This week during the sixth episode of Frank Ocean’s blonded radio show A$AP Rocky debuted new track ‘Raf’. The song is rumoured to be a response to the feud between designer Raf Simons and Off-White’s Virgil Abloh. While that rumour is yet to be confirmed we can confirm one thing—Rocky is still the Fashion Killa. In the track the Pretty Motherfucker drops so many fashion references from we had to break them down.
A breakdown of every fashion reference in A$AP Rocky’s ‘Raf’
Fashion Killa checking names
01. Please don’t touch my Raf
The name Raf is dropped exactly 21 times throughout the song. Rocky’s been a Raf fan since before he was famous dropping lines “Yeah, I wore that Raf ‘fore I made it / Yeah, I wore that Raf ‘fore I made it / Yeah, got that Raf all in my basement.”
02. Rick Owens be the tag
Rick Owens and Rocky have a solid history. While the rapper has never worked with the American designer he does frequent his clothing quite often. He’s also a fan of the Owens collaboration with adidas, seen above in the sneakers.
03. Bought a Kris Van Assche
This is the one I really feel for. It was only last year that Rocky was front and centre in Dior Homme’s campaign under the direction of creative director Kris Van Assche. Now he’s here making a song about Dior’s ex-creative director Raf Simons and throwing Van Assche a sympathy line. That must hurt.
04. Alessandro Gucci glasses
Rocky has always been a Gucci fan, but recently he’s become one of Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele’s most fervent supporters. Ever since Michele took over Gucci’s direction in January 2015 Rocky has been regularly seen wearing Gucci designs on both the red carpet and the street.
05. W. Anderson collab
In 2016 Rocky collaborated with one of his favourite designers JW Anderson for their ‘AWGE’ collection. “No one needs to know what the letters stand for. We know what it is, and that’s how we want to keep it,” says Rocky.
Rocky explains (kind-of), “The first rule of AWGE is don’t ask questions about AWGE. The second rule of AWGE is that if you are a part of AWGE, then you cannot discuss AWGE. The third rule of AWGE is refer back to rule number one if you have any questions.”
06. Maison Margiela my sweater
In terms of rappers associated with Margiela everybody’s first thought goes to Kanye. But Kanye’s not the only high fashion prone rapper dropping the Belgian designer’s name. Rocky’s been on the Margiela tip for a couple years now, wearing the labels sneakers on his Intagram a while back and this slick bomber to the BBC headquarters more recently.
07. Raf Simons don’t lace ‘em
It’s not just Raf’s clothing that Rocky’s a fan of but also sneakers. It’s not unusual to see him repping a pair from Raf’s regular collaboration with adidas. But that’s just for basic Raf fans, a real Raf fan like Rocky is in to the designer’s ultra-rare De Stijl hiking boot. As seen below on a Letterman performance.
08. Diamonds on my neck and a Rollie on
Rolex would have to be the number one most name-dropped watch brand in music. Understandably when you consider that the luxury watch brand is a huge symbol for wealth and success. It’s a rap go-to for a reason, you know.
09. Yeah put my side bitch in Marc Jacob
010. Anna Wintour cool with my mama
How do you make a high fashion rap track and not name-drop Anna Wintour? Answer: you never would. The hip-hop world has come to accept Wintour’s clout just like the rest of us.