Hip Hop Brand Consistency
Why/ bullet points: - Early 70’s Hip Hop Fashion vs Late 70’s-early 80’s - Hip Hop Fashion is taking Poor Man Work Clothes, and make them look FRESH. - LEE SUITS, DC Half Farmers, SCRUB SUITS, Designer Jeans, Leather Suits, Play Boy Shoes, British Walkers, Puma Suedes, Adidas Suede Tips, Adidas Shell Toes, Chuck, Pro Kid 69;ers, checker Pants. - Bless Bottoms vs straight Legs - When did the Mix Matching Start and Stop? Started with Adidas and Puma Suits and Sneakers. BBoy/Bgirl Dress Codes Always Look Fresh Always carry a Tooth Brush and keep your sneakers Clean. Make sure your colors Blend. and….. Do NOT Mix and Match your GEAR! How did the last rule start? in my era of HIP HOP it was Late 70’s, and IMHO The seriousness of Matching Brands stems from 2 particular Brands that we were rockin religiously at Jams. - The 3 stripe track suit (adidas) - and the 1 stripe Track Suit (puma) When Hip Hop Dancers really started going in on the Track Suits, and Wind Breakers, that was when I personally started hearing Loud Whispers at Jams, like: “Peep that Fool rocking a Puma suit with Adidas” followed by Laughs and Chuckles. Dude would get clowned if he battled somebody, because a BBOY would call him out on it with a move, a Freeze, or simply, yelling at him while Top Rocking “Look at your Bummy a$$ rocking Mix Match Gear!” The Harsh comments comes from a style of Joking called “SNAPPING” or “DOZENS”, and yes “BURNING”! Burning was not just a dance, but a way to Humiliate someone wth JOKES as well. And the Jokes will get very Harsh, Disrespectful and Embarrassing. If Cats started playing DOZENS, a crowd would gather for the laughs, and one of the first things that cats would start on was your Mother and your GEARS! So if you had holes in your sneakers, or Fake/imitation British Walkers, or if you were Mix Matching your GEAR, You were COOKED! G And getting snapped on at a JAM was even worst. Lets say if the MC feels like stopping the beat and decides to point you out in the crowd (holy shiet) he would yell on the mic “LOOK AT THAT MUTHA-FUCKA ROCKING ADDIAS SHELLS WITH A PUMA SUIT!” echo echo echo. hahahaha. Yes that type of shiet would happen at JAMS! lmao so the GOLDEN RULE of Fashion was “Enforced” by SNAPPING (aka DOZENS). And if you got caught up in front of a crowd and got snapped on for Rocking 2 different Conflicting Brands, and did not know how to hold your own in DOZENS, the minute they see you getting RED (angry) the Jokes will get HARSHER, and they will go in on your MOTHER! and thats usually when the Fight Breaks out. smh So Needless to say, for these reason, we simply kept a strict code of keeping your Gear Brands in line, and avoiding Criticism. For the most part, all was peace n the early 80’s. BUT THEN CAME the New Jacks and the EUROPEANS in the LATE 80’s!!!!! smprh (shaking my puerto rican head) =/ Yes, the SNAPS came back! lmao. Straight up with over European cats coming to NYC to re-discover the culture. The first thing they wanted to do was GO SHOPPING for original GEARS. So Me and the Fellas would take them to the BRONX to hunt down the classics. HUNTS POINT, FORDHAM RD, and sometimes to DELANCY st. At that time Pumas, Adidas, Kangols and Lee Suits were considered Plaid out. But since we (rock steady crew) knew all the owners of original Hip Hop Clothing stores like JEW MANS, HR HOSIERIES, and SNEAKER KINGS. We were able to get these owners to dig out all the original Gears from the basements, and low and behold. BOXES of MOCK NECKS, TRACK SUITS, PUMAS, SHELL TOES and BRITISH!!! we were in 70’s heaven! We found everything from Original Playboys Shoes to the first Phat Laces ever made. We took our new found Hip Hop Friends to all the famous spots, and they Racked up! (they bought everything) All was well until the BBoy/BGirl jams started coming back. Rock Steady Anniversary, BBoy Summit, Battle of the Year. Now all these cats who came to NYC for shopping were so excited, they just throwing ANYTHING ON ALL AT ONCE!!! Cats was going to RSC JAMS rocking PlayBoy Hat, Adidas Suits with Puma Sneakers, and with a Mock Neck that didn’t match not one STRIPE! hahahahaha. We was like “WTFUUUUUUCK YOU DOIN?” It got so bad, that we could not even ride the train with these cats! lol…….. no joke, we was handing out directions to them and then sneaking on the trains by ourselves (the same direction) lmao, or we would straight make them ride on another CAR. Black and Latino people were looking at these cats like “you just got out’a jail?” lmao, was mad funny. But allot of mis-understanding took place during this time, and young cats got sensitive, and started saying shiet like “ITS NOT ABOUT THE CLOTHES, ITS ABOUT THE CULTURE” and we responded back with “LOOKING FRESH “IS” PART OF THE CULTURE!” Some 90’s Young generation got a lil BUT HURT because they never played DOZENS Before, and did not know how to come back from the SNAPS!, so instead they chose to isolate themselves from anyone who was into the culture, next thing we know, cats was showing up to jams purposely mix matching and even dressing BUMMY on purpose to try and make a statement. =/ This combined with cats walking around with Back Packs and Helmets attached, made for JAMS that looked Half Hip Hop, Half Space Cadet convention. And yes we was Snapping on Fools the whole time!!! But our European brothers and sisters just mis-understood, and you had cats like TUFF TIM TWIST and Always Rocking TUFF, and FLOMO CREW representing true HIP HOP Fashion correctly, and helping to set the styles straight! We never intended to hurt feelings, but it was how we were raised, and didn’t really know how to explain it any other way buy buy snapping on them. (our bad) sooooo in a nut shel, Always, Keep your Gears in check for the sake of the Culture, But if you really gotta rock a Pair of NIKES with that REBOK SUIT, By all means, DO YOU. Bless…
| KANGOLS, so long as the hat matches your stripes or your Mock Necks. |
| PRO KEDS ruled in the 70’s and we did not have too many competing brands as far as track suits, and really their was no stripes on Pro Kids (aside from suede joint) so no real problems at this time. |
| British Walkers with LEE SUITS , MOCK NECKS with matching EL PACA SWEATEER was always fresh, but NO SPORTS BRANDS with BRITISH or PLAY BOY SHOES!!!! |
| SCRUB SUITS with the thin stripe, matching your Pumas or Adidas was always Fresh with a Matching Mock Neck underneath. |
| DESIGNERS JEANS like Sergio Valente Jeans were good with anything, sneakers or Shoes. |
| SHEEP SKIN Coat with Sneakers or British was Fresh, Matching Hat. |
| Bubble Goose V Cut or michelin Man style with Sneakers or Shoes was Fresh, with the Old English Print on a Sweat Shirt underneath. |
| Then came Lotto’s, Nike Cortez, SpotBuilts, Reboks, and the sneaker Game took over. You could NOT MIX and Match Brands after that. |
