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2024 AWARDS SEASON LOOKS FROM ARTISTS TO DESIGNERS VOLUMES

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TABLE OF CONTENT S

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

GREETINGS FROM UTOPIA

FROM ARTIST TO DESIGNER VOLUME 1

DIGGING UNDERGROUND PRZNT

FROM ARTIST TO DESIGNER VOLUME 2

2024 AWARD SEASON LOOKS

FROM ARTIST TO DESIGNER VOLUME 3

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

WELCOME POPPIES

to the March 2024 issue of POPADONNA

We have such great content for you this month!

On the cover of this issue is none other than Travis Scott, and we’ve covered everything on his fourth studio album, UTOPIA, and the tour that followed its release.

We have another edition of Digging Underground; this issue, we feature PRZNT, also known as Prezzy, who is a Cuban-American singer, songwriter, and producer.

Awards season means red carpet magic! We’re giving you the scoop on the hottest outfits from the Oscars.

We are excited to announce a brand new series: In this series, we highlight famous artists that have also made their unique mark in the world of business. To celebrate the new series and show our appreciation to our readers, we have not just the first.. but the first THREE volumes! Who are the artists, you may ask? You’ll just have to read through to

Thank you for all of the unwavering support. We wouldn’t be where we are without you.

STAY POPPIN’!

EDITOR IN CHIEF

MANAGEMENT

PRESIDENT Bethany Koch

VICE PRESIDENT Lemar Benton

SVP Destiny Galvan

CHAIR, EDITORIAL Alivia Rodriguez

CHAIR, ART Mitchel Salas

CHAIR, DESIGN Thelma Hoffman

CHAIR, MARKETING Dianne May

DIRECTOR OF QUALITY Dianne May

COLOR QUALITY ANALYST Dianne May

EDITORIAL

EDITOR IN CHIEF Emma Willett

EDITORIAL MANAGER Ollie Mckay

EDITOR AT LARGE Jaime Stephenson

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Shannah Begum

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Rosina Adkins

FEATURES EDITOR Jolie Bird

DEPARTMENTS EDITOR Mario Busby

SENIOR EDITOR Pia Rutledge

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Reece Tyson

ASSISTANT EDITOR Elwood Hubber-Waller

ART/DESIGN MARKETING

ART DIRECTOR Nico Sanders

SENIOR ART DESIGNER Ellis Goodwin

ART ASSISTANT Bruno Murphy

DESIGN DIRECTOR Gracie Wilkies

SENIOR DESIGN DIRECTOR Nathaniel Cohn

DESIGN PRODUCTION MANAGER Hashir Clay

EDITORS TJ Hooper, Jimme Mckee, Emily Avalos

STYLE DIRECTOR Jordi Robson

PHOTO DIRECTOR Mack Pittman

PHOTO EDITOR Amy Vickers

MARKETING DIRECTOR Nicola Nelson

MARKETING MANAGER Miles Swan

MARKETING COORDINATOR Nathan Garcia

SALES DIRECTOR Cooper Guzman

SALES ASSISTANT Floyd Matthews

SENIOR BUSINESS MANAGER Brook Porter

ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Addie Nunez

CORPORATE SALES Arthur Jimenez

FINANCE Tobi Oliver

CONSUMER MARKETING Viktor Puckett

CONSUMER REVENUE Cristina Meadows

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Janelle Harrison

DIGITAL SALES Sam Conner

GREETINGS UTOPIA FROM

After the long wait, Travis Scott releases his Grammy-nominated fourth studio album and gives his fans a 2-leg tour.

BY EMMA WILLETT

fter making his fans wait for what seemed like forever, American rapper Travis Scott released his fourth studio album UTOPIA in late July 2023. The album features guest appearances from Teezo Touchdown, Drake, Playboi Carti, Beyoncé, Rob49, 21 Savage, the Weeknd, Swae Lee, Yung Lean, Dave Chappelle, Young Thug, Westside Gunn, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, SZA, Future, and James Blake. Physical releases of the album feature additional guest appearances from Lil Uzi Vert and Sheck Wes. This album spent its first four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s 200 Chart and is the first rap album to do so in 5 years.

THE HYPE

In a February 2021 interview with i-D, Scott said he had been collaborating with new artists while attempting to expand

his sound and making songs on his own instrumentals that he had created. In May of that year, record producer and audio engineer Mike Dean stated that Scott was recording music for UTOPIA that was alike to that from his Owl Pharoah, his debut mixtape from 2013. In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily in June, Scott described the sound of UTOPIA, stating that he is “in this new album mode where it’s like psychedelic rock.” In February 2023, Scott promised

his fans at the 2023 NBA All-Star weekend event in Salt Lake City that UTOPIA would be released after Don Toliver, Sheck Wes, and SoFaygo, who are his artists signed to Cactus Jack Records, would release their respective projects.

THE PROMOTION

On August 2, 2022, Scott announced a one-week-long residency in the Zouk Nightclub in Las Vegas, known as the Road to Utopia from September 17 to

Travis Scott performing at the Circus Maximus in Rome, Italy on August 7, 2023.

