There are rappers, there are rockstars, and then there are talented genre-bending individuals who don’t allow the landscapes of music and fashion to define them. Swae Lee is among the later.
Throughout his time as one-half of music duo Rae Sremmurd, Swae Lee has effortlessly demonstrated his boundless and limitless artistry. From his soulful summer bop collaborations with French Montana, Jhene Aiko, and Chloe x Halle to the turnt-up tracks featured on all three of their albums (SremmLife, SremmLife 2, and SR3MM), the possibilities for Swae Lee are endless as he throws up the deuces minus a finger to the confinements of what a rapper should and should not do.
Swae’s multifaceted adaptability and multi-hyphenated mentality extend far beyond the studio. His laid-back yet confident personality is illustrated through his personal style, which he defines as “elegant” with a hint of “super high-end” and “flashy” to bring out his rockstar aesthetic. “You never really know what you going to get type shit,” he told ESSENCE.
While performing on stage, the “Sunflower” rapper prides himself in having all eyes on his fits and especially loves to accessorize like the rap star he is. “You got to have some cool jewelry, accessories, [and] a cool belt to go with your fit,” Swae continued as he listed his on-stage must-haves. “Everything got to be clean, too, for sure. Everything got to be spick and span clean.”
Since their breakout single “No Flex Zone” in 2015, Rae Sremmurd has continued to elevate their careers with no sign of slowing down. With elevation comes retrospection, especially when reflecting on how far you’ve come in a short span of time. When asked how his personal style has grown over the course of the years, the 29-year-old rapper noted that both accessibility and affordability played a factor in where his fashion sense is today.
“See now I got access to everything, you know what I’m saying?” Swae Lee told ESSENCE. “I can actually get the clothes that I’m imagining. When I was growing up, it [was] just like you got to go to the thrift store. You got to just make it happen, go to Walmart or something, get a white tee, whatever you can get your hands on type shit. Now a lot more doors are open, so I can actually get the materials that I need.”
From blurring the gender lines in fashion trends to rocking patchwork denim and flashy accessories on stage, it’s hard to miss Swae Lee in a crowd, let alone when he hits the stage for a performance. The fashion and style industry has recognized his fearless fashion choices, which have snowballed him into his third collaboration with global online fashion retailer boohooMAN for their latest ‘party’ campaign. Featuring 57 styles, the collection demonstrates the perfect marriage between the “Sativa” rapper’s dapper threads with boohooMAN’s bold branded aesthetic.
Swae Lee recalled the beginning of his relationship with the boohooMAN brand when he traveled overseas to Europe some time ago. Following his initial meeting with the brand, Swae Lee remembered “turning up” and instantly creating a vibe with the boohooMAN team, which was the final moment that convinced him to collaborate with the team. “We did a first collection, it turned up, sold out, kept selling out, so we just kept rocking out,” the “Unforgettable” artist told ESSENCE as he referred to Rae Sremmurd’s collaboration with boohooMAN back in 2017.
His personal favorites from the 2022 boohooMAN collection include what Swae Lee describes as a black suit with “some super expensive-looking gold trim,” which will officially be available as of November 2, 2022. He also excitedly described a “see-through shirt” with a throwback Ed Hardy vibe with an array of colors. “It’s real hard, super fitted. I like all my clothes to be fitted too like tailored up,” he added.
Unlike most collaborations that influencers and public figures have promoted in the past, Swae Lee clarified that he was as involved as he could be before rolling the collection out to the masses. “We was just going back and forth on certain looks and ‘yay’ and ‘naying’ a lot of stuff. I definitely was pretty hands-on and greenlighted a lot of fly shit,” said Swae Lee.
“You can expect a lot more high-end fly stuff [and] edgy stuff. It’s not for the weak,” Swae continued. “You put this shit on, it’s going to turn you up. We got tailored suits with crazy embroidery on them. Fire silk stuff. We got all type of stuff, so you can expect to be seen when you rock this shit. You going to be seen. Motherfucker going to look at you and be like, What’s the occasion?’ type stuff.” Though over 50 pieces coming out in November, Swae Lee is not just leaving the fit hitting to the suits and pants. While they will be filled with velour, sequins, and iridescent fabrics, he noted that he will absolutely be taking his looks to the next level with chains, belts, and more flashy swag that only the “Swang” rapper can pull off.
“I just think it turns up the fit a little bit for me personally. It could be [that] all that outfit is missing [are] some little accessories to take it to the next level. I noticed when I just put on my chains, it’s like, ‘Damn, the fit just went up.’ It’s crazy,” Swae Lee said. “Sometimes you don’t need it. Simple is more but me, I’m rocking all the accessories. I got wallet chains, I got bracelets, all types of stuff.”
With over 23 million monthly Spotify listeners and a social following of 14 million across Instagram and TikTok alone, and not to forget his numerous Grammy nods as a SremmLife raptivist, Swae Lee is proud, to say the least, about his evolution in the industry. In fact, he says he’s “super proud.”
“Because I used to have when I say nothing but the hair on my back, nothing, Swae Lee told ESSENCE humbly. “Just to be this up and just still continuing to push through all this shit is like I’m super proud because it’s what I always expected for myself. I always expected to be doing bigger things than being stuck in the city and just working a nine-to-five. I know what I came from. Man, it’s a total life flip.”
Amidst the rise to music and fashion success, Swae Lee has learned to be what he calls a “standalone guy,” meaning he doesn’t require too much hand-holding to get the job done when need be. “I don’t really need too much. I don’t need a lot of outside motivation to get me going,” he praised his entrepreneurial, self-starting spirit. “I don’t need too much. I’m going to just go out and get it. I’m going to make it happen. I’m going to figure out a solution.”
When asked about what advice he would give to younger Swae Lee about navigating through the industry, he suggested sleeping more at first, but then soon realized that he wouldn’t be where he is today without those sleepless nights in the studio and touring around the world. The high life may seem bold and bragworthy, but what about those days when it seems to be too much for your mental health and wellness? Of course, we asked him how he maintains it all while making sure to put himself first.
“If I feel myself doing too much, which I don’t really see myself doing that, I just slow down and do a different activity. This is my life, so I got to do this to keep the ball rolling,” he said. “It’s not like it’s tearing me up. I could even do more, actually. It’s crazy, but I just play it as it comes [and] go with life as it comes.” Peace for Swae Lee looks like chilling in his crib and playing Call of Duty with his friends surrounding him while they kick it with no set schedule to abide by. “Very rare, but we have those days sometimes,” he added as he referred to the occasions when he doesn’t have a meeting to join or a flight to catch.
As we closed out our conversation, I couldn’t leave without asking the rapper about his plans to drop some new solo music. After all, the fans are famished. “I’m working on a few projects right now actually and couple singles, and we just going to keep rolling it out,” Swae Lee ensured. “It’s been a long time, been a long moment of waiting in between. I’m just getting everything figured out for the drop business-wise, but everything’s squared away now. It’s time to drop the vibes, for sure. I’m thinking top of the year, like January, to just drop and keep just going crazy.”
He added, “These vibes on these new songs is just like a conversation. We just having rhythmic conversations. Conversations over rhythm. We got to stay to our roots, so we going to be turning up for sure, but we also got the vibe that make you get in your head a little bit. We got them vibes that just make you want to get romantic. We got a flavor for every neighbor, basically.”
The curated collection will be exclusively available on boohooMAN.com from Wednesday, 2nd November 2022.
