Rising rapper KYLE — whose breakout track “iSpy” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart and climbed its way up the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at No. 4 — describes his style using one word: California.
The 24-year-old grew up in the small surfer city of Ventura, where he explained that UGGs were always the shoes-to-wear. “In my community, the surfers were looked up to as the coolest people, you feel me? It wasn’t the football players, it wasn’t the super thugged-out dudes, it was the kids who knew how to surf and all of them were rocking UGGs,” he tells Billboard Style. “So for a surf town, it represents the cool.”
Due to this unique upbringing, his relationship with the footwear, apparel and lifestyle brand was already long-established, so when UGG tapped him to be the face of its second partnership with Footaction, it was a no-brainer.
“I’ve always loved UGG, I’ve always shopped at Footaction and I felt like it was really something that was actually a part of my childhood and my life,” he says. “When I got the opportunity, I was mad excited. It just made perfect sense.”
“With a shared California heritage, unique sense of style and jovial spirit, KYLE represents the true essence of UGG,” says Andrea O’Donnell, president of fashion lifestyle of Deckers Brands, UGG’s parent company.
The campaign was shot by renowned photographer Chris McPherson during KYLE’s time in New York City while filming his debut lead acting role in Netflix’s upcoming original hip-hop comedy The After Party. It follows KYLE’s adventurous and explorative journey through NYC, stopping at famous landmarks like Central Park, the New York Water Taxi (featuring a blurred image of Lady Liberty in the background) and the ever-iconic Times Square — all while sporting UGGs, of course.
KYLE will also perform at this weekend’s ComplexCon (Nov. 4-5) in Long Beach for the first time, where Footaction x UGG will host “KYLE’s Place” — an interactive visual experience created with the artist’s own music where fashion and technology meet art.
The campaign styles, including three exclusive “Neumel” colorways are now available online and at select Footaction and UGG retail locations worldwide.
Source: billboard.com