Photo Credit: Massimiliano Lorenzin

24. In December, it was reported that the album and a world tour would be scheduled for early 2023.

In May 2023, photos of Scott wearing an unreleased Air Jordan 1 Low shoe with the presumed UTOPIA logo and his bodyguard holding a UTOPIA labelled briefcase surfaced online. Record producer and audio engineer Mike Dean also shared his involvement in completing the record with an Instagram post later that day. On June 15, 2023, Scott was seen leaving Abbey Road Studios with his bodyguards, recreating the cover art for the Beatles’ eleventh studio album, Abbey Road (1969). On June 27, Scott updated his website with the UTOPIA logo and a decoded pre-order link. Shortly after, new Utopia billboards began to appear across Los Angeles featuring a clock and a lock that fans speculated at a July 21, 2023, release date.

On July 9, 2023, Scott shared videos linked to UTOPIA on social media, including one in which he can be seen working on the project with Rick Rubin. Following the announcement, an insider told Complex that a release date for the album had not yet been confirmed. Scott updated his website again to share tickets for the event, pre-order links, CDs, vinyl records, and merchandise. On July 22, in Miami, Florida, during his headlining performance at Rolling Loud, Scott said that the performance would be the last time he would perform the setlist from the Astroworld era and that UTOPIA will be released alongside a film called Circus Maximus.

Three days later, Scott tweeted out Utopia’s release date of July 28, and revealed the trailer for Circus Maximus, which would have an AMC Theatres premiere the night before UTOPIA released. The film featured segments directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, Harmony Korine, Gaspar Noé, Valdimar Jóhannsson, Kahlil Joseph, and Scott himself.

THE PREMIER

On July 9, 2023, Scott announced a launch event for UTOPIA scheduled to be livestreamed from the Pyramids of Giza on July 28. On July 17, 2023, rumors circulated that the Musicians’ Syndicate of Egypt released a statement, claiming that due to “information about peculiar rituals performed by the star during his

TRACKLIST

HYAENA THANK GOD

MODERN JAM (FEAT. TEEZO TOUCHDOWN) MY EYES

GOD’S COUNTRY SIRENS

MELTDOWN (FEAT. DRAKE)

FE!N (FEAT. PLAYBOI CARTI)

DELRESTO (ECHOS) (FEAT. BEYONCE)

I KNOW ?

TOPIA TWINS (FEAT. 21 SAVAGE AND ROB49)

CIRCUS MAXIMUS (FEAT. SWAE LEE AND THE WEEKND) PARASAIL

SKITZO (FEAT. YOUNG THUG)

LOST FOREVER (FEAT. WESTSIDE GUNN)

K-POP (FEAT. BAD BUNNY AND THE WEEKND)

TELEKENESIS (FEAT. FUTURE AND SZA)

TIL FURTHER NOTICE (FEAT. 21 SAVAGE AND JAMES BLAKE)

Cover art for Travis Scott’s UTOPIA album.

performance, contradicting our authentic societal values and traditions, the Syndicate’s president and board of directors have decided to cancel the license issued for hosting this type of concert, which goes against the cultural identity of the Egyptian people.” However, Scott’s manager, David Stormberg, confirmed that the articles that stated that the concert was cancelled were fake. Live Nation, the concert’s promoter, would also come with a statement citing such articles as false and that the show would continue as is.

On July 26, Live Nation Middle East revealed that the launch party at the Pyramids of Giza would be canceled due to problems with the construction in the desert, to which Scott responded in a series of tweets that he was looking for a new date and would be hosting four more listening parties for UTOPIA. The

day of the release of the album, Scott announced a concert in Pompeii, Italy, coming soon. On August 1, the rapper announced “Circus Maximus,” a concert at the Circus Maximus in Rome, Italy, on August 7, as replacement show for the canceled Pyramids of Giza concert.

On August 29, Scott announced the Circus Maximus Tour, starting on October 11, 2023, in Charlotte at Spectrum Center and concluding on December 29, 2023, in Toronto at Scotiabank Arena. On November 10, 2023, Scott announced. the second leg of the tour, starting on January 3, 2024, in Louisville at KFC Yum! Center and concluding on January 31, 2024, in Orlando at Amway Center. He will also be headlining Rolling Loud 2024 in Ebreichsdorf, Austria at the Magna Racino, as well as performing at the Rock in Rio festival at the Barra Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

THE MUSIC

In June 2021, Scott appeared on the Cactus Jack for Dior Summer 2022 show in which two new songs were played, “In My Head” and “Lost Forever,” which feature fellow American rappers Swae Lee and Westside Gunn, respectively, but the former song did not appear on UTOPIA. In August 2021, Scott signed a picture deal with A24 and teased his own film based on the album. On August 6, 2022, Scott performed at the O2 Arena in London that weekend, where he performed the song “God’s Country”, which was Kanye West’s song that was originally supposed to appear on his tenth studio album, Donda (2021), but it is speculated that West had given the song to Scott for him to use for UTOPIA.

