Making money from rap music has never been more difficult. If you're a rapper whose last name isn't a compass direction and you regularly browse this website for tips on which brand carries the best $300 jogging pants, it stands to reason that you're also a very successful street pharmacist, because rappers aren't getting money like that anymore. We live in a time where the only way to profit off your rapping ability is to perform live shows as often as possible, while creating a brand that's seen desirable to impressionable youth, forcing them to come out and attend said shows whenever you come to town. Selling your brand's accompanying merchandise has always been a necessary staple of the live show, but the "designs" have never been very complicated or, well, fashionable. Most of the time they simply feature the artist's face or most recent album art screen printed onto a cheap cotton tee, available in black and/or white. But recently this trend appears to be changing as rap acts, especially new ones, understand their role as tastemaking icons and are leveraging their popularity by selling clothes during shows and online without a middleman.
But with great output and need for monetary gain comes great opportunity for ridicule. Not every rapper is a fashionista like A$AP Rocky, nor can they all bend the will of the youth to convince them that the niche things that they like are actually cool, ala Odd Future. Most camps seems to generally aim for the middle, creating clothing that's reflective of current trends while still reflecting that artist's essence—the same essence that people want to emulate. With this in mind, let's examine the online merchandise stores of 15 popular rap acts, picking our most and least favorite items from each collection.
Slava P is a writer living in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter here.
1. merchsearchlead
2. ASAPALL
3. ASAPBEst
4. ASAPworst
5. dipsetall
6. dipsetbest
7. dipsetworst
8. eminemall
9. eminembest
10. eminemworst
11. goodall
12. goodbest
13. goodworst
14. jayzall
15. jayzbest
16. jayzworst
17. luall
18. lubest
19. luworst
20. macklemoreall
21. macklemorebest
22. macklemoreworst
23. mmgall
24. mmgbest
25. mmgworst
26. ofall
This group fucked around and made kitty cats one of the biggest fashion trends on earth last year. Lately, they've been pulling away from the feline and into bigger and brighter designs. Say what you will about the music, but they've found an amazing way to be financially stable while creating raps in 2013. Being a non-rapping member of Odd Future is like living in an episode of How To Make It In America, but with Tyler constantly trying to capture a Vine of him farting on your face.
27. ofbest
28. ofworst
29. ovoall
30. ovobest
31. ovoworst
32. TDEall
33. TDEBest
34. tdeworst
35. wizall
36. wizbest
37. wizworst
38. wuall
39. wubest
40. wuworst
41. yeezusall
The most controversial hip-hop merch line in recent memory belongs to the man who constantly creates cool shit just for the sake of it being cool. Remember shutter shades? I bumped into countless lockers while I wore those fuckers, but they were still inexplicably cool. And while I haven't taken the plunge and splurged on leather jogging pants just yet, I'm sure it's only a matter of time until I bow to the peer pressure. The point is, everything that Kanye creates is cool just because he's got a solid enough track record to stand behind. Who cares if it's racist towards those who endured slavery or the native Americans who had their land taken from them? It looks cool!