It has always been cool to be black and brown…until it gets political. In our own boroughs, we respect our swag. We acknowledge each other and give props where props are due. But, certain people who don’t get that code have banked on our originality with white-washing it. The fashion industry in particular has done that. People of color, and specifically for this article, hip-hop has influenced decades-worth of designers in luxury retail. French Montana gets it.
When he dropped “No Stylist” featuring Drake, it was paying homage on a global platform to some of the G.O.A.T’s from the hip-hop industry leading the very trends we’ve seen in runways around the world.
If you’re latinx or black you know that wearing hoop earrings or gym shorts and socks with sandals have have been regarded to as “ghetto,” and, “bummy.” Now everyone in Manhattan and Calabasas is looking like the came straight out of Compton or the Bronx.
The “No Stylist” is more than just a promotional music video of French Montana’s new song considering it featured the iconic street style designer Dapper Dan, legendary rapper Slick Rick, and rapper Cam’ron alongside contemporary hip-hop style innovators like Young Thug, A$AP Rocky, model Luka Sabbat, and Pyer Moss designer Kerby Jean-Raymond.
“No Stylist” is a statement and badge of awareness of what we have known for decades: that hip-hop has always been at the forefront of fashion. That us, people of color, have always been the trendsetters. The rest of them are just bitters. It’s a testament to my opening statement that it has always been cool to be black and brown.
How do we do it time and time again? Because innovation works when there’s little work with and we weren’t given much, so we relied on our creativity.
The great thing is that now we have come into power to be able to tell our people’s stories on a global capacity just like French Montana did.
Press Play: No Stylist by French Montana feat. Drake
Photo Credit: @FrenchMontana,
