In 2018, rap may have reached peak Patek. Song after song was laced with references to the famed Swiss watchmaker and its Nautilus sports watch. But the end of the year saw one of rap’s biggest headline grabbers, Kanye West, wearing the anti-bling watch. It’s been a fun year for watch spotters and hip-hop heads, so we’ve gathered the best references to watches in songs this year.
Let us know if we missed any of your favorites!
APESHIT, The Carters
“Bought him a jet
Shut down Colette
Philippe Patek”
Complete with a music video that shuts down the Louvre just because it can, The Carters’ (Beyonce and Jay-Z) “APESHIT” was the lead single off a surprise album dripping with references to their luxury lifestyle.
'“250 for the Richard Mille, yeah yeah live in a field” Beyonce also raps, as if shutting down Collete and buying a Patek Philippe weren’t enough. For the man who pretty much brought watches to hip hop though, the rhymes are fitting.
Watch, Travis Scott (Feat. Kanye West and Lil Uzi Vert)
Look at your Rollie, look at my Rollie
That’s a small face, this a big face
“Watch”, a promotional single for Travis Scott’s 2018 album Astroworld, is all about — you guessed it — watches. The chorus has Travis and Uzi singing about their big-faced Rolexes, and Travis also proceeds to to brag that there’s “no small faces, it’s just an AP beamin’." He’s been photographed with an 18 karat Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked, so that might be the watch he’s referencing. But, we wouldn’t be surprised if he’s got a Royal Oak for every day of the week either.
Travis Scott with an iced out Rolex and Audemar Piguet
New Patek, Lil Uzi Vert
New Patek on my wrist
White diamonds them shit hits pink
Much like Travis Scott’s “Watch,” “New Patek” is a promotional single for LIl Uzi Vert’s upcoming album Eternal Atake that doesn’t seem to have made the final tracklist. It’s a six-minute love letter to Uzi’s new Patek that also flaunts Uzi’s sexual bravado and accumulated wealth.
“Frank Muller made me proud of my wrist/ new Rollie made me proud of my wrist/ AP made me proud of my wrist/ new Richard on my wrist” Uzi also explains in a verse, attempting to show his affection for watches goes way deeper than Patek but then name dropping some of the usual suspects of favorite watch brands of celebrities.
Hard Piano, Pusha T
Had to find other ways to invest
‘Cause you rappers found every way to ruin Patek
Pusha-T named his critically acclaimed 2018 album, Daytona, after what he proclaims to be his favorite watch, the Rolex Daytona. He says the album was named to represent the “luxury of time,” saying the album is for high taste level, luxury, drug rap fans.
It’s not the first time he’s declared his love for the Rolex Daytona. In 2011’s “Body Work,” he wrote “Rose gold on my wrist, this Rolex like devil’s piss/ this Daytona illuminate, y’all think I’m talking the devil’s shit.” If Pusha has owned a Daytona or two since at least 2011, he’s certainly seen them appreciate in value (though rose gold aren’t even the most valuable ones), so there’s reason for him to love them indeed. On “New God Flow,” which features Kanye West, Pusha also brags about the pair’s matching Daytonas, rapping “Matching Daytonas rose gold on us.” Cute.
Nonstop, Drake
This a Rollie not a stopwatch, shit don’t ever stop
For much of 2018, hip hop was defined by the love-triangle-turned-beef of Drake, Kanye West, and Pusha-T. Who told who what, who’s got shooters, and why can’t we all just get along?
One thing all three can agree on is their affinity for watches. In the chorus of “Nonstop”, Drake says his Rolex never stops. On the surface, this sounds like a reference to the gliding nature of the seconds hand on a mechanical watch, which looks as though it never stops. Compare this to a quartz watch, where the seconds hand ticks forward every second and then stops. But, Drake may also be throwing shade at Pusha here (on Lebron James’ The Shop, Drake specifically says that he wrote Nonstop after the Pusha-T beef started). Drake is saying he won’t ever stop, despite Pusha-T’s best efforts to knock him off the top.
“Got a Bubba on my other hand, this shit ain’t no hundred bands,” Drake then raps on a verse to Nonstop. He’s referencing the Richard Mille RM 38-01 “Bubba Watson,” which costs around $825,000 and 50 were ever manufactured. He’s probably also referencing the fact that he doesn’t have the RM 55, a watch inspired by the RM 38-01, but that costs closer to $100,000 (or, “a hundred bands”).
Drake showing off another watch from his collection on IG: The RM 69
Bodak Yellow, Cardi B
“Bodak Yellow” is most known for the Louboutin reference in the chorus that has become something of a rallying cry for a movement. But, Cardi’s breakout album is also dotted with watch references. Perhaps not surprising, given her ex-husband Offset is responsible for so much of rap’s obsession with watches and watch references.
“Rollie got charms, look like frosted flakes,” she raps on Bodak Yellow. “I like going to the jeweler, I put rocks all in my watch,” she brags on “ I Like It.“
Social media queen she is, Cardi has taken to Instagram in the past to show off her rocks. In 2016, she held up her new iced-out Patek Philippe Nautilus:
