A$AP Nast: “I just get dressed and go viral every time.”
I meet A$AP Nast at Nando’s Soho branch the day after London Fashion Week comes to an end in celebration of the artist’s collaboration with Milk & Honey: a British Black-owned jewellery brand specialising in custom Grillz. The beloved Afro-Portuguese restaurant partnered with Milk & Honey to create a solid gold Grill for Nast complete with “Nando’s” emblazoned across the bottom set in red.
After an endless stream of wraps and PERi-PERi Salt Chips, I’m taken to Nando’s Soho Studio to interview A$AP Nast. The studio can only be found in the Soho restaurant and was created for up-and-coming artists to use for free to kickstart their careers.
Ella Dror joins Nast and I in the studio appearing with two drinks options for A$AP Nast. “Which one do you want, there’s a red one or a blue one?” Nast is dressed to the nines in Raf Simons, Balenciaga and Martine Rose. I didn’t catch where his shades were from but they certainly acted as the hypothetical cherry atop an expectedly polished look.
A$AP Nast: I’m not really a fashion week guy to be honest. I really don’t care. I’m only going to this fashion week because I’m going to Virgil Abloh’s last Off-White show. I feel like with me being a “fashion guy” or whatever, people automatically expect me to participate in it but I don’t really care. I don’t do fashion to impress, I get dressed because I like to get dressed. I’m not trying to make a fashion statement when I get dressed. I get dressed because I want to look at myself as say, “Yo, you look good.”
Amelia White: What outfit makes you feel good?
AN: All of my outfits. When I go to sleep my outfit is like “wow”. I play no games. I literally do this for real. This is me when I wake up. Everyday. There are no off days. I’m not trying to be a part of the fashion industry. I may work in the fashion industry; they may pay me a shit ton of money, but that doesn’t mean that that’s what I’m set out to be doing. This is just me and then people gravitate towards it and you know, so many doors open up because of it, you know, and I’m aware of that, but that’s not my goal. I’m not trying to be like “Yo, I’m this big fashion guy”, I just get dressed and go viral every time.
Ella Dror: If you look at Nast even from the early years, you can see he always had the flyest outfits-
AN: But that’s all of us. A$AP in general. That’s how A$AP was formed. That’s how Rocky - Rocky wasn’t even an initial A$AP member when we started A$AP. Rocky wasn’t even A$AP, which is crazy because ehe’s the biggest A$AP now.
AW: Do you remember those initial conversations about forming A$AP?
AN: I remember all of them, like it just happened yesterday. We were our own competition. That’s how we got better at what we do today. And the world followed. We got Rocky in fashion, and what he’s doing today, and over the past few years - it’s incredible. We’ve always kind of been those guys.
AW: Was fashion a part of the conversation only on with A$AP? Was it something that you all came to realise you had in common or was it something that really brought you all together?
AN: Well then there was Bari, he had VLONE, he’s one of the founders of A$AP - Bari started A$AP. Kham and Rest in Peace A$AP Yamz - those 3 - and there was Elijah and A$AP Illz, which were like the original forefathers of A$AP. And we weren’t nobody but we were somebody in our head. Back in the day, we already thought we were famous. The way we moved, our attitude, our demeanour - we were “in” already. It’s kind of what landed us on top because we didn’t really give a fuck about what anyone said. How we feel about what we’re doing matters the most and I think we still have that and that same template for that way of thinking still is around today and so many people have taken from that. We created such a platform for people, especially in Hip-Hop. We took all the bullets for people that look and do a lot of the shit that they doin’ right now because when we were coming up in the industry, people were like, “what the fuck are these guys on? What you guys doing…why are you guys looking like that?” All these brands that people are like glorifying, we were wearing them back then. We were broke rocking Raf (Simons). We was broke rocking Raf and you didn’t know who Raf was. Rick Owens. We was on it back then. That’s what set us aside from everybody else in the industry because we didn’t get the money then figure ourselves out, we’d figured ourselves out already. We knew our style, we knew what we liked. We had the taste - all of that - before we came in. So that’s what separates us from the average artist. We came straight into the industry fireballing and we knew exactly what we wanted. Cocky, can’t tell us nothing. We went form being just normal kids outta Harlem just trying to be cool and be ourselves. To this day, I preach to people who ask me how I got here - just be yourself. It’s as simple as that, it’s not rocket science what we did.
