Following the tragic death of uber-creative Virgil Abloh, rapper and producer Tyler, The Creator is the latest figure from the hip hop world to come forward and pay tribute to the Off-White founder.
Abloh passed away this weekend, aged 41, after a private battle with cancer. He worked closely with the hip-hop community throughout his career, especially with Kanye West, who was his long-term creative partner.
He was the artistic director of Ye and Jay-Z’s collaborative Watch The Throne project and designed the cover art for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Yeezus, A$AP Rocky’s Long.Live.A$AP, Westside Gunn’s Pray For Paris, among others.
After his death, LVMH, the French holding company that owns luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton, for who he worked as creative director, said, “We are all shocked after this terrible news,” said LVMH boss Bernard Arnault. “Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary; he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom.
“The LVMH family joins me in this moment of great sorrow, and we are all thinking of his loved ones after the passing of their husband, their father, their brother or their friend.”
After taking stock of the situation, Tyler, The Creator has paid an emotional tribute to his late friend. The artist took to Instagram to share a gallery of images of Abloh, including one of the two of them.
“Sir Abloh was a true geek about things,” he wrote in the caption. “Passion seeped through everything he did. Whether a random set of songs we’ve never heard or what pantone the wing of a plane should be, he always meant it.”
Tyler also praised the Benz G-Wagon, as Abloh’s finest project, which saw the designer collaborate with Mercedezlast year.
He added, “Sometimes, part of us sharing our wild ideas is to get approval from our peers to keep it pushing, but Virgil was ALWAYS a cheerleader. For everyone. That hand of his opened doors, lead people in and tossed the keys outside for the next person to have.
“I wish I was able to see him see what his helping hand did for me. His spirit is around tho. I feel it. He’ll see it. I’ll keep pushing and trying things while leaving the door open. He’ll shake those pom-poms. We’ll keep that on loop. Safe travels,” Tyler said.