MEET NAVY BLUE

Sage Elsesser, also known in his circles as Navy Blue, is an American-based rapper, record producer, skateboarder, visual artist, and model. Although he isn’t world-famous or anything, he is well-known in his artist and skateboarding circles, the only crowds that matter to Sage Elsesser.

At 25, young Sage has already gained recognition amongst big names in his relevant industries, including skateboarding legend Jason Dill, musician Frank Ocean, and founder of Supreme James Jebbia.

Within these circles, which are already regarded as being ahead of the curve in their industries, Sage Elsesser is highly regarded as a gifted and stylish professional skateboarder, a model for Supreme’s look-book, and visual and musical artists. In 2016, he collaborated with Frank Ocean and appeared on the musician’s album titled Blonde, on which he sings accompaniment in the last song of the album. The young Navy Blue was also a fine arts student at the Pratt Institute in the same year.

However, Sage Elsesser has been producing music under the stage name Navy Blue since at least 2015. That year onwards, Sage began releasing EPs of his own while also juggling production and rapping for other artists such as Wiki, Armand Hammer, MIKE, and Earl Sweatshirt.

Five years after the release of his debut EP, Navy Blue founded Freedom Sounds, an independent record label. In 2020, he released his debut studio album titled Ada Irin. This debut was followed up by more independent studio releases, including the 2020 Song of Sage: Post Panic! And 2021’s Navy’s Reprise.

While Elsesser is well known first and foremost as a professional skateboarder who has contracts with Converse and Supreme, his recent musical and artistic projects have shown him as a multi-talented creative whose interests and ambitions lie far beyond the projects he has been able to put out there so far. However, Elsesser admits frequently that while music and art come naturally to him, skateboarding and skate culture shaped him into the creative and highly ambitious individual people know him to be today.

“Through perseverance, they taught me how to fall and get back up…they’ve watched me grow and have helped me learn along the way.” Here Elsesser speaks about his ties with the skate community in an interview with AnotherMag. However, he admits that while his modeling career exposed him to many opportunities early on, today, the 24-year-old is more focused on his music than anything else.

Music has always been an inherent love of the young Navy Blue, and he cites his parents’ diverse musical taste as the early influence on his musical heart and soul. His latest music is remarkable for its vulnerability and truthfulness, two virtues Navy Blue has admitted to being at the center of his musical ambitions.

More recently, the young artist, skateboarder, and model signed a modeling contract with Calvin Klein for whom he did a shoot. As Sage Elsesser is beginning to be recognized for his immense talent and potential, the future of Navy Blue looks as bright as ever.