Lil Yachty links his wrestling run with a holiday retail play as Lids prepares a new Concrete and WWE collection.
Lil Yachty is taking his wrestling crossover to the holiday shopping aisle as Lids lines up a Concrete and WWE collection.
The rapper fronts the retailer’s seasonal campaign alongside Jade Cargill and a cast that includes Chase B and Eladio Carrión.
The campaign arrived Tuesday with comedy built around choosing presents that actually fit the person opening them.
According to Lids’ announcement, its holiday lineup also includes new caps, jerseys and clothing from New Era, Mitchell & Ness and ’47.
“While technology has changed the way people shop, the best gifts still come from knowing what matters most to someone,” said Adam Herstig, Lids’ senior vice president of marketing and partnerships. His statement accompanies a campaign that brings music personalities and professional wrestlers into the same holiday push.
That pairing comes after Yachty put his own body on the line in WWE at Atlanta’s September 6 Sunday Night’s Main Event. His assignment was to last five minutes against Baron Corbin without getting pinned, giving Trick Williams an immediate championship opportunity if he managed it.
Yachty made the time limit and Williams followed him into a match that ended with the United States Championship changing hands. Before that payoff, the rapper mixed in a hurricanrana and a cross-body while taking plenty of punishment from the much larger Corbin.
The appearance followed his role alongside Williams as a friend and on-screen manager, giving their connection an actual match to build around.
Yachty’s hometown crowd also had other familiar music faces in the building, with Quavo and T-Pain attending and Tyler, The Creator watching from ringside.
His move into wrestling has also put his clothing choices in front of a different audience than a concert crowd.
The gold footwear he wore for his debut matched Williams’ gold-and-white look, connecting the partners visually as well as through their on-screen alliance. The customized wrestling shoes came through his existing Nike partnership, replacing the regular white pair he’d been wearing while training for the bout against Corbin in Atlanta that September.
The Concrete and WWE collection reaches Lids on November 20, ten days after the campaign’s launch.