Yung Joc Says He Had To ‘Man Up’ To Wear A Dress

In the midst of hurricane season, California wildfires, and the fallout from Mexico’s disastrous earthquake, Yung Joc was pictured wearing a dress — so you know where the attention of many in the hip-hop world went. There isn’t much context to the clip except that the “It’s Goin’ Down” rapper and reality star was spotted in Hollywood standing next to Safaree in a long blue dress.

And to be clear, it wasn’t a long shirt or whatever excuse self-conscious dudes try to use to deflect. To his credit, Joc didn’t try to deny what couldn’t be denied, noting in since-deleted Instagram posts that they’re just “manmade threads” that he had to “man up” to wear. He also said that he created “one of the craziest times ever” with his “internet manipulation.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Mlz3YTYdY

We’re not sure about all that, but he does have people on Twitter taking their best potshots:

https://twitter.com/CheckOutMyMelo/status/907999771901788166

Even Joc’s Atlanta rap peers chimed in, with 21 Savage feeling a need to apologize on behalf of Atlanta because homophobia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v95CupvPAwE

It tends to be the same story when rappers are seen wearing pretty much anything that’s not shirt/pants/snapback. Young Thug, for one, is used to the backlash for almost everything he wears, especially when he wore a dress on his No, My Name is Jeffery album cover.

At this point, artists have to see the groundswell of gawkery coming whenever they wear dresses, or skirts, or funny hairstyles. It’s a blatant feedback loop that continues to work — it’s worked for Joc before. It’s what he was getting at with his “internet manipulation” claim. So while people laugh and tee off their outrage and conspiracy theories, Joc may just be happy that he was able to draw attention to himself with a single piece of clothing.