In May 2023, Scott unveiled a preview of “K-pop”, a collaboration with Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny and Canadian singer the Weeknd, and was released as the lead single from UTOPIA on July 21, 2023. Later that month, the songs “Gold Blackberry” and an early version of “Til Further Notice” leaked on May 11, 2023; the instrumental for “Gold Blackberry” previously used for the Travis Scott Air Jordan 1 Low Reverse collaboration ad and later for a Nike Attack collaboration advertisement, but the song did not appear on the album. That same month, Scott reportedly played songs from the record for the Houston Astros, and revealed that the record was in its mastering stage. “Delresto (Echoes),” a collaboration with American singer Beyoncé, was released through her imprint Parkwood Entertainment as the second single from the album alongside its release July 28, 2023. “Meltdown,” featuring Canadian rapper Drake, was also released as a single alongside the album and debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. “Fe!n,” the album’s eighth track, a collaboration with American rapper Playboi Carti debuted at number five on the Hot 100, while the album’s tenth track “I Know ?” debuted at number 11. “I Know ?” was sent to US rhythmic radio on September 26, 2023, as the album’s fourth single.

It’s safe to say that fans got what they waited for. Will we get another album soon? Fans can only hope. For now, we’re staying in Utopia, til further notice...

Poster design for the Circus Maximus movie

Travis Scott performing at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Photo Credit: Dan Garcia

FENTY TRIPLE THREAT

The 3 Branches of Rihanna's Multi-Billion Dollar Empire

Robyn Rihanna Fenty, better known as Rihanna, is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress, one of the most prominent recording artists of the 21st century. With sales of over 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna is the second-best-selling female music artist of all time and the highest-certified female artist of all time on the RIAA's Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking. She has achieved 14 number-one singles, 32 top-ten singles in the US, and 31 top-ten entries in the UK. Her accolades include nine Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards (including the Icon Award), 12 Billboard Music Awards, six Guinness World Records, the NAACP's President's Award, and an Academy Award nomination. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2018. Forbes ranked her among the top ten highest-paid celebrities in 2012 and 2014. As of 2024, she is the wealthiest female musical artist with

an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. Aside from music, Rihanna is recognized for her humanitarian involvement, entrepreneurship, and fashion industry influence. She established the Clara Lionel Foundation, cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and fashion house Fenty under LVMH, becoming the first black woman to lead a luxury brand for LVMH.

THE START OF EVOLUTIONARY ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Rihanna's first fragrance, Reb'l Fleur, was released in January 2011. According to Rolling Stone, Reb'l Fleur was a financial success and was expected to gross US$80 million at retail by the end of 2011. Rihanna's second fragrance, Rebelle, was released in February 2012. The promotional campaign for Rebelle, was shot by director, Anthony Mandler, who also shot the promotional campaign for Reb'l Fleur. In November 2012, Rihanna released her third fragrance,

Nude. Rihanna's fourth women's fragrance, titled Rogue was released on September 14, 2013, followed by a male version entitled Rogue Men which was released in 2014.

On March 30, 2015, it was announced that Rihanna is a co-owner, with various other music artists, in the music streaming service Tidal. The service specializes in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Jay-Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015. Including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, sixteen artist stakeholders (such as Kanye West, Beyoncé, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj and more) co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. "The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value", stated Jay-Z on the release of Tidal. In 2016, it was revealed that Rihanna would be releasing her music through her own label Westbury Road Entertainment, which was established in

2005. Westbury Road is the name of her Barbados residence. The music would be distributed through Universal Music Group. Westbury Road Entertainment's artist roster includes Melissa Forde as the label's photographer, and KazeLoon.

In November 2015, Rihanna and Benoit Demouy launched a beauty and stylist agency named Fr8me. The business based in Los Angeles was set up to assist artists in booking commercials, editorial shoots, ad campaigns, and red-carpet appearances. Rihanna stated, "Hair, makeup, and styling play an important role in creativity; I am very involved with that part of my process, so this agency was an organic thing for me to do." The roster includes Rihanna's makeup artist Mylah Morales, wardrobe stylist Jason Bolden, hairstylist Patricia Morales and Marcia Hamilton. In addition to Fr8me, Rihanna opened a photo agency called "A Dog Ate My Homework", which represents photographers Erik Asla and Deborah Anderson.

HER INSPIRATIONAL MARK

In June 2013, Rihanna trademarked her surname, Fenty, for use on various and more products, leading to speculation that she would begin working on endeavors other than her music, with Fenty Beauty being among these new trademarks.

Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in 2017, when she was 29 years old. Previously, she had collaborated with MAC Cosmetics, as well as released 10 fragrances via Parlux Ltd, but Fenty Beauty was her first solo cosmetics brand. She developed the line with luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessey (LVMH), signing a deal in 2016, to produce Fenty Beauty through LVMH's Kendo division. Kendo Holdings, Inc, is an "incubator" company that manufactures cosmetics as white-label products for sale through cosmetics retailer Sephora, another LVMH subsidiary, as well as other outlets. Women's Wear Daily reported that LVMH may have paid $10 million (USD) for the agreement, which followed on Kendo deals to produce Marc Jacobs Beauty and Kat Von D Beauty lines.

Fenty Beauty's first products went on sale on September 8, 2017. The launch coincided with Rihanna's collaboration with Puma during New York Fashion Week. In the United States, the line launched in Sephora stores, on the Sephora website, and on Fenty Beauty's website. In the United Kingdom, Fenty Beauty was exclusive to Harvey Nichols department stores until May 2019, where the line would also become available in the high street chemist Boots UK. Currently, Fenty Beauty is available in 17 countries.

