Acronymn symbolizing all possibilities. That’s Rocky’s kushed out take on the meaning of his Harlem crew’s name. Apart from Rocky himself being way better looking than Ryan Gosling (what is up with RG’s nose?), Venus - another member of the click- is fast becoming a style icon in the rap fashion blog world.
The standard role for women in hip-hop up till now has been either ho, or feisty she-rapper (or some synthesis of both – Nikki Minaj basically). Venus is patently neither. She’s rather a self contained extention of the A$AP brand. She’s not Bez, or Lady of Rage. She’s more like Edie Sedgewick. I asked the Italian fashion stylist Silvia Bianchi who runs the tumblr and art collective barriobajero.com what she thought about her in terms of beauty and she told me “she’s not beautiful in a classical sense” (Whaaat?) “but she’s got pretty features and an amazing body, great tits, great ass, what more do you want?” . Ha-ha, right! – I hadn’t noticed.
What makes her perceived as beautiful is as much to do with how she’s positioning herself as different to hipster rapgirls like Kreayshawn or Iggy Azalea. While their appeal is cartoonish and one dimensional, crrazy or slutty, Venus seems to be developing a brand from various fronts at the same time.
“Venus is great at marketing herself. As a DJ and as a model she’s increasingly in demand.” Although it’s true that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes (Silvia mentions her work for Cassette Playa, and her DJ mixes).
Her looks, her style, her attitude of being able to hold it down with the boys and staying feminine, all make her attractive to whoever’s looking on. Most of all she come’s across as being in control of how she looks, without ascending into Lady Gaga levels of identity disorder, or the Hollywood skank world of plastic surgery and sad face porn.
Like all people at the cutting edge these days, being appealing has more do do with being a composite of different historical approaches and ideologies, and from that forming an identity that is thought of as unique, and ‘authentic’ to that particular individual. Not to one particular subculture as occurred in the late 90’s and 00′s. “She creates fashion and follows it at the same time” says Silvia “and what’s more she’s black and latino – symbolising all possibilities”. Indeed!