Danny Brown's 25 Favorite Brands

This feature is a part of Complex's Danny Brown Week.

Danny Brown has always had his own unique sense of style. Once upon a time, 50 Cent passed on signing him because he wasn't a fan of the Detroit MC's skinny jeans. Danny's look didn't fit in with the G-Unit aesthetic, but in keeping with his own musical and personal philosophy DB continued to act and dress just as he pleases. Now that Brown's album Old has splashed down, fucking up staid notions of what hip-hop can be, the eclectic and global influences that inform his music can still be seen in the way the wild-haired emcee laces up.

Danny Brown is no stranger to opulent clothing, but every style choice of his is deliberately thought-out, and each of his brand co-signs has a personal story and history behind it. Like the beats and rhymes on Old, DB taps into his love of British culture, his early years in Detroit, and of course the endless chase for pussy to create a tapestry of labels that no other rapper would have the honesty or humor to select.

Much like his album, each piece of Danny Brown's style puzzle has its own story, which is how a true list of one's favorite clothing brands should read. He's come a long way from just being the rapper in skinny jeans. These are Danny Brown's 25 Favorite Brands.

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RELATED: Danny Brown Covers Complex's "Old" Week
RELATED: Danny Brown's 25 Favorite Albums

Danny Brown: "I love Burberry. I mean of course because it's just like a simple pattern, but I don't know maybe I think I'm English at heart. Like, the way people probably look at Polo and Ralph Lauren and shit, that's how I look at Burberry.

"I think I'm British 'cause I just love their music so much. [Laughs.] Like the grime music, we connect on that. They get a lot from us too. When the techno shit, ghetto techno shit, started crackin' back here the first pipeline of people listening to that shit was them over there. We used to have artists that were popular as hell over in London, overseas, who weren't really popular in America, you know? They were even with the whole J Dilla scene. They was with the big fanbase of that over there, moreso than there was in America."

Danny Brown: "I mean, you gotta put Air Jordans on the list because at the end of the day, when I was a kid, you wanted Jordans. No matter what sneaker came out that year, you wanted Jordans. I'd skip school to go get 'em. If Jordans came out that day we didn't go to school, and we all just went to the mall that day and got Jordans. If we could, if we was lucky enough, we would try to make it back to school to be the first person wearing the Jordans that came out in the day.

"See I wanted to be cool, so what I would do was, I would try to make it back to school that first day, and then I would wear them that first day that they came out. But there probably wasn't too many people seeing you because I only had a half day of school. Then don't wear 'em the next day so people don't think I got them. And then the next day, everybody wear 'em, 'cause then everybody got 'em. Then the next day, I wear 'em. [Laughs.] I used to do shit like that. I ain't even trippin' on the Jordans."

Danny Brown: "Another staple—the hoodies. Being from Michigan, it's cold as hell, and there's nothing like a staple hoodie. I would at least buy a new Champion hoodie every winter. So I had to put Champion on my list for that. And I love that when the hoodie gets really dirty and raggedy and the strings are all fucked up, it's just a comfortable hoodie. I put that on, I wear it around the house.

"They make a cheap one, and they make a more expensive one. I always go for the more expensive, I don't like the cheap one. I don't like the way that one feels. The expensive ones can last forever. I really like the socks and underwear and shit. I buy a lot of Champion shit."

Danny Brown: "I put Rockports on the list 'cause I don't know too many other cities that were fucking with Rockport shoes back in the '90s. But for Detroit, it was like a big staple. You wore the Polo shirt with khakis and the Rockports. That's my whole middle school, and my high school. Nothing like a pair of Rockport Gore-Tex boots in the winter.

"A lot of boots, they're made to handle winter, but they not made to be comfortable. Rockport's one of the first companies that started thinking about making boots comfortable. Coming up with new shapes, and putting air bubbles in them and shit way before Nike was. I fuck with Rockport hard."

