Halloween is a time for people to dress up, dress down, or essentially wear nothing at all—and celebrities are just like us. For those in the rap community, it’s a time to be controversial and pay homage to the classics or the people around them. However, some costumes have missed the mark. We broke down the worst to best Halloween costumes that the hip-hop world and its fans have seen throughout the years.
#12 Lil Nas X as a tampon
The comments were overflowing with disgust and confusion about Lil Nas X making their 2023 statement out of the womb. It’s doubtful if even Mother Nature would approve of this bloody mess. However, Lil Nas X is always known to push the boundaries and go for the controversial. The blocky (and bloody) white dress was made to compete with the long trailing string to… pull out for later. Fans nevertheless enjoyed seeing the controversial outfit.
“LOL!! Everybody WAY too uptight out here. Also, that’s a really light day…” Instagram user thewidlflute said on Lil Nas X’s post of his Halloween fit.
#11 Fat Joe as Ozempic
Sometimes, irony creates the best Halloween costumes. The now infamous drug has weight loss as one of its numerous side effects, with celebrities like Elon Musk speaking about their experience taking it.
Fat Joe has been losing weight throughout the years and focusing more on his health after losing his best friend and fellow rapper Big Pun unexpectedly in 2000. With his 2023 Halloween costume, Fat Joe was sharing that he really is “sugar-free baby.”
“He’s gonna need a new name after this one,” X user Okayplayer said in a 2023 post.
#10 Travis Scott as brown Batman
In 2020, La Flame came decked out in a brown Batman suit with wheels to match for a Halloween photoshoot. However, he ended up deleting the post when the Internet began tearing him to shreds. Getting the nickname “Roachman,” he was photoshopped into everything from grave sites to fashion runways. Fans online pointed out exactly where the fit went wrong.
“It was made by a very prominent dude in the cosplay community, so the quality is there, but it suffers from 2 problems:
1.) Color. It was made jet black for a reason: to both blend in with the shadows AND the rubbery undersuit, to give the illusion that he’s a walking Greek statue. When it’s brown, you see every seam, and it kills a lot of that intimidation effect.
2.) The armor was made to fit Michael Keaton, who stands at 5’8″, and since the armor molds weren’t able to be resized, when 6’2″ Travis Scott put on the suit, the pieces don’t line up, and the cowl raises up off of his shoulders,” Reddit user Plane-Monitor 2532 said in a March post.
#9 Ye as Dino from ‘The Flinstones’
The Ye energy can be felt in his 2019 costume, even though fans wish they could have seen his face. While his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and kids are dressed up as the Flintstone family, he chose to stay anonymous (but not really). From the Yeezus Tour to his version of the famous Jason Voorhees mask, Ye loves covering up his face to get into a different zone.
Despite the botched Photoshop editing job editing, it was a cute family moment overall.
“We don’t deserve Ye lmao he could’ve just been Barney Rubble but decided it’d be better to dress as the giant purple dinosaur,” Reddit user all1good said in a 2019 post.
#8 Ice Spice as Betty Boop
Ice Spice recreated the cute cartoon character with her signature Brooklyn twist in 2023. The rapper kept it simple with the character’s signature black haircut and a red bodycon dress to match. The red leg garter though added the bling that was missing to replace the signature chains usually on her neck.
“I want to trust someone the way she trusted that dress,” Tiktok user Pval said in a March post.
#7 Jay-Z as Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction
The Brooklyn GOAT decided to pay homage to a classic. This isn’t the first time that HOV has dressed up for Halloween, taking on everything from Basquiat to Biggie. This time though, he was riding solo without Queen B by his side. Posted up with Lil Nas X (who was in a classic Cam’ron fit), he looks ready for a “Royale with cheese.”
#6 Offset as Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask
Offset has never been shy about getting in his cosplay bag, from his Micheal Jackson fits to dressing as The Joker in October 2023. However, he decided to set the party off by dressing as Jim Carrey’s iconic character from the movie The Mask in 2020. He even (attempted) to get the iconic laugh down. At least the fit was fire though.
“He got me tight with that dumbass laugh,” X user YFP said in a 2020 post.
#5 The Game as Jidenna (and Jidenna as The Game)
Twin…where have you been? The Game and Jidenna have been accused of being related for years. For Halloween, they decided to finally give the people what they wanted and pull a “Parent Trap Moment.” The Game went as Jidenna in Halloween 2015 and Jidenna returned the favor in 2016 going as The Game. With the two looking so similar, it couldn’t have been hard to finalize their looks for the night. However, some fans had their top picks for their favorite look.
“Jidenna look better as the game, than the game,” Facebook user Kiara Keller said in a 2019 post.
#4 Quavo as X-Beast and Saweetie as Mystique
While they may have parted ways, the duo crushed their Halloween 20202 fits while paying homage to the X-Men. They didn’t simply just zip up a jumpsuit or layer on the clothes. They went all out with the makeup and special effects to match, with Quavo’s transformation taking eight hours. Saweetie bared it all while covered in blue—but made sure to get some memes in first. The costumes even got the Comic Book stamp of approval.
“The pair transformed themselves into X-Men characters Beast and Mystique for Halloween this year and the costumes are absolutely impressive and stunning,” Nicole Drum said in their 2020 Comic Book article.
#3 Megan Thee Stallion as Pinhead
Megan Thee Stallion has been a longtime lover of all things scary. She has shared her horror movie picks online while also creating some of her own. For Halloween 2021, she decided to offer a tribute to a terrifying horror flick villain. She dressed us as Pinhead from the movie Hellraiser but added her sexy twist. Still keeping the essential look of the horrifying menace while also keeping her Texas swagger in check, the Internet loved the look.
No one was a bigger fan than her former ex-boyfriend Pardi. “Scary how good you look … even dressed as an acupuncture face white man,” he commented on her Instagram post featuring her look.
#2 Tyler, the Creator as Justin Bieber
One of the biggest trolls in hip-hop (behind 50 Cent), Tyler, the Creator gave A$AP Rocky a break for a day and took Halloween in 2012 as an opportunity to poke fun at a young Justin Bieber.
With the hiked-up shoulders and plaid shirt that everyone and their mom had in the early 2010s, he crushed the impersonation. Even the hair was perfectly combed over to the side, leaving fans seeing double.
“Ok funny, now where’s the picture of Tyler,” X user Bolin’s Burner said in a 2021 post about the costume.
#1 Rihanna as Gunna
Gunna went viral in 2021 for his NYFW fit that featured a sheer long-sleeve sweater, above-the-knee shorts, and tall Rick Owens boots. He began getting comparisons to everyone from Spongebob to an “evil Mary J. Blige.”
However, Rihanna wanted to give Gunna his flowers by recreating the fit for Halloween that year. Gunna signed off on Riri even nailing his locs style with a stamp of approval online as everyone cackled at the cosplay. “Nawww U OVERLY WON,” he posted in the comments of her Instagram post.
Hopefully this year, both the pioneers and up-and-comers in the rap game continue to raise the bar when it comes to the spooky holiday—or at least give us something to laugh about.