A$AP Rocky and PUMA have presented a new collaborative collection of clothing, footwear and accessories inspired by motorcycling and racing. It is accompanied by a campaign featuring the rapper — it was directed by Ukrainian Artem Shapirenko (Shapxo), who previously shot, among others, a music video for Tyla Yaweh, and Nikita Kuzmenko, who directed the film ‘Pamfir’ and is known for his work with Tanu Muiño, was the director of photography. DTF Magazine talked to Artem about the work on the project and tells you more about it.
The collection’s description states that it was inspired by ‘night racing and neon city lights’ and in the design of the items, which include tracksuits, leather jackets, polo shirts, T-shirts and the PUMA Inhale collaborative sneaker model, the motorsports-themed design is transformed through the use of neon colors and motorsports graphics.
About the start of work
Actually, the campaign, as well as the collection, is centered around this theme. Artem worked on the video concept directly with A$AP Rocky and his creative agency AWGE.
‘It was probably the most sudden linkup of my career. I was sitting at home, it was three in the morning, I was just scrolling through Instagram and I saw a direct message request. I checked it and there I saw a producer from AWGE, Rocky’s creative agency, who wrote, ‘Rocky wants to work with you, can we call you now?’ And that’s when I realized it’s time to cook’.
According to Artem, the work started with a series of online calls with A$AP Rocky and for him ‘as a creative director, the campaign was a new stage’.
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‘What struck me was that he was very open and deep in his thinking. He didn’t want to put himself in the spotlight — it was important for him to emphasize the collection. I wrote the treatment and we worked with the team to create the storyboards, making each detail as it should be. Rocky was very attentive to the process of creating the storyboards, trying to convey the message of the collection. My task was to catch that flow and make the script very ‘punchy’ — I wanted the video to grab the viewer immediately and not let go until the end’.
About the concept of the campaign
Campaign was created around the theme of ‘weird motorsports’, that is, freestyle with motorsports.
‘Cross motorcycles, jet skis, monster trucks, race cars. Rocky wanted everything to look in my VFX style. He even sent me a link to my work for K1X (a sports and basketball apparel brand — Note from DTF Magazine) and said he wanted to create something just as crazy’, Shapirenko recalls.
About the shooting
Artem worked not only with the rapper, who also co-directed the video, and AWGE, but also with Ukrainian cinematographer Nikita Kuzmenko, New York-based production company DreamBear and Kyiv-based makeup artist Eve Litus. Postproduction of the video was handled by Abyss Digital, a VFX studio founded by Shapirenko.
It took about a week from the time the concept was approved to the start of shooting the video.
‘New York is a fantastic place to shoot, but even here it’s not easy to organize 300 people, find a location, bikes, actors and the whole crew’, — Artem explains and adds: ‘Rocky was on set as a co-director, giving his feedback and trusting our team completely. It was a collaborative process, filled with a shared vision and passion’.
A$AP TyY, one of the members of A$AP Mob, played one of the roles in the campaign. Shapirenko recalls that Rocky called him to the set, and in half an hour ‘he was on a bike and participated in the process’.
When we asked Artem about his memorable moments from the set, he told us about the beginning of that day. And it was a story about the team’s clothes.
‘A$AP Rocky came to the set, said hi to everyone, and it was like he was evaluating the outfits. Then came back with a loud megaphone and said, ‘This shoot is for PUMA, why am I seeing Nike, UGG and Timberland? Give us 200 boxes of sneakers right now’. I thought it was a joke, but within minutes everyone had new PUMA sneakers. I’ve done shoots for the brand three times, but this is the first time something like this has happened’.
According to the director, during his conversation with A$AP Rocky they ‘talked a lot about the future, design and fashion’, and the rapper also ‘talked a lot about Ukraine, recalled how he shot the music video for Tailor Swift in Kyiv (we told you more about it here) and expressed his support for Ukrainians’.
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In September 2023, Tyla Yaweh released a music video for a collaborative track with Chris Brown called ‘City of Dreams’. A Ukrainian team of director Artem Shapirenko (Shapxo) and editing director Mykyta Bereg worked on the video.
Then DTF Magazine talked to Artem and Mykyta about the work on the project. You can find more details in our article.
