15 Rap Songs About Fashion That Seriously Get Me Hyped
Whether it's Run D.M.C.'s My Adidas or A$AP Rocky's Fashion Killa, there's just something in fashion-focused rap songs that gets me particularly hyped.
As a designer fashion fanatic, there is no music genre I love more than hip-hop. While on its surface, the genre's connection to fashion appears driven by material pursuits, beneath it lies a complex narrative about the relationship between pop culture and high fashion. One that reveals the precarious nature of our consumer-driven culture and the struggle to find your identity in a world filled with Instagram influencers and tabloid news.
To suit your sartorial fancy, I've rounded up a few of my favorite hip-hop lyrics about fashion and dug into the meaning behind their designer name drops and casual Cartier flexes. Put on your flyest designer sneakers and queue up your playlist because it's about to go down.
Queue up these fifteen hip-hop & rap songs about fashion to channel your inner Virgil Abloh
Please Stop Making Fake Versace
Father
"Please stop makin' fake Versace
Please stop coppin' fake Versace
Please stop rockin' fake Versace
Please stop makin' fake Versace"
In May 2015, Father dropped Please Stop Making Fake Versace, an absolute banger that is everything this 90s Versace lover could ever ask for. Throughout the track, Father disses posers that dare to wear fake Versace— one of the most sacred luxury brands in the hip-hop industry. In one of his most scathing lines, he tabs a clear jab at cultural appropriating white girls, telling them to "please stop rockin' fake Fendi, eatin' nasty-ass Chipotle, wearin' bindis."
Hip-hop culture is deeply rooted in the history of the famed Italian fashion house Versace. It all began in 1995 Donatella and Gianni Versace personally invited Tupac Shakur to walk in Versace's Fall/Winter 96 show— only months before his sudden death in 1996. Dressed in an impeccable gold velvet suit, he sauntered down the runway arm in arm with his girlfriend, Kadida Jones, before returning to perform his hit California Love. Pictured here with E40, 2Pac wears one of the most iconic Versace shirts in hip-hop fashion: the collared silk button-up. In the 25 years since, the house has been featured in countless rap songs and collaborated with some of the biggest names in the rap industry.
GREECE
DJ Khaled ft. Drake
"Come with me, leave all of your things, yeah
We can stop at Gucci, stop at Louis V, yeah
Come with me, fly you out to Greece
Full speed, survoler Paris, yeah"
Throughout GREECE, the always-fashionable Drake raps about whisking away his girl for a romantic European vacation filled with expensive clothes and plane rides over Paris. In the chorus, Drake tells his lady she won't even need to pack a suitcase. Instead, she can buy herself a new wardrobe at the luxury clothing stores they'll be visiting, like the Louis Vuitton store in Mykonos (pictured below).
GREECE was released in July 2020 and debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. It's one of two lead singles— alongside POPSTAR— from KHALED KHALED, DJ Khaled's twelfth studio album.
Gucci, Prada & Fendi
FSG Rell ft. Tr0y W0nder
"I'm rocking Gucci and Prada and Fendi
Need them exclusives
Send me exclusives
I need all the exclusives"
On Gucci, Prada & Fendi, FSG Rell teams up with Tr0y W0nder for a hip-hop song about their love for exclusive streetwear collabs and expensive luxury brands. The high-energy track was released as a single in May 2019.
When asked about the track in an interview, FSG stated, "The creative process for Gucci, Prada & Fendi was only a few minutes. I was on my way home from a show I did in Philadelphia, some people in the crowd I could see pointing at my designer sneakers. A producer that I met through a mutual friend sent me the best a couple days before, I put it on while everybody was sleep and I wrote the song in about 15 minutes drawing inspiration from one of my shoes that very night."
Shopping Spree
Murda Beatz ft. Lil Pump & Sheck Wes
"I just went on a shopping spree (Yeah)
When I go shopping I buy everything I see (Ooh, brr)
What you want? I want that Patek Philippe"
For his first single as an official artist, Canadian producer Murda Beatz teamed up with Lil Pump and Sheck Wes to create Shopping Spree. The song was released in June 2019 and marked the beginning of Murda Beatz's deal with Interscope Records.
Throughout the fast-paced, energetic song, the two rappers alternate verses about their lavish lifestyles and expensive shopping sprees. They highlight the power of money with a playful nonchalant tone that perfectly contrasts the beats. In the chorus, Lil Pump mentions his diamond-encrusted Patek Phillipe, which he shows off in the video below.
