Caroline Wanga, President & CEO Of Essence Ventures sits down with Tony Shellman & Mike B and talks about clothing that is connected to the hip hop culture.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 you touched on something that I want you to iterate on.
00:02 Because as you guys know,
00:04 regardless of what we create in culture,
00:07 whether or not we get our value back,
00:08 often negative stories get attached.
00:10 - Sure, absolutely.
00:11 - And starter jackets were one of those clothing items
00:16 that sparked a very negative narrative about black.
00:21 Will you just talk a little bit about that side of it?
00:23 - It sparked the connotation of gangs,
00:25 certain gangs would wear stuff, wear starter jackets,
00:28 so it brought in that connotation,
00:29 but the real reality was, kids were true sports fans,
00:33 kids were true athletes,
00:34 and kids really appreciate what was brought to them
00:37 by those athletes.
00:38 From a Bo Jackson to a Carl Banks,
00:40 these athletes brought liveness to these jackets.
00:44 And so the starter jackets became a sports thing,
00:46 but to your point,
00:47 it had a negative connotation at some point in time.
00:50 - Yeah.
00:50 - And that's one thing, again,
00:51 when we tell the starter stories,
00:52 again, you want to roll up on the first day of school,
00:55 since it's pretty much the first day of school,
00:56 and my kids are like, "Where's my starter jacket?"
00:59 So you always had to have a starter jacket,
01:00 but the negative connotation was,
01:02 you was trying not to get your jacket taken from you.
01:04 Simple as that.
01:05 - It is. - I'll let you jump in.
01:07 - But there's also a lesson in there about,
01:09 and this again, as we continue to intertwine culture,
01:12 plus what we deserve economically,
01:14 plus what is the narrative,
01:15 how black continues to be minimized
01:17 for the sake of those that don't want to give us credit
01:19 for our work,
01:20 part of the thing that happens when we influence culture
01:23 is somebody will try to make it bad
01:25 so we don't get all our credit.
01:26 Somebody will try to create a narrative
01:28 or stir a pot so that the rise that is being seen
01:33 starts to get deafened so it doesn't reach its peak.
01:36 So while yes, there was this narrative
01:38 around fights around starter jackets,
01:40 the reality is the percent of that
01:42 when that was happening compared to what it meant
01:44 to just be fly as hell was a very low ratio,
01:47 but that's what got amplified.
01:49 Remember, there will be retaliation for breaking history.
01:53 Shoot up.
01:54 (upbeat music)
01:58 (upbeat music)