C&G’s Top 10 Hip-Hop fads of all time

10. The Hi-Top Fade

The Hi-Top Fade to me is a hair style that represents the golden age of Hip-Hop, and it was a popular style among African-American youth from 1986-1993. Schooly D. and Doug E. Fresh were the first cats to really popularize it. Many of the most legendary artists have rocked a Hi-Top Fade, guys like Eric B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Kwame, De La Soul, and Pete Rock. A young Jay-Z used to sport one during his days hanging Jaz-O, and Will Smith used to rock one on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. There’s actually a whole list made up on Wikipedia of people that used to rock the legendary hair style. Because of how popular this variation of fade was, it deserves it’s spot on the C&G Top 10 Hip-Hop fads lists.

9. Pro Black Rap

Don’t get me wrong there is absolutely nothing wrong with pro black rap, but back in the late 80’s and early 90’s that sub genre of Hip-Hop music was a sort of fad. You had great artists and groups like Public Enemy, X-Clan, Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation that truly were bringing their message to their people. But on the flip side you had band wagoners that were rocking dashikis, saying “power to the the people”, rocking Malcolm X shirts, and Africa necklaces. The highlight of pro black rap was an interesting time in Hip-Hop history, and in African-American history in general. The Spike Lee movie “Malcolm X”, based on the life of famous Nation of Islam member was released. Denzel Washington was nominated for best actor for his role as Malcolm X. Rodney King was brutally beaten by members of the LAPD. It was great to see the community unite and take pride in their culture, but it was sad to know that some people just didn’t take it seriously, and used “black pride” to sell hats and shirts. Today we still have groups like Dead Prez and The Coup that have the same ideals as those great MC’s in the past, but pro black rap will never be the same in popularity like it was in it’s prime.

8. Leather clothing

Leather through out the 80’s was a very common fashion material for most jackets and pants, but some of the most legendary icons in Hip-Hop rocked it in their own unique style. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five are one of the most important figures in our culture’s rich history. Cowboy from the group coined the term Hip-hop, Melle Mel was the first to call himself an MC, Flash created the blueprint for how DJ’s spin records, but today they also are also known for their outrageous outfits. They created the legendary Shawn Michael’s (I’m a huge wrestling fan) image before that guy even blew up in the WWE! I don’t think HBK was a fan of the Furious Five, but damn his gear looks pretty similar. (On a side note I’d like to mention that Melle Mel is actually training to join the WWE.)

All jokes aside almost everyone from that era owned a lot of leather clothing. From jackets to pants, the people rocked it. LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Eric B. and Rakim, the list goes on and on. I just hope those tight leather jumpsuits never ever go back into style again.

7. Auto Tune

The infamous Auto Tube effect is a recent fad that you probably have heard on the radio all the time. T-Pain really made this recording effect a staple in today’s culture, but it was actually Cher who made it popular with her 1999 hit song ‘Believe”. You may be wondering why I am even mentioning this, but more and more rappers are using it. Lil Wayne, Kanye West with his recent song “Love Lockdown”, Baby from Cash Money, even Sticky Fingaz from Onyx have been using it! There is nothing wrong with trying something new and being creative, but it’s just overkill. You seriously almost can’t turn on your local radio station, and not hear a song with some Auto Tune effect in it.

6. FUBU

Queens, New York 1992. Daymond John, a maker of custom fitted caps brought together his three close friends Carl Brown, J. Alexander Martin, and Keith Perrin. All of them with a passion for fashion, the created FUBU. With seed money of around $5000, and John’s mother mortgaging her home, they turned half of John’s home into a factory, and the other half into a living space for the five. FUBU started the company for the inner city youth. With companies like Nike researching the streets for what is cool, the founders of FUBU felt like Nike was profiting off New York City urban fashion without giving back to the community. FUBU stands for “For us, by us” and the “05″ commonly found in their clothing represents the five people that founded the company.

At it’s peak the company made $350 million in worldwide annual sales, and was bought out by Samsung (yes the electronics company) in 1995. Many MC’s have co-signed FUBU as their choice of clothing, but in 2001 Keith Murray, Ludacris, and LL Cool J showed their love for the brand with the hit song “Fatty Girl”. It was even parodied in the Redman and Method Man classic “How High”. Today you can still find FUBU in your local mall, but chances are even your little twelve your old brother won’t buy it. I was proud to rock it during the late 90’s and 2000’s, but those days are over. Please leave your over sized Atlanta jersey’s in the closet, and don’t ever wear them again.

