- 2 days ago
Target Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Caroline Wanga and musician Anthony Hamilton reflect on how music and fashion rely on each other now more than ever.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Known for flipping heartbreak into blessing with his soulful formula and vocal gift.
00:08An introvert with southern sensibility and tremendous songwriting talent,
00:16I've also heard he's quite the cook and pretty bad in the kitchen.
00:21Hence, his new book, Cornbread, Fish, and Collard Greens.
00:31That's not a menu. That's the name of his new book.
00:36I work at Target and I often say, the work to continue to create parody is an all-in, full-contact participatory endeavor.
00:45Everybody plays a role. Not the same role, but the role their best position to impact and even choosing not to play a role plays a role.
00:54So today, Sir Anthony Hamilton, we're going to talk about some of the roles that you play.
01:01Let's do it.
01:01But before we do, can y'all please give some love to the phenomenal Anthony Hamilton?
01:08Look at the baby back there. Just as excited.
01:12Look at him.
01:13And he's got on a fedora.
01:15He is adorable with that fedora.
01:18I paid him. I paid him to wear it.
01:21And he got paid. Way to make money, boo.
01:24It's on the way. Cash app.
01:26Not the cash app. Not the cash app.
01:28Okay, so let's start because people may or may not know that you have six sons.
01:34Yeah.
01:35Six black boys.
01:38I often talk about black men right now are an endangered species.
01:42I think I'm keeping it going.
01:46Tell us about your role as father of black boys and what that means to you and what are the intentional things you're doing with them as a result of that.
01:55Well, in today's climate, it's a little different than coming up back.
02:00Yeah.
02:00You have to teach them their worth.
02:05Can somebody manage volume? Is somebody going up there?
02:08Yeah.
02:09Let them know that they're kings and that they're worthy of whatever they desire.
02:14That they're beautiful, powerful, and that they're here to represent themselves very well and their God very well.
02:24And no matter what daddy does, make yourself proud and daddy will be happy.
02:31That's so wonderful.
02:32The first time I met you, you told me that you shop at Target and you still come out with a Neiman Marcus-sized bill.
02:37I got a receipt as long as this thing.
02:38As long as this thing and you're black boys.
02:41What is it like going shopping for your boys?
02:43Do you find enough?
02:45Yes.
02:45Do you not find enough?
02:46I think there's enough diversity.
02:49They're slimmer boys, so the fact that you guys have slim cut pants now is kind of cool.
02:55That's your local Target.
02:55Yeah, because I have twins, but I have six.
02:58The youngest is seven.
02:59The twins are about to be nine.
03:0022-year-old, 28-year-old, and 30-year-old.
03:04So when I shop for the younger three, they're all about the same size.
03:08There's a lot of money.
03:09So if you see a show in your city, come see me.
03:14I need you.
03:15Just buy a couple tickets and a book.
03:18But yeah, there's a lot of great fashion in the boys' department at Target and creativity.
03:26And the boys find it quite comfortable.
03:28So let's talk about you.
03:30One of your roles is artist.
03:32Yeah.
03:33But also a connoisseur of style.
03:37I'd like to throw on something.
03:38I mean a little something-something.
03:40What do those two things mean together?
03:42Thanks to Ms. Tiffany.
03:43Ms. Tiffany's here.
03:44She helps with it.
03:45She's right here in the front.
03:46She's a great stylist.
03:46Talk to us about the intersection between what you do as an artist and what you wear.
03:51What does that mean to you?
03:52What are you intentional about?
03:54How does that come together?
03:55I'm intentional on being comfortable, first of all.
03:58And then I'm intentional on being fly, an individual.
04:03And to, I don't know, when I walk in a room, I want people to feel my spirit.
04:07And I think color and pattern and texture allows me to feel comfortable enough for my spirit to come out.
04:12And how do you decide what you wear like at a show?
04:16Wow.
04:17I feel, you know, I like to go in.
04:19I go to my sound checks.
04:21Most artists don't once they get to a certain level.
04:23But I like to go feel the stage, the room, and see what it feels like.
04:27And then I'll go back and see what it felt like to me, what I was feeling at sound check.
04:33Okay.
04:34And try to gauge what I'll be feeling after that, after a nap.
04:38After a nap.
04:39And a good meal.
04:41But I like color.
04:42I like to present myself with beautiful color.
04:47I think people are not ready to see us in certain things.
04:53So, sometimes you have to have a little shock and awe as well.
04:55How do you manage shock and awe as you think about what people tend to also use judgment on about how people dress?
05:02How do you manage shock and awe?
05:03What do you think about?
05:04Do you not care what other people think?
05:05Not too much.
05:06Okay.
05:07Yeah.
05:07Because they're going to speak.
05:09If you wear what you want to wear, they're going to talk about it.
05:12If you wear what they want you to wear, they're going to talk about it.
05:15So, you might as well talk about what you decided to do.
05:17Yeah, you decide which conversation you want them to have.
05:21Let's talk about hats.
05:22I love them.
05:23So, what is it about hats?
05:25Why do you love them?
05:26Do you have favorites?
05:29I love them.
05:30You know, it first started off when I did the Nappy Roots video.
05:33And I always wanted to wear a hat.
05:36I found this trucker hat that was camouflaged and it was just like I looked like a trucker.
05:40And I put it on that morning flying from L.A. to Kentucky to do this video.
05:45And I put it on.
05:46It was such a great fit.
05:47And I became known for wearing hats.
05:51Something that I was afraid to try.
05:53Why?
05:53Because all of my, I don't know, I never felt like they fit right.
05:56So, I started getting into hats.
05:59And I found that trucker had to be very confident for me and my style at the time.
06:04And I wasn't shaved.
06:05And I still don't shave too much.
06:06I look a little raggedy.
06:07A little something, something.
06:08I like to have a little raggedy.
06:09A little raggediness.
06:11Be a little human.
06:11But I felt really comfortable.
06:13And people got to know the man and the music and it all made sense.
06:17And so, I started going into fedoras.
06:19I started getting older.
06:20I wanted to express myself in a more groner fashion.
06:23So, I fell in love with fedoras.
06:26And then fedoras got a little boring.
06:28But not all boring, but regular fedoras.
06:31So, then I started buying these big hats.
06:33Okay.
06:33And then I started competing with Erykah Badu.
06:36You and Erykah Badu.
06:38No, but she wears some mean hats as well.
06:39Okay.
06:40And do you have a favorite?
06:42It depends on the day.
06:44I have a lot of hats.
06:45A couple hundred hats.
06:47And it just depends.
06:48I think this black hat that I wear has this red, like, bead and snakeskin around.
06:55It's one of my favorites.
06:56And then there's a hat by Haran.
06:59Her name is Haran Hats on Instagram.
07:02She's a black designer out of Arkansas.
07:03Okay.
07:04Most of her hats are my favorites.
07:06Okay.
07:06And say the name again for those that may want to partake.
07:08Haran Hats.
07:09H-E-R-R-O-N.
07:10And she's out of Arkansas.
07:12Black designer out of Arkansas.
07:13Man, she's a beast.
07:15Is she?
07:15Yeah, she's going to collaborate with me.
07:16I have a hat line that I'm working on called House of Fedora.
07:20House of Fedora.
07:21Yeah.
07:22Share more about the line.
07:24What is it's inspired by?
07:25It's a line of hats, fedoras, and beautiful brims that people, everyday people can feel expressive in.
07:34It'll have enough bells and whistles to where you don't feel under the radar.
07:39You feel like I'm above the radar.
07:41And I did it on purpose.
07:43Especially made for those that want to be seen.
07:45For those, for the bold and the beautiful and those who dare to be us.
