BABUSHKA BOI

A$AP Rocky Finally Explained Why He Keeps Wearing Babushkas

He was initially motivated by an unexpected pop culture moment from the mid-’90s.

Jan. 24, 2019

Taylor Hill/Getty Images

In 2018, the balaclava ruled the runway, and it would appear that the trend has progressed off the runway to include babushka-like headscarves in 2019. When A$AP Rocky appeared at LACMA’s 2018 Art+Film Gala, he and his Gucci headscarf sent Twitter ablaze with memes, mostly involving jokes about “grandmas” of various nationalities and ethnicities. “I’m encouraging all guys to wear babushkas from here on out. Silk gang, silk city,” he said of his decision to wear the babushka back in November. Now, thanks to the rapper’s GQ tour diary, fans finally have an explanation for the inspiration behind the look, which admittedly comes from a somewhat inconsistent story, but what else do you expect from Pretty Boy Flacko?

A$AP Rocky isn’t the only musician to adopt the stylings of an Eastern European grandmother: His scarf-heavy look appears to have also inspired Frank Ocean. On his recently public Instagram account, the crooner shared a selfie of himself bundled all the way up, with the caption “FaceTimes in Babushka.” A$AP Rocky later commented, “??BABUSHKA BOI” which sparked fans to speculate that the two may be linking up in the near future for an upcoming project, since the two have collaborated in the past on a track called “Purity.” The rapper has also added the phrase “BABUSHKA BOI” to his Instagram bio.

Of course, A$AP Rocky is not the first musician to wear a scarf on his head while performing, but not only has his trendy look motivated his fellow musicians to wrap themselves up in headscarves in the name of fashion, it also inspired a track called “Babushka,” which A$AP Rocky told GQ originated after a gnarly scooter incident. “It was inspired by a situation I had where my face got cut, and I started walking around with a Babushka to cover it. It was about last September,” he said. “It started with a yellow one when I was on Trevor Noah’s show. I actually did a Vogue shoot the day after I got my face slashed,” the rapper continued. When asked to further clarify how he reportedly slashed his face, the rapper bristled a bit. “I was riding a Razor scooter, I did a pop up wheelie and just ate shit and I just had a fucking big gash on my face,” he said. “Had to get plastic surgery and here we are.”

A$AP Rocky admitted, however, that his interpretation of the babushka look itself actually came from what many might consider to be an unexpected pop culture moment of the past. “Honestly, it was inspired by Alfalfa—you ever see the Little Rascals, when he pretended to have a toothache?” he asked. “I kind of wanted to make it look like that. Basically on some shit so in case Trevor Noah asked me, I was just gonna be like, ‘I have a toothache,'” referring to the 1994 film version of theclassic family show about mischievous neighborhood kids. The babushka then turned out to be enough of a look that the rapper continues to wear a babushka often when he goes out in public, especially while performing his song “Babushka.”

As far as any other future project with A$AP Rocky’s name on it goes, the rapper’s longtime friend and sometimes collaborator Tyler, the Creator shared some choice words on Twitter earlier this week. When buzz about a potential joint album began to circulate, he shut down rumors with a simple tweet, telling fans, “Don’t get your hopes up and be ‘disappointed’ because something that doesn’t really exist didn’t come out.” In other words, if you’re waiting for that upcoming A$AP Rocky–designed line of babushkas to put on your own head, you might want to keep waiting.