Updated: Apr 7, 2022
Last year, we lost a legend in the fashion and streetwear world. Virgil Abloh, the creator of Off-White as well as the creative director at Luis Vitton shockingly passed in November of 2021 with a very private battle with cancer. While we celebrated his life and what he contributed to FASHION, this year, the Grammys, while honoring him along with the recently passed musicians, decided to honor him as a "hip hop fashion designer". Now while his fashions were popular in hip hop culture, they were also popular amungst skaters, and just regular lovers of fashion from all walks. So to put him in a box as a "hip hop designer" was a slap in the face of all of his accomplishments in the fashion world. Another inspiration of mine and good friend of Virgil, Bobby Hundreds, had this to say on Instagram...
"This makes me so livid. I can’t with this fucxing shit. Literally no matter how high we get. How far we come. How many barriers we break thru. How long of a road we must traverse…TRUST that gatekeepers will be there every step of the damn way to try and PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE.
Going to steal a quote from my man Jason Brown (@Tjasonbrown02) who breaks down why this happens from Corporate America’s POV:
“The idea of sharing positions of power and influence with the very people we’ve oppressed, subjugated and abused is actually terrifying. Beyond your ambitions of equality, a day may come when you seek retribution for the past—and we can’t possibly invest in a change that would give you the opportunity to do so.”
Know that this was a highly vetted, extremely deliberate, consensus agreement made by the @recordingacademy to label V this way. This was not a “oops” flippant thing. This went through multiple rounds of discussion and approval.
V: You are hip-hop. Hip-hop is you. But you soared far beyond the definition of those two words. (And we all know what those two words mean to these ppl)
Rest In Power Man. I know you’re laughing from above.
🕊🙏🏽
- Your Favorite Oriental T-Shirt Artist"
With a flurry of similar feelings across Twitter and IG, we all can't be wrong. The Grammy committee jacked that one up. But what did we expect? These are the same people that gave Macklamore a Grammy over Kendrick. But I digress.
Light Skinned Tae
Creator of Afresh Culture