Why calling Virgil Abloh a 'hip hop designer' is racist

Last night the Grammy honoured the memory of Virgil Abloh, through one of his classic 'In Memoriam' segments. It was no coincidence that Virgil was celebrated during such an important night for music: from his DJ performances to the creative direction of history-making albums, to "shaping the future of rap artists" and creating a new bridge between the rap and luxury industries, Abloh's complex and ramified legacy has gone far beyond the products he himself conceived. The Grammys, however, as is often the case, decided to settle for labels, calling Virgil Abloh a "hip hop designer". The very first comments on social media were mainly about the disappointment with that label: "Virgil has been creative director of LV, owner of a brand, architect, contemporary artist and many other things. Stop belittling this man", was the tenor of the tweets along with things like: 'there's nothing wrong with calling him a "hip hop designer", but Virgil was so much more than that'". In fact, there is something deeply wrong with that definition: that definition is racist. 

In his Grammy acceptance speech for Best Rap Album of 2019 for IGOR, Tyler, The Creator had challenged the academy about his constant inclusion in the rap and urban categories, with particular reference to the latter term: "I hate that every time we - and by we I mean those who look like me - do something that affects the genre or whatever they always put it in a rap or urban category. I don't like that word 'urban' - it's just a politically correct way of pronouncing the n-word." Tyler's speech was shared not only by Sean Combs, who spoke of a recurring lack of respect from all academies towards black art in general, but also by Virgil Abloh himself. Re-posting Tyler's intervention on his social networks, Virgil Abloh had said that he felt the same feelings when he heard the word "streetwear" pronounced and saw it constantly and solely associated with his work. 

It is therefore quite paradoxical that two years later, such a label is chosen to remember the life and work of one of the most influential creative minds of the modern era. It is not 'offensive' to be remembered for an individual - by the way born and bred in the genre - as a 'hip hop designer' (whatever that means): it is indeed extremely interesting that the influence of the genre is so powerful that it can be applied to anything. It is debasing that the academy system - made up of a majority of white people - doesn't have the tools to understand how deeply racist, as well as classist, it can be to pigeonhole Virgil Abloh into a category that doesn't even exist, just for the sake of interpretive simplicity and ease of understanding for the general public. One of the arguments that could be used in favour of the Academy is that Virgil actually belongs to the hip hop world, for which he has been in charge of the art direction of more than one successful album (in 2011 Virgil was even nominated for the Grammy for "Best Recording Package" for Watch The Throne). But ask yourself: what would have happened if any white designer had been in Virgil Abloh's shoes?