07:48Let's talk about beautiful, because there's a song that you have called Amen that I feel like is a celebration of beauty.
07:56Somebody else over there loves the song, too.
07:59And I was reading about it, and there's something that stuck out to me that I want to read to you, and then I'll ask you a question at the end of it.
08:05The celebration that a woman makes you feel, not just physical attributes, but the fact that she works, she goes to church, prays for you, cooks, cleans, just all that thing that a woman brings to the table.
08:23What excites you about black women and style and their culture?
08:28What excites you about that black woman?
08:30I think confidence is first, and then hips and lips.
08:36H-I-P-S and L-I-P-S.
08:39I'm a black man on purpose, and I love hips, lips, all sizes.
08:45But I like the way she walks.
08:48She walks different than any other woman.
08:50She has a rhythm.
08:51There's music to her.
08:52And it turns me on to see it, or it makes me happy to see it.
08:56Which can be the same sometimes.
08:58Sometimes.
08:58Sometimes.
08:59Sometimes it can't be.
09:01So we've got a lot of sisters in the room in addition to brothers.
09:04Beautiful sisters.
09:04Beautiful sisters.
09:07Styles and colors and textures.
09:09What do you say to the sisters that may not see their beauty when they look in the mirror every day?
09:15Stop looking for what other people want you to see.
09:18You have to look for your own.
09:20Identify with yourself on a level where you're comfortable enough to say, this is me.
09:24Whether it changes or it doesn't, I'm going to polish this thing up and I'm going to go out and shine the rest of the day.
09:31So that's important.
09:32So there's another song you have, Ain't No Shame.
09:39Oh, yeah.
09:39And in it, as you were talking about it where I read it, it said, there are people that never experience anything outside of their front porches.
09:48Get off the front porch, walk in the yard, and I'm sure you'll find something that's beautiful.
09:55What guidance do you give based on what you shared about that song to the people in the room who play a role and have power and influence on how black culture and black style is not only seen, heard, but also comes back to us?
10:09Like, what is something an individual can do to do more than sit on the front porch of black style and let other people appropriate what we create and play a role in having us own what we create?
10:21I think sometimes we are afraid to be our greatest self, and I think we're afraid to go out and let the world see us boast in our beauty and our greatness.
10:30You know, don't just sell in your neighborhood, sell in their neighborhoods.
10:37Create wealth and jobs and stuff in our own, but we're bigger than that.
10:43We've created style for the whole world, so go out and be about that.
10:48And, you know, you just can't be comfortable in your own.
10:52I think we're worthy of the world celebrating us, and our fashion is as well.
10:57I mean, we do it every day, but we never get the credit, or we never stand proud enough for people to see us and recognize us for what we bring to the table.
11:08You talked about the hat designer in Arkansas.
11:10How do you find black-owned style kind of icons and design houses as you go through this?
11:16Is it Tiffany that helps us, or do you have your own way that you find out about it?
11:20Because part of it is about us giving our money to us, which we sometimes don't always do as we try to support this.
11:26How do you find them?
11:28On Instagram, word of mouth.
11:32If I see something I like, I'll look and see who's designing it, who's wearing it.
11:37There's certain people on Instagram and certain people that we tend to look at on Instagram, what they're wearing,
11:45because they're so proactive in creating awareness for us.
11:50And then most of the time, like I said, you find it.
11:54You find things and people.
11:57They're so helpful.
11:58They're so authenticity.
11:59And well, they, you find it's one of the shield.
11:59And you find it.
12:00You're the shield.
12:01You're the shield.
12:02You're the shield.
12:02They're so revealed.
12:03You must eyebrows.
12:04This is just one of the headlights.
12:05They are like.
12:08You're the magic.
12:09You're the magic place.
12:10You are the magic.
12:13You are the magic place.
12:15It's the magic of the devil.
12:16They are the magic place.
12:19In the و Arts.
12:23There are magic.
Comments