Nowadays, it’s common to see musicians starting their own fashion brands. What you may not know is that a lot of them worked for popular streetwear labels or had retail mall jobs just like the rest of us before they hit it big.
Just think, you could have run into Playboi Carti folding shirts in an H&M in Atlanta, gotten a package from Diamond Supply Co. that was packaged up by Tyler, the Creator, or bought your first Bape Shark hoodie from Kid Cudi and not even known it.
Seeing where some of today’s most popular artists used to clock is also just a great reminder to never give up on your dreams, no matter what they are. Just look how it turned out for them. In some cases, these jobs are actually where they got discovered .
Check out some more examples of musicians working in fashion before their fame.
Kid Cudi at Bape, American Apparel, and Abercrombie & Fitch
If you’re into streetwear, you have probably heard about this one before. Before Kid Cudi was saving lives and humming beautiful melodies, he was a sales associate at the Bape flagship store in New York City.
“Working at that store, to me, at that time, was bigger than getting a record deal,” said Cudi in his 2023 Hot Ones interview. “It was such a major thing because of what it meant to the culture and what it was.”
Ironically enough, working at Bape is actually how he got his music in the hands of Kanye West, who would sign him to his G.O.O.D. Music label in 2008. In January 2024, Cudi’s time at Bape came back into the spotlight during an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. Cudi recalled hiding in the stockroom when rappers such as Lupe Fiasco would come and shop in the store.
“I had this phobia that rappers would come into the store and see me working there and then have beef with me later and bring up the fact like, ‘N****, you sold me clothes,’” said Cudi. While it was meant to be a joke, the anecdote reignited a war of words between the two rap vets that played out on social media.
Like some other acts on this list, Cudi was able to have some full circle moments in 2009, 2019, and 2021 when he released collaborations with the Japanese streetwear label full of Baby Milo’d Cudi’s and galactic ABC camo. Bape isn’t even the only store that Cudder clocked in for. He also held jobs at American Apparel and Abercrombie & Fitch. Quite the resume.
Kanye West at Gap
Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Before Kanye West was a global fashion icon, he was a sales associate at a Gap store at a mall in Chicago. Remember when he admitted to some casual shoplifting in “Spaceships”? (“Let’s go back, back to the Gap/Look at my check, wasn’t no scratch/So if I stole, wasn’t my fault/Yeah I stole, never got caught”)
Gap had a lasting impression on Ye, who always had a desire to work with the brand after he made it in the music world. It reportedly almost happened in the 2000s before the plan fizzled out. In 2013, he told Sway that he wanted to sell his Yeezus merch there (he would actually sell it in PacSun). In a 2015 interview with The Cut, he rekindled the idea saying that he dreamed of being the creative director of the Gap.
Fifteen years after “Spaceships,” Ye finally announced he would be collaborating with the brand. Although the Yeezy Gap partnership ended abruptly in 2022, it was one of the most important fashion partnerships in recent memory. Balenciaga further highlighted the line and helped push Ye’s longtime goal of making his designs as widely accessible as possible.
Playboi Carti at H&M
Christian Vierig/Getty Images
Before Playboi Carti influenced Opium warriors on how to dress, he was just a teenager working a mall job. It might be hard to believe it now when you see him stepping out in custom Pelle Pelle jackets and head-to-toe archive fashion pieces. In a clip from 2015, a young, Clout Goggle-clad Carti can be seen talking about working at H&M in high school. Ultimately, he had to quit because he claims too many people came into the store to see him. Carti was already bubbling around the time. We wonder if he wrote “Fetti” during his down time at the register?
Tyler, the Creator at Diamond Supply Co.
Donato Sardella/Getty Images for REVOLVE Clothing
When many people think of Tyler, the Creator’s connection to Fairfax Avenue, they immediately think of all of the Box Logo hoodies and goodies from Supreme he was always rocking. But before “Yonkers” helped him take off into stardom, he was actually helping out another popular streetwear shop on the block. In a 2017 interview with Dazed, Diamond Supply Co. founder Nick Tershay recalled Tyler helping them in the back of the store.
