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ASAP Rocky, Nicki Minaj and Lil Nas X
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If there were a Grammy Awards for fashion, the Met Gala would be it. Over the years, the annual event supporting the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute has, in many ways, become rap’s unofficial runway, with artists delivering some of the night’s most memorable looks. After all, fashion’s biggest night wouldn’t feel complete without Hip Hop’s trendsetters.
With the Met Gala always bringing out fashion’s heavy hitters, Rap-Up put together our official list of the best-dressed rappers to grace the red carpet throughout the years. Whether it be ladies like Cardi B and Nicki Minaj wearing custom-designed dresses or ASAP Rocky and Kid Cudi paying homage to the fashion legends before them, the genre’s greats always understand the assignment. Take a look below and let us know who missed.
1. ASAP Rocky (2023)
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ASAP Rocky’s Met Gala looks never disappoint, so it’s no wonder he was tapped to co-chair the event in 2025. Here, he paid tribute to Karl Lagerfeld’s 2004 Chanel runway look from Tokyo, with a few of his own tweaks, including Gucci belts and blue jeans underneath the kilt. Though women typically outshine the men at the Met Gala — since menswear designers often play it too safe — ASAP Rocky manages to holds his own against Rihanna. We’d expect nothing less from one of the picks for our Most Stylish Rappers list.
2. Nicki Minaj (2018)
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Minaj looks good as hell in red, pun absolutely intended. “I’m the bad guy, b**ch, so I’m dressed as the devil,” the Queen artist told ET of her Oscar de la Renta gown, which featured an ombré train. Take notes, everyone.
3. Lil Nas X (2024)
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Lil Nas X never shies away from a good red carpet moment, and even though his 2024 Met Gala look was slightly less theatrical than in past years, he was still — unsurprisingly — the best-dressed guy there. Luar’s Raul Lopez designed him an off-white suit covered in 50,000 Swarovski crystals, which the “Old Town Road” hitmaker paired with extra-long acrylic nails and blonde hair.
4. Ice Spice (2023)
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Coming off the massive success of “Boy’s a liar, Pt. 2” and her Minaj-assisted remix of “Princess Diana,” Ice Spice proved she wasn’t only rap’s favorite new It Girl, but fashion’s too. For her Met Gala debut, she wore a white sequined Balmain gown featuring sheer panels down each sleeve. Not to mention, the little film camera she carried around might’ve been the cutest accessory from her whole look.
5. Pharrell (2021)
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Helen Lasichanh and Pharrell
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Things might’ve changed since Pharrell became the men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton, but back in 2019, he was still very much a Chanel loyalist. The Virginia producer hit the carpet in a Western shirt featuring white piping, which he ultimately paired with black pants and cowboy boots. Even better, he and his wife, Helen Lasichanh, wore matching outfits.
6. Migos (2018)
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Taking it up a notch from their Met Gala debut the previous year, when they all wore black, Migos returned for their second — and sadly, final — appearance as a group in, you guessed it, Versace. They wore sequined blazers and a treasure trove of diamond necklaces in what might have been one of the best ways to honor their breakthrough hit and the Italian fashion house.
7. Megan Thee Stallion (2022)
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Megan Thee Stallion
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Megan Thee Stallion looked good in every sense of the word at 2022’s Met Gala. Her Moschino gown came with feather cap sleeves, a sheer bodice and a high slit, with the Houston native adding a little extra oomph by way of the sheer cutouts around her waist (thank you, Jeremy Scott). It was certainly a more sultry spin on the “Gilded Glamour” theme. Fingers crossed that this isn’t the last we see from Meg at fashion’s biggest night.
8. Kid Cudi (2022)
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Another celeb who seriously stepped it up from their first Met Gala was Kid Cudi, who enlisted Nigo for an electric-blue take on a black tux from Kenzo Takada’s Fall 1984 archive. Though there wasn’t all that much to look at on the surface, the inside of the cape was surprisingly lined with a blue poppy print. And hot take: The rhinestones around his eyes actually worked.
9. Chance the Rapper (2021)
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Chance The Rapper
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Chance the Rapper was one of the fresher faces walking the red carpet in 2021, so he made sure to do his big one in a Ralph Lauren suit. It had a few of the designer’s logos and several nods to the Windy City, the most obvious being the Chicago Bulls-inspired colorway of red, white and black. Of course, he accessorized with a “3” hat, perhaps in celebration of Coloring Book’s fifth anniversary.
10. Cardi B (2019)
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Cardi B in her red Thom Browne gown could pretty much illustrate the dictionary entry for “serve,” as the kids call it. Rap-Up previously ranked it as her best Met Gala look ever, and for more than a few reasons: the sheer scale of it (she needed five handlers just to climb the stairs), her 44-carat ruby nipple covers and, of course, all those feathers.
11. Doja Cat (2023)
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Honoring the 2023 Met Gala’s theme, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” Doja Cat went the one and perhaps only way she realistically could: by literally dressing as Lagerfeld’s beloved cat, Choupette. She topped off the backless Oscar de la Renta gown — complete with a hood and cat ears — with feline-inspired prosthetics to match. In comparison to the other Choupette tributes — Jared Leto arrived in a literal furry suit and Lil Nas X hit the red carpet in silver Dior — the “Attention” rapper evidently found a good middle ground between theatrics and high-fashion.
12. Stormzy (2022)
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Major props to Stormzy, who skipped the usual black tuxedo in favor of an all-white number at the 2022 Met Gala. The three-piece Burberry suit came complete with a wool cape, courtesy of Riccardo Tisci. The satin lapels and silk tie were obviously nice touches, but truth be told, not much else topped how good the bright white looked against his dark skin.
13. Saweetie (2021)
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Not everyone can pull off 10 million crystals and a thigh-high slit, but then again, not everyone is Saweetie. The “My Type” hitmaker paid homage to her Filipino and Black heritage in a Christian Cowan gown, complete with a train inspired by both flags. When you look as good as she did that night, there’s really not much else left to prove.
14. Gunna (2022)
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Gunna, whose WUNNA hit “MET GALA” basically secured his invite to fashion’s big night out, wore a black and white tuxedo from Thom Browne. “Less is more,” the Georgia rapper told Vogue of his look, which also featured gold vines running along the coat. Also, if you were wondering, yes, he accessorized with an actual puppy-shaped purse.