Danny Brown: "I put Cross Colours on this list, but my dad, he wouldn't ever let me wear that shit. [Laughs.] My dad, he thought it was corny. He was into like wearing Polo and Pelle leathers and shit like that. So he thought the Cross Colours shit was corny, and he wouldn't buy me no Cross Colours. So I put it on my list because that was something that I really wanted to be a part of my fashion, but my pops wouldn't let me. I don't know, maybe he helped me out, maybe he didn't.

"Now I would wear Cross Colour-type shit, I wear loud colors and shit. Maybe if he let me get it out my system early [Laughs.] I probably wouldn't dress the way I do as a 31-, 32 year-old man. He definitely influenced my fashion 'cause he bought my clothes! I would say what I want, and he would say "That's wack!" [Laughs.]. He would buy me something regular like some Timberlands, you know. It wasn't like people in school would say anything about my clothes, but it was fly shit."

Danny Brown: "The Polo Bear, now that fucked my whole world up. I don't know, maybe I'm a sucker for immature, adult-looking clothes, but when the Polo Bear first came out, I was like, just infatuated with that shit. That shit was expensive as fuck. It was like $300 for a sweater, and $100 for the T-shirt. So I was doing whatever I could do to obtain Polo Bear shit.

"I didn't get too many peices. I only got a couple T-shirts. I think I had a hat maybe too. I wish I could have got those sweatshirts back in the day man. Those shits was so hard. I was working at a job then. I was working at a buffet, washing dishes and shit. I'd be getting like a $200 check every two weeks. And then spending $100 on a T-shirt! The fuck? [Laughs.]"

Danny Brown: "Maybe if I lived in different climates, it probably would have persuaded my fashion a little more. But here, you gotta dress warm. I hate being cold, and Timberlands, when they came out with the boots, it made dressing warm cool. That's what I give Timberlands props for. Before them, you just had to be warm. But then when you had Timberland on, you can get flashy if you want to.

"I'm a fan of the regular construction boot, but I'm a huge fan of when they made the big tall boots for, like, $300 and shit. That's what we was all about. We wanted to get the big Timberlands. The ones that came up to your knees and shit. [Laughs.] I'm more so that Timberland guy rather than a construction boot guy. That's like the Air Force 1s of boots. But I like the big joints. The big expensive boots."

Danny Brown: "Particularly Wallabees, and that's just coming from being a fan of Wu-Tang. When Ghostface came out, and he started wearing Wallabee things, I don't know how it affected other cities, but it took Detroit by storm. You ain't have no Wallabees back then. You ain't really had shit. We was dyeing them too, same way he he was, fucking up our shoes and shit. [Laughs.]

"They couldn't survive the winters. When you dyed them, and then they get in the snow, the dye would wear off. I mean one time I wore some raspberry, wine color, and then I was walking in the snow and the dye was coming up and splashing on my Tommy Hilfiger corduroys. [Laughs.] Fucked up my whole shit!"

Danny Brown: "Particularly the leathers. Not more so the clothes, just the leather jackets. I didn't really get into the jeans, but the leather jackets were like a big staple for saying you gettin' money in Detroit at the time. All the drug dealers had Pelle leathers, and most people would have the "Soda Club" with all the white and the big spot on the back and shit.

All the drug dealers had Pelle leathers...

"But my pops, he thought that was corny. So he just liked the regular plain, butter-soft leathers. We had a lot of colors of those, and I had a lot of them growing up. I'd still wear those jackets today. I remember we had an orange pumpkin one. Those leathers were like $800 back then! To have four or five of 'em in high school was crazy.

"I had one for myself, and then most of them were my dad's. In high school I was able to fit his clothes. I ain't saying he allowed me to, but he was gone so much that I would be able to sneak into his closet, wear his clothes and put 'em back before he even knew. So I used to wear his Pelle leathers a lot. But then, a couple pieces got stolen, and then I got in trouble."

The '95 is my favorite shoe, period. Ever made.

