How hip hop became a major high-fashion influencer during its 50-year history
- The once niche New York trend has become a dominant form of culture and a huge influence on high fashion – but there are still those not getting their dues
Hip hop has come a long way over the past 50 years, from humble New York roots to dominating global youth culture, and it will be hard to escape the half-century celebrations this year.
Questlove – The Roots’ drummer and beloved DJ – curated a 15-minute medley with some of the biggest names from hip hop’s half centenary at this year’s Grammy Awards, and 2022’s Super Bowl half-time show, arguably the biggest gig on the planet, featured west coast luminaries Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre, joined by Eminem and 50 Cent.
Then there’s the new four-part documentary Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World, airing on the BBC and PBS. In New York, the Fotografiska museum is showing “Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious”, a 200-strong collection of street fashion and iconic rap photographs.
Now a billion-dollar business, the music and culture hip hop birthed are a long way from its genesis on August 11, 1973, in the recreation room of an apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, in the Bronx, New York, when Cindy Campbell put on a “Back to School Jam” with her older brother, Clive, aka DJ Kool Herc, behind the turntables.
Cindy, who wanted to raise money to buy clothes for school, charged 25 cents for girls and 50 cents for boys (a handwritten invitation to a similar event, in February 1974, sold for US$27,720 at Christie’s’ “DJ Kool Herc & The Birth of Hip Hop” auction in 2022).
From that rec room came the five elements of hip hop – emceeing, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti and beatboxing – but there is an unnamed sixth element, fashion, which is being celebrated at the “Fresh, Fly and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style” exhibition at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
