1994: Big Daddy Kane, Daddy’s Home—Has an album title ever matched the cover art so perfectly? I think not. Big Daddy Kane released Daddy’s Home in 1994, and the accompanying imagery shows him in a bathrobe with a subtle print, a single gold chain, and coffee in hand that he stares contemplatively at in front of his baby grand. Plus, the song titles were appropriately on-theme, with names like “In the PJs,” “3 Forties & a Bottle of Moet,” and “Somebody’s Been Sleeping In My Bed.”
Lil’ Kim, Hard Core album insert
1996: Lil’ Kim, Hard Core—On a now-iconic poster for her debut album Hard Core, Lil’ Kim wore a leopard-print bikini with a matching fur-trimmed robe, squatting with her legs open and a hard, sultry stare. It was the essence of her album expressed in a single image—seduction, unapologetic sexuality, and enticing aggression.
2001: Ghostface Killah, Bulletproof Wallets—Ghostface, now a big player in the crypto game with $30 million in branded bitcoins, now truly has a bulletproof wallet. On the cover of the 2001 album, he serves up another of my favorite rapper tropes: breakfast (See: Gucci Mane’s Breakfast album), with a stack of pancakes.
Still from “Pass the Courvoisier” vide
2002: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Jamie Foxx, and Busta Rhymes, “Pass The Courvoisier”—In true early-2000s fashion, this music video involves Wild West saloon couture (which felt like such a thing at the time?), Busta in a fur-and-denim patchwork jacket, and all three rappers sporting white bathrobes with their initials monogrammed in luxurious cursive.
2002: Cam’ron in Paid In Full—Cam’ron playing real-life Harlem drug lord Alpo Martinez is generally considered to be one of the greatest performances by a rapper in a film—and also one of the best-dressed. There was a Dapper Dan-inspired Gucci tracksuit and a bathrobe that he did the Dougie in. Cam’ron is also a bathrobe connoisseur in his none-drug lord life, once meeting with VFiles in a robe and pajamas. Once upon a time, you could also buy your own $200 purple Cam’ron bathrobe.
Image via Getty
2014: Offset at The BET Hip Hop Awards—During Migos’ set, Offset wore a gilded Versace “I Love Baroque” bathrobe while the group performed “Fight Night.” He once rapped “I lost my soul to Versace,” and I think I would too if it meant getting to wear this robe.
2014: Pharrell Williams, Girl—The album that gave us “Happy,” for better or worse, also gave us some pretty good cover art of Pharrell in a white bathrobe and sunglasses, flanked by women also wearing robes and sunglasses. It’s clear Pharrell is a man who knows bathleisure.
Image via Getty
2016: Rihanna leaves a shoot in a Polo bathrobe—It should be of no surprise that Rihanna picked the precisely correct mood of a bathrobe, but something about her black, very plush Polo robe paired with furry Puma shower slides is just perfect. It’s part-nostalgic—the sort of bathrobe your dad might wear—and part-next-level.