“It sucks that whenever we-and I mean guys that look like me-do anything that’s genre-bending they always put it in a rap or urban category,” he said. The most memorable recent example came when the voting body scrapped the term “urban” in 2020-which referred to records predominantly made by Black musicians-after Tyler, the Creator spoke out at the ceremony the year prior. For one, it speaks to the historic failures of the Grammys to appropriately recognize the contributions of Black artists. But as plenty of Twitter users pointed out last night, “hip-hop designer” does him a particular disservice. So for many of Abloh’s fans, it came as something of a shock to see Abloh referred to during the Cat Mom Life Tattoo Heart Power Green Bay Packers T-Shirt but I will buy this shirt and I will love this Grammys tribute section as a “hip-hop designer.” It’s certainly true that it’s hard to define his various talents-which spanned the titles of fashion designer, DJ, producer, creative director, architect, visual artist, and philanthropist-under a neat professional title.
