Why ASAP Nast is the Best Dressed Rapper

When talking about best-dressed rappers, people often quickly bring up Kanye West, ASAP Rocky, or even Tyler, the Creator. And why not? Kanye West is grandfathered into both the music and fashion space, we all know what ASAP Rocky can do with a fit, and Tyler, the Creator is really coming into his own. But there is one name that people always forget to mention, and that is ASAP Nast.

One of the better-known members of the A$AP Mob and A$AP Rocky’s cousin, ASAP Nast – aka Tariq Amar Devega – is part of a revolutionary class of creatives that have ventured past the boundaries administered by Hip-Hop and now count themselves among the new fashion elite. Making cool of his currency, Nast has swaggered himself into being at the epicentre of a modern-day hip-hop and fashion community that he helped create, albeit away from the glitz and glamour of mainstream press.

With a brazen approach to dressing, Nast’s boisterous style and unorthodox relationship with fashion make him an outlier among his contemporaries and, to me, the best-dressed rapper right now. Here’s why;

ASAP Nast’s influence is all over the hip hop scene, and he would tell you himself too. Nast and the ASAP Mob, led by ASAP Rocky, changed the way people think about the intersection between rap and fashion, but while Rocky was serving the masses, Nast, in his own way, was subtly tapping into the subconscious of other rappers with his eclectic meshing of preppy, grunge and luxury fashion aesthetics.

Coming into the game before rappers wore Raf Simons, Comme Des Garcons or Rick Owens, ASAP Nast would help universalise a new way of dressing for rappers. Always excellently dressed, Nast has a penchant for Issey Miyake trousers, Lacoste Polos, sweater vests and collegiate-style loafers. It wouldn’t be long before the rapper would be calling out other rappers for name-checking these brands in their songs and stealing some of his sauce – namely Tyler, the Creator and Travis Scott in 2017.

We live in a time where people don’t necessarily have their own style, but this isn’t the case for ASAP Nast. Original, authentic, with no gimmicks or trends, Nast ventures into parts of the fashion industry that are uncharted by his peers. Crediting his mum when it comes to his style, the rapper also attributes his ever-evolving taste to travelling the world and submerging himself in new experiences. Nast’s fashion evolution would lead to working hand-in-hand with Converse to debut a collection of mid-century inspired sneakers, as well as taking to Copenhagen Fashion Week to launch his brand Pangea’s inaugural collection and his collaboration with Reebok.

Explaining that the crux of the A$AP experiment was to determine the furthest extent to which hip-hop could coexist with high fashion, Nast has etched out his own world, managing to break through the noise with fashion takes that can’t be replicated by anyone else. A time traveller of sorts, he blends past and present pieces seamlessly. Unlike rappers, who constantly chase trends and what’s in right now, Nast’s ability to rock mohair Marni sweaters with Sergio Tacchini and archival Comme des Garçons is uncanny, placing him in a league of his own.

Nast is out here carving his own lane, informed by his own personal taste. Equal parts charismatic and mysterious, as his career in fashion has flourished over the years, so has his influence. Once invited to walk at Paris Fashion Week for the late Off-White™ founder and Louis Vuitton Men’s Artistic Director, Virgil Abloh, Nast would make headlines for not wearing any Off-White products™. Virgil Abloh would cement the rapper’s importance to the blurring lines of high fashion and hip hop, saying Nast’s appearance at the show was more important than the show itself. He would later return to walk in both Off-White™, and Louis Vuitton shows. Now, that is iconic.

Discover more from GUAP’s Fashion section here