As the saying goes, fake it till you make it. Now that’s hardly something you’d expect from a rapper who is constantly showing off the finer things in life but the fact is they’re no less human than we are. Whether they get duped by dealers or simply want to spend less money without losing the “bling” factor, it turns out quite a lot of rappers wear fake watches. There’s an entire Instagram account dedicated to outing them, being run by a 30-something “dude from Europe” who goes by the name FakeWatchBusta.
This started as harmless fun, he tells Noisey, as he only started calling out some regular accounts on Instagram. He thought that to boast about wearing an authentic high-end watch when you’re actually wearing a fake is “pretty pathetic.” Soon his account started gaining traction and gained thousand of followers. FakeWatchBusta has since outed the likes of Soulja Boy, Sean Kingston and Rick Ross.
Obviously there’s been retaliation. He gets a cease and desist letter at least once a week. His first account was actually shut down by Instagram after he outed Carmelo Anthony with a fake Panerai and a fake Audemars Piguet. Several jewelers have also sent C&D letters and he sincerely believes that some of them may be taking advantage of rappers who’re not too concerned about asking the right questions and making sure that their high-end watches are authentic.
He also mentions some rappers who are genuine and don’t tout fakes. These include the likes of 50 Cent, Eminem and Jay-Z, who he claims has “the nicest watches.”
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