Hip Hop Fashion is DEAD..maybe

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - May 22, 2013 - PRLog -- If you grew up during the golden era of Hip Hop, as I did, consider yourself lucky..you were front and center to witness legends like Rakim, KRS-One, Run-DMC, Nas, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Big Daddy Kane and countless other artist that helped to shape the landscape of the culture we know and love. Hip Hop has gone through many phases, from Conscious to Ganster to Ballerism and everything in between, but we have to admit that its influence on everything else came as a surprise.

Our culture has infiltrated everything from fashion to film, from sports to art, from automobiles to alcohol, our DNA is everywhere. The good times were plentiful, yet in today’s erratic wave of Hip Hop, the vibe just isn't the same. We have kids that are out of touch, desperately seeking individuality and craving originality, music that has been watered down and simplified for the masses, clothing that bears symbols that many of us aren't comfortable wearing anymore....This is not Hip Hop.

I can recall walking into my favorite Urban Clothing store looking for a shirt to match my new Air Force 1's or my Retro Jordan 10's and ...the results were dismal...everything I looked for was covered in skulls, self centered slogans, all seeing eyes, upside down pyramids etc etc. etc....now there is nothing wrong with these images, if that's what you're into..But I was seeking originality and something I wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen in if I went to visit my mother. Nevertheless, a good friend of mine that I grew up with in Brooklyn, NY put me on to this new company, ShurtKing, but it was interesting and weird at the same time..there were producing some really hot shirts, and the color ways were on point with the release of the latest Jordans, Barkleys, Air Force 1's and others... but they were geared towards the Hebrew Nation way of life and featured scriptures from the Bible and on the back it read "Keep The Commandments". They were making shirts that, I thought, wouldn't sell...no one wants to wear a t-shirt with a positive message...at least that’s what i thought....WRONG.. These shirts were selling like wildfire, I guess more and more people were getting on board with the idea that rocking something positive and still looking fresh was possible, who knew. I digress, back to the music, I feel with the recent Freshman class, we may have a resurgence of "real" music again, we are longing for the days when we could party to a song and learn from it...we need music that nurtures our soul well as our bodies, feed the hips and the mind..... we just hope they will be rocking the latest shirts from shurtking.com and bring Hip Hop back to its rightful place in our culture.