Danny Brown: "Of course, you can't get away from Nike being in the hood. I would say with me and Nike, it's more of an Air Max thing. I'm more of an Air Max guy, I love Air Max. I still buy them all the time, and I wear them in my personal time. I just get 'em as a comfortable shoe. The ones that I like don't really look right with skinny jeans. So I haven't been wearing Air Maxs. But I don't know, I might bring 'em back.

"I know the '90s, they look cool with skinnies, but I like the '96s and the '95s. The '97s and shit. The '95 is my favorite shoe, period. Ever made. The first time I saw that shoe in lime green and gray, it blew my brain. And the sun was reflecting off the silver and it was shiny. I just remembered seeing that shoe and my homeboy had 'em. He just showed up and I remember his outfit. He had a Cincinnati Reds jersey on, with some Guess shorts, and lime green and gray Air Maxs. He didn't match it up at all. In Detroit we match a lot. So just seeing that, was just like, man. You get the Cincinnati Reds jersey, but the red made the lime green pop. So to me, that opened my mind up fashion-wise seeing him do that. It fucked my whole world up. But it was like $150, and I couldn't afford $150 for a pair of shoes."

Danny Brown: "My pops was wearing Versace and stuff before Biggie was rapping about it. Before it got popular in hip-hop culture. My pops had Versace. And you know what it is? It's just that Detroit, we're so big with the gators and shit. So you had these places that sold gators, these upscale places that sell these expensive-ass suits, and they would get expensive-ass shirts and shit too. That's when my dad got one. Not necessarily knowing that this was going to crack off in two years or a year later. And I didn't know how much the shirt cost.

I got so much [action] off Versace, put it like that.

"Then once the Biggie shit started, I was like 'Damn, I got this shit at my pop's.' So then I would sneak away in Versace shirts to school and shit. I got so much pussy off Versace, put it like that. Even the teachers were like 'What the fuck?' I saved up my money and got a Movado watch, so I'm wearing a Movado watch with a Versace T-shirt. It was crazy for me [Laughs].

"Detroit style was all about being expensive. How it is now, people spend thousands of dollars on Givenchy and Balmain and all that shit. But back then it wasn't that type of stuff; It was like gators and mink coats. Spend $3,000 and get a mink coat, and spend $1,500 and get some shoes. Then get a nice suit to go with that. That's what the whole shit was. Then the thing about it was, it wasn't like getting regular colors. You had to get the most craziest colors that nobody else had. The pinks and the lights, and the light color shits. When you do shit like that, you can't wear it all the time, so you get these motherfuckers with collections of gators. All colors like Now and Later packs. All the big D boys, old-school ballers, that's how they did it. Then before you know it, they gotta get it longer. They gotta get a floor-length mink; get a short mink with the hood. They gotta get another color mink. I had an uncle who was into it like that."

You could tell they were just being silly with the shit they were making... Because spending $200 on a T-shirt of some guy holding a burger...? Hilarious.

Danny Brown: "When I was younger, I think Moschino was one of my first favorite brands ever. That was the first high-end, expensive shit I knew, but it was making immature clothing. Just funny shit. You could tell they were just being silly with the shit they were making. So it made me want that. Because spending $200 on a T-shirt of some guy holding a burger? Shit is hilarious, and I'm all about the fun shit. I was all about that more so than buying serious fashion shit like Versace and Gucci and Louis and shit like that. I wanted Moschino. It's like my favorite.

"And another thing too, I love to see a girl wear that shit. The jeans with the peace sign on the ass. That shit is hot to me. [Laughs.] Only a few girls in high school who had that. But it was only a few girls with Moschino. That was super "drug-dealer dad-daughter" type shit. See that's one thing too about it. If a girl had a big ballin' drug dealin' father, you probably wanna get in with her. You never know, because her pops might break you off. He might start giving you the work. He's a plug, so you might wanna get in like that."

We were wearing Concordes, Forums, and Top 10s. That was like Detroit's staple shoe.

Danny Brown: "I just love adidas because just how much it's involved in music. There's not too many brands that, I feel like, were in that world. You could tell, Nike was built on sports, and adidas was built on music. So with that said, adidas has been around me my entire life. Even back in the day. Nike rose up, I would say, in the mid '90s in Detroit. But before then, it was all about adidas.

"Whoever was getting money wore adidas. Like you wore Top 10s, you wore Concordes, you wore Forums. We wore our different ones. We wasn't wearing the Stan Smiths or the Rod Lavers or stuff like that. We were wearing Concordes, Forums, and Top 10s. That was like Detroit's staple shoe."

Danny Brown: "As a kid I fucked with Calvin Klein. To me Calvin Klein is the cleanest. As far as underwear, that's the only fucking underwear I wanna wear. I remember I used to wear a lot of the jeans and shit too. Calvin Klein, I feel like that's the cleanest shit. That's like something, it will never go away. It will always just be cool with Calvin Klein.

"I remember two brands that to us was like the clean shit. That was Calvin Klein and Claiborne. I fucked with Calvin Klein, and we fucked with Claiborne hard. So I put them two together. When I think about it, they had the most slim-cut jeans that you could get away with. The Calvins didn't fit baggy but they wasn't tight. So you looked clean with the CK and the Claiborne on. That's like '96 right there."

I knew it had to be some fly sh*t because I knew his family get money.

Danny Brown: "I remember being in 7th grade and I remember seeing my homie—he had a drug dealer family—but he come in with these shirts with this logo. We was wearing Polo, and I didn't know what the logo was, but I knew it had to be some fly shit because I knew his family get money. So I'm like, "What is this shit?" He's like, "Oh you ain't up on the Tommy?" This was in like '93.

"Actually, you know how I got so much Tommy? What really kinda happened was that my grandma worked at this cleaner for so long. There would be a lot of drug dealers that would put a lot of clothes in there, and then they shop so much that they'd forget. And they'd buy new shit and then they'd forget they put their clothes in the cleaners. After a while, it became a free-for-all. You can have that shit. So, we used to go up there, and we used to get the clothes. We used to get so much Tommy Hilfiger and Nautica and all the top shit. Leathers—you know? So I got a lot of shit from that, and a lot of Tommy Hilfiger from that."

Danny Brown: "They take a jogging suit, put a fucking Disney or whatever cartoon character they want, and charge $1,000 for it. [Laughs.] I think that's the American dream. [Laughs.] So it's taking something, reinventing it, and overcharging. It was the most hip-hop, that's what hip-hop was. We took something, and we reinvented it, and now we overcharging. [Laughs.] Iceberg to me is like the whole American dream, that's all I can say about it. If I could wear Iceberg History every day, I would wear that shit.

I'd risk my life for some Iceberg History.

"I'd risk my life for some Iceberg History. I'm pretty sure I've got some at my mom's crib, in my bedroom. I had the Bart Simpson shit, I had the fuckin' Peanuts shit. I had the Milan shit, which was one of the illest collections they did. On the low though—the Milan shit was ill. I had a lot of the Speedy Gonzales shit. That right there was probably thousands of dollars of me selling drugs to get some Iceberg.

"I didn't like the knit sweaters, that's the only thing I didn't get into. Or the crazy jeans with the cartoon characters on the back pocket and shit. But the jogging suits? The sweats? That's my shit. And the T-shirts. That's my favorite shit ever to come out in fashion. Those Iceberg T-shirts. What's so tight about it, is that they made a lot of fake Iceberg History at that time too, so there was a lot of fakes. So even wearing the fake shit right now is tight. [Laughs.] I can't even hate on a nigga wearing the fake shit. That shit is tight! Just don't fuck with the knits. The knit sweaters was trash. But the jogging shit and the T-shirts? You can't lose."