Kanye West dedicated his most recent Sunday Service to the late Virgil Abloh, who passed away after a private two-year battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Hours after news spread of the designer’s death, the rapper took to his Instagram story to post a link to his faith-based live stream, which saw the choir sing gospel renditions of Adele’s “Easy On Me” and a few other records, per usual.
This time, however, Ye and his choir closed out the service honoring his late friend and collaborator. “In loving memory of Virgil Abloh, the creative director of Donda,” read a message that displayed on the screen toward the end of the program.
Abloh, the mastermind behind Off-White, met Ye at a Chicago print shop in the early 2000s and later became his friend and protégée. Amid their business relationship, he designed the album covers for Yeezus and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Family. Most recently, as mentioned in the Sunday Service message, the creative director of Louis Vuitton Men’s brought his artistic vision to Ye’s latest project, Donda.
Unfortunately, as Abloh made his lasting impact on the fashion industry, he was fighting a secret battle with cardiac angiosarcoma. He succumbed to the aggressive form of cancer on Sunday morning (Nov. 28), prompting tributes from many of his loved ones.
“My heart is broken Virgil you were a kind, generous, thoughtful creative genius. your work as a human and your work as a spiritual being will live forever,” wrote Pharrell Williams. “Sending love and light to your wife, children, family and day ones. you’re with the Master now, shine.”
“I love u bro. I wanna say so much but I can’t right now,” added Westside Gunn. “I recently showed u this painting I had Mariella paint of u as 1 of the biggest inspirations ever in my life, which is now priceless. Ppl think they know me, but they really don’t this was my family right here.”
Frank Ocean also posted a tribute to Abloh, who he called his “hero.”