In a recent interview with XXL, 50 Cent touched on some of the current trends in hip-hop, notably in the fashion world. 50 Cent primarily spoke on Kanye West's desire to be accepted into the fashion world. Through Kanye's Yeezus run last year, the Chicago rapper went off on many rants against the European fashion industry and the many ways they were not open to the idea of having him be a part of their industry.
"In Kanye's case, wanting to be a part of high-end fashion that's a process," 50 Cent said. "It's not something that just happens. It's like—they're not gonna allow you to tomorrow wake up, say 'This idea, that idea. This idea and I'm in. and I'm hot.'"
In addition, 50 Cent also spoke on the evolution of hip-hop fashion, which he believes is evolving into more "European-cut clothing." 50 also recalls a time when rappers would wear plain t-shirts with their label or crew affiliation written on them.
"It's a shift in the way the actual audience is hanging. Now they're into high-end clothing now," he said. "They're wearing European-cut clothing. And as clothes got tighter and tighter and tighter they start buying designer clothing that's—the person probably wouldn't want to see them in their clothes. But they don't realize how much influence pop culture actually has."
50 Cent correlated the aforementioned with promotion, luxury car companies in particular. He mentions that luxury car brands like Rolls Royce and Lamborghini free publicity due to music videos.
"Just look at the major car companies," the rapper said. "Look at Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini. Those car companies, when's the last time you saw a commercial for them? They don't have to if they're in our music [videos]. And we're not sending them a bill for it. You see what I'm saying?"
Source: XXL
