// Key Look// Electro Hip hop Nike

9th Jun 2011 12:54:26

It’s pretty hard to say where most things start proper and hip hop is no different, I’ve done a little research, little being the operative word but I’m going to say rap was unceremoniously shot from the womb in 1973. DJ Kool Herc, not that he was a DJ at that point, not as we know them today, nor was anyone? Anyway, he stretched out the breaks in records and by using two turn tables, spun out a mix. By seventy six we have ourselves a little thing called a battle; DJ Afrika Bambaataa flexing musical muscle against the rip and scratch posturing of Disco King Mario, and from there it all began.

Hip hop has changed and twisted over the years but some things remain constant, music and swagger. As the genre ever changes and became as far reaching as it is, it collected multi-faceted influence and inspiration and the style was taken up and on with it. Early electro beats, like their white glam counterparts looked, let’s face it, ridiculous and it was hard for young black men and women to identify with the movement. However, when Run DMC and Beastie boys smashed their way from NYC’s five boroughs a street style came with it, Adidas sneakers and sportswear came as standard coupled with LA Raiders affiliated wear a lot like the NY branded trend today. With the addition of drainpipe jeans and huge gold jewellery this is the period that most resembles the current day, a look that as with the eighties has eclectic and strong outstretched arms encompassing electronica and the guitar music of the day.

The nineties brought Kente cloth from Ghana and the dropped crotches we are awash with today, add to that the brightly coloured tees made famous with raps new generation of primetime stars in America, specifically The Fresh Prince of Bell Air. The nineties saw the mogulship expand, Russel Simmons RUN’s brother and manager, started the first conglomerate clothing line, Phat Farm. Since an explosion of likeminded rap entrepreneurs has occured leaving the self created gap well filled; Sean John and Rocawear coming from Sean Combes (P. Diddy, or whatever) and Sean Carter (Jay Z) respectivelyand that is to mention Just two. The associations were so strong that Carter sold Rocawear for $204 million, and almost overnight acquired another line, Artful Dodger for just $15 million.

The all-encompassing music of the current day sees artists like MIA, Sleigh bells and DELS acrimoniously tear and shred hip hop, electro and rock, piecing the elements together indiscriminately to forge an accessible generic sound. Drain pipe Nudie jeans matching the eighties front runners with nineties-esque skate tee, look at the Rebel8 Call girl, that’s where we are today. Back in the day Nike passed Adidas after capturing the soon to be superstar Michael Jordan, I think Sky Force 8s are gunna blow this look apart with a deft final touch.