True Hip-Hop Fashion

From the Bottom to the Top

Hip-hop fashion has been one of the most successful newly found industries in the world today. This trendy style originated from the urban streets of New York and traveled throughout the entire nation, not stopping here, it has continued to grow reaching international bounds.

Hip Hop fashion didn’t just happen upon a group of people one day; it is actually the result of the hip-hop culture including rap music, break dancing, spinning records and graffiti. To understand hip-hop fashion, one must understand what the term hip hop means. According to Allwords.com hip hop means: a popular culture movement originating in the US in the early 1980s, incorporating rap music, break dancing and graffiti art, and the wearing of baggy clothing and loosely tied or untied training shoes or boots. 

When people think of hip hop fashion they automatically think of baggy clothing, a gold chain, and timberland boots. However, hip-hop fashion has gone beyond the baggy clothes and noticeable chains, it has continued to reach new heights each and everyday. 

On Wikipedia.com hip-hop fashion is described according to KRS One, as one of the nine "extended" elements of hip-hop culture. It refers to a distinctive style of dress, originating primarily with African-American and Latino young people in New York City, that goes hand-in-hand with the expressions and attitudes of the rest of the culture.
These clothes express the individuality and style of a person. It not only incorporates music but hip-hop lies within the heart of a person’s character. The ways that people think, act, and are perceived can all be based on or around the hip-hop culture.

So why was this trend formed? Hip-hop is the alternative to disco and a break away from the “Gansta Rap” trends. It is an original life-style that was more in touch with the street life and the struggles that the African-American community endured day to day. It was through hip-hop that artists began expressing their creative individuality based on their cultural heritage.