Hip hop vs Fashion

[khoi]

Hi, my people was reading an interview between allhiphop.com and Talib Kweli (see below) and I came across a every interesting comment he makes regarding the role of clothes/ fashion in our beloved hip-hop. I might not be up to speed with what’s my underground heads feel bout this, but the last I heard most we against fubu’s, timbs, sean john’s and that other good stuff on one’s back “arguing that hip-hop ain’t fashion”. Some even came up to me saying that I preach let’s be uniquely SA, yet I wear like Americans ala fubus sweaters, baggy jeans and oh! “Suede Timbs on my feet [to] make my cipher complete”.

Regarding what Talib says, is he right or is he talking trash, if fashion does play a big role in the success of hip-hop/ hip-hop head and wearing fubus what can I wear and not only look fly but be South African uniquely fly and does wearing all-stars make me a authentic SA head, or does wearing Dashikis makes me authentic African head?
Please note: I’m not saying that it’s the kind of clothes you wear that makes you hip-hop

AllHipHop.com: In a recent magazine article about you, you said that, “It use to be that whatever I wore out the house was what I was wearing on stage.” That’s no longer the case?

Kweli: When I first came into the game in 1998, because of the overblown state of Hip-Hop and where it was at, I put no focus on appearance. It’s the idea of the artist that just wants people to focus on the music. As I’ve grown, I’ve realized that to participate in the music industry, I have to sell myself. Most of your questions are about me as a person, not because my lyrics are so personal, but because as emcees, more than any other entity in the music business, we have to sell who we are. 50 Cent has to sell his story, Eminem has to sell his story. It’s designed like that to where the music becomes secondary. So now when I do interviews, and I do photo shots, videos and all this other s**t, I realized that this stuff is to convince the world of how fly I am. God willing, the world will think I’m so fly, that they’ll want to buy my music. Whereas, when I first came into the game, that wasn’t it, it was I want people to think that my lyrics are so fly that they don’t give a f**k who I am.

Let’s talk……
8-)

[eraze]

yo khoi....me waiting for ur ishh hope its in the mail...
holla

[khoi]

Quote:

20-07-2004 at 11:31, eraze : yo khoi....me waiting for ur ishh hope its in the mail... holla

yo eraze, you´ll the ishh sonner than u think.

;-)

[blakrok]

hmmm. well hiphop iz a culture right? punk rockers got their own dress code an sh*t an i always used to think that tha giant fubu sweaters, baggy jeans an all that were a part of tha hiphop culture as much as b-boyin, graf art, emceein an turntablism iz. :-? now i´m not that sure. it´s true that what ya rock doesn´t make ya hiphop, but fashion does play a big role in our culture. do i think kweli´s talkin trash bout usin fashion to sell himself? nah, that´s exactly what i see happenin. as for tha rest of us tryina look fly an proudly (south) african..what can we do? rock gear made by local designers? even if tha threads are identical to tha fubus, eckos an sean johns we´re supposed to boycott...jus wit different logos on em?

[ This message was edited by: blakrok on 20-07-2004 12:05 ]

[SOYA DADDY]

jeah baby..i´m the coolest person to speak on this since i´m so fashinable and what not..yes, fashion is bigger than hip hop, just look at THE SOURCE...HORSE FAT CLOTHING SEPTEMBER 2004!!!

[eef_haf]

dont care much about fashion...

but hey I´m looking forward to the new Talib Kweli coming out September. While we wait for the actual album, you´ll can get the BS mixtape featuring Dave Chapelle, Kanye West, SEAN PRICE, J GRAE, FREE and Xzbit´s super crew STRONG ARM STEADY CREW!. Planet Asia and F.a.b are also on that. Another reason to get the mixcd is because "Lonely People" wont make the album because Elton John´s people will not clear the sample. cant wait  

[iLL_eG0_AL13n]

i´m sayin, wether u rock Fubu, Loxion, ecko or do ur shoppin for gear @ Pep stores, at the end of the day respect in hiphop´ll be earned no other ways than thru ur abilties on the mic, with a spray can, on the decks... ect
sellin one´s image may have some impact on how peeps look @ u, but mad skills is what true heads really want when shit is on

[FT]

Ragz & Cloth neva maketh the man!!!!!

:-o

[khoi]

Quote:

22-07-2004 at 13:18, FT : Ragz & Cloth neva maketh the man!!!!! :-o

True that, but my question that do they promote the man?

[FT]

U know how it iz.... Peolple judge U with yo´ appearence bcos it´s the impression they get about U...[U convince ´em how fly U are]
I´m relatively disappointed at Talib´s statement... but hey...

But as an artist yo´ art should say more about U. Fashion it´s jus a fad people see thru dat eventually...


 :-o

[khoi]

Quote:

22-07-2004 at 14:22, FT : U know how it iz.... Peolple judge U with yo´ appearence bcos it´s the impression they get about U...[U convince ´em how fly U are] I´m relatively disappointed at Talib´s statement... but hey... But as an artist yo´ art should say more about U. Fashion it´s jus a fad people see thru dat eventually...  :-o

Hope the following statement wont disappoint you:

AllHipHop.com: Do you want Jay-Z type fame?

Kweli: I don’t wish for Jay-Z type fame, but I do wish for Jay-Z type freedom and Jay-Z type money. But no, I don’t wish for that level of fame because it seems annoying, of course I realize that comes with what I do. I really appreciate that I can still travel the world and meet people like Jay-Z, and still live in Brooklyn, and be around regular folks. It’s a little different now than it’s been in my life before. When I walk down the street, more people come up to me than I’m used to, but it’s not in anyway annoying.

AllHipHop.com: Now to The Beautiful Struggle, what can we expect?

Kweli: I’ve got Hi-Tek, Kanye, Dave West, Charlamane, The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Organized Noise, Midi Mafia, just a whole bunch of very talented producers. The guests on the album are John Legend, Common, Mary J. Blige, Anthony Hamilton, Faith Evans, Jean Grae. You know I always try to work with people that there is a mutual respect for, and that are just as excited to work with me, as I am to work with them.

[FT]

...the Neptunes, well he´s definately gunning for Jay´s type money [...and fame]. He´s having a good relationship with Kanye [equality!] but we know dat he sounds great with HiTek [Reflection E]

At least he´s gonna be featuring a S.African [Jean Grae]



:-o

[SOYA DADDY]

stop claiming jean grae as a south african..she doesnt give a rats a** about this place...she´s just born here,she doesnt know what life is like here..fuk her and whoever claims her.

you all sound like broke a** marks or just some people with no kool aesthetic or style like me..damn it hurts being kool like me,i can feel a back ache from all this fresh gear,its so crisp its cutting the skin on my back..damn!

HORSE FAT.

[FT]

Now look here U little prick, What the f*ck iz wrong with U ha?
What the f*ck iz with this mundane criticizm? muhf***az like U add no value to the forums if U don´t like her f*ck it it´s cool but jus shut the f*ck up!
A mere mentioning of her doezn´t mean dat I´m claiming her
...and for the record, I give a f*ckless how cool U are!
:-o  :-D  :-o

[Anonymous]

sure when the culture started out _tha  dress code was important. but nowadays heads are everywhere _from lawyers to economist to doctors etc etc. _like I said everywhere dude. the so called hip hop brands are a joke, did y´all know that Samsung (yes samsung!) owns a huge bundle of shares in fubu _for us by us : yeah right! :-?