Lil Uzi Vert is remembering Virgil Abloh through the late creative’s own words.
In an Instagram post dedicated to his friend, who was announced to have died Sunday at age 41 following a private two-year battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, Lil Uzi honored Virgil by sharing an excerpt from an interview Virgil did withthe Fader in 2017, where he discussed meeting the rapper for the first time.
“It’s hard to turn the page when you know someone won’t be in the next chapter, but the story must go on ❤️,” Uzi captioned the image. “You stayed on your grind and showed no weakness even threw difficult times so why should I …. IYKYK. [Virgil Abloh] I love you 🕊.”
In the interview that Uzi shared to his feed, Abloh recalled the moment he met the rapper back in 2013, which he called “organic” during his discussion with Myles Tanzer.
“Me and my friends in New York were DJing a ton, finding ourselves, and getting booked in random cities,” Abloh reflected at the time. “We went to Philly and were DJing this party, we didn’t know what it was, it was called like ‘Hamster Dance,’ some weed festival in a nearly abandoned artist loft or warehouse. We were waiting to play and this kid gets on and he’s really energetic and short. All of the sudden this music comes on and we were like, What the fuck? This kid is next level. It turned out to be Lil Uzi.”
Uzi joins Drake, Pharrell, and others in reflecting on Abloh’s lasting legacy in the fashion world and beyond. On Sunday, Kanye West’s Sunday Service choir gathered and performed tracks like Adele’s “Easy On Me,” as an event was livestreamed and dedicated to Abloh, a longtime collaborator of West starting from their early days in Chicago.
Frank Ocean also shared a heartfelt tribute to Virgil on his Instagram Stories Sunday night, writing that his younger brother Ryan, who passed away in a car accident in 2020, looked up to the fashion icon.
“When my brother passed I never said anything because it was way too much but he loved you and really looked up to you,” Ocean wrote. “He was going to fashion school and everything. He wanted to be a designer. My fam was proud of you like you were our family. I know grief is love that you don’t get to express so this is an attempt at expressing it. Love you V. You’re a hero.”
