Hip Hop Turns 50: Fragrance Edition
This past August we celebrated the birth of one of the greatest music forms ever created, hip hop. What started out as an integration of break isolations at DJ Kool Herc’s Bronx block party led the way for hip hop artists globally to develop an everlasting and ever changing new genre. To celebrate, we’ve come up with a list of unique unisex scents that embody the best of fragrance and the best of hip hop.
Cashmere Kush by Boy Smells x Do for Love by 2Pac
Cashmere Kush layers a powdery musk and cashmere wood with tulips, peppercorn, and rhubarb making a scent with soul and spice perfectly complementing 2Pac’s Do for Love. The cashmere and musk bring the sampled soulful chorus of Bobby Caldwell’s What You Won’t Do for Love to the forefront of your mind, while the peppercorn brings 2Pac’s effortless raw voice to life. This song-fragrance combination is straight vibes.
Jazz Club by Maison Margiela x Check the Rhime by A Tribe Called Quest
If Jazz Club was created to encapsulate cigars, cognac, and conversation in a private Brooklyn Jazz Club, then Check the Rhime is undoubtedly what the band’s playing in the background. Check the Rhime is a classical example of Tribe’s impact on hip hop as they are approbated as fathering some of the best use of jazz in hip hop.
Sundazed by Byredo x Sundress by A$AP Rocky
This an extremely fun combo. Sundazed is one of the most sophisticated playful scents out there. It’s childlike yet mature and reminds you of a fun summer day where you’re eating cotton candy under the sun. Equally as playful, Sundress is playing on the speakers beside you. Sundress demonstrates the versatility of rappers like A$AP Rocky to mix rock instrumentals with falsetto-esc vocals and lyricism in hip hop.
New York Nights by Bond No.9 x Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa
New York Nights is self-described as a “celebration of Manhattan’s evening skyline, ablaze with a riot of colors,” with a creamy mix of everything you can imagine that’s great about New York City from your local coffee shop’s latest blend to the sandalwood incenses of 125th street. By the same token, Planet Rock, one of the earliest fathers of New York hip hop, combines funk, hip hop, and pure turntable scratching that embodies the play and youth of hip hop culture that remains today.
Falcon Leather by Matiere Premiere x 7am on Bridle Path by Drake
While Drake and Tom Ford’s Tuscan Leather would have been the easiest encapsulation, this combination’s even better. Falcon Leather is arguably one of the most sophisticated oriental scents that’s inspired by a falconers’ leather gloves. With top notes of saffron that seem like they permeate Drake’s opulent Toronto Mansion foyer, Falcon Leather is what you’re wearing when you’re walking down Broadway on a cloudy Fall day in a leather jacket listening to 7am on Bridle Path, one of Drake’s best timestamp songs. Drake’s freestyle over a Do Not Disturb-esc melancholic beat is the perfect song to be listening to as you wear Falcon Leather.
Cactus Garden by Louis Vuitton x Still D.R.E. by Dr. Dre
Cactus Garden is what you think of when you think of L.A. and the West Coast. It has base notes of bergamot, mate, and palm and top notes of lemongrass that remind you of walking along a SoCal palm tree-lined beach. The consistency of all of these ingredients even as they fade very much parallels the repetitive piano and base combo that makes Still D.R.E.’s instrumentals so memorable.
Builder of Future by Spiritum x Vossi Bop by Stormzy
Spiritum is a boutique French brand that makes scents that are truly one-of-a-kind and all-encapsulating at the same time. Builder of Future is a complex scent that truly holds the juice and the sauce — it mixes fresh, spicy coriander with warm plum, and dark chocolate to create a sexy, syrupy scent that exudes confidence. Stormzy also takes us internationally as he undoubtedly leads the way for U.K. grime in the evolution of hip hop. Watching the music video for Vossi Bop, you can easily see Stormzy and his costar Idris Elba pairing Builder of Future with their monochrome black outfits, gold chains, and black sunglasses as they bop their head up and down to a treble clef piano triplet that emulates the transition from fun and swaggy spice to succulent purple plum.
Honorable Mentions
Eau Nabati by Diptyque x Crenshaw and Slauson by Nipsey Hussle
Eau Nabati is a classic L.A. scent. It has base notes of bergamot, balsam, and palm and top notes of citrus that remind you of walking along a SoCal palm tree-lined steet. The fragrance has a stark transition from fresh top notes to botanical heart notes that follow the multipart story lines of Crenshaw & Slauson, which could almost be seen as several songs in one. Nipsey takes on some of the best LA fun, swaggy beats with unparalleled storytelling that requires a scent as complex as Eau Nabati.
Angels’ Share by Kilian x NY State of Mind by Nas
One of Kilian’s best cellars, this scent’s main note is cognac, which is very fitting as Kilian was started by the grandson of Hennessy and Nas is one of the main ambassadors for Hennessy.
C Woody Leather by Clive Christian x Verdansk by Dave
Clive Christian and Dave represent where U.K legacy begins and resides from those setting the tradition to those breaking the rules. Clive Christian is one of the premier British perfumeries that steeps in British tradition. C Woody Leather is rich and suave in way that complements Dave’ rapping. Verdansk is that song that has you feeling the beat and Dave’s words in your body, and C Woody Leather is the fragrance that permeates all your senses in the same way.
H24 by Hermes x Deep Reverence by Big Sean
H24 is an botanical fragrance filled with notes of moss and sage. It’s a fresh yet intense scent akin to Big Sean’s rapping style. Big Sean marries old school hip hop lyricism with a 21st century flair in a way that’s fresh, new, and smooth just like H24. Also according to GQ, Big Sean is a big fan and regular wearer of Hermes’s colognes.
Vetiver by Malin + Goetz x Lost Ones by Lauryn Hill
Vetiver is an earthy, spunky, and dynamic eau de parfum that combines smoky vetiver with fresh citrus and grass that exemplifies an olfactive ode to the one and only Lauryn Hill. Vetiver the perfume offers a refined expression of vetiver the ingredient in a way that’s familiar yet offers a new sound, similar to Lauryn Hill’s entrance into hip hop itself. Both fragrance and song offer divergence from the status quo in a way that feels like a natural progression.