Rihanna created Fenty Beauty to provide an inclusive range for all skin tones, including extensive shade offerings for people with deeper skin tones. With this, her products have drawn international praise particularly for the inclusion of darker shades for its Pro Filt'R foundation, addressing a long-criticized gap in cosmetic industry offerings for black women and other women of color. Many brands soon followed Fenty's example after their initial release and added more inclusive shades to their own collections Subsequent launches of new products and lines have been widely criticized for their lack of inclusive shades and overall failure to meet the new standards set by Fenty Beauty, such as Kim Kardashian's line KKW Beauty, Tarte's Shape Tape Foundation, and Benefit's Hello Happy Foundation.

Within one month of release, Fenty Beauty's sales were valued at $72 million, and sold-out products widely reported, with darker shades of foundation particularly in demand (shoppers noted even testers were often gone from stores. In the UK, the line became Harvey Nichols's biggest beauty launch ever (passing previous leader MAC Cosmetics): in September the department stores sold one Fenty Beauty foundation every minute and one lipstick every three minutes. The launch also helped raise LVMH's cosmetic and perfume sales for the third quarter of 2017 by 17%.

According to Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of LVMH, Fenty Beauty's sales reached almost 500 million euros ($573 million)

by the end of 2018. Forbes reported that following 15 months of operation, in 2018, Fenty Beauty accumulated US$570 million in revenue. The entire operation is worth US$2.8 billion, of which 50% belongs to its CEO, Rihanna. Rihanna performed at the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show where she featured Fenty Beauty to touch up her makeup. The feature reportedly earned the brand $5.6 million within 12 hours.

Fenty Beauty was named to Time magazine's list of the 25 best inventions of 2017, and Time cited Fenty Beauty's 40-shade range of foundations that quickly sold out. Fenty Beauty also won the WWD Beauty Inc. award in 2017 for launch of the year in the prestige sector.

MAKEUP AND SKINCARE?

Just as she did with her disruptive

Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation, available in 58 shades.

makeup range, Rihanna is meeting the skin-care needs of individuals of all skin tones, types, and concerns, encompassing pillars of inclusivity and accessibility for all. "Skin is skin," says Rihanna of making the line gender neutral, having tapped a wide range of stars for the campaign including A$AP Rocky, Halima Aden, and Paloma Elsesser. "Everybody has skin, and everybody should take care of it, so I never approached skincare or making this line from a gender standpoint. I didn't want anyone to feel excluded or be excluded."

With ease and practicality top of mind, Rihanna chose to launch Fenty Skin with a trio of multi-tasking 2-in-1 basics: A makeup-removing cleanser, toning serum, and a moisturizer-sunscreen. "Skincare is self-care," she explains. "I am trying to get people into a ritual. Something that's really simple—three steps. We start there because skin care can get really complicated. It can get confusing, so I wanted to start with something that would be easy to understand so that people can get right to it."

While Fenty Skin focuses on streamlining skin-care in sleek, refillable pink packaging, as well as incorporating robust ingredients such as vitamin C-rich Barbados cherry, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide into each of the products, another priority was making it a sensorial experience. Infusing fragrance into skincare can be a polarizing choice, but it was important to Rihanna that her products tap into her tropical olfactory memories with warm, clean scents nodding to

the line's cherry, coconut, and desert melon ingredients (synthetic scents making up no more than 1% of the formulas). "It's a huge part of the experience," she says. Here, a breakdown of Fenty Skin's debut trio, with musings from beauty's resident Bad Gal herself.

CLOTHES TOO?

Savage X Fenty is a joint venture between Rihanna and TechStyle Fashion Group. Starting as an online-only brand, the entire pre-launch marketing occurred on Rihanna’s Instagram account. The website launched on May 11, 2018, along with a pop-up shop in Brooklyn, New York, which was open the first two days the brand launched. Within a month of launching, the debut collection sold out.

According to Rihanna, she created Savage X Fenty with the goal of diversity in regards to size and color. According to the international B2B fashion platform FashionUnited, despite the brand not being the first to promote and call for more diversity in size and color, Rihanna's involvement helped give publicity to the brand itself, which popularized the idea of inclusivity. Products come in a variety of shades to match all skin tones and a range of sizes. She showcased the brand at the New York Fashion Week in September 2018. The brand has been positively reviewed by the public for including plus size models in their promotion, though some fans argued there were not enough plus sizes.

In September 2019, Rihanna promot-

ed the brand in a show again during the New York Fashion Week held at the Barclays Center with modeling appearances from models Alex Wek, Bella Hadid, Cara Delevingne, actress Laverne Cox, and musicians Normani and 21 Savage. The show featured performances by DJ Khaled, Halsey, ASAP Ferg, Big Sean, Migos, Fat Joe, Fabolous, and Tierra Whack and premiered on Amazon Prime Video on September 20, 2019, as the Savage X Fenty Show. The show was renewed for a third time in 2020, premeiring on Aamazon Prime Video on October 2, with appearances from musicians such as Travis Scott, Rosalía, Bad Bunny, Ella Mai, Lizzo, Big Sean, Miguel, Roddy Ricch and Rico Nasty.

In 2018, the company launched a sleepwear collection to benefit the Clara Lionel Foundation, a non-profit also founded by Rihanna.

Savage X Fenty was named one of Fast Company’s “10 most innovative style companies of 2020” and as of 2021, the brand is valued at $1 billion and has over 4.5 million followers across social media platforms.

In January 2022, Rihanna announced that Savage X Fenty would open its own brick-and-mortar stores in 2022. The first five locations planned are Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

Rihanna knows she's doing the most - but we're here for it, and we can't get enough of it! We found love, and it's with her Fenty empire.

You might have heard the artist PRZNT, or Prezzy, or even know him by Dario Montero. You might have not known who he was until you flipped to this article, but the world will soon know his name.

PRZNT is an independent, CubanAmerican singer, songwriter and producer, living in Florida since he was 6 years old. From that day, he started a new life with his younger sister, as well as his mom, who was jumping from job to job, determined to take care of her two children. After settling into the states, he quickly absorbed himself into American

pop culture and was soon influenced by many well-known rappers, such as Kid Cudi, Drake, 50 Cent, and Lil Wayne. Between his burning passion for music and wanting to help his family, he was determined to make a name for himself.

PRZNT’s introduction to music making began in high school, when he found his friends getting into it and developed his own passion and sound. “Around that time, I used to skip school and create different things until I eventually got decent enough to make music,” adds the artist. Soon after, he met his first manager, who helped elevate his music onto streaming

platforms where he found a real fanbase. “From there, everything kept flowing, and we kept going up.” PRZNT eventually caught the attention of NOGXNRE, a decentralized music label pioneering transparency in the music industry. After some negotiations, the two parties signed their first record deal helping catapult PRZNT into a new level of artistry. Over the years, he started crafting music in his bedroom, which include some of his biggest songs, “Alone” and “Laudy Daudy,” which have helped him achieve over 120 million total streams across platforms. After dropping single

Laudy Daudy

after single, he released his first EP “Stay for the View” in 2020, which includes “Laudy Daudy.”

I had so many people at the time, from parental figures to school teachers and even outsiders just telling me what was best for me and what I needed to do, when in all reality, I’m the only one who truly knows what I want to do and need to do with my life.

”

After the EP, it was single after single; with each song having an eclectic melody and catchy lyrics, he kept his fans happy, and desperately wanting more.

After what seemed like four long years, his album Night of the Rose was, finally, born. The album was recently released on March 1st, after the release date was anticipated to be two weeks prior. But don’t be fooled; good things come to those who wait (a little longer). With stark and innovative production from NOGXNRE staples Adrian Chafer and Griffin “Everlyte” Jarosinski, Night of the Rose delivers a consistent holistic

TRACKLIST

Saint (feat. Adrain Chafer)

Like Pablo

Video (feat. 2Scratch) Lies

Four More In the Desert Outlaw

Love Me Not (feat. Adrian Chafer and Everlyte)

Toxic

Lana (feat. Adrian Chafer and Everlyte) Or Nah

sound that captures the vibe that we’ve all come to know and love from PRZNT. Additional vocals from longtime collaborator 2Scratch on the catchy Jersey-club inspired track “Video” round out a robust body of art unlike anything we’ve heard from PRZNT before.

“Or Nah,” the album’s highlighted single, features the familiar sound his early fans fell in love with: somber melodies on a bed of moody guitars. “It’s for my fans who showed me support from the beginning,” adds PRZNT. The song is equal parts nostalgic, vibrant, and chill.

Instead of focusing on sending a essage, PRZNT wants listeners to have fun with “Or Nah.” “I want them to enjoy themselves and have a great time partying with friends, chilling in the car with it, and turning up to the song at my concerts. It’s more of an experience than a meaning,” explains the artist.

“It was a typical writing day for me,” tells PRZNT of the song’s creation. “I came up with the melody for the song, chose the vibe to go for. In more broad terms, it says, ‘are you gonna do something or not going to do it?’ ‘Are you

down, or are you not down?’ That’s the whole meaning of the song. It can be about a girl, a moment, or an experience. We started with the full production before adding lyrics and melody, then came up with the ideas for the hooks and verses.”

Prznt explains he’s been polishing and perfecting the album for years, which is why it’s nothing short of the quality of work his fans are used to seeing from him. He has already smashed his day one streaming record by amassing over 120,000 streams on its debut release.

“The album is an offering from me to the world about who I am as an artist. It’s what I’ve learned from being an independent artist to having an independent label behind me. I’m staying true to myself no matter what I experience. I put it out there for people to enjoy it.”

It’s safe to say PRZNT isn’t going to stop making music any time soon. So, the question remains: did we convince you enough to listen to him.. or nah?

Listen to Night of the Rose on all streaming platforms!

Cover art for PRZNT’s album, Night of the Rose

YEEZY THE AMBITIOUS FASHION COLLAB WITH A PARTNERSHIP ROLLERCOASTER

:Kanye Omari West, recently known as Ye, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. A subject of widespread controversy and public interest, West is a figure in contemporary pop culture.

