Ahoy readers! On deck in his summer wear, A$AP rocks the boat in May’s issue Gentlemen’s Quarterly. Peep the interview and shoot above and the rest of the spread after the jump.

“I wanted to model when I was younger,” he says. “I was always into clothes and shit.” It’s a fact that’s constantly reinforced by his lyrics (Drop-crotch Jeremy Scott pants, bitch it’s Hammer time) and by menswear blogs that practically worship him. “I’m the man on those things,” Rocky gloats. “I don’t really look at them. Well, I guess I do, but only when I’m looking at myself. I inspire me.”