Pharrell Williams recently kicked off his first fashion show in Paris as Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Creative Director — replacing the late Virgil Abloh. It wasn’t without surprises either, as he incorporated music into a large part of the show.
Jay-Z made a special appearance to play “Frontin” by The Neptunes and “On To The Next One.” Pharrell also brought the Voices Of Fire gospel choir to perform their recent collab, “Joy (Unspeakable).”
Pharrell and Jayz performing after the #LVMenSS24 show pic.twitter.com/Pp9BPkT3c6
— YE²⁴ yefanatics (@yefanatics) June 20, 2023
There was also a live debut of a new Clipse (Pusha T and Malice’s duo) song that is reportedly called “Chains ‘N Whips,” according to a New York Times write-up.
“Beat the system with chains and whips,” Pusha reportedly raps in the chorus, per the publication. The song also played over the speakers on the runway.
new CLIPSE (Pusha T and Malice) from LV show – full song – first CLIPSE record in 13 years? pic.twitter.com/kd2M2BneUo
— unsubscribe (@zone6danny) June 20, 2023
“That was made in this room,” Pharrell told NYT in reaction to the song. “We just start walking around and looking out this window and you just see all of this. I mean, we beating this system, bro.”
There’s also another lyric that was shared by Stereogum, where he seems to dig at a long-time rapper. “You’d think there’d be honor amongst veterans / I am watching your fame escape relevance / We’re all in the room, but here’s the elephant / You’re chasing a feature out of your element,” the Clipse track goes. Many have suspected it is about Dipset’s Jim Jones.
Check out some live footage from Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton show above.