Fashion Bomb Daily Exclusive Editorial: Ne-Yo Photographed by Roland Hyde for Fashion Bomb Daily

Happy Monday!
Grammy Award Winner Ne-Yo is our Man Crush Monday subject, and sat down with Fashion Bomb Daily to discuss personal style, his predilection for hats, going hatless on World of Dance with Jennifer Lopez, and how he feels being called “Young Michael Jackson” by Jay Z.

About his personal style, he says, “I’m not one of those cats that can put on something uncomfortable because it’s cute. I’m not that dude. I have to be comfortable. I’m at my most effective when I’m comfortable. Comfortable but at the same time, paying attention to what makes sense for me. I’m not really a trend follower. I tend to do what works for me and hope the world likes it. And if they don’t like it, well that’s their problem.”

You might have noticed that Ne-Yo always sports a dope hat! So how many hats does he own? He answers, “OH LORD. More than I should to be honest with you. It’s a little embarrassing because it completely speaks to my insecurity.”

He continues, “I started wearing hats really really young. In junior high school, my hair starting thinning in the front. It was very very visible, very noticeable. Of course school kids can be mean as hell. I used to get picked on a lot and I got in a lot of fights behind it. My teachers would allow me to wear my hats, so I wouldn’t be fighting all the time. From then, since I got out of high school I got real cool and familiar with who I am and what I am.”

“…It wasn’t so much my insecurity anymore, now it was apart of my body, I felt naked without one. I just kinda carried that on into adult life. Last year, I took it upon myself to not wear my hat…it was gonna be a full year, but it started getting cold. I did a full season of World of Dance, the dance competition show that I judge with Jennifer Lopez, with no hat to prove a point to myself.”

” I’m always preaching self love. You can’t really preach self love if you are hiding behind a security blanket. I took the hat off and accepted the backlash that came with it. There is no large head joke I haven’t heard, I’ve heard them all. People can get really creative with it. It’s all good. I’m grown.”

In the song, Crazy, Jay Z raps, “Ne-Yo’s like Young Michael, I’m Quincy Hov.” About Jay Z calling him a young Michael Jackson, Ne-Yo says, ” For Jay Z to say that and to have that permanently engraved in time in a song…It was very flattering, and it still is. Very very big shoes to fill that I didn’t catch the compliment initially. There will never be another Michael jackson of course, but his influence lives in me, Miguel, Chris Brown because without him, there would be no us.”