’m an entrepreneur from one of poorest countries in the world; my business partner is a Jewish kid from Wisconsin… And we’ve all partnered to do something that really changes people’s lives. When you spend time with those kids in Liberia, you can feel that change. Everybody can make change!
