Lil Wayne New Clothing Line?
The latest gossip in the Celeb/Fashion world is that Lil Wayne will be launching a clothing line.
Here is what MediaTakeOut is reporting:
…Weezy just signed a deal which will be announced in the next few days – for a new Young Money clothing line.
They went on to say that Wayne’s deal is worth a reported $200 Million, and will be inspired by Lil Wayne and his Young Money artists. It will include a preppy line modeled by Drake, and a ladies line modeled by Nicki Minaj.
Let me say that I think this is complete bullshit, but I may be wrong…
I completely respect Wayne’s hustle but if this is true, a clothing line?…Really? Wayne has set himself a part from the rest of the rap world, so why would do what every other rapper does…and start a clothing line?
Rappers starting clothing lines is nothing new. It’s almost as if there is a checklist of what to do once you put out a record; and it’s followed by starting a clothing line.
This really only works if you are a “first mover”, meaning you are the first to do it, or you have a really good brand behind you. The success of Rocwear is a combination of the two. They were one of the first rap clothing lines out there and had an awesome brand behind it. Similarly, Sean John and G-Unit have had huge success because of being a first mover (Sean John), and having a great brand (G-Unit). But who is even wearing G-Unit anymore?
Other rappers have launched lines and had pretty good success, but failed in the long run:
- Wu Wear
- Outkast Clothing
- Snoop Dogg Clothing
- Shady LTD
- P. Miller/No Limit Clothing
- State Property
- Nostic (Jim Jones)
- Pastelle (Kanye West)
- DMX Signature Clothing
- CEO (Dame Dash)
- David Brown (Young Buck) LOL
Nelly’s VOKAL could be considered a flop, but he has bounced back pretty good with Apple Bottoms.
Pharrell Williams’ BBC/IceCream clothing made a huge impact on the rap world, not to mention fashion itself. He set himself a part from what everyone else did, and was doing, and offered a High End clothing line. The one thing I liked about his line was that it didn’t have his name all over it. It could be considered completely separate from his rap career. I think rappers who blast their name all over the front of a T-shirt are only asking for short-run success. Eventually people get tired of you, and stop buying your stuff.
So that brings me back to Weezy. While the details aren’t that clear as to what the clothes will look like, I really hope it’s not based too much around the Young Money artists. Why? Because it will only bring him short-run success. Granted, with short-run success he will make a ton of money because it will sell like crazy at first, but again the inevitable happens…people grow tired of it.
He will not be the first because brands such as Phat Farm, Ecko, Rocwear and Sean John did that. Young Money’s brand is not as strong as G-Unit, and Pharrell did the high end. So what’s left? MediaTakeOut says there might be preppy and a ladies line…well didn’t Andre 3000 kind of do a preppy line with Benjamin Bixby? And isn’t that what Apple Bottoms and BabyPhat are?
I’m really not sure what options are left. I wish Wayne the best of luck in his new clothing deal (although I’m very skeptical). I think it’s smart to have other investments besides rapping, but are clothing lines really the answer these days. Did you ever hear of Double U and Foreign Money? That was Wayne’s clothing lines he was supposed to launch back in 2007-2008.
What do you think of rappers launching clothing lines?
Recent Comments