It was about creating these aspirational images that would catapult the culture into a stratosphere in which they were going to economically going to be worthy of.

So, my styling career within hip-hop wasnвЂ™t exactly about giving them exactly what they were used to. When I looked at hip-hop, I looked at it like hip- pop culture. In the 70s, all those guys could pull it off-music is music. ThatвЂ™s why I think heвЂ™s been so successful over the years. He took the chance, he took the chance on me and the idea and it worked. I was his partner in that but at the end of the day, he was the boss. He had to own it, he had to deliver it and take responsibility for it. We wouldnвЂ™t have done the metallic because the performance is more important and it being believable was more important than my personal conquest to say, вЂњI told you so.вЂќ That was never an issue for me. ItвЂ™s, вЂњCan you pull this off?вЂќ There are moments when I put something on someone and it doesnвЂ™t look organic and IвЂ™ll say, вЂњTake it off.вЂќ If Puffy put on the red leather and didnвЂ™t respond, we wouldвЂ™ve went to that flat red leather. My biggest thing about artist development is, itвЂ™s all about you. I think the combination of him really feeling magical when he saw the first take and realizing that it was really more about him than it was about the outfit and knowing that he could do it. It was still in context of what they were used to. We did it in a jean jacket and we did a boiler suit, so it wasnвЂ™t like I was putting him in a blazer and a pair of trousers. Bring your persona to it.вЂќ IвЂ™m giving you an urban silhouette. I wanted to contradict all of the stereotypes, like itвЂ™s gotta be dark or youвЂ™re not hardcore. I wanted to to make hip-hop less predictable. He was the one that could pioneer this movement that I had in mind. He was a superhero producer, he had big ideas, and was naturally flashy to me so I just assumed from a character development perspective-what better muse? I think it was just so against all the rules and not what hip-hop did. It was baffling at first when the idea didnвЂ™t immediately connect. He was the epitome of flashy and thatвЂ™s just what he exuded to me.

I felt like if anyone was going to pull off some flashy shit it was going to be him. Puff has such a charismatic, superstar-like quality.

Mo money mo problems biggie