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Music has always run parallel to the lavish, aspirational lifestyle of car culture. From Prince's custom Dakar Yellow BMW 850 in "Sexy M.F." to ZZ Top's legendary "Eliminator" hot rod, artists often use cars to tell their stories. When Jay-Z rapped "In the Ferrari or Jaguar, switching four lanes/With the top down screamin' out, 'Money ain't a thang'"in Jermaine Dupri's 1998 hit "Money Ain't a Thang," or Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were hitting switches in their '64 Impala for "Let Me Ride," they were creating imagery that would define West Coast car culture. Cars and music are connected, and hip-hop took this relationship to another level with cars not just starring in the videos but in the lyrics as well.
For Edris Ekhlas, better known by his Instagram handle of Refresh.ERA, the connection between cars and music, particularly hip-hop, is worth cataloguing. He spends his days searching archives, Getty Images, and forgotten corners of the internet to uncover rare photos and old video clips that document the crossover of cars and celebrity. Ekhlas tracks down rare magazine layouts, interview outtakes, and album covers, then posts them with detailed captions that highlight the stories behind the cars, music videos, and artists.
Ekhlas's work selecting and showcasing cars extends beyond social media into real-world events. He has curated car selections for Monterey Car Week's UpShift event with Hemmings, collaborated on merchandise projects with Japanese brand Car Service for ComplexCon, and organized immersive exhibits like Built Not Bought in Los Angeles. We sat down with Ekhlas to learn more about his self-assigned mission to catalogue hip-hop car culture.
Car and Driver:I would describe you as a curator of car culture. But if someone asked you to describe yourself, what would you say?
Edris Ekhlas: I'm somebody who likes to explore niche automotive subcultures. I consider myself a hip-hop culture preservationist. I think history needs to be preserved as hip-hop continues to grow. It's important to highlight the roots of it.
What does that mean, preserving the history of the culture?
Cars and hip-hop are my two favorite things. Whenever I watched music videos or saw content with a car in it, I got hyped because I knew about the car. I would be watching the interview or whatever it was, and they wouldn't really be highlighting the car. I wanted to know more, or just wanted them to show or talk about it more.
I think the intersection dates back to the birth of hip-hop and the parties in the Bronx. In 1973, Kool Herc [a Jamaican-American DJ referred to as the father of hip-hop] was driving a 1966 Bonneville convertible. He had two big house speakers hanging out the back and drove around playing break beats. I see that as the birth of hip-hop, those parties in the Bronx. Cars were always used as either an accessory or a statement piece to show how successful you are. Cars were always sort of ingrained in the culture.
There are a lot of artists today doing it better than anyone ever has. Kendrick [Lamar] put the GNX on the map in 2024. [His music] brings attention to cars that car enthusiasts have known about, like the GNX, Grand Nationals, and G-bodies, introducing these cars to people who didn't know them before but are now interested.
Is car culture and hip-hop a regional thing? Is it East Coast versus West Coast?
Every region has its own style, and you'll see a lot of crossover. You'll see lowriders in New York when a rapper from the West brings them out, or guys out here doing the BBS [wheels]. Not to say that was only an East Coast thing, or lowriders were only a West Coast thing, but you're seeing a lot of convergence, and like André 3000 said, the South got something to say. Cars in the South are amazing. They have donk culture, slab culture in Texas, and bass culture in Miami.
What are you driving these days?
A 1990 Mercedes 300SL. It has some AMG parts on it, bumpers and wheels, including the three-piece Hammer wheels. I got the car in 2018, and I bought it just like this. The modifications were done in the Nineties, and when the owner reached an age where she couldn't drive anymore, her kids sold the car for her.
Before this, I had a 1988 Mercedes 300CE with an SEC hood and a Lorenzo kit. I wasn't specifically looking for an SL, but once I saw this one, I knew I had to have it. I still keep the tapes from the original owner. She had some Toni Braxton, some Mahalia Jackson hymns, just very cool stuff that helped me picture her driving around PCH in the mid-Nineties.
Hip-hop has always used cars to showcase aspiration. You hear rappers saying things like, "I'm pushing my Ferrari, switching four lanes." Do you think cars still have the same symbolic weight?
I think so, absolutely. Rappers have always had cars in their videos, but now it's often a Lamborghini or Bentley.
A lot of artists recognize that cars can help tell a story in their videos. If you're showing a rags-to-riches journey, you might pull up in a beat-up car and leave in a Benz, BMW, or Porsche.
If you could collaborate with anybody from hip-hop on a project for Refresh.ERA, who would you choose?
I would love to work with Curren$y. He does everything from hosting weekly car meets to livestreaming Hot Wheels races on his Instagram, and he has a nostalgic car collection.
You had an amazing opportunity to curate cars during Monterey Car Week. How did that come about?
UpShift was an event put together for Monterey Car Week with the help of Hemmings and the UpShift crew, and they reached out to me. Actually, they had originally contacted my friend Dalal Elsheikh, who's an amazing graphic designer and a real voice for the community. She let me know they were putting together a show representing cars in hip-hop, and told them they should connect with me. That's how I got the opportunity to curate a selection of cars that could help tell the story.
Those cars included a Mercedes-Benz CL and a 500E, an E30 M3, a '63 Impala, a Ferrari Testarossa, and a '97 Lincoln. It was a really cool opportunity. Car Week can sometimes feel a little repetitive, so it was great to bring a fresh idea to Monterey, and I was excited to be part of that.
What kind of feedback and support have you received from the hip-hop community regarding Refresh.ERA?
It's been amazing. I get feedback from artists I've been a fan of my whole life. They send me DMs and photos of their cars or say they've never seen certain photos before. I've talked to Ice-T, who said, "Man, I haven't seen this photo in so long." It's really inspiring to connect with these people. It's incredible.
It's not only the artists, but also the photographers, who allow me to showcase their work. Of course, they own the work. My whole goal is to give them a platform. I want people to see their work. I'm getting incredible feedback from people who lived in that era and lived that life, and that's really exciting for me.
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