(AllHipHop News) In the entertainment business, image is everything. That may explain why some rappers feel the need to present themselves with lavish items even if those products may not be the real thing.
One Instagram user has taken on the mission of calling out those rap stars that show up in public with inauthentic time pieces on their wrist. Noisey caught up with the anonymous creator of the FakeWatchBusta profile.
After first exposing non-celebrities with fake watches on Instagram, the European who goes by “The Horological Batman” started pointing out celebrities that attempted to pass off knock-offs as real. THB talked about busting Carmelo Anthony and receiving threats of legal action against him.
“I get a cease and desist letter almost once a week. Instagram shut down my first account after I busted Carmelo Anthony with a fake Audemars Piguet and a fake Panerai,” said the self-described “watch geek”. “He is clean now but there was a lot of drama with his sponsors after I exposed his replicas.”
FakeWatchBusta got back up on the site and started targeting rappers.
“On the new account I have busted a lot of people, everyone from Rick Ross to Soulja Boy and Sean Kingston,” he said. “I just busted Jadakiss and he responded that he didn’t buy no watch from that guy. But I found a video that I posted proving him to deal with him and he even had the fake watch on his wrist. It’s all on the account.”
When asked if he felt the rappers are being conned or if they knew the watches are fake, THB states he thinks some jewelers do take advantage of the performers, but he adds, in his opinion, many of them are only concerned about the jewels in the piece not the watch itself.
“I think it’s more jewelery than watches for most of them,” said THB. “I mean Soulja Boy’s watch is a bad Audemars Piguet quartz fake and the battery has run out so it shows the same time in all his pictures. It’s 10:25 all day, every day. It’s pretty funny.”
Besides calling out the rappers faking with false watches, The Horological Batman also gives props to Meek Mill, 50 Cent, Eminem, and Jay Z for sporting the real deals.