5. Grillz

Back in Slick Rick’s day they weren’t called grillz, just simply gold teeth. MC Ricky D. was the one to really popularize the idea of having jewelery in your teeth, but it was Eddie Plein owner of Eddie’s Gold Teeth who is credited for starting the trend. He made and outfitted gold caps for Flava Flav, Big Daddy Kane, and Kool G. Rap. Eddie then moved to Atlanta and made more detailed grills for OutKast, Goodie Mob, Ludacris, and Lil Jon. In the 2000’s grillz remained popular through out the Southern U.S. Guys like Juvenile and Master P. were known to show off their teeth in their videos and promotional pictures. Paul Wall also capitalized on the popularity of this trend by opening his own store and making custom grillz for the public. Having jewelery in your teeth became so popular there was a hit song about it, and kids all over the internet were putting tin foil in their mouths because they thought they were cool. Grillz were an ok fad I guess, but when you have people like Brooke Hogan wearing them you know it’s becoming too much.

4. Jheri Curls

When I was 6 years old, my grandfather had rented one of my favorite movies of all time. “Coming to America” was a story about an African prince (played by Eddie Murphy) moving to America to search for the woman of his dreams. It was a funny movie, with a great story, but there were two things that I couldn’t get out of my young fragile mind. How did Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall play all those characters at once, and why did Randy Watson have an ugly ass hair style? To answer my own question, that God awful head of hair was called the jheri curl. It was a very popular style in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and some of the greatest African-American entertainers have rocked this style. Rick James, Michael Jackson, Ice Cube, MC Ren, but no one would make this style more famous as the late Eazy-E did. He really brought this fad to the mainstream, and it was the standard style on the West coast during it’s heyday. If you had a set of jheri curls in this day and age, most people would make fun of you. Maybe one day Ice Cube can resurrect the style from the dead, and look as bad ass as he did in Boyz n the Hood.

3. Spinnin’ Rims

To be honest with you I really don’t want to talk about spinnin’ rims. It is such a stupid fad, it made me wonder how the hell someone could come up with a dumb idea like that. Did someone just like play with his son’s toy cars and wonder to himself “hmmm it would be dope if these wheels could spin while the car isn’t moving”. Who knows what was going through David Fowlkes Jr.’s mind when he designed the sketch and prototype for the spinner. All I know now is that he is filthy rich from the idea, many people took it, ran with it, and Three 6 Mafia made it popular with the hit song “Ridin’ Spinners” in 2003. Are spinners cool today? No and I’m glad they aren’t, because you can easily go and buy yourself a plastic set from Wal-Mart for only $34.99. Now you can see them spin on every 1992 Dodge Caravan in your neighborhood. Once you see them on a Caravan, they are no longer cool.

2. Liquor

Now you might be wondering “RCV why is liquor a fad in Hip-Hop?” To answer that question, the reason why it is a fad is because over the years so many different artists pledged allegiance to a certain brand and it always consistently changing. The Classic Old English, Colt 45, and St. Ides were the malt liquors of choice for many legendary MC’s. Ice Cube even had an endorsement deal with St. Ides, and wrote and performed several songs for St. Ides commercials. Cristal had it’s time in the spot light (until Jay-Z took it away), Grey Goose, Belvedere, Alize, Hpnotiq, Remy Martin, Courvoisier, and Hennessy were all drinks of choice for MC’s. Now for most cats, they enjoy the taste of the premium tequila, Patron. I wonder what people will be drinking five years from now? Hopefully not fermented horse urine.

1. Stupid dances

It seems like every single generation in Hip-Hop gets a stupid dance. We had the Kid n Play steps, the Humpty dance, the Hammer dance, the Safety dance (wait that wasn’t a Hip-Hop dance). Vanilla Ice had a dance (see Ninja Rap), Dem Franchise Boyz made you want to snap your fingers, and Yung Joc made you want to do the shoulder lean. Fat Joe made you lean back, Lil’ Jon got you to go low, but no one has really taken a stupid dance, and made it a international phenomenon like Soulja Boy did. “Crank That” sold millions of ring tones, gained millions of views on Youtube, and everyone including their grandmother learned how to “Superman that hoe”! Hell even I know how to do that dance, and God knows you don’t want to see that (if your lucky I might record it and post it on Youtube). Soulja Boy made something that will forever be embedded into pop culture, and he is filthy rich because of it. I wonder what the next generation of retarded Hip-Hop dances will be, I think one day everyone in the hood will be doing the chicken dance.

That wraps up my Top 10 list. I hope you learned something new, and had a good laugh. I had a lot of fun typing this up, and I spent many hours doing my research.

Stay true,

RCV