Lil Yachty has landed on the cover of The New York Times’ Men’s Style section.
Makes sense because before people were asking “who is that red-haired rapper” they were wondering “who is that red-haired model?”
Yachty was introduced to the world as a featured model in Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 3 fashion show at Madison Square Garden in New York City at the top of this year. It wasn’t until months later that his music began to surface. In an episode of Hip-Hop Collectors, Yachty’s father, photographer Shannon McCollum told us that he started shooting pictures of him when he was just three years old. He says that is the reason why he’s become so comfortable in front of a camera.
As for Yachty’s spread in the Times, he is adorned with threads from designers and fashion houses like Maison Margiela, Comme des Garçon and Our Legacy. For folks who aren’t up on that type of stuff, he’s also rocking traditional Converse Chuck Taylors and Nike Dunks in the spread.
In his interview, Yachty talks about the wild and fast year he’s had. In less than 365 days Yachty has gone from a kid uploading music to Soundcloud to being featured in Sprite commercials with LeBron James.
NYT writes:
Still, even he has been surprised by the speed of his ascent.
“It just feels like a dream,” he said, recalling that in January, he couldn’t make it past the door of Kanye’s studio. “I sat in the hallway for hours while ASAP Rocky was in there. They wouldn’t let me in. By August, I was working with him.” Nautica, too, came calling only after a year of Lil Yachty’s attempting to get the maritime brand’s attention via social media.
It was backstage among the V.I.P.s at Jay Z’s Made in America festival in September that Lil Yachty’s new reality started to sink in. “Obama’s daughters knew who I was,” he said. “They were huge fans. Jay Z said my name to me before I introduced myself.”
Check out the spread for yourself here.
Photo: Screenshot
