In an ode to its ever-popular 501 jeans, Levi’s has released the fifth film in its five-part series: The 501 Jean: Stories of an Original. Tracing the trousers’ versatility by tapping artists from genres spanning rock, country, rap and pop – all of whom consider the 501 a staple when it comes to performing – the snappy six-minute video shares Levi’s impact on the music world.
From the ‘outrageous’ adoption of denim by rockabilly artists in the 1950s, the video smoothly transitions to a familiar voice telling us, “A musician is like a superhero. Batman, Superman, all them dudes got capes and shit, right? Well, all gangster rappers got 501 jeans.” Yes, it’s the constantly evolving (shout out to the Snoop Lion phase) Snoop Dogg. Other cameos include Vince Staples and Kilo Kish.
In a white cut-out top and ripped jeans, Solange Knowles explains, “Throughout musical history, it’s about the energy that you possess in that denim or that t-shirt,” – no OTT performance outfit needed. Snoop sees this as a positive, “It’s so simple you can add to it,” he says of the denim staple. “It’s like a cake with no icing.” True to his word, the rapper performed in a pair of 501s at a pre-Grammy party in 2015, pairing the trousers with a navy crushed-velvet jacket. “The 501s were the OGs and then they spread because people weren’t just inspired by our music, they were inspired by our dress code, our way of life, the way we wore our clothes.”
Through bleaching, patches and rips from mosh pits and everything in between: “501 Levis are the only thing that remains the same.”
Watch the film below:
