e could just call A$AP Rocky a rapper.
It would be simpler. We could point out that
the kid born Rakim Mayers was named after
one half of legendary ’80s hip-hop duo, Eric
B & Rakim. Or that he started rapping
when he was just nine years old.
There’s also the fact that in 2011, his mixtape Live. Love. A$AP
sparked a minor music industry bidding war that eventually concluded
with Rocky landing a two-year record deal at Sony worth nearly
$4m. And by the following year, he was opening for Drake and then
released his first full-length album Long. Live. A$AP in January 2013.
It debuted at No.1 on the US Billboard 200 chart, sold almost 140,000
copies in its first week and was soon certified Platinum, after shifting
a million units in the US alone.
Right now, Rocky is backstage getting ready to join the rest of
A$AP Mob for a sold-out performance in LA. Tomorrow is San Fran,
and then it’s off to Portland, Vancouver,
Seattle, New York and on and on. This
year, he’s set to release his long awaited
third solo album, the follow-up to 2015’s At.
Long. Last. A$AP. So it would be easy to
say he’s one of the world’s most successful
rappers. But that wouldn’t be the whole
story. Or even most of the story.
The story we’re talking about begins a little
under 30 years ago, in Harlem, New York
City. Before W WII, the neighbourhood was
home to many of the city’s Jewish, Italian and
Irish communities, but these days it’s famous
as the birthplace of some of rap’s biggest
names. Puff Daddy, Dame Dash, A$A P Yams
and Cam’ron – they all grew up there.
Rocky was born the youngest of three
children. When he was 12, his father was
jailed for selling drugs – he passed away
in 2012 – and the following year, his older
brother and mentor, Ricky, was shot and
killed. By 15, Rocky was selling crack in the
Bronx and for a while, he lived in homeless
shelters with his older sister and mother.
That was when he got the scar on his face.
“This older guy gun-butted me while we was fighting,” he told GQ
earlier this year. “He was trying to rob my Pelle Pelle jacket. I still kept
it, though. It was bloody. My sister Erika bought me that for Easter.
I wasn’t about to give my shit up. Fuck outta here.”
In 2006, the young music executive Yams launched a hip-hop
collective known as A$AP Mob, which would include Ferg, Nast,
Twelvyy and Rocky, among others. Yams was also one of Rocky’sgreatest mentors, and a co-founder of his record label A$AP
Worldwide. So when Yams died in his sleep in 2015 at just 26, it hit
Rocky hard.
“Keep working,” he explains, of how he dealt with the loss. “I’m not
gonna lie. Because if we grieve it, it might take everything out of us.”
But there was something else about Rocky’s early music. In August
2011, his debut single, ‘Peso’, was leaked online. “Raf Simons, Rick
Owens usually what I’m dressed in,” he raps on the track, which was
soon on high-rotation at radio stations across New York. This was early,
even before Rocky’s first mixtape had been released, but by then it was
already clear: Rocky was offering hip-hop more than just a fresh sound.
He’d given it a new look.
“Oh, it’s lit,” Rocky says when GQ mentions Simons, one of his
favourite designers. “That’s my guy. That’s the lord right there.”
Their connection began back in 2012, when Rocky started working
on his own clothing line, a collaboration with Simons. He’s since been
a regular on the front row of shows for the
Belgian designer’s namesake label, as well as at
Calvin Klein, for whom Simons has been
Chief Creative Officer since 2016.
“Sometimes it’s business, and sometimes it’s
friendship,” he says of his relationship with
the designer. “Raf had me flying out to
Antwerp so I could smoke my weed and just
catch a vibe with him back in 2012 and 2013.”
Rocky is also close to avant-garde designer
Rick Owens and his wife, muse and business
partner, Michèle Lamy.
“I’ve been looking at him and Michèle Lamy
for advice. Michèle Lamy is like my fairy god
mum,” he says. “She tries to make me evolve as
an artist. She encourages me to do more things
outside of musical arts – more contemporary
art. It’s been a journey.”
Rocky’s transition from rapper to fashion
world insider quickly gained pace. He’s appeared
in campaigns for Dior Homme, DKNY, All
Saints and Mercedes-Benz, and in early 2016 he
launched another fashion line, this time for
Guess – stylised as GUE$$, naturally.
Today, Rocky is a barometer for all that’s
cool. He was wearing those controversially ugly-beautiful ‘dad’ sneakers
from Balenciaga (they’re “fire”, for the record) before anyone else could
come close to getting their hands on them, and is almost singlehandedly
responsible for taking high-end European labels and transplanting
them into the heart of the modern-day hip-hop aesthetic.
Such are his powers as a tastemaker, it’d be easy to imagine his
Instagram might be an endless scroll of the usual designer suspects –
except that it’s not. In fact, @asaprocky is nothing but a series of black,
white and grey boxes. His account has almost seven million followers.
“We wear stuff that suits us and not what’s trendy, it becomes a
trend,” Rocky explains of his personal style. “That might be confusing
for people. I would just say that everybody’s different. Everybody got
different body shapes and whatnot, so I would say stick to what you
know fits you best and what you feel comfortable in, even if it’s not in
style. Just wear whatever makes you feel cosy.”
The story so far is that he’s a rapper and entrepreneur and style
icon. But for a man who says he has considered career alternatives in
everything from floristry to interior design, maybe Rocky is the only one
who really knows what the next big thing will be. He usually does. nW
“Everybody’s
different... Just wear
whatever makes
you feel cosy.”
MEN OF THE YEAR 2017 GQ.COM.AU 175