A$AP Rocky Brings the Classic New York Bodega to Selfridges

admin / 02 Oct, 2017

A$AP Rocky is expanding his multi-hyphenate career—to rapper-producer-director-actor-model, he can now add New York City ambassador. The artist has partnered with Selfridges in London to set up a life-size bodega in the department store’s basement, hoping to bring an authentic New York flavor to Oxford Street.

“The bodega is significant because minorities owned it—Hispanics, Arabs, and Koreans,” he says, lounging on a giant bean bag after a long day of stacking boxes and arranging merchandise (150 pieces specially designed for the space). “Outside of New York City, you don’t experience the whole traditional bodega feel. You don’t see cats lying on the bread, or asleep on the rice.” Ultimately, he explains, it’s about inclusion. “Different ethnic minorities coming together and living together cohesively—and this has been going on for decades,” he says. “That’s why I’m bringing this fusion of different cultures, manifested in one AWGE Bodega [named after the creative collective he leads with A$AP Mob]. It is ghetto, but not trashy, which is very true for New York City.”

Continue reading on Vogue.