One of the world's best-selling music artists with 160 million records sold, West has won 24 Grammy Awards, the joint 11th-most of all time and most awarded for any hip hop artist jointly with Jay-Z. His other accolades include a Billboard Artist Achievement Award, a joint-record three Brit Awards for Best International Male Solo Artist, and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

THE (ROCKY) START OF YEEZY

Early in his career, West made clear his interest in fashion and desire to work in the clothing design industry. He launched

his own clothing line in spring 2006, and developed it over the following four years before the line was ultimately cancelled in 2009. In January 2007, West's first sneaker collaboration was released, a special-edition Bapesta from A Bathing Ape. In 2009, West collaborated with Nike to release his own shoe, the Air Yeezys, becoming the first non-athlete to be given a shoe deal with the company. In January 2009, he introduced his first shoe line designed for Louis Vuitton during Paris Fashion Week. The line was released in summer 2009. West has additionally designed shoewear for Italian shoemaker Giuseppe Zanotti.

In 2008, it was rumored that Kanye West was releasing his first brand, Mascotte by K West, to be funded by Roc-AWear. West began speaking with Adidas about a collaborative effort in 2006,

when Gary Aspden met with him in a recording studio, alongside his manager. West proposed a clothing line called "Pastelle", designed its logos, and discussed the possibility of designing a custom version of the Rod Laver Vintage shoe for Adidas. West designed a shoe for Adidas that year, but talks with the company fell through, and the line was never released.

In fall 2009, West moved to Rome, where he interned at Italian fashion brand Fendi, giving ideas for the men's collection. In March 2011, West collaborated with M/M Paris for a series of silk scarves featuring artwork from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In October 2011, West premiered his women's fashion label at Paris Fashion Week. His debut fashion show received mixed-to-negative reviews. In March 2012, West premiered a second fash-

ion line at Paris Fashion Week. Critics deemed the sophomore effort "much improved" compared to his first show.

In 2013, after the release of the "Red October" Air Yeezy 2s, Kanye West officially left Nike. Although West described this break as "heartbreaking", he claimed that Nike would not pay him royalties for his shoe designs, instead offering to donate some of the proceeds to a charity of West's choice. This ultimately led West to reach out to Adidas for a deal. Adidas agreed to give him royalties, and West described the CEO of Adidas as "someone who allowed me to build something." Under the partnership with Adidas, West retains 100% ownership of his brand while having full creative control over the products released.

On December 3, 2013, Adidas officially confirmed a new shoe collaboration deal with West. After months of anticipation and rumors, West confirmed the release of the Adidas Yeezy Boosts. In 2015, West unveiled a Yeezy clothing line, premiering in collaboration with Adidas early that year. In June 2016, Adidas announced a new long-term contract with Kanye West that extended the Yeezy line to a number of stores, planning to sell sports performance products like basketball, football, and

soccer, although Adidas terminated the partnership with West in October 2022 due to his antisemitic remarks. In May 2021, West signed a 10-year deal linking Yeezy with GAP to create Yeezy Gap, however, in September 2022, West announced that he was ending the deal.

In February 2015, the Adidas and West collaboration officially debuted. "Yeezy Season 1" was

highly anticipated and celebrities such as Rihanna, Diddy, and West's then-wife Kim Kardashian were at the introductory fashion show. The line featured heavy inspiration from military designs, which West had stated was driven by 2011 England riots. Bomber jackets, sweatpants, and stylized military jackets were heavily featured in the Yeezy Season 1 collection. While the fashion show started late, many deemed it as a success.

In September 2015, West held a fashion show for a new set of apparel in the Yeezy line, called Yeezy Season 2. Several hundred people were in attendance at the showcase for the line, which critics noted was not particularly dissimilar from the Season 1 line. The line was marked by light pink, tan, army green and olive tones, and featured pieces such as weatherproof boots, sweatpants, cargo jackets, and crew-neck sweatshirts. He later revealed that he began planning the Yeezy Season 2 line the day

Yeezy Season 1 launched, and had begun planning his next set of apparel, Yeezy Season 3, not long after the September 2015 showcase. While the line's accompanying shoes were manufactured by Adidas, West opted to manufacture the clothes through other means and have them custom-dyed.

"Yeezy Season 3" also saw notable amounts of success upon their releases.In June 2016, West and Adidas announced an extension of the deal and the launch of a new Yeezy category. West claimed that Yeezy was selling out surprise 40,000-pair drops within minutes.

In 2018, West enlisted the help of Matt George, co-owner of Stüssy Canada, to become a strategic advisor for the brand. During this time the annual sales for Adidas Yeezy grew from $15 million to $1.2 billion. George officially became the CEO of Yeezy in September 2018. By 2019, sales for Yeezy's Adidas sneakers generated $1.3 billion in annual revenue. In 2019, Forbes compared Yeezy to Air Jordan in terms of cultural clout and commercial prowess. In 2020, Forbes described Yeezy's ability to rival Air Jordan for "sneaker world supremacy" within just a short period of time as "one of the great retail stories of the century". West was receiving an 11% royalty cut. That year, sales for the sneakers reached nearly $1.7 billion in annual revenue, netting Yeezy $191 million in royalties alone.

In April 2021, the Nike Air Yeezy 1 prototypes, worn by West during his

2008 Grammys performance, sold for a record $1.8 million. The Air Yeezy 1 prototypes beat the previous sneaker sale record which was held by a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s that auctioned for $615,000. Additionally, the Air Yeezy 1 prototypes became the first pair of sneakers to top $1 million in a sale. Brahm Wachter, head of streetwear and collectibles at Sotheby's, stated the price "speaks volumes of Kanye's legacy as one of the most influential clothing and sneaker designers of our time, and of the Yeezy franchise he has built which has become an industry titan.

