What Happened
Westside Gunn has turned a fashion-industry complaint into a rap line.
On his new Denny LaFlare-produced track “ZILLA,” Gunn criticizes the direction of Off-White after Virgil Abloh, pointing specifically to the label’s recent appearance at Costco.
Complex reported August 27 that Gunn’s line references Off-White hoodies that appeared through Costco Canada earlier this year at roughly $60 USD before disappearing from the retailer’s site.
The jab lands differently coming from Gunn because Virgil was not a distant designer he occasionally name-dropped. Abloh art-directed multiple Westside Gunn covers, including Pray for Paris and And Then You Pray for Me.
Gunn and Virgil Shared a Real Creative History
Fashion has been part of Westside Gunn’s rap language for years, but his relationship with Virgil went beyond wearing expensive clothes.
Abloh’s work helped shape the visual identity around some of Gunn’s most important projects. Pray for Paris in particular became one of the clearest examples of Gunn treating a rap album like an art object, connecting underground music, luxury fashion and gallery-world references in one package.
That history gives Gunn more personal context when he questions what Off-White has become after its founder’s death in 2021.
He is not speaking as a neutral retail analyst. He is an artist who worked directly with the person whose creative standard he believes the brand is moving away from.
Why Costco Became the Symbol
Off-White was built as a luxury streetwear brand, and pricing was always part of its positioning.
Complex notes that the Costco Canada hoodies were dramatically cheaper than many pieces sold through Off-White’s own retail channels. The products later disappeared from Costco’s website, but the image of Off-White sitting in a warehouse club had already traveled online.
That does not automatically mean a lower price destroys a fashion brand. Luxury labels regularly use diffusion lines, outlets, collaborations and wider distribution to reach different customers.
The tension is what the move communicates.
When a brand has spent years making scarcity, presentation and cultural placement part of the product, a radically different retail environment can change how people read the name even if the garment itself has not changed much.
Off-White Is Already in a New Ownership Chapter
The post-Virgil company is not operating under the exact structure he left behind.
Bluestar Alliance acquired Off-White from LVMH in 2024. Complex also reports that the company launched a lower-priced sub-label, L/AB c/o Off-White, in June with products priced below the main line and has continued looking for ways to widen the brand’s reach.
That makes Gunn’s criticism part of a larger debate about what happens when a founder-led cultural brand becomes an asset that new owners are trying to expand.
Growth can make a brand more accessible. It can also weaken the signals that made people want access in the first place.
‘ZILLA’ Is Also Setting Up Gunn’s Next Music Chapter
The fashion line is the part of the song traveling through headlines, but “ZILLA” is still a new Westside Gunn record first.
The track is produced by longtime collaborator Denny LaFlare and arrives as Gunn has been teasing another album built around the grimy, soulful and jazz-influenced sound his audience already associates with the Griselda world.
That keeps the Off-White reference from feeling like an isolated hot take. Gunn is using the same record to re-establish his own aesthetic while criticizing a fashion brand he believes has moved away from the aesthetic standards of someone he respected.
The RRL Read
Westside Gunn has spent years building music around taste: what art belongs on the wall, what clothes belong in the room, what production belongs under the voice.
“ZILLA” turns that taste into criticism.
Whether people agree with him about Costco is secondary to why the line travels. Virgil helped shape Gunn’s visual world, and Gunn is now publicly judging what happened to one of Virgil’s biggest brands after he was gone.
That is more specific than another rapper making fun of a cheap hoodie.
