From 88 to 2018: Full Circle

Chronicle #3

We always hear the stories about how dope 1988 was for the streets, especially in New York which is the Mecca for Hip-Hop and everything related. From records made by the best MC’s at the time like Kane, Eric B & Rakim and EPMD, to the influence that the legendary street figures and money makers like the late Rich Porter, Alpo, the Paid In Full Posse, George “Boy George” Rivera etc had on fashion at the prime of their hustle careers with a major help from Dapper Dan plus all the popular sneaker brands of the time , Hip-Hop was really becoming a full-fledged culture in itself on and off record.

Fast forward 30 years and it’s like we’re watching everything coming full circle. What we’ve witnessed in 2018 is worth being documented and shown to the upcoming generation later on. Let’s talk music first. Twenty-Eighteen has been one of the most amazing years when it comes to album releases, we haven’t had a year like this in a long time, where the quantity actually matches the quality of the music. I’ll start by naming my two favourite projects: Skyzoo’s “In Celebration Of Us” and Nipsey Hussle’s long awaited “Victory Lap”. Not to mention J.Cole’s “KOD” and Drake’s “Scorpion”, Migos’s “Culture 2” or even GOOD Music’s 7-track album run: Pusha-T’s “Daytona”, Nas’ “Nasir” which was released a day before The Carters’ “Everything Is Love”, Teyana Taylor’s “KTSE”, Kids See Ghosts (Kanye West and Kid Cudi) and Kanye’s “Ye”. Oh did I mention Travis Scott’s “Astroworld” and Cardi B’s “Invasion Of Privacy”? That ain’t even half of the list, that was just a glimpse of how sonically good this year has been. You get the point.

Now, let’s talk fashion for a minute. Dapper Dan. Dapper f*cking Dan. After having his legendary shop shut down for good back in 1992 over legal action by Fendi’s attorney Sonia Sotomayor, it wasn’t until 2017 that Dan would have the spotlight back on him as he deserves. Alessandro Michele, a designer for Gucci, paid homage to Dapper Dan by designing a jacket inspired by a piece that Dan had made in 1989 for Olympic athlete Diane Dixon (Dapper’s original jacket had Louis Vuitton print on it). This paved the way to a partnership between Gucci and Dan for a line of menswear, which led to the opening of their boutique Dapper Dan of Harlem located in Lenox Avenue earlier this year. Like I said in the beginning, everything came full circle. Not only that, but major moves were made at LVMH when Louis Vuitton named Off-White’s founder and designer Virgil Abloh as their creative director of menswear, making him the first black man with such role at a huge French fashion house. It was about time that these big corporations finally recognised how much street culture has been influencing high-end fashion and taste in general, you can’t tell me that Supreme’s items from their partnership with Louis Vuitton weren’t ’t inspired by Dapper Dan apparel. Again, full circle. When Jay-Z said “I’m what Meech should’ve been/ What Supreme didn’t become/ If Alpo didn’t snitch/Niggas would be like Young” on Drake’s “Talk Up” off of the “Scorpion” album, that spoke volumes to my generation, one that grew up looking up to hustlers and drug dealers. Can you imagine what all of these drug kingpins mostly from the 80’s would’ve done if they had second chances, switched to the legal hustle and started real companies? Because it takes a lot of smarts to have crime organizations that pull millions of dollars like that. What these Generation Y kids are doing with the music, the touring and fashion all while taking advantage of technology and social media is exactly that and we love it, they’re independent and living a lifestyle that comes from what they know and what they love, they’re getting paid and making sure that they make it out the ‘hood. Wasn’t this the goal since the beginning? There’s no better hustle than the legal one.

See y’all next Thursday.