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The Weeknd · S3 E7
The XO Brand
Not just a record label. A lifestyle, a crew, a logo tattoo'd on fans across the world
A fan in Sao Paulo tattoos two letters on her wrist without knowing what they stand for. By 2013, XO is no longer a record label but a signal, a secret handshake, a way of saying you were there first.
A$AP Rocky -- Goldie (2012). The other crew-as-brand movement of the early 2010s. A$AP Mob and XO emerged at the same time, from different cities, with the same idea: music is only the beginning. Fashion, visual identity, loyalty, a crew you ride with. Both understood that in the internet age, a brand built on aesthetic and allegiance could be bigger than any single artist.
Goldie -- A$AP Rocky (2012)
A globe-trotting flex over a beat by Hit-Boy, with a video that follows Rocky through London, Paris, and New York in outfits that blur the line between rapper and fashion model. Listen for how confident the delivery is: Rocky is not asking for permission to be in these spaces, he is walking through them like he was always supposed to be there. That same energy defined XO. Abel and his crew built a visual identity so strong that both the fashion world and the media came to them.
The Crew
XO was never a solo operation. La Mar Taylor handled the visual identity: album art, merch, the stark black-and-white aesthetic that made everything look like it belonged in the same world. Cash handled the business. Illangelo and Doc McKinney built the sound. Abel was the voice, but XO was the machine around him.
TAP TO REVEAL: What does XO actually stand for?
Who served as the creative director behind XO's visual identity?
The Birds Pt. 2 -- The Weeknd
"The Birds Pt. 2" closes the two-part song that began in Pt. 1 (featured earlier this season). Where Pt. 1 was a confession, Pt. 2 is the consequence: harsher, colder, and more resigned. It captures the XO ethos in miniature. Beauty followed by darkness, invitation followed by withdrawal, a world that pulls you in and then reminds you that loyalty has a cost.
The mixtape era is over. XO is a brand, Trilogy is certified, and Abel has a label deal that protects his vision. But the next album will not sound like anything he has made before, because fame has turned the entire world into a foreign country.
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To be continued
Season 4: Kiss Land
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