AW: What is it about London that you love?
AN: Everything about London. There’s no special part, I love London in general.
AW: Do you remember the first time you came here?
AN: Yeah, for sure. I don’t remember if we were touring but we had shows all around London. And we had one particular show in London.
ED: Was it the one in Brixton?
AN: The first time we came to London I remember we stayed in a weird old hotel in like Shoreditch. I just remember staying at this weird ass hotel, boutique hotel. It was nice but it was just like odd.
AW: What was odd about it?
AN: Just everything…the interior decoration of it, the vibe of it, it was just like creepy, old. I think I did like Clash Magazine. I shot for Clash and I was wearing this like leather jacket but yeah, I remember that being my first time here. And then I came back. My second time - that’s when I had Nando’s for the first time.
AW: Who put you on to Nando’s?
AN: The first time I ever heard of Nando’s Nicki Minaj mentioned it on an interview with I think - don’t quote me - but I think, it was Tim Westwood. And I just remember randomly watching that interview and hearing her talk about Nando’s and it completely slipped my mind and I remember - I don’t even know what part of London we were in - I just remember they were selling carpets and shit on the street - and there was just a Nando’s so we were like OK let’s go into this chicken spot and as we’re eating it I’m remembering like hold up, this is the place that Nicki Minaj was talking ‘bout as I’d just torn through Nando’s wings, and I’m like “Yo, those Nando’s wings are crazy.”
ED: Literally at one point, there was nothing else he’d eat. It would just be Nando’s. So we would be eating Nando’s every day. It was always the same thing: wings, PERi-PERi Salt Fries, PERinaise and garlic bread and halloumi every time.
AW: What was the chicken flavour?
ED: Always PERi-tamer. Before it would have been like a medium but when PERi-tamer came out it was the PERi-tamer. Literally, I know his order because that’s how much we order it.
AN: Very true.
AW: Tonight you’re wearing a custom set of Grillz made by Milk & Honey for this event. Were you involved with the design process for these at all? I know you’re big on jewellery design.
AN: The first time I ever had a pair of Grillz I had them from the homie Dolly. She made me my first actual Grillz - they weren’t even Grillz they were just spread out teeth. I mean, I lost them. I don’t do good with these sorts of things.
AW: How did you lose them?
AN: I got them in Paris. It was V’s first Louis Vuitton show and I remember after I went to Dolly’s office and she gave me the Grillz. Rocky’s been trying to get me to get Grillz for time, he’s like, “with the chipped tooth…” and I’m like, “I’m good” you know? I don’t really care for Grillz like that. But I remember I left Paris and lost them like the day I got back to LA. I went to eat, sat them on my lap and I ate my meal and then I got up. Left. Completely forgot that I’d taken my Grillz out and put them on my lap.
AW: Do you often lose things?
AN: Oh yeah, I lose everything. I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached to me.
AN: A lot of it is Comme, Issey Miyake and Yohji. I buy more Comme than anything. I love Comme, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m probably going to die in Comme. Bury me in an all black Comme suit. Make sure my socks are Comme. Make sure I’m full Comme.
AW: What do you want your legacy to be?
AN: I just want to die a real person. When I die, I just want real nigg* on my tombstone ‘cause that’s exactly what I was when I was here. That’s it. And if I die tomorrow, I lived a great one. A great one. I’ll go with a smile on my face like this [reveals a cheesy grin]. In my casket smiling. Smiling this hard ‘cause I come from the dirt. For real. And I made it right here by just being me. I’m good. Like, I have pretty much anything I could ever imagine and couldn’t have imagined happen in my life, you know? Like I would never in a million years imagine I’d be sitting here having an interview in the middle of London coming from where I come from. It’s all about humbling yourself because so many people don’t know how to. So many people don’t want to, they want to be ignorant and snobs and assholes. Naa, I’m spreading love. I’m doing this the right way.
ED: That’s a Nando’s wrap.
