A$AP Rocky will see you now. Inside an unassuming brick building off Canal Street, the rapper and bona-fide fashion star has created an office tableau: He sits at a glass desk decorated with a brass banker lamp, a pen-filled mug, a whiskey decanter and crystal tumblers, and an office phone (corded, obviously), while behind him hangs a framed motivational poster with a picture of a mountain lion and the words “Don’t be dumb.” It’s Sterling Cooper meets Dunder Mifflin.
Rocky is an expert world-builder. As we begin to chat about his latest collaboration with Puma, the room floods with the sounds of free jazz, which aligns with his mood for the day. “Every great movie has a soundtrack,” he says. Does he think of his life like a movie? “It’s so funny,” he says. “When I’m riding in cars, if a certain part is done, I might run the song back just so that when I’m cruising, it just feels like more [of a movie.]”
If Rocky is on a kind of set, then he’s also nailed the costuming. He wears a black pinstriped suit with sharp shoulders and shiny black leather oxfords, which he’s accessorized with Bottega Veneta’s viral drop earrings in silver and a large diamond-encrusted ring on each pinky. Yet despite the jewelry, Rocky is all in on quiet luxury at the moment. “Everybody wants to be loud. Everybody wants you to know how much they paid for something. It’s all an exploitation of consumerism,” he says. “My taste is fed by something else, and I’m glad that I’m actually active in a climate where quiet luxury is a thing, because it comes and goes.”
A$AP Rocky released his most recent collaboration with Puma this week, which includes the Mostro, a spiky, 3D-printed black-and-red shoe resembling a dragon (albeit one imagined by Demna). The collection, heavily inspired by the auto world, features heavy distressing and nods to racing culture. “My rule is this: If it doesn’t personally satisfy me or feed me or if it isn’t up to my standards personally, then I won’t sell it,” he says. That said, he knows the collaboration—which he considers aesthetically aligned with Maison Margiela, Rick Owens, Balenciaga, and Golden Goose—isn’t for everyone. “I have an acquired taste, so I don’t expect all people to get it. It’s a niche demographic of people who live life like that.”
Surely, his sons—RZA and Riot Rose, whom he shares with Rihanna—will be part of that demo? While he is famously stylish himself, Rocky admits he can’t take credit for his well-dressed mini-mes. “I put together outfits and stuff, but usually it’s their mom, and mom is very adamant about them having baby Rocky outfits and stuff like that,” he says. “Both of my sons have a baby version of most of my wardrobe pieces. It’s kind of crazy.”
Yet Rocky is making sure that his sons have the full-size options, too. When asked if he’s planning to keep any specific belongings for the boys, he quickly interjects: “Everything. I’m not even joking, like, literally everything—my old Sega Genesis and Nintendos and my clothes. You name it, they’re gonna get it all.” After all, he says, “you can’t take it with you.”
