ASAP Rocky – Source: Arturo Holmes / Getty
During the 16th annual Harlem Fashion Show & Style Awards, a blinged barette rocking A$AP Rocky was honored with the Virgil Abloh Award.
Rocky was on hand Tuesday to accept the honor from LVMH CEO Anish Melanie and North America Chief Human Resource Officer Gena Smith who celebrated his trendsetting at the famed Apollo Theater.
According to Complex, Rocky revealed that he didn’t pre-write anything for the occasion and wanted his words to “come from the heart” as Virgil Abloh played a pivotal role in Rocky and the entire A$AP Mob’s story.
During his acceptance speech for the award that celebrates “like-minded individuals who embody Virgil’s spirit, brilliance, and vision, through invaluable contributions to culture, community, and innovation,” Rocky highlighted how in tune with the culture Virgil was.
According to the rapper, the designer always knew who or what was next to blow.
“For y’all who don’t know, Virgil discovered us, A$AP, as a bunch of kids before I got my record deal or any of that,” Rocky told attendees at the Apollo, per TMZ-shared footage.
“We was downtown in SoHo just cooling and we wasn’t old enough to get into this club.” Rocky recalled. “Virgil peeped us and unbeknownst to us—and we ain’t know that he knew who he was—he’s like, ‘Wait, y’all are those Harlem kids, the trendy ones,’” Rocky said. “And we was tripping like, ‘Wait. Virgil knows who we are, the fashion world knows about us?’”
Virgil’s sudden death left an impact on music, fashion, and culture. There was truly no one else quite like him.
