(design), the controversial
Ian Connor (curation), Kamil
Abbas (creative), Hidjifilms
(video), Ben Baller (jewel-
ry), Hec Lynas Frans (pro-
ducers), and YGA (director).
Beyond those names, it’s
unclear who else is involved.
When I ask about A$AP
Mob’s association to AWGE,
Twelvyy is vague: “A$AP is
AWGE. A$AP is on top, then
there’s AWGE. It’s like being
a Muslim, then it’s the Nation
of Islam. We the big AW-
GEs”—a term I’ll hear some
of Rocky’s friends use to de-
scribe themselves or others,
as if there’s a hierarchy in
the crew—“but it’s A$AP
Forever.”
Hidjifilms
isn’t
any more straightforward.
During the shoot, he intro-
duced me to a few of the
guys lingering on set, who
at one point surrounded
and pointed their film cam-
eras and VHS camcorders at
us as if they were paparaz-
zi, and said “this is AWGE.”
Together
they
direct
music videos (Playboi Carti’s
“Magnolia” and Kodak
Black’s “Jesus Piece”), orches-
trate rollouts and market-
ing plans, design album art-
work and packaging, create
fully interactive installations
(Rocky’s GUESS and Selfridg-
es’ collaborations), and work
with various fashion brands
(including J.W. Anderson
and Needles). “It’s a collec-
tive of young creatives from
people who make music to
people who draw, design-
ers, all that,” Rocky says.
“It’s just, for a lack of better
words, a ghetto Google.”
Their goal, Rocky says, is
simple: “Greatness, man. We
just wanna make dope shit.”
15