YoungBoy Never Broke Again brought his newfound love of makeup to his new single, fittingly titled “Emo Rockstar.”
The single’s music video, which dropped on Wednesday (December 22), finds YoungBoy brandishing a guitar and ski mask as he croons about having millions in the bank. While many of the video’s snapshots find the Baton Rouge rapper rocking out in his garage, it also features shots of his ankle monitor, and of his face clad in makeup. The rapper recently told Akademiks in a Clubhouse chatroom that wearing makeup makes him feel comfortable, and makes him feel like a “rockstar.”
“I like painting my face, putting makeup on,” he said in the chatroom. “I like to look in the mirror and see everything black. Like my eyes and sh*t… “Just, I don’t know. I feel comfortable that way.” He added that his engineer purchased makeup for him from MAC Cosmetics. “It give me like, the goth feeling, like rockstars.”
YoungBoy unveiled his new look on December 9 on his sister’s Instagram page. The photo found him sporting the same black and white makeup seen in the “Emo Rockstar” video. The caption read “I don’t care what they think about me #RockPeace.”
View this post on Instagram
Despite his experimentation with makeup, a lot of fans have criticized the rapper’s latest look, but he’s hardly the first rapper to don makeup. In the past, Hip Hop has seen experimentation with looks from Lil Nas X and Kid Cudi, to Vic Mensa and Aminé.
While the Sincerely, Kentrell rapper is currently releasing new music, he also told Akademiks that he’ll likely retire soon.
“I lost love for music and it brings too many problems,” he said. “I been waiting to stop making music for about one and a half years.”
In the meantime, check out the video for “Emo Rockstar” below.