Dear guaponose-ga;
Since my first comment on the matter I have found what I believe is
another more reasonable source for the origin of hip-hop?s baggy pants
trend. I have concluded that one of the explanations I mentioned is
indeed related to the birth of the trend, therefore I am re-posting my
comment as an answer along with the added research to support it:
When it comes to pop culture, as you will clearly see in a moment,
fleeting trends like those associated with the relatively infant hip
hop fad, quickly lose their historical provenance. To answer your
question would be tantamount to someone in the 1980?s asking what
single landmark event prompted the briefly fashionable rolling of a
cigarette pack in the sleeve of a t-shirt during the predominantly
teenage ?hoodlum? phase of fashion in the 1940?s and 1950?s.
Here are some varying positions on this issue from reputable sources:
This was an observation of the budding hip hop culture back in 1989:
?The look is squeaky clean. In its simplest form, the hip-hopper's kit
consists of a hooded baggy top, tracksuit pants and training shoes.?
- 1989 Observer 24 Sept. 37/4
CORPORA: HIP HOP SUMMARY
http://helmer.aksis.uib.no/corpora/2001-4/0174.html
From a historical clothing prospective comes this undecided commentary:
?There is some disagreement among the origin of baggy jeans. Some
observers seem to think people in the Hip Hop community began to copy
the pants that prisoners were issued while they were incarcerated and
thus lend their attire to prison chic? Others are convinced that the
baggy jean actually has some roots in the skate/snowboard industry.?
HISTORICAL BOY?S CLOTHING
http://histclo.hispeed.com/style/casual/jean-baggy.html
This article in the New York Times ?appears? to explain it very well ? or does it?:
?First of all, the baggy pants, or saggin?, as it is called,
originated with prisoners, who were not given belts, so their pants
sagged. In addition, many hip-hop-inspired fashion labels, starting
with Cross Colors and Karl Kani and now with Sean John and Rocawear,
began making strides in the marketplace and culture by designing jeans
cut specifically for blacks. (Other labels designed for whites were
often too tight, so people bought them several sizes too big to fit
better.) This style was never about status in the way a Stetson hat
was or a Gucci hat is now. Instead, it could be read as hip-hop's
ability to redefine the culture around it.?
(An excerpt from ?Is Stagolee's Stetson Like a Rapper's Baggy Pants??
by Todd Boyd, which appeared as an article in the New York Times in
the summer of 2003. Todd Boyd, as it turns out, is actually ?Dr.? Todd
Boyd, Professor of Critical Studies at the University of Southern
California's School of Cinema-Television and the author of several
books about black culture.)
HIPHOPMUSIC.COM
http://www.hiphopmusic.com/archives/000144.html
Then there are ?professionals? who claim to know more about the subject than most:
Believe it or not, there is actually an academic study of the hip hop
culture. The subject?s most widely recognized scholar happens to be Dr
Jon Abdullah Yasin, Professor, Bergen Community College, Hackensack,
New Jersey, whose credentials are most impressive by any academic
standard. He lectures nationally on the issue and maintains that the
culture has African origins (and also speaks on this very issue of
baggy pants).
BERGEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE ? DR. JON ABDULLAH YASIN
http://www.bergen.edu/english/ebs/yasin.asp
THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE COUNTY
http://www.ccbc.cc.md.us/news/media/january/hiphoporigin03.html
All four of these sources are reputable and all four are reasonable
offerings. Where each one seems to fail is in the hard evidence
supporting their position on the issue and in pointing out a
verifiable source for their information. The truth is, hip hop?s baggy
pants evolved as a subculture trend, and since subcultures aren?t
particularly documented as they occur inasmuch as they are discussed
and studied in retrospect, it seems that the truth regarding this
issue will remain a short trail of footprints which have since blown
away in the wind.
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH / CONCLUSION
Furthering my research in an attempt to associate one of these
explanations with the most plausible origin. In doing so I found a
most believable explanation that appears to be most closely supported
by Dr. Yasin?s version of the fashion?s origin:
This most reasonable explanation is offered in this article, which
seems to confirm Dr. Yasin?s position that the baggy pants originated
(at least in concept) from an eccentric American youth translation of
old African culture blended with exaggerated street fashion of the
time. Here are some excerpts from a very interesting article on the
subject:
?Hip-hop fashion took its look from the street and from the black
cultures that fueled it. Jamaican Rastafarians inspired dreadlocks and
rasta caps in Jamaican red, green and yellow; b-boys mixed it with
logo track suits and hi-style sneakers; afrocentrics proudly displayed
Kente cloth in bright colors and leather emblems of the homeland; and
rappers took oversized clothes and heavy gold emblems to the extreme.
Mix it all together?rasta, breaking, afrocentricity, rap?and what
you've got is a very strong sense of what became 90's hip-hop style.?
?By 1981, rap was leaving the streets, including a noteworthy
appearance by The Funky Four + 1 More on Saturday Night Live, which
helped introduce both rap and breakdancing to the suburban,
middle-class world. Almost overnight, kids were donning oversized,
shoelaceless adidas and gold dukie chains, jamming to Run DMC and LL
Cool J. Rap would still be considered a black art until white rappers
the Beastie Boys brought their own form of rap to the charts with
?Fight for your Right? off of 1986?s Licensed to Ill. The hip-hop
culture had successfully crossed racial barriers to become a major
force.?
HIP HOP ? YESTERLAND FASHION
http://s89711734.onlinehome.us/popopedia/shows/fashion/fa1448.php
Clothing in various branches of American culture has long since
bridged social, gender and racial barriers. What once may have been
unique to a particular culture often becomes commonplace among like
minded individuals as a show of solidarity. Such was the case in the
60?s when black and whites alike wore American Indian style beads,
western style fringe and Roman style sandals. The phenomenon was
repeated in the 70?s when blacks and white alike wore African style
Afros. The fashion itself becomes secondary to the participants?
interest in the ?look? and show of solidarity to their cultural peers.
So it is with hip-hop fashion. While the fashion certainly appears to
have taken it?s roots from African culture, it was clearly modified
over time prior to its arrival in the US by heavy ?rasta? influence
and then further amended by American youth culture (longing for an
identity that was unique, cool, defiant, and outrageous) wherein the
excesses were added for effect to indicate social status or to make a
social statement. The Kente cloth of the Africans and the baggy track
suits of the Jamaican Rastafarians (parachute pants, ala MC Hammer)
were soon replaced domestically with huge expensive jeans reflecting
the culture?s outrageous excesses and was eventually replaced by
fashions such as khaki or cargo pants specifically designed to have
the ?saggin? look while actually fitting the wearer. Like most
youthful traditions in the United States (and indeed many other
countries), much was borrowed from cultures other than our own,
Historically however, (speculating about the future here) the source
will likely be recorded as having been the brainchild of US street
culture while you and I, for the moment at least, now know otherwise.
Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
Defined above
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
Hip hop, baggy pants, sagging pants, oversized pants (?pants? was
alternatively replaced with the search term ?trousers? and
?clothing?), hip hop fashion, saggin, origin, history |