In June 2022, West criticized Adidas CEO Kasper Rørsted, accusing the brand of copying his designs and promoting a "Yeezy Day" sales event without his permission. In August, West continued his criticisms, stating that Adidas failed to open Yeezy retail stores as promised. In September, West stated that he would not renew his contract with Adidas once their partnership expires in 2026.

A TURN FOR THE WORST

On October 7, 2022, Adidas placed its partnership with West under review after he made several antisemitic remarks and wore a "White Lives Matter" T-shirt at a Paris Fashion Week show days earlier. A social media campaign demanding that Adidas cut ties with West began. West continued to make antisemitic remarks through Instagram, Twitter, interviews, and podcasts, stating "I can say antise-

mitic shit and Adidas cannot drop me."

In response to this behavior, Balenciaga, Vogue, Creative Artists Agency and MRC cut ties with West. Pressure on Adidas grew after the Goyim Defense League, an antisemitic hate group, endorsed West.

On October 25, Adidas announced an immediate end to the line, writing: "Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness." The production of Yeezy-branded products and payments to West ended upon announcement. Yeezy generated $2 billion in annual sales for Adidas, making up around 10% of the brand's total revenue. Adidas said the termination was expected to "have a short-term negative impact of up to $250 million," and warned it could lose $1.3 billion in revenue in 2023. According to Forbes, West's net worth dropped from $2 billion to $400 million because of the deal's end.

In February 2023, Adidas and West reached a deal to sell the remaining $500 million of Yeezy sneakers in 2023. The remodeled contract will reportedly focus solely on selling the existing inventory of West's shoe line and will not include his clothing line or new designs.

On April 30, 2023, West and Adidas faced a $1 million class-action lawsuit filed by customers alleging they were misled by the limited availability of the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 "Mono Cinder" sneakers. The lawsuit claims that the defendants engaged in deceptive marketing practices by falsely asserting that the sneakers were limited edition, causing consumers to purchase them at inflated prices. The plaintiffs argue that this led to financial damages for consumers when the sneakers became widely available at lower prices later.

In May 2023, Adidas revealed that the termination of its partnership with Kanye West resulted in a loss of €400m (£350m) for the first quarter of 2023. The sales decline was particularly noticeable in North America at 20%. Adidas revealed that they were going to sell the remaining stock of the shoes, with a significant share of profits being donated to charities including the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change.

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CHECKS OVER STRIPES A COMPILATION OF CACTUS JACK COLLABS (AND

Jacques Berton Webster II, better known to the world as Travis Scott, is a global superstar in every sense of the term. In fact, you’ll be hard-pressed trying to find any Gen Z-er who doesn’t at least know of his name. From humble beginnings couch-surfing at his friends’ houses to having his own McDonald’s meal, La Flame has seen it all. While most of his accolades stem from his career as an artist, Travis Scott has morphed into a pop-culture icon. After the release of his chart-topping album Astroworld in 2018 which featured the

likes of “Sicko Mode” with Drake, brands started to take note. Sometimes teased as “Corporate America’s Brand Whisperer” by various publications, anything Cactus Jack has touched has turned into gold.

THE BASICS: KICKS & CLOTHES

Before we had the beloved Nike and Jordan collabs, Reebok gave him his first big opportunity in the footwear space; this was mainly just an endorsement deal that saw Travis Scott starring in the 2013 Reebok Classic campaign. The duo released a collection that consisted

of apparel and two sneakers, featuring a bull motif as a reference to his Rodeo album. While it wasn’t anywhere close to other partnerships on the list in terms of popularity, it was still a big milestone for the rapper as this signified his first big step into the footwear world. When Bathing Ape decides to make a Baby Milo version of yourself, you know you truly made it as a rapper. In 2016, Travis Scott received the official Baby Milo treatment at ComplexCon Long Beach, where limited-edition Baby Milo T-shirts featuring Big Sean and Kid Cudi

were also released. Today, these shirts are highly coveted pieces of Travis Scott memorabilia. Consider yourself lucky if you were able to get your hands on one

After waiting four years, Travis Scott officially got his first big apparel/sneaker collaboration with luxury brand Helmut Lang. The namesake designer was not involved with this collaboration, but it certainly went down as a memorable moment for the brand. Scott designed a collection that riffed on Lang’s classic Spring/Summer 2004 collection that referenced the idea of urban cowboys. So, it was a no brainer for the brand to eventually tap into a Houston artist who constantly referenced the rodeo throughout his career.

One iconic collab was with Virgul Abloh; Although they have worked together since the Been Trill days, an official collaboration did not surface until Scott performed a sold-out gig at Terminal 5 in 2017. For the New York City stop of the Birds Eye View Tour, Abloh performed a special DJ set and released merch exclusively at the show. The Champion hoodie and T-shirt from that tour stop are still coveted La Flame grails today. Later in 2018, Abloh designed two Astroworld T-shirts. One T-shirt featuring a Travis Scott toy wearing Cactus Jack Air Jordan IVs was sold exclusively for 24 hours on Scott’s webstore. Another T-shirt, featuring Scott wearing Off-White Air Jordan “Chicago” 1s, was limited to a run of 500 and exclusively sold at one of Abloh’s rare DJ sets in New York City.

