Fashion and sports brands are part of rap universe since day one. It’s in your favorite artist lyrics first, then it drops to his closet when he got his last royalties check. Mentioning brands means many things. First, it helps knowing the status of this brand in society, more a brand is mentioned and more there are chances it shows an idea of success and good tastes. For rappers mentioning these brands is exactly that. More they buy non-affordable clothes more they are able to show their success. So let’s see which brands are the most mentioned in rap.
When it comes to sneakers, Nike dominates the game for years. The swoosh took the leadership around the beginning of 21th century and didn’t release it since. 90’s was a battle between adidas which was loved by artists like Run-DMC and their world hit “My Adidas”, Nike and Reebok which was hot on the market thanks to publicity made by stars like Shaquille O’Neal who was closed to many rappers.
It’s the reign of Gucci since the day one when rap talks about luxury brands. The Italian brand remains up all the others since late 80’s. A good way to understand that in the USA, be able to buy Gucci means you are the top of your game. Ralph Lauren which was a one of the biggest provider of clothes for rappers in the 90’s surprisingly stays at low level.
Regarding the new brands or those working with young designers, Givenchy completely killed the game since 2005 and the appointment of Ricardo Tisci. The Italian designer worked a lot with Kanye West and Jay Z on “Watch The Throne” project. He designed album’s artwork and dressed both rappers for their tour. Historically Moschino was regurlarly mentioned especially with Notorious B.I.G but mentions fell hard when brands like Saint-Laurent, Maison Margiela and Rick Owens raised high very fast in mentions with the new generation of artists like A$AP Rocky, Drake or 2 Chainz.
Source : Complex
