YG revealed that urban street life inspired his sense of fashion because the gang leaders before him were original and “fly.”

The California native’s style has evolved over the last several years. He has an eclectic taste and doesn’t mind stepping outside of the box to try something new, which sometimes surprises people because of his street background. The fashion industry has taken notice: In September, the “Platinum” rapper was asked to be a runway model for fashion designer Willy Chavarria, who specializes in grandeur clothing for men, as a part of his spring-summer 2024 collection named New Life.

YG rocked diamond jewelry with an oversized wide-legged pantsuit and white dress shoes. As a fan of fashion, he was excited to walk in the show and celebrated the monumental moment with his fans, posting a video of himself on the runway with the caption, “New level unlocked.”

Later that month, the executive producer was a special guest on the live “Big Facts” installment hosted by Baby Jade, Big Bank and DJ Scream at REVOLT WORLD. His threads became a topic of discussion when asked if he saw himself as “the freshest thing on the West Coast coming out of Cali,” and he confidently crowned himself the king of fashion.

“Definitely,” he answered laughing. “Not like that, but it’s just… It’s just like that. It is definitely like that. I really put that s**t on.”

YG shared that his inspiration came from the swaggy street fashion the top gangsters sported before his time and during his childhood.

“Like, all my inspiration on how I dress, it comes from like vintage… photos of all the gangsters, you feel me, from back in the day,” he told the hosts. “Like, the gang members from back in the day, you know what I’m saying? Or the motherf**king dope boys from back in the day. From where I’m from and s**t — motherf**kers used to get fly like how I dress. That’s how they… used to really dress and motherf**kers don’t be knowing that.”

The 33-year-old admitted that he paid attention to every piece of clothing that was hot in his region. For this reason, the father of two stated, he is able to replicate OG fashion in a modern way, all the way down to the type of chains and other jewelry he wears.

“But, like, all my s**t — a lot of this s**t that YG be on — it come from gangster s**t. You feel me? I wear yellow gold only ’cause that’s what the gangsters used to wear back in the day. No disrespect to the white gold, but n**gas wasn’t wearing that,” YG laughed.