Come on a Cone
Nicki Minaj
"Do a show for Versace, they request me by name
And if they don't get Nicki, it just won't be the same
When I'm sittin' with Anna, I'm really sittin' with Anna
Ain't a metaphor punchline, I'm really sittin' with Anna
Front row at Oscar de la Renta, posture
Ain't a bitch that could do it, not even my imposter"
Come on a Cone, from Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded features some of Nicki's best lyrics about fashion over a buzzing electronic beat. On the track, she raps a savage diss (allegedly about Lil Kim) as her alter-ego Roman Zolanski. It's full of name drops, designer clothes, and Nicki's witty braggadocio. In the first verse alone, she talks about performing at a Versace show, appearing on Ellen, and sitting front row with Anna Wintour at the Oscar de la Renta show.
In the picture above, she sits front row with Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour at the Carolina Herrera Spring 2012 runway show at NYFW. Throughout her early career, Nicki was known for attending fashion week in colorful outfits, wacky color combos, and over-the-top accessories. At the aforementioned Oscar de la Renta show, she wears a painfully 2010s look you have to see to believe.
Chanel
Slim Jxmmi ft. Rae Sremmurd, Swae Lee & Pharrell
"Take her to Chanel, 'cause she fine (fine)
Paint your fingernails, 'cause you fly (girl, you fly)
Take her to Chanel, 'cause she fire (fine)"
Slim Jxmmi, Swae Lee of Rae Sremmurd, and Pharrell Williams (pictured below walking in a Chanel menswear show) teamed up to create Chanel, a catchy track filled with lyrics that make me swoon. In this ode to the iconic fashion label, the trio treats their ladies to manicures, freaky sex, and shopping trips to Chanel. One listen, and you'll be hooked by its repetitive chorus and heavy electronic beat. The track, which appears on SremmLife 3, was released in April 2018.
Stylist
24hrs
"Bitch, you need a stylist
I could be your stylist
I could be your stylist
Bitch, let me style it"
On Stylist, 24hrs teams up with producer APEX to create a track filled with boasts about his diamond grill, Chanel belt, and gold jewelry woven between some truly savage lines. Throughout the hook, 24hrs drops insult after insult to show the girl just how superior his style is. Oh, and he drags Miley Cyrus a few times. The song was released in April 2016 on 24hrs' Open EP.
Virgil Abloh
Caleb Colossus
"Y'all been selling me short, and ripping me off
Been making some boss moves, you thought it was soft
I knew that the artwork was sure to pay off
Now I'm shining like that nigga that got y'all in Off
Virgil, Virgil, Virgil, Virgil (Virgil)"
In his aptly named track Virgil Abloh, Caleb Colossus compares his meteoric rise to fame to the success of one of his idols, Off-White founder and Louis Vuitton Men’s designer Virgil Abloh. Colossus placed 5th on Netlfix's hip-hop competition Rhythm & Flow. The track was released on the Atlanta rapper's first album, When Paint Smears, in September 2019.
Throughout the track, Colossus artfully drops references to Abloh and notes the similarities between himself and the multi-hyphenate designer. Both achieved success through hard work, persistence, and a passion for their craft despite vocal critics selling them short and ripping them off. In one line, Colossus gives a nod to Abloh's background in architecture and love of overt branding when he spits that he "architected it, branded it, resurrected it, craft it 'till I perfected it."
Met Gala
Gucci Mane ft. Offset
"I was that nigga locked up in the cell
And they treated me like I was normal (Normal)
Thankin' the Lord for them blessings
I just left the Met Gala dressin' up formal (Formal)"
Fellow Atlantans Gucci Mane and Offset teamed up on Met Gala, a track dedicated to the annual fashion event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. In May 2017, Migos (comprised of Offset, Quavo, and Takeoff) made history as the first rap group to perform at the Met Gala. In true Migos style, the trio walked the infamous Met Gala steps fully iced-out in all-black Versace tuxedos. The track was released only weeks after the event in late May 2017.
In Met Gala, Offset compares the highs and lows of his celebrity life. During his career, Offset has been to jail multiple times. His most public arrest came in April of 2015 when all three Migos members were arrested for firearm and drug charges. While Quavo and Takeoff were released on bail, Offset spent 233 days behind bars. In Met Gala, he contrasts his 2015 arrest with his history-making Met Gala performance that occurred less than two years later.
RAF
A$AP Mob ft. A$AP Rocky, Playboy Carti, Quavo, Lil Uzi Vert & Frank Ocean
"Rick Owens be the tag (Rick)
Do the digital dash (All this Rick)
Yeah, I'm boastin', never brag (Yah)
Please don't touch my Raf (What?)
Bought a Kris Van Assche (Yeah)
Alessandro Gucci glasses (Yeah)
J.W. Anderson collab (Uh)...
