Virgil Abloh kicks it off boldly—"BAPE is like my generation's Chanel"—and he's not wrong. A Bathing Ape is one of those rare labels that hit a major cultural peak in the aughts and managed to outlast the Von Dutch's, Ed Hardy's, and Juicy Couture's of the era. Launched by Nigo in 1993, BAPE spent its nascent years in Japan, incubating but quickly became an underground commodity in the U.S.—with the first store planting a flag on NYC subculture soil. This was thanks in large part to Nigo's relationship with Pharrell and loads of rappers (think Kanye West, Pusha T, the Beastie Boys, Lil Wayne and so many others) wearing its iconic camouflage, characters and shark hoodies.

BAPE's relationship with hip-hop and the two entities' back-and-forth influence on one another has been a major reason why the brand has been able to outlive the the Y2K bug. Accordingly, hip-hop was out in full-force to turn up to a special performance from Travi$ Scott and clink glasses to BAPE's 10 years in NYC. MTV News caught up with Pusha T and Virgil Abloh who were both on-hand for the celebration, as they both shared the method behind the collaboration pieces they each made for this anniversary, along with personal stories about BAPE's influence in their own lives.

A Bathing Ape's BAPE Store New York 10 Anniversary collection is available in the NYC store right now and will be available worldwide on BAPE.com on Saturday, May 2.