Hip-Hop Style
From Gangster To Hipster: The Evolution Of Hip-Hop Style
Run DMC / Lil Wayne / Jay-Z - Getty Images / AskMen
"When you're a trendsetter instead of following the trends, you really don't give a f*ck about anything. - Big Sean"Click here to follow AskMen Fashion on Twitter.
When rapper Lil Wayne stepped onto the MTV Video Music Awards stage this year, he set tongues and tweets wagging with his skintight, safari-inspired pants. Critics and fans largely panned Weezy’s Tripp NYC leopard print skinny jeans (jeans, not jeggings). Aside from the fact that they left nothing to the imagination below the equator, technically they were women’s jeans. Hip-hop’s biggest artist had essentially cross-dressed on national television. Unlike other facets of entertainment, hip-hop has traditionally been hypercritical of gender bending, save for comedic relief like Eminem wearing a dress to mock Britney Spears in the music video for “The Real Slim Shady.” The outcry, then, was understandably tremendous: Had Lil Wayne become soft? What was next: Rappers duking it out in kilts?
Maybe one day, but Wayne was far from soft. In fact, he was right on point.
Pictured here: Lil Wayne performs at the 2011 MTV Music Awards in women's jeans.
Hip-hop style has always been steeped in an ideal of urban masculinity, with rappers going to great lengths to exude machismo and power. As the paragon of what manliness is -- call it that "je ne sais quoi" or the more colloquial "swag" -- has changed through time, so has the acceptable image of what a rapper should look like. Wayne was merely reflecting the current free-spirited ethos where styles bleed into each other and a man exerts his influence through individualism. Streetwear maven Big Sean summed up the carefree philosophy to us earlier this year: “When you’re a trendsetter instead of following the trends, you really don’t give a f*ck about anything.”To fully understand how we got to this point, we dove into our archives to examine a brief history of hip-hop’s most influential looks and the underlying notions of masculine identity that propelled them from the neighborhood block to the runway.
Dealers & B-Boys: Late '70s To Mid '80s
Male Identity: Dealers sat atop the drug-fueled economy and served as role models for men growing up in the inner city. This, coupled with the silhouette of the popular B-Boy craze, created the early fashion norm.Hip-hop style begins at the birthplace of the culture itself, in the South Bronx, amid Reagan-era politics and the onset of the crack epidemic. These conditions created inner-city microeconomies where drug dealers like Harlem’s Azie Faison represented the pinnacle of wealth and power to young men. Dealers’ choice of dress -- big gold-rope chains (dubbed “dookie chains” for their appearance), Kangol hats, Modern Creation Munich leathers, and designer brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci -- represented success in the ghettos. Early artists, from LL Cool J to Big Daddy Kane, wanted to emulate the same larger-than-life personas as they created their stage images.
Interestingly, the authenticity of the brand names was not as important as its essence during this time. A designer of sorts, Dapper Dan, famously launched his own cottage business in Harlem by creating custom pieces for rappers using swatches of high-end logos from luxury garment bags to make anything from jackets to suits. The uniqueness and flagrance (who really believed that Gucci made gaudy black and gold tracksuits?) is what allowed Dan to charge high prices. Steep, even by today’s standards according to DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop by Cey Adams and Bill Adler: “$1,200 for a ‘Fendi’ outfit, $1,400 for ‘Louis Vuitton’ and “$1,500 for ‘Gucci.’”
How Run-D.M.C. changed hip-hop style, next... Next Page >>