Hoe, don't step on my Raf Simons (Ooh)
Do you know how much I'm spendin'? (Huh, ooh)
My closet, it worth 'bout a milli' (Milli', yeah, yeah)"
If you're an A$AP Rocky fan, you know he's fond of name-dropping designers in his songs. In Fashion Killa alone, Rocky references over 30 different designers. But in RAF, A$AP and the gang confess their love of just one designer: Raf Simons. The track, released in May 2017, features verses from Quavo, Playboy Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, and Frank Ocean that showcase each artist's nuanced style.
Throughout it, the group raps about their love of Raf Simons, a luxury menswear designer and friend of A$AP Rocky's. Rumor has it that in 2017, Rocky had a run-in with an obsessed fan who wouldn't stop touching his designer clothes. He allegedly responded to her by saying, "Please don't touch my Raf," and thus, the song was born.
In his interview for TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People of 2017," Rocky shared his fondness for the designer: "I feel like Raf Simons is important for the culture based on the fact that he built a whole new religion around fashion. It’s to the point where kids, male and female alike, will get in full arguments over why he’s the greatest. And it’s amazing how his prior work, his archive, is more important and relevant than anything that’s out today. When you wrap your mind around the concept that he wrote the future of fashion and design in the 1990s and early 2000s, then you’ll also understand why Raf is the greatest to ever do it."
Thought It Was a Drought
Future
"I just fucked your bitch in some Gucci flip flops...
You know I don't fuck with no rumors
Rocking red bottoms like they Pumas"
In Thought It Was a Drought, the first song on his DS2 album, Future boasts his love of cough syrup and throws subtle shade at his ex Ciara. The song was released in July 2015 and peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100.
When asked about the inspiration behind Thought It Was a Drought and its infamous Gucci flip-flop line, Future told XXL Magazine, "Man, this gon’ sound crazy but I had a pair, one pair of Gucci flip-flops that inspired me to make the song. But with that said, man, my grandma was over the house and she went swimming in the swimming pool and she needed some shoes...And she put my Gucci flip-flops on and ain’t bring them back... Yeah, she heard the song. She don’t even understand it though."
You & Me Both
Valee
"I bought Gucci, not for me, but for you and me both
Buy a brand new whip, I like to speed, one for you and me both...
I got Louis plaid and you know it's not yet in the stores
I got certain tags that's still in my closet on the floor"
In You & Me Both, Valee romantically raps about sharing his wealth with his girl. He reminds her that he buys expensive clothing and cars not just for himself but for both of them. The song, co-written by ChaseTheMoney, was released in April 2019.
In the first verse, Valee boasts about getting first dibs on designer clothes. He says his closet is filled with unworn items from luxury streetwear brands and that he's got pieces from Virgil Abloh's latest Louis Vuitton collection (based on the song's release date, LV's Fall 2019 season) that haven't even hit stores. If that's what his closet looks like, I'd kill to see what's inside hers!!
That's Not Me
Skepta ft. Jme
"Yeah, I used to wear LV
I put it all in the bin 'cause that's not me...
Yeah, I used to wear Gucci
I put it all in the bin 'cause that's not me
True, I used to look like you
But dressing like a mess? Nah, that's not me"
In That's Not Me, British rapper Skepta and his older brother Jme rap to a throwback beat about their feelings towards the music scene. Throughout the track, Skepta separates himself from the rest of the "wastemen" by throwing away his designer clothes and giving up one night stands.
That's Not Me was released as the lead single on Skepta's fourth album Konnichiwa. The track dropped in June 2015 and peaked at number 21 on the UK Singles Chart. Its electronic beat—an intentional throwback to early grime music— earned it the number one spot on Complex Magazine's list of "Grime's Most Impactful Songs of the 2010s." The magazine dubbed it "one for the history books."
Yes Indeed
Lil Baby ft. Drake
"Brand new whip got no keys
Tailor my clothes, no starch, please
Soon as I nut, you can gon' leave
Got M's in the bank, like, 'Yes, indeed'
Cartier glasses, I won't even peek at you
Yellow Ferrari like Pikachu"
Yes Indeed marks the first collaboration between Lil Baby and Drake, two of the biggest names in the rap scene. The track was released in May 2018 and appears on Lil Baby's mixtape Harder Than Ever. In the chorus, when Baby tells his tailor not to press his clothes with starch, he's likely referring to wearing streetwear instead of formal suits.
In the second verse of Yes Indeed, he also refers to Drake's Pikachu yellow Giallo Moderna Ferrari LaFerrari— worth a cool $7 million. The car made an appearance during Drake's 2018 Aubrey & The Three Migos Tour, where it flew above fans' heads throughout the set. The flying car was actually a drone made of a foam replica of the LaFerrarri filled with a giant helium balloon.