“Tyler would help us pack boxes,” said Tershay. “I didn’t even realize he was a rapper at the time.”
The Weeknd at American Apparel
Samir Hussein/Getty Images for ABA
The Weeknd is arguably one of the biggest pop stars of the past decade. Before he was selling out stadiums around the world and performing at the Super Bowl, he was just a struggling artist picking up shifts at an American Apparel in Toronto. In a 2021 interview with GQ, he talked about hearing his song “What You Need” while working in the store.
“I was folding clothes there when somebody at the store played the song,” he said. “Mind you, nobody knew who The Weeknd was.”
SZA at 10 Deep
Cudder isn’t the only musician who got their start working for a big streetwear brand. SZA used to work at 10.Deep. “My boyfriend at the time was creative director there, so I was doing a bunch of stuff, just designing and bringing people clothes and linking up different artists,” SZA told Clash in 2014.
In a 2013 interview with Complex, the TDE artist recalls first being connected with TDE president Punch in 2011 through her gig at 10.Deep. The brand was sponsoring Kendrick Lamar’s first show at the Gramercy Theatre. Following the show, she was tasked with dropping off some gear to TDE’s hotel. Her friend who accompanied her on the delivery was listening to one of SZA’s songs and Punch overheard. The two remained in touch until SZA signed a deal with TDE in August 2013. As they say, the rest is history.
Ferg at Devoni
Before he created anthems like “Work” and “Shabba,” ASAP Ferg was trying to be the next Simon Tavassoli. Ferg operated his own luxury leather belt brand, Devoni. The foray into fashion was inspired by his father, Darold Ferguson, who had a clothing boutique in Harlem called Ferg Apparel in the ‘90s. In addition to selling his own designs, Ferg’s father also printed T-shirts for local rap acts such as Bad Boy Records and Heavy D. Ferg attempted to relaunch Devoni with a series of red leather belts in 2021, but based on its Instagram account, the revival appears to have stalled out for the time being.
More recently, Ferg has gone back to his roots as a clothing designer by relaunching his late father’s label, Ferg Apparel, through a collaboration with Awake NY. The capsule featured designs pulled from the Ferg Apparel archive on T-shirts and bandanas.
“This is huge because I took on a task of finishing what he started,” Ferg said in a video discussing the project. “My biggest inspiration is him, my dad.”
Ice Spice at Billionaire Boys Club
Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Live Nation
Earlier this year, Ice Spice celebrated her debut album Y2K by collaborating with one of the biggest streetwear brands of the 2000s, Billionaire Boys Club. The Bronx rapper actually used to work for the brand during the Covid-19 pandemic. During a July 2024 interview with Rolling Stone, Ice Spice talked about working in the BBC warehouse after she dropped out of New York college SUNY Purchase.
“That was a fun-ass job though, because we was able to play music off the laptop and shit,” Ice told Rolling Stone. “Our boss was mad cool.”
Trinidad James at Fame
Kayla Oaddams/Getty Images
If you know Trinidad James, you know the man cares about his clothes. It should come as no surprise that before he blew up for his track “All Gold Everything” in 2012 that he was working at a clothing boutique in Atlanta for three-and-a-half years. The spot in Underground Atlanta, a shopping district in the city’s downtown area, was called Fame. It sold popular items at the time such as Mitchell & Ness snapbacks and LRG T-shirts. In an interview with Atlanta United FC in 2020, he reminisced on that period in his life.
“I was able to sell clothes and make relationships with guys that were hustling in the streets, the guys working in corporate buildings, the kids that went to Georgia State and kids who went to AUC by the West End Mall,” said James. “I wanted to give myself the opportunity to do more, so working in that store, I decided to write music.”
Read the full article here
