How Jay-Z’s track ‘Tom Ford’ framed my Dream Career
Rap music and fashion are in constant conversation and have been for some time now. Whether it be the fantastical costumes of the O.G. Harlem Disc Jockeys Grandmaster Flash and the Fabulous Five, the invention of the concept of ‘streetwear’ through creatives like Karl Kani, April Walker, and Dapper Dan, or even just the reinvention of common articles like baseball caps and sneaker trainers within a framework of ‘cool’ hip hop culture and the fashion industry are inseparable at this point. Considering the medium of Rap has only been officially identifiable within a modernized pop culture context for around fifty years– an extremely young art form still early in its development, it comes with an array of speculation as to how such a new provocative and rambunctious sound can affect an industry that has notoriously been framed as elitist, pretentious, sophisticated, and of course, glamorous. How does this specific relationship inspire the generations in play? How will this affect fashion? How will this affect hip hop? Why does this even matter?
My personal answer to this skepticism is a Jay-Z song titled Tom Ford– the third track off his 2013 studio album Magna Carta… Holy Grail. I first heard this track when I was ten years old and it ultimately changed my life. At the time of my first listen, I was interested in fashion but not the same fashion I know today. I wasn’t interested in anything on runways or in showrooms. I was a child of streetwear and too busy shaping my idea of what was ‘dope’ through the lenses of my immediate and cultural influences and expressing raw provocation, with no direction. In what ironically stemmed from a joke between my brother and I based around the absurdity of the hook being just ‘some guy’s’ name, I listened to this song religiously in 2013-2014. Before I even knew who he was, the name Tom Ford was introduced to my vocabulary and held a weighted value. I cared because Shawn Carter cared– the only stamp of approval I needed at the time. Although I may not have been able to fully contextualize what I was listening to, I began to wonder: Who is Tom Ford? What is a Tom Ford? Why is it important? Why does a rapper care about it? Why does a rapper I care about, care about it?
JAY-Z, Magna Carta… Holy Grail, 2014, Genius
This is where present me comes into play. Currently, I’m an undergraduate University student majoring in fashion and creative direction in New York City. Last semester, I spent a semester abroad in Florence studying Italian fashion under a very impressionable and extraordinary professor who happened to work under Tom very closely during the revolutionary reinvention of Gucci during the mid 90s-early 2000s, as well as the formulation of Ford’s iconic eponymous line. Bear with me but– I believe this is a full circle moment. Here I was in the same classroom, learning under a creative who was a crucial role on the very teams at Gucci that sparked Tom’s relevancy and introduction to the spotlight, resulting in Tom Ford, and years later inspiring Jay-Z to make a song around him. Then, of course, reaching me. Although not instantaneous, this song’s influence and lifespan framed my outlook on how ‘cool’ a fashion designer was within my own framework, encouraging me to– in the words of Gladwell, ‘coolhunt’ and ask questions along the way. As a result, I looked to cool people first, because the cool is existing too rapidly. The zeitgeist shifts and resets, but cool people persevere. In hunting and questioning the taste of my mother, my brother, Jay-Z and many others, I got answers. Nine years later, this pursuit positioned me in Italy learning a new taste under a professor who technically played a part in influencing and designing me– to an extent, and the idea of my dream career. Funny how things work.
At this point in my youthhood I wasn’t formally familiar with any other individual luxury designers that were alive and thriving and getting shouted out in a HOV song and therefore surfaced as cool and sophisticated. But, Tom was. And Tom is. So, What does Jay-Z actually say about Tom Ford?
Provided below is the chorus:
I don't pop molly, I rock Tom Ford
International bring back the Concorde
The simple recurring bars explicitly put on a boastful chant of braggadocio and a traditional MC rhymes scheme that loops around one mantra standing above all others (even more so than Jay-Z’s persona himself) of course, being Tom Ford. Although these lyrics can be seen as just a general ballad to a life of luxury and high fashion, Jay chose Tom as the symbol of success. Mr. Carter has elaborated on a few occasions that the album thematically reflects on his childhood growing up without a father, now raising his daughter, lacking past guidance, through a lens of disorientation and paranoia. Tom in this instance could be an indirect representation of Jay’s new idea of power, masculinity, and sophistication. In fear of resembling his absent father, this vice of luxury retail yet tasteful uniform of affluence and allure corrects his course. Then again, I could be wrong and this could also all be just because Jay-Z likes to rock Tom Ford suits. Regardless, it’s refreshing to mention that this song is specifically culturally encouraging in the fact that Tom’s a queer man being praised in the arena of rap unfortunately notorious for being homophobic at times. At this point in his career, ‘the former dope boy turned businessman of rap’ was also much more artistically in sync with Ford’s brand image, as lots of his branding, public looks, and recent collaboration with Justin timberlake, “Suit and Tie” catered to aesthetics of luxury, elegance, sex, and class. The main reference to Jay-Z not partaking in MDMA, but instead wearing designer clothing can be easily looked off as silly. There’s many ways to interpret this. Is Jay saying that he gets a high off wearing Tom Ford and thus no longer needs the drug? Or Is Jay making a somewhat elitist flex here about the inequality of vices? We could go on but it’s really up to both the listener’s right to subjectivity and Jay-Z’s cemented intentionality.
Although I’ve basically based my whole entry around the guy, there’s something bigger at play than just Tom. He’s the modern poster child for a proposed thesis: the clashing of two entirely different cultural mediums of communication and reflection that were never really expected to interact in such a way. The result: new innovative spaces and empowered creatives. Although Tom should be entirely praised for pushing the heights fashion designers could reach in the public eye of celebritism, as well as expanding the archetype of a creative director as we know it today, I think this song is ironically, more about me. Well, not me specifically of course. But about any other kid who isn’t supposed to know who Tom Ford is, but does because of hip hop. Even through this small interaction within the grand scheme of things, rap music is fashioning Tom Ford in this instance. Tom is ‘cool’ to a whole new demographic of individuals and communities that otherwise wouldn’t have cared. And this doesn’t necessarily point to or result in more success or sales for Tom and his ventures; this has more to do with the conception and public manufacturing of what a fashion designer– a celebrity fashion designer at that, can look like to a decontextualized creative, awaiting their appointed introduction to a new medium called fashion with a capital F. This also goes for all the other easily overlooked luxury designer themed tracks that operate within hip hop, as they’re all doors waiting to be opened; conversations to be had. As simple as this concept is, these initiations and entry points are what change an industry for a generation. These are the new spaces I speak of. The intersection of Rap and Fashion– two forms that thrive off of sampling and reinventing, it only makes sense they formally feed off each other at this moment in time and moments to come.
Tom Ford, Fall 2014 RTW, Vogue Runway
