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BlueSeats
Posts: 27272
Alba Posts: 41
Joined: 11/6/2005
Member: #1024
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Some of you guys are probably too young to understand something, because aside from hip-hop being a large enough cultural phenomenon that it simply surrounded your upbringing, you saw it gloried it magazines and music videos, etc. However, many of you may know that it's roots grew out of prison culture. The do-rag represents a stocking over the head as used in stickups. The untied sneakers represent prison life, where laces are disallowed to prevent fleeing on foot. And the oversized jeans worn halfway down the ass represent mis-sized clothing, as stolen to replace the jumpsuit after a prison break.
You simply have to understand the symbolism of that to un-hip America, and the rest of the world. When middle aged and above non-urban tourists are in a $500/night hotel somewhere and a busload of young NBA players traipse through the lobby looking like they were brought in from the police station it can be unsettling. If a little ol' white lady asks the concierge "who are these people?" it may not be as racist as you think; on a certain level it's a natural reaction to the out of context symbolism put forth by the players. Intentional or not, the word association attached to the wardrobe is "hoodlums," and I'm not sure it's fair to expect otherwise from the un-hip viewer. The same crew walking through bedecked in $5000 sits begets a far different reaction, and those considerate of impressions should appreciate the positivity, not negativity, of that difference.
Just google the topic of semiotics (the study of signs and symbols) to understand that almost all imagery has mental connotations associated with it, and the one projected by hip-hop is far different to different cultures. To blacks it represents "black pride". To older whites it represents "convict".
To take race of out it you'd have to imagine a league of mexicans dressing up as Poncho Villa, or whites wearing orange prison jumpsuits, perhaps sporting a Nazi tattoo on their foreheads like Charles Manson. Black American youths may bristle at hip-hop fashion being compared to gun totters or unremorseful, cold blooded killers, but in the yes of the less informed that's how it reads. It doesn't take too many incidents of well publicized arrests and violence to irreparably reenforce that symbolism.
Naturally when faced with a rash of such incidents the commissioner did what he could to clean up the NBA image. It's not exploitational, or retreat, it's doing what one can for the good of all involved. Evidence suggests that a black commissioner, like Isiah, would do the same.
As far as hip-hop, or casual dress goes, I think we've seen a lowering of dress standards that transcends race. It's even migrated into many workplaces, especially those with minimal people contact outside of the company.
In past generations by the time a child was an adolescent he might have worn a tie dozens of times: a family portrait, attendance at a baptism or communion, school graduations, weddings, church on Sunday, etc. But kids these days consider it dressing up if they put on a new t-shirt and jeans. This goes for many white kids too, but probably less so because dressing down in white communities merely represents a decline in formalities, whereas in some parts of some black communities it may also represent black pride.
Naturally, if the first time a black man is told he needs to dress differently it's by a white/jew they're gonna feel it's racially motivated - especially the gifted darlings, like Iverson, who grow up as stars and might even have the power to get teachers and coaches fired by the time they're 15.
But if a person is cognizant of the symbolism of their wardrobe they might understand that it's not as uplifting to their image and heritage as they may think. I'd bet an arm that Martin Luther King wouldn't have been caught dead in public wearing a rolled up stocking on his head - I mean do-rag.
[Edited by - blueseats on 05-24-2007 6:34 PM]
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5/24/2007 5:24 PM