Perhaps the most notable brand partnership in Travis Scott’s archive is his ongoing work with Nike and Jordan Brand that kicked off in 2017 with his take on the timeless Air Force 1. His Air Jordan I, complete with its flipped Swoosh branding, is probably his most valuable sneaker collab to date. But there have been plenty: the Air Jordan 1 (high and low) Air Jordan 4, Air Jordan 6, Nike SB Dunk Low, and so on. They are pretty much all good. And all worth a ton of money on the aftermarket these days. The partnership has also expanded to include apparel over the years such as hoodies and sweatpants altered with car-

go pockets modeled by wrestling legend Mick Foley (aka Cactus Jack).

Think the Nike and Jordan collabs were big? Try one of the biggest luxury brands in the world, Dior. When the French fashion house released their industry-defining Air Jordan 1 High and Low sneakers, it was La Flame that was the campaign’s frontman.

The following year, Travis Scott teamed up with Kim Jones again, this time for an official Cactus Jack x Dior capsule. The collection saw a myriad of apparel, bags, accessories, sneakers, and even winter slides that came with Travis Scott’s creative touch.

It must be noted that the capsule was postponed to 2022 following the tragedy at Astroworld Festival, which was in itself, an extremely controversial decision given the recency of the incident.

THE VIDEOGAME REALM

2020 was when Travis Scott truly embraced the mainstream limelight. It was the year he reportedly made over US$100 million in partnership deals, and also when he earned the aforementioned “brand whisperer” moniker.

The first big collaboration for the rapper, outside of the usual Travis Scott x Nike and Jordan programming, was Epic Games’ massively popular video game, Fortnite. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns worldwide, the duo hosted an interactive concert within the game itself. More than 12 million players logged in for the event, drawing in the biggest live audience in the game’s history. The collaboration also saw a limited-edition merch release, involving a myriad of apparel and a NERF Elite Dart Blaster.

In the midst of the aforementioned McDonald’s campaign, big news involving Cactus Jack broke out yet again. In October 2020, Sony announced Travis

Scott as the Strategic Creative Partner for its Playstation division. This news came seemingly out of the blue at the time, which once again blew everyone’s minds away given how huge the hype for the Playstation 5 was.

Not only did he star in the game console’s launch videos, he also wore a special never-before-seen Nike Dunk Low that had the Playstation logo on the heel. That would turn out to be the Travis Scott x Playstation x Nike Dunk Low, which was reportedly limited to just 24 pairs. It now sells for over US$2,000+.

FOOD.. WAIT WHAT?

It didn’t take long for La Flame to embark on his next big endorsement after Fortnite. As if collabing with a video game wasn't crazy enough, a few months after he set the virtual world aflame, his attention turned to the biggest fast-food chain in the world: McDonald’s.

In September 2020, McDonald’s launched the “Travis Scott Meal”. It was the first celebrity collaboration for The Golden Arches since Michael Jordan in 1992. The meal itself wasn’t anything special, but the impact was ginormous on every front. Legions of Ragers, the affectionate name for La Flame’s fans,

stormed McDonald’s across the US, muttering “Cactus Jack sent me” to McDonald’s employees. Some outlets even ran out of burgers on a regular basis.

The successful partnership between the two later led the fast-food chain to employ celebrity collaborations regularly again, most notably with K-Pop supergroup BTS the following year. For Travis Scott, he no doubt received a big paycheck for the endorsement, boosted by an additional Golden Arches-themed apparel collection on his website.

If you remember the COVID-19 supermarket panic rushes, there was another shelf-clearing event that occurred a year prior. Travis Scott’s first big foray outside of music and fashion saw him working with General Mills’ Reese’s Puffs Cereal line. A limited-edition version was first released on Travis Scott’s website, designed by La Flame himself. The cereal came in an acrylic box and sold for US$50. If you thought that’s a hefty price tag for a box of cereal, they completely sold out on his website in less than 30 seconds. A special pop-up event soon arrived in Paris, where Cactus Jack signed boxes himself in person.

Eventually, a more GR version (if you will) was released in supermarkets across

the country, but as mentioned above, they were quickly emptied out by Ragers.

DO YOU SMELL THAT?

In late 2020, after the McDonald’s and the Nike SB Dunk Low collaborations, saw Cactus Jack team up with Swedish fragrance house Byredo to deliver a co-branded perfume and candle.

Titled “Travx Space Rage”, the collection was designed to feel and smell like outer space. The 100-ml perfume bottle sold for US$285, while the candle sold for US$95. While that sounds vague and expensive, it certainly didn’t stop his fans from selling out the collection in a day. While this capsule might not have reached the same heights in terms of popularity as his other 2020 collaborations, it just showcased how versatile Travis Scott’s name was back then; attach him to anything, and it will sell.

With plenty of time since UTOPIA dropped, and a prior release of the Utopia Air Force 1, there's no telling what other kind of collabs Travis Scott will be doing. But, we do know one thing: whether it's a new sneaker or a collab with an entirely new brand, it's bound to